Painting knives, sponges and a roller in Easel by Zaweba

Knife painting has a look nobody can mistake. Thick, buttery paint, sharp edges, flat planes that catch the light. Sponges give another look entirely, soft and broken, perfect for foliage and stone. And a roller covers ground quickly and evenly. Easel by Zaweba has all three: four painting knives, natural and synthetic sponges, and a roller.

Four painting knives

Painting knives come in many shapes in real art shops, and Easel has four. Knives are for applying paint rather than mixing it. Load the underside, press it to the surface and drag. Paint goes on thick and flat with a crisp edge where the knife lifts.

Knife work is at its best with thick paint. Oil stays wet and builds impasto, and acrylic builds thick too. Add impasto gel or modelling paste for even more body. Because Easel turns paint height into a surface lit by a movable light, knife ridges show up as real highlights and shadows.

There is an impasto knife preset among Easel's built-in presets if you want a ready made starting point.

A good knife painting habit is to work in planes. Think of a mountain or a building as a set of flat sides, each in one colour. Lay each side with one stroke and leave it alone. Fussing kills the freshness.

Sponges

Easel has natural and synthetic sponges. Natural sponges in the real world have an irregular pattern of holes, which makes organic textures: foliage, rock, sand, lichen, clouds. Synthetic sponges tend to be more even.

Dab rather than drag. Load the sponge lightly, test it on a corner or a spare area, then build the texture in light layers. Vary the pressure and turn the sponge between dabs so the pattern doesn't repeat.

Sponges are good for watercolour backgrounds, painted texture on walls and stone, and quick trees in the distance.

The roller

A roller lays down broad, even bands of colour. It is a fast way to cover a background, block in a sky, or make graphic stripes. It also makes interesting broken textures when run lightly over a textured surface such as brick or concrete.

A knife and sponge workflow

Here is one way to use these together for a rocky coast. Roll a band of colour for the sky. Sponge in distant foliage or spray in a few soft layers. Use a painting knife for the cliffs, laying each face in one confident stroke. Finish with a little sponge texture on the rocks and a rigger brush for any fine lines.

Move the light around before you finish to see how the knife ridges read.

Avoiding mud and mess

Thick paint mixes on the canvas when it is still wet, and that is where knife painters get mud. Use a clean knife for each colour, and lay colours next to each other rather than over each other where you can.

With sponges, the mistake is too much paint. A loaded sponge gives a blot, not a texture. With a roller, the mistake is covering everything evenly. Leave a few gaps. Easel by Zaweba gives these tools the same character they have in a real studio, so they reward the same patience.