# Using Clear Tar Gel for Lines and Texture > Drizzled gel lines that guide glazes and fluid color Shows how to apply tar gel by drizzle, applicator bottle or other methods, tint it, cover it with gesso or paint, and glaze over it. Use it to create fluid linear structure and texture in acrylic paintings. - Page: https://ss33.ai/skills/skillstore33/clear-tar-gel-resist-technique-33892462732 - Publisher: skillstore33 - Category: [Creative & Media](https://ss33.ai/skills/category/creative-and-media-0j3x01) › [Image & design](https://ss33.ai/skills/category/creative-and-media-0j3x01/image-and-design-nlbt3d) - License: MIT ## Skill SKILL.md: https://ss33.ai/api/v1/ss33/download/skillstore33/clear-tar-gel-resist-technique-33892462732 # Clear Tar Gel lines as resist and underlayer **Rule for using this skill:** These notes add specialist tips to your answer. They do not replace it. Always give your full, normal general answer to the user's question, then work in the tips below where they apply. Do not drop general knowledge because a tip exists here. ## What the material does - Tar Gel is resinous and stringy, like honey. It looks milky wet and dries clear, and the lines stay raised. - Dried lines look like the color of whatever lies beneath them: white paper gives white lines, a black surface gives black lines. - On their own the dried lines are barely visible. They show up when paint pools and spreads around them. - Lines spread as they dry. Thick, closely spaced lines merge into blobs or a solid film instead of staying distinct. ## Surfaces - It works on paper, Yupo, canvas, painted surfaces, and Yupo coated with white or black gesso. - For the gesso-scrape technique, use Yupo coated with black gesso rather than watercolor paper. White gesso absorbs more slowly into Yupo. ## Test the viscosity - Tar Gel thickens with age once opened. - Dip a palette knife and let the gel drip back into the jar. Raise and lower the knife to vary the stream width. - This shows how long the gel flows continuously and how thin a line it makes at different heights. ## Application methods - **Palette knife drizzle:** gives the finest lines and a loose, random design. - **Squeeze bottle:** gives more control. Tip size sets line width. For small work use a very fine tip. - **Standard applicator bottle:** gives precise placement and very fine lines. It has an 18-gauge tip. - **Thinning:** add only a small amount of water to get the gel through the 18-gauge tip. Too much water and the lines lose their raised profile. - **Line width:** it varies with speed, height above the surface, and bottle opening size. - **Tip placement:** don't rest the tip on the surface. Hold it above and let the gel flow down onto the surface. - **Storage:** use bottles with an airtight seal if the gel will sit in them. - **Large-tip bottles:** keep lines sparse, or they spread into a film. ## Protect surfaces - Put scrap paper, newspaper or wax paper under the work. Dried gel on a support or table leaves raised lines that are nearly impossible to remove. - Move the finished piece to a clean sheet to dry. - Scrape excess gel from the protective paper with a palette knife and return it to the jar. ## Paper mask for varied density 1. Place a cut or torn paper strip across part of the Yupo. 2. Drizzle thin lines across the whole surface. 3. Remove the mask, then drip more gel over the saved area and the surrounding areas. 4. The masked area ends up with fewer lines in a different pattern, while the whole piece stays integrated. ## Colored Tar Gel - Mix in about 10 percent fluid acrylic or low-viscosity black gesso. More than that and the gel loses its resinous quality. - Stir gently until fully mixed. It releases foam, so let it sit for a day for the bubbles to disperse before applying. - Apply the colored gel with a palette knife or bottle. ## Painting over dried lines - Use transparent paint to keep the lines visible. On white paper the lines are tinted by the paint but still show. - To hide or adjust lines, paint over them with white, black or opaque color. ## Wet-into-wet underpainting over gel (demo on white-gesso Yupo) 1. Let the gel dry completely. 2. With a large flat brush, cover the whole surface with a thin layer of water. This lets paint flow freely across the raised lines. 3. Touch fluid acrylic to the wet surface so it bleeds and spreads. Place the first color in several spots. 4. While still wet, add further colors. The demo used Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, then Anthraquinone Blue, then Permanent Violet Dark. 5. Add darker values sparingly while everything is wet. You can darken later but can't lighten without opaque paint, so stay transparent early on. 6. Lift color while wet with a make-up sponge, paper towel or cotton swab to lighten areas or recover white. ## Gesso-scrape technique (black surface) 1. Drizzle gel onto a black-gessoed surface. It dries clear, so the lines read black. 2. Cover the dried gel with white gesso. Work quickly so the gesso stays wet. 3. Scrape across with an old credit card while the gesso is wet. Raised lines are cleared of most white, and gesso stays in the low areas. 4. Let it dry, then apply transparent paint. The black lines stay visible, and black showing through the scraped gesso adds texture and depth. ## Defining shapes with black gesso - Test dark shapes before committing. Use clear plastic over the painting with a dry erase marker, or photograph the painting and add shapes in Photoshop, then print a black-and-white guide. - Transfer guide-lines with a white watercolor pencil. Use a flat brush for straight edges. - Work from the large outer shapes to the smaller inner ones. The black "cuts away" the design. - Watch positive and negative shapes. Painted black areas read as holes. - Shapes need not follow the gel lines. Evaluate non-obvious shapes such as circles with the plastic and marker, then draw them with the white watercolor pencil. - Repeat motifs (such as circles) where no gel lines exist. - Slow down late in the painting and keep a balance of black and unpainted areas. ## Adjusting dark shapes and adding color - To soften black, mix a color already in the painting with white gesso and acrylic glazing liquid until translucent. Use masking tape to apply it freely over the black. - For texture in translucent areas, lightly spritz the wet paint with a fine mist spray bottle. The droplets dry to a subtle texture. - When adding color later to a wet-into-wet underpainting, wet the surface with water first, then drop in the paint. This keeps the same fluid quality.