I can't honestly say that I have, but I have thought about it.
By fabric, I assume you don't mean velvet elvis' but T-shirts, leather, and clothing items. Or at least something close enough to make this useful, (I hope)
I once worked at a craft and hobby store called Pat Catan's. I don't know if it is a national chain, It was hard to tell. But I imagine every major area has a variant of the store.
The wal mart paints you describe sound like "puffy paints" they come in small bottles and tend to apply really thick. Getting the most out of these usually requires a lot of practice. You have the option to apply it directly from the tube, or use an applicator, like a brush or stylus.
Paint Markers are becoming all the rage now, and I have done some two-tone work on a blue canvas bag that used to plug a medical center using a black sharpie and the newer silver variant. Paint markers are at their best when they are stored upside down, or in the case of double sided markers, whichever side you plan to use the most.
Naturally, this is no problem at home, but if you take markers on the road you have to get creative.
For sheer detail, you may want to invest in an airbrush. Airbrushes are a double edged sword. It will cost you hundreds to buy the initial equipment if you buy quality (not always the most expensive, shop around!) but the maintenence, if done religiously will cost you pennies a day as long as you keep your machines and nozzles in good shape. And especially your lungs, don't even hold your brush without wearing even a basic dustmask. The atomized paint will never leave your lungs, (even tobacco will eventually)
With airbrush, you really have a lot of versatility, and the options of great acryllic paints, inks, dyes, anything that will atomize. Still, look at labels for the spray icon that makes it official.
Buying airbrush paint is quite simple, if you know ahead of time what you need. If you don't, buy the primaries and secondaries, and buy a good book on color mixing. Every color has a warm and cool equivalent. (ex. Cadmium Yellow is warm, with a higher red quotient, Whereas Lemon Yellow is slightly bluish) If you wish to splurge buy the hot and cold versions of the primaries and secondaries. You can do some amazing things if you learn the warm/cold relationships.
Pat Catan's sold a brand of airbrush specific acryllic paints called Liquitex, as well as empty bottles, (you will want to learn to mix colors early on, and special variants of what you have.)
Airbrushing relies heavily on stencilling. Especially creating your own stencils, you will need to make the sections of your stencils removable and replaceable. Say, for working on a woman's eposed shoulder, without worrying if you will get flesh tone on the scarf you colored all of last night.
Although there are many pre-made ones. Your best option when beginning is to create your own using a thin layer of dried rubber cement on the back of a sheet of bristol board which you have cut with an x-acto knife. Naturally you want to draw out all of your major color areas.
Don't go directly to your favorite leather jacket or it's equivalent, do some practice on canvas sheets or inexpensive clothing items. You may create your favorite shirt by accident.
You may be surprised how common everyday items loow when used as an airbrush item. One of our demo reps at the art store told me that his most popular item at high schools is an old style potato masher. He would just press it against some kid's jeans, blast it with a wide spray, and when it was removed, there was a wiggly unpainted line in it's place. Everyone wanted it done.
Now, you mentioned brush paintings. Sadly, I know nothing of doing fabrics with brushes. You may want to look up the aforementioned Velvet Elvis' and Velvet Jesus paintings. I am quite sure that the technique works on al fabrics. Yur main worry is paint. You may want to buy the Liquitex paints regardless of your application. They are made to last on fabric when properly treated with heat. (you either throw the finished product in the dryer, or use a blow dryer, Or even specialized hot air guns for embossing (less air, more heat).
Whew, I sure gave you a loaded answer. Keep in mind, I have gotten all this from observation, and not actual practice.
I have been too poor for the air pumps and brushes, and I have no place to put them anyway, and I would rather stick with photoshop for now. Seeing as I have already put hundreds into Adobe's Bank account as it is.
Good luck! hope it helps *nervous grin*
Only you can stop sig pollution.
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