BLAG 01 - Magazine - Page 53
The Secrets of Fileteado Porteño
ARGENTINA
Bolitas and Flowers
orn in the streets of Buenos Aires as
decoration for trade carts, trucks, and
buses, Fileteado Porteño has come
to define the visual identity of the city. It was
declared a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO
in 2015. In this series, I’ll show you how to paint
some of its characteristic elements.
B
Tools & Materials
We work with enamel paints, special fileteado
brushes with long ox hairs, and liners. The shadows
are painted using a varnish with some drops of
black mixed in; this produces a darker transparent
coat called Yapan (a word of unknown origin) by
the fileteadores (painters of Fileteado Porteño).
The more black you add, the darker it’ll be.
A Note on Light
Our source of light is always directly above the
objects, which helps to determine where the
shadows and highlights should go.
The Three “Bolitas” (Little Balls)
Each of these starts with a circle painted in a flat
colour, with shadows and highlights differentiating
each style.
1. Convex
Add two tones of Yapan to shade the lower half
of the circle without touching the edge, and then
use the darker one for the shadow below. A lighter
tone of the circle colour is painted on the upper
half, which is finished off with two little dots as
highlights. I’ve also added a thin white highlight
to the bottom edge of the circle in my example.
1
2. Concave
The shade consists of two parts: the upper half
(leaving a little edge of flat colour above) and
a thin stroke towards the bottom. Lights and
highlights are then painted opposite these.
Again, I’ve used a final white highlight on the
bottom edge of the circle.
2
3. Pearl
To make the pearl effect, the main shade goes on
the upper half without leaving the larger space
between the shade and the edge, as done on the
concave. The lights go below, and a sprinkle of
highlights goes in the upper part of the shadow.
3
Issue 01
53
