Discover the fastest way to prepare a smooth panel for painting.
I'm going to share the fastest painting technique I use for 'gessoing' a panel and getting a smooth finish. This art technique can be used to prep a panel that you want to paint on, making it suitable for painting in oils or acrylics. You may want to prepare more than one panel at a time, so that you can be ready to paint whenever inspiration strikes.
To prep your panel, all it takes is a few tools from the DIY store and a little finesse. Overall the process is much like icing a cake – we’re just icing a panel with gesso!
Once your materials are ready, the whole process takes just a few minutes. Let the panel dry for an hour or so – as long as it’s no longer cool to the touch, it should be dry enough and ready to be sanded smooth and put into service.
First I prepare my panel for the gesso. I use an extra-fine sanding block to rough up the surface, then wipe with a damp sponge to clean off the residue. My panel is smooth one-eighth-inch hardboard, which is smooth on both sides. I have my panels pre-cut to standard frame sizes.
02. Spread the gesso
Use either a toothed or flat spreader
I use a grooved adhesive spreader to apply the gesso (I prefer the toothed kind but a flat one will work just as well). I make sure the whole panel is covered as this really helps with the next step. I use professional-grade gesso because it’s thicker, so I use less of it overall. It’s perfect for this technique.
03. Smooth the gesso
After a few passes, you're done!
I now use a taping knife to smooth the gesso, pulling it first in one direction across the panel, then the opposite direction. A few passes will do the trick. Apply just enough pressure to smooth the grooved surface – too much and you’ll scrape off all the gesso.
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If there are bare patches because you haven't spread the gesso across the whole panel in the previous step, you can tap the gesso with a taping knife to fill any voids (usually near the edges). If an edge appears from the blade on panels larger than the taping knife, a lighter pass in the opposite direction will usually smooth it all out. To finish, scrape any excess from the sides.
Aaron Miller is an award-winning illustrator best known for his fantasy paintings for games such as Magic: the Gathering. Oils are his favourite medium.
