Nolichucky Summertime | The Joy of PaintingĀ® with Nicholas Hankins (Season 33, Episode 2)
Bob Ross
64,859 views
Follow along as host Nicholas Hankins paints a vivid summertime scene, complete with lush foliage and a peaceful river.
Nicholas Hankins, a certified instructor in the iconic Bob Ross wet-on-wet painting technique, brings new original paintings to this continuation of The Joy of Painting series. Through his calm demeanor and mastery of the technique, Nicholas has inspired artists from around the world to pick up their brushes and create.
Join Brush Strokes today:
@bobross_thejoyofpainting
http://www.BobRoss.com
20 Comments
@ShonenXIV 13 days ago
Thank you for keeping the dream alive.
@Spookystrokes16 3 days ago
Love the painting. I am from East Tennessee too and have used your work for inspiration for my own art. Bob helped me through a rough childhood. I finally started painting at 44 about 2 and a half years ago.
@EvilChadXbox 13 days ago
Thank you for the great content. Love your instructional painting videos. Top notch.
@brianbennett4374 13 days ago
This is great š. Thanks for the videos and keeping Bob's legacy goingš
@ChristinaG-i6c 13 days ago
I enjoy watching you every Saturday @11 am. Your artistic ability is so lovely and your voice reminds me of Bob...always Happy and Peaceful.š
@cescomonti8276 9 days ago
I love the Bob Ross method, and I really appreciate Nicholas and the whole team for continuing his legacy and keeping this style of painting alive.
That said, I really think it may be time to reconsider the format. The original show had very real television time constraints, which meant Bob often had to prepare certain things before filming, skip parts of the process, or simply explain what he had done off camera. But on YouTube, those limitations no longer exist.
For example, in this episode Nicholas explains that he applied black gesso, let it dry, and then added color over it before the video started. Why not show that process? Things like how the gesso is applied, how much product is used, the proportions when mixing those colors, exactly how the brushes are loaded, or what the paint consistency should look like would be extremely useful for people who actually want to paint along.
Nicholas sometimes looks like he is rushing to finish the painting, which is completely understandable if you are trying to recreate the timing of the original show, but there is no need for that anymore. There isn't another TV program waiting to start after him. If a painting needs 40 minutes, 50 minutes, or even an hour to properly demonstrate, that's completely normal on YouTube.
The videos don't even have to remain completely real-time. You could use cuts when something needs to dry, show close-ups of the canvas and palette with more detail, use different camera angles, get much closer to the brushwork, or occasionally demonstrate techniques involving both wet and dry layers.
And I think there is an even bigger opportunity here. The channel doesn't necessarily have to limit itself to recreating the exact structure of The Joy of Painting forever. You could have live painting classes, special events, longer workshops, Q&As, different sets or studio environments, videos about brushes, paints, canvases, easels and other equipment, how to choose or make frames, how to display and preserve paintings, and so much more.
There are a thousand directions this could go while still remaining completely faithful to Bob's philosophy and painting method.
And personally, I genuinely believe Bob himself would have loved having access to these possibilities. I know that part of the original concept was to show people that you could create a complete painting in around 30 minutes, and that simplicity was a huge part of what made the show special. But Bob was also an incredible teacher and, in many ways, a visionary communicator. If he had been given the opportunity to sometimes spend an hour on a painting, show a preparation step in detail, cut away while something dried, zoom in on a technique, answer questions live, or explain something more deeply without worrying about a television schedule, I find it very hard to imagine that he wouldn't have taken advantage of it.
The 30 minute format was part of The Joy of Painting, but I don't think the limitation itself was the essence of Bob Ross. The essence was making painting approachable, understandable and enjoyable for ordinary people. Modern tools could actually help accomplish that mission even better.
I completely understand wanting to preserve the spirit and simplicity of The Joy of Painting, and I absolutely think that should remain. But preserving the spirit doesn't necessarily mean preserving every limitation of 1980s television.
Bob Ross became enormously popular again with a completely new generation through the internet, and I genuinely think this channel has the potential to become something huge again instead of slowly losing relevance by treating YouTube like television. You already have the legacy, the audience, the method, great instructors like Nicholas, and an incredible amount of material to work with.
I've been watching Bob Ross for many years and have painted along as well, so I say all of this with a lot of respect for what you're doing. I would just love to see the format evolve and take advantage of what is possible today without losing what made Bob's work special in the first place. Please consider it.
Much love!
That said, I really think it may be time to reconsider the format. The original show had very real television time constraints, which meant Bob often had to prepare certain things before filming, skip parts of the process, or simply explain what he had done off camera. But on YouTube, those limitations no longer exist.
For example, in this episode Nicholas explains that he applied black gesso, let it dry, and then added color over it before the video started. Why not show that process? Things like how the gesso is applied, how much product is used, the proportions when mixing those colors, exactly how the brushes are loaded, or what the paint consistency should look like would be extremely useful for people who actually want to paint along.
Nicholas sometimes looks like he is rushing to finish the painting, which is completely understandable if you are trying to recreate the timing of the original show, but there is no need for that anymore. There isn't another TV program waiting to start after him. If a painting needs 40 minutes, 50 minutes, or even an hour to properly demonstrate, that's completely normal on YouTube.
The videos don't even have to remain completely real-time. You could use cuts when something needs to dry, show close-ups of the canvas and palette with more detail, use different camera angles, get much closer to the brushwork, or occasionally demonstrate techniques involving both wet and dry layers.
And I think there is an even bigger opportunity here. The channel doesn't necessarily have to limit itself to recreating the exact structure of The Joy of Painting forever. You could have live painting classes, special events, longer workshops, Q&As, different sets or studio environments, videos about brushes, paints, canvases, easels and other equipment, how to choose or make frames, how to display and preserve paintings, and so much more.
There are a thousand directions this could go while still remaining completely faithful to Bob's philosophy and painting method.
And personally, I genuinely believe Bob himself would have loved having access to these possibilities. I know that part of the original concept was to show people that you could create a complete painting in around 30 minutes, and that simplicity was a huge part of what made the show special. But Bob was also an incredible teacher and, in many ways, a visionary communicator. If he had been given the opportunity to sometimes spend an hour on a painting, show a preparation step in detail, cut away while something dried, zoom in on a technique, answer questions live, or explain something more deeply without worrying about a television schedule, I find it very hard to imagine that he wouldn't have taken advantage of it.
The 30 minute format was part of The Joy of Painting, but I don't think the limitation itself was the essence of Bob Ross. The essence was making painting approachable, understandable and enjoyable for ordinary people. Modern tools could actually help accomplish that mission even better.
I completely understand wanting to preserve the spirit and simplicity of The Joy of Painting, and I absolutely think that should remain. But preserving the spirit doesn't necessarily mean preserving every limitation of 1980s television.
Bob Ross became enormously popular again with a completely new generation through the internet, and I genuinely think this channel has the potential to become something huge again instead of slowly losing relevance by treating YouTube like television. You already have the legacy, the audience, the method, great instructors like Nicholas, and an incredible amount of material to work with.
I've been watching Bob Ross for many years and have painted along as well, so I say all of this with a lot of respect for what you're doing. I would just love to see the format evolve and take advantage of what is possible today without losing what made Bob's work special in the first place. Please consider it.
Much love!
Nolichucky Summertime | The Joy of PaintingĀ® with Nicholas Hankins (Season 33, Episode 2)
Bob Ross
64,859 views
Follow along as host Nicholas Hankins paints a vivid summertime scene, complete with lush foliage and a peaceful river.
Nicholas Hankins, a certified instructor in the iconic Bob Ross wet-on-wet painting technique, brings new original paintings to this continuation of The Joy of Painting series. Through his calm demeanor and mastery of the technique, Nicholas has inspired artists from around the world to pick up their brushes and create.
Join Brush Strokes today:
@bobross_thejoyofpainting
http://www.BobRoss.com