As we gathered from the previous ‘insight into 3D and technical painting’, tone simply means the value or shades of a particular colour ranging from light to dark. For all colours a basic tonal scale can consist of 5 shades, moving up to 9 or even more depending on the artist’s choice or relevance for use. Using a tonal scale is very important when painting in a three-dimensional format, as a good scale will allow you to create the illusion of physical 3D form and enable you to play on depth of field. For more general uses, a good tonal scale can also be used to dramatically enhance your work by creating visually stimulating and exciting pictures. As stated before, my recommendation for any type of technical painting whether that is three-dimensional form, characters or photo-realism would be the MOLOTOW™ Premium line, strictly because of its high quality paint pigments, (with colors that are exact with no colour deviation when they are sprayed onto a wall ) and a 251+ strong colour palette. The new MOLOTOW™ palette is vast, allowing for every artist to exert their own unique take on a tonal scale.  In figures 1-3 I’ve provided some examples of small tonal scales I’ve personally used.  The large color palette doesn’t restrict and really allows you to experiment with new tonal combinations (an example of this would be starting with a dark blue and ending with a light grey).  Previously it took years to fully understand and master the MOLOTOW™ color system,  but now with the help of the talented artist MadC, an up to date version has been compiled to help artists in the selection process and ultimately to make it easier for even the novice to gain an adequate understanding of color and tonal scale. 

The belton™ Skinny 9010 (fig 4), also known as the banana cap is without a doubt one of the best caps on the market. It’s a universal cap with a soft jet allowing for smooth subtle fading, which is very important when creating gradients. This cap also projects a sensible degree of paint for strong solid lines, which makes it useful for filling in small to medium sized areas as well outlines. I personally like to use this cap for creating the final outline, medium fills and fading.

This cap is an alternative cap to the belton™ Skinny 9010.  The cap offers the same benefits as the 9010 with a few exceptions. The 9009 (fig 5) has a much faster jet in comparison and requires a little more control from the user. Once control has been gained, you should be able to create anything from thin to solid medium lines.  When completely pressed down on the MOLOTOW™ spray can, you’ll find that the 9009 paint width is slightly larger than that of the 9010 as it acts almost like a small soft fat cap. You’ll notice that the 9009 is very effective for creating smooth soft gradients between tones. Another added benefit is that this exceptional cap now comes as standard on all MOLOTOW™ Premium cans, which saves money for writers but also helps the environment by being a useful cap instead of a poor quality one that would normally be taken off and thrown away.

The 9002 (fig 6) also known as the Grey Dot is the best cap for almost any type of highly detailed work. For technical painting this cap is a must. The 9002 has a controlled smooth jet which is perfect for fine clean lines; it also works perfectly for small fading and dusting.  I personally like to use this cap for areas where a high degree of control is required such as super fine highlights or any final intricate touch ups. Ultimately, this is an essential cap for anyone working on 3D, photo-realism or character painting.

Along with the 9010, the 9005 SuperFat cap (fig 7) is one of the best and most important fat caps available to writers. The 9005 also known as the Pink Dot, offers optimum spray paint output for painting large surface areas quickly. The 9005 benefits writers by being a cap that you can interchange between MOLOTOW™ Premium cans without the worry of clogging (which in the long run saves money and helps the environment by being for a short time a reusable cap). The 9005 allows you to work very fast in any situation or environment, and enables you to fill in selected areas very quickly with a one shot solid coat of paint. This is really important for three-dimensional painting as it saves time and allows you to work on the important time consuming details later.

The main reason I would strongly recommend the 9005 SuperFat cap, is because unbeknown to many writers this cap has a unique “three level setting” system. This system allows you with the use one cap (9005), to go from a super fat line right down to a super skinny in 3 stages. These unique settings are based on where the user’s finger is positioned on the cap. Figures 8-10 show the key positions of where the user’s finger should be placed in order to get the desired results of the “three level setting” system. Fig 8 shows setting 1. The finger should be placed in this position on the 9005 cap. Fully pressing down will allow the MOLOTOW™ can to project the highest output of spray paint with an average line width of about 8 cm . Fig 9 shows setting 2. While in this position, press the cap down by half of the pressure used in setting 1. This will allow the can to produce a medium and more controlled output of spray, similar to that of the 9009 and 9010 (setting 2 can be used to fill in medium sized areas). Fig 10 shows the third and final setting. Notice how in this setting the finger is right at the rear far edge of the 9005 cap. While on the edge, softly press the cap down, further reducing the pressure by half of that used in setting 2. This will enable the MOLOTOW™ can to produce a fine super skinny line.  With these various settings it’s possible to produce a high quality 3D piece using only a fat cap!

Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the various MOLOTOW™ caps on offer.  Remember choosing the right caps can help slash years off having to master the spray can solely based on can control.

For more information on MOLOTOW™ caps please follow this link:

www.molotow.com/english/products/supplies/molotow-caps/

When spray painting walls the average thought is, that in order to fill up a surface area you need move the can from left to right using horizontal light strokes and then repeating this same action vertically moving from left to right. I suppose if you’re painting in a more traditional style of graffiti then yes, this approach towards paint application may be the most effective for you. However, if you’re new to the art of technical painting or making the transition from the standard traditional to technical, then you need to broaden your mind in terms of how you can operate the spray can. Adopting a new approach towards how the spray can can be held, will allow you to effortlessly create near impossible lines, fades and create angles that defy logic and reason. Figures 11-14 show how the spray can is held technically. In these images you can see that the spray can is not held vertically straight (normal position) to the wall but instead is angled to gain different spray results.