Arts & Entertainment
Using Unconventional Tools
Lesson time 08:04 min
You can use anything as a paint brush—even pieces of cardboard. Futura shows you how to see possibility in nontraditional objects, tools, and surfaces.
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Topics include: Using Unconventional Tools
Preview
[THEME MUSIC] - Most artists use rollers, handles. They roll on their background consisting of one color. I've done all the traditional things for so long, at this point I want to find the untraditional. The thing about rollers that's always cool is that blank-- that kind of blankness you get some time out of the negative space in the roller. And that is something that, like, I like sometimes, just that negative space element. So that's one approach, using the roller. Yes, I can use a brush. Yes, I can use a roller in a traditional fashion. That's also why I always wear gloves. But I like to sometime use the roller. And even so much as something like, yeah, use-- I use cardboard all the time, but the corrugated pattern, sometimes you get the lines, the corrugated lines. I mean, there they are. It's not totally obvious, but you can get different effects by using all types of third-party elements-- paper, plastic. You can scrunch things up and make little balls and create your own patterns. The thing about corrugated boxes is the corrugated pattern, sometimes I just like that as a pattern. But also, I mean-- and mind you, this isn't a perfect one; sometimes you can find some that are really good-- I really like using cardboard, as well, as my scraping tool and whatever, something to that effect. But let me just-- so all of this looks like, wow, you're so sloppy. It's so-- it's almost childish. But yeah, I mean, you can be the artist that you feel you want to be, and you can do anything. There are no rules. There are no rules of equipment. There are no rules of process. There are no rules-- yes, of course, there's technical things here and there. But if we're actually giving me the time of day, and you're wanting to listen to what I say, I would suggest, once again, you do what you feel and find your own techniques, find your own-- discover your own special way of doing whatever you're doing. Now, yeah, I mean, these guys look pretty bad to start. But then once again, like, anything can repair this. Some red spray paint and black spray paint would get this to the point where you would never even have seen this. So for me, I'm always going to go to spray paint because, well, it's just what I know so well. But at the same time, you could also-- you don't have to follow my lead or these are the steps that I choose. I would suggest you worked out of step and found something that's really comfortable for you, but also adapts to your sensibility and what you might want to see. So yeah, here we are. We're just going to be a little more descriptive in showing exactly what I was doing with making lines. The line is certainly a part of my thing. And whether it's acrylic paint or spray painting, my line kind of gives me a starting position sometime, a line in which to work off of rather than the edges of the canvas. We were talking about how I also like to use a cardboard box, which in this sense one...
About the Instructor
A pioneering painter and street artist, Futura has exhibited at institutions like the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, collaborated with Louis Vuitton and Supreme, and created album art for The Clash. Now he’s teaching you his signature, kinetic approach to abstract art. Learn how to express yourself and paint with color, dimension, and detail. All you need to create art is an idea and a can of spray paint.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Futura
Pioneering abstract graffiti artist, Futura teaches you how to create art with a can of spray paint and an idea.
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