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Valentine’s Day Truck Painting

In the third part of a series of truck painting tutorials I have produced, I present to you a Love Truck!

In this tutorial you will learn how to create this lovely “ultramarine blue” truck (or customize your color) and it is especially designed for Valentine’s Day.  

View The Collection Of Truck Paintings:

• Heart Truck
• Christmas Tree Truck
• Pumpkin Truck

This tutorial comes with a traceable template of the truck (which is the same truck in the other two paintings only with different things in the bed of the truck.

All you have to do is paint the simple background and follow the easy steps! 

Enjoy and happy painting artists!

Materials: 

Continue to Content

Yield: One 11 x 14 Canvas

Love Truck Painting

Print

Whether you’re adding to your truck painting collection or this is your first one, you will adore this lovely blue classic Ford truck painting with a bundle of Valentine’s Day presents in the back! This tutorial guides you through each step with a printable traceable and a video.

Active Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours

Difficulty Easy

Materials

• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brushes 
• Traceable 
• 11 x 14 Canvas
• Graphite Tracing Paper
• T-Square Ruler
• Pencil

Colors

• Light Blue Permanent
• Titanium White
• Mars Black
• Quinacridone Magenta
• Medium Magenta 
• Ultramarine Blue
• Pyrrole Red

Brushes

• 12 Bright 
• 4 Bright (optional but it helps get into smaller areas)
• 3/4 Flat Wash
• 4 Round
• 5/0 Round (for detailed work or you can use a black paint pen)

Instructions

1. Use a T-Square ruler to lightly draw the bottom line where the ground separates the sky.
2. Paint the background using the 3/4 wash brush and a comb of light blue permanent and titanium white.
3. Paint the ground light gray.
4. Wait for painting to dry (or use a blow dryer)
5. Draw or transfer the love truck traceable to the canvas.
6. Start at the truck fenders. Use your 12 bright brush and a combo of ultramarine blue and titanium white to paint the truck. Use contouring strokes that blend on the canvas.
7. Paint the truck door using vertical strokes and add a bit more white to the strokes.
8. Paint the inside of the window white.
9. Paint the outside part of the tires with mars black. Use a round brush for easier control during this step.
10. Paint the inside of the tires with a light gray that you mix on your palette.
11. Paint the inner dot of the tires white.
12. Paint shadow under the truck with dry brush technique of mars black.
13. Add a few white highlights to the fenders and top of the truck.
14. Lightly outline the truck using a 5/0 round brush and mars black. Don’t outline everything, just a few parts of the truck
15. Paint the hearts and balloons that are on the bed of the truck. Use a combo of quinacridone magenta, medium magenta and cadmium red medium hue.
16. Optional but fun: paint heart clouds in the upper left portion of the sky above the truck.

Color Palette:

Craft Paint Conversion: 

Here is a suggested list if you will be using the Apple Barrel Craft Paints.

Traceable:

Directions At A Glance: 

Video:

Step By Step Directions: 

1. Paint the background (sky)

First you will need to mark where the horizontal line is that divides the sky and ground.

Use a t-square ruler to make this horizontal line about 2 inches from the bottom of the canvas (doesn’t have to be exact).

Then use a 3/4 flat brush and double load in light blue permanent and titanium white. (Load the brush in both colors)

Paint everything above the horizontal line with the blue and white combo. Allow the colors to mix on the canvas to create a blend of both colors. 

You don’t have to mix both the colors all the way. 

2. Paint the ground 

For the ground, I used mars black and titanium white plus my cleaned off 3/4 flat brush.

Double load your brush in titanium white and a TINY bit of black. Do the same technique you did for this sky, only this time paint horizontally. 

The black and white will blend together to make a gray looking ground. Again, leave the colors unmixed and “streaky” looking. 

3. Dry the painting

Before continuing, you’ll either need to let it air dry for about an hour or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. 

4. Transfer the truck drawing onto the painting

Print out the traceable using my PDF or my JPEG (whichever you prefer).

If you are using my PDF, part of the hearts will be cut off because of the size. Those can easily be finished lightly with a pencil. 

Lay a sheet of graphite paper below the traceable and lightly draw over all the lines so the drawing will transfer to the canvas. 

Tips for transferring a traceable:

• Press firmly with a pencil (I like to use a dull pencil)
• Trace with the canvas flat on the table (not on an easel)
• Make sure the shiny side of the graphite paper is facing down. 
• Tape the traceable and graphite paper so the drawing will be steady
• Occasionally lift up to make use your transfer is working

5. Paint the body of the truck

For the body of the truck, I used the colors ultramarine blue and titanium white. I also used a 12 bright brush.

If you think the 12 bright is too large, you can try using the 4 bright or a smaller flat. 

Double load your 12 bright in ultramarine blue with the corner of the brush loaded in a bit of titanium white. 

Start with the fenders. 

When you paint, allow the blue and white to mix together to create a varied blue color. 

Paint both of the fenders. Let the blue and white mix together but don’t worry about where the shading is suppose to be at this point .

My fenders looked like this. One was slightly lighter than the other. 

Next paint the rest of the body. To create “contrast” in the truck, try loading slightly more white onto the brush. 

When you paint, let your strokes follow the shape of the truck (contouring). Let the colors blend and do their thing.

I specifically made the cabin and the truck bed a bit darker. The fenders were darker as well. 

The door of the truck was painted with up and down strokes and a bit more white.

This let there be enough contrast for it to show up against the rest of the blue body. 

Paint the inside of the window with titanium white.

You can either paint this window solid titanium white or “dry brush it” so some of the blue still shows through. 

Then I did some purposeful highlighting with a 4 round brush and titanium white.

Paint one little curved streak on the left side of the fenders and left part of the hood. 

6. Paint the wheels

For the wheels, I used a 4 round brush, mars black and titanium white. 

Start by painting the outer part of the wheel mars black.

Then paint the inner part of the wheels a mix of black and white to make a gray. 

7. Some detailed work

Next do some simple “loose” outlining using a 5/0 round brush (or the smallest round brush you have). You can also use a black paint pen if you have one handy. 

When you loosely outline something, you pick areas to outline so as to give it a bold contrast look, however, you do not outline everything.

Start by slightly outlining the bottom of the left fender.

Then outline the entire door and paint the door handle. 

Then outline the inside of the window, the other fender, bottom of the truck, the back of the truck bed and the horizontal line on the truck bed. 

Also paint the exhaust on the back of the truck with a light gray mixed on your palette!

The image below depicts what I outlined. Almost everything! The only thing I did not outline was the top left area of the truck. 

Your outlining may be different or the same.

There may be something you want to outline because you want to make it stand out better or something you want to leave not outlined. 

8. Paint a shadow

To do the shadow, I used my 12 bright brush and mars black.

This was done “dry brush style” meaning I loaded only a little bit of black on the brush and no water. 

Paint horizontal loose strokes under the wheel and the body of the truck depicting a shape on the ground to represent the shadow.

9. Some Highlights

Next I added a bit more white to the fenders to make them look shiny.

I used my 4 round brush and titanium white with a little bit of ultramarine blue. 

I stroked these curves along the fender so the white and the tiny bit of blue blended to make a lighter looking blue. It made the fenders look shiny. 

Also note the two dots on the gray part of the tires. I also did a very subtle highlight on the black part of the tire with a tiny bit of white. 

10. Paint the hearts

This is the fun part!

For the hearts, I used a combo of the colors: medium magenta, Pyrrole red, quinacridone magenta and titanium white. 

I used my 4 round brush and started with Pyrrole red.

The largest heart was painted with this red along with one of the middle heart balloons. 

Then I used quinacridone magenta to paint another heart balloon.

Medium magenta was used to paint the far let balloon and the balloon next to it was white mixed with medium magenta to make a light pink.

Then switch back to your 5/0 tiny round brush and mars black to paint the strings of the balloons.

Next I painted the smaller heart that is in front of the large red heart. I did this with quinacridone magenta and a little bit of white to make it stand out a bit more. 

Also paint the envelope white. There are also white highlights on the left side of all the balloons. I did this with the 4 round and titanium white. 

Next add some fun decorations to the Valentines. I used my 5/0 round to paint dots and an xoxo on one of the balloons. 

To do the rest of the envelope, wait for the white to dry and then use one of your pinks or reds to paint the heart. Then outline the triangles with mars black. 

I also outlined the little heart in front of the big heart. 

11. Optional: Paint some heart clouds in the sky 

To give it a bit more balance, I did white heart clouds in the sky. Use titanium white, your 4 round brush and a TINY bit of black. 

Start by painting a basic white heart shape in the sky (not to much paint).

Then make it look “fluffy” by painting little circle strokes. 

If you want your heart cloud to look more gray, add a tiny dot of black to your brush (while the white is still on it). Paint in circle strokes to make the cloud look fluffy.

I did four heart clouds of varying shapes. 

Finished!

That’s it! You can add to your truck collection by painting my other two trucks (if you haven’t already). And…rumor has it, I may be making a spring one too!

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