Decorative Furniture Painting
A course by LUCAS RISEPainter and graphic designer
A course by LUCAS RISE, Painter and graphic designer
Learn how to create, transfer, and paint designs on furniture using calligraphy brushes
Imagine being able to turn an everyday piece of furniture, such as a closet, into an artistic piece that fills the rooms of your home with joy. That is what Lucas Rise does, combining his two specialties, design, and painting, to create wonderful decorative pieces full of personality and powerful graphic designs.
In this course, Lucas teaches you how to apply a digital decorative design to a piece of furniture, which you can then paint by hand. Learn the tools and materials necessary to carry out the task: the different types of brushes and paints, and also learn how to adapt the digital design to the chosen piece and paint it by hand with calligraphy brushes.
What will you learn in this online course?
17 lessons & 25 downloads
What will we do in the course?
1 minute, 51 seconds
Materials and work station
3 minutes, 53 seconds
Types of Furniture
5 minutes, 12 seconds
Analysis of decorative designs
7 minutes, 33 seconds
Colour
9 minutes, 23 seconds
Taking measurements and proportions of the furniture
5 minutes, 14 seconds
What's included in this course?
Meet lettering artist Lucas Rise, who briefly explains his career path, his work process, and his influences within graphic design.
Start by getting to know the calligraphic brushes, as well as the proper painting and how to arrange your workspace. Lucas talks to you about the different types of furniture and shows you designs that you can apply to them. See how to use color to determine the style of the design and do some color testing on Adobe Illustrator.
Learn how to take the measurements of the furniture to generate a digital plan. See the process of creating the chosen design and how to adapt it to the furniture design: simplifying the design, creating repetitions, and other adaptations. Then, define how to print it.
Let's get to work! Prepare the surface of the furniture and transfer the design to the different parts of the furniture, taking into account the cuts and reliefs. Learn how to mix the colors to achieve the tone you are looking for and how to achieve one-layer covering.
Become familiar with the brushes and their movement, exploring the painting sequence: what to paint first, how to do it, working on details, and drying times. Finally, Lucas tells you about the care needed to keep your work looking perfect.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
Transfer a decorative design—provided by Lucas—to scale for application on a cabinet. Learn the necessary steps to paint it by hand with calligraphy brushes.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for all those people who identify themselves with the technique or the project, who want to develop their concentration and precision. Also for all those who want to contribute a colorful, design-oriented work to a space, with personality and functionality.
Requirements and materials
This course requires a basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, basic manual skills and some experience with paint and brushes.
You will need a piece of furniture (120 cm high x 80 cm wide x 40 cm deep). If you do not have the possibility of building a cabinet, you will be able to work with just panels. In addition, you will need synthetic enamel paints, calligraphic brushes, solvents, access to a design printing center, and a medium-sized, well-ventilated workspace.
Reviews
- 29 days ago
very useful and inspiring, thank you Lucas for your art and teaching!!!
- 6 months ago
Hermoso su trabajo. El curso práctico y fácil de entender. Me hizo acordar en sus pinceladas a los maestros del fileteado de Bs. As.
- 9 months ago
Me gustó y me fue muy útil.
- 11 months ago
Muy buen curso
- 11 months ago
Corso interessante, ma presuppone una buona conoscenza ed esperienza di Illustrator, che non si può acquisire certo durante il corso...Se lo consiglierei? No a chi è a digiuno di queste competenza di grafica.
He specializes in hand-painted cabinets with his own designs, unifying his two specialties. Generally, he sells them to private collectors.
Content
- U1
Presentation
- Who I am
- Influences
- What will we do in the course?
- U2
Materials and Tools
- Materials and work station
- Types of Furniture
- Analysis of decorative designs
- Colour
- U3
Design
- Taking measurements and proportions of the furniture
- Design creation
- Design adaptation
- U4
Before the brush strokes
- Surface Preparation
- Design printing and transfer
- Armed with colors
- U5
Painting
- Stroke practice
- Painting 1
- Painting 2
- Furniture care and maintenance
- FP
Final project
- Decorative Furniture Painting
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn how to prepare, decorate, and paint wooden furniture using both hand and digital decorative techniques, transfer custom designs, mix colors, and use calligraphy brushes to achieve professional finishes and unique pieces.
No prior experience is needed. The course is intermediate level but designed to guide you step-by-step—from prepping the furniture to applying and transferring decorative designs.
You’ll need a wooden piece of furniture, paper, pencil, calligraphy brushes, oil or synthetic enamel paint, sandpaper, rags, cleaning soap, and access to a computer for digital design.
You create your design in vector software, print it out, prepare the furniture surface, and transfer the design using tracing or stencil techniques—ensuring accuracy and adapting to the furniture’s shape.
You’ll learn color mixing, applying paint with calligraphy brushes, using rollers, filtering paint, and methods for fine brushstrokes and durable finishes on wooden furniture.
The surface should be cleaned, sanded to smooth out imperfections, and made sure it’s dry and dust-free. This ensures the paint adheres well and the finish looks professional.
Yes, the course teaches you how to create digital plans of furniture, adapt graphic designs, and optimize them for printing and transferring onto 3D surfaces.