Faux Finish: Wood
A smoke house designed by Jason Foreman and painted by Emorie Mansur for Lyric Theatre’s Oklahoma!.
“We paint wood to look like wood”
— at least 5 people on any given production team.
Here’s my truth: I love wood treatments.
There are 8 million impressive and creative ways to replicate wood grain, but it still may not look grounded in reality without:
Variation of Sheen
Variation of Color and
Distressing
Let’s look at real wood
Wood Flooring
Here we’ve got a ton of different sorts of floors. What stands out to me is this:
We can’t see specific grain patterns
Color variation per plank reads most prominently
Depending on the age and style, the space between boards may be matte while the boards themselves have a satin to semi-gloss finish.
Wood Cabinets and Dressers
The importance of the grain in furniture and cabinetry depends on the style. The third photo is a good example of a piece that would want some time consuming hand graining because that look is just so classic. for most of them however, it’s the color variation that defines them. The sheen is also going to depend on style, with vintage things tending to be shiner and more modern looks leaning towards matte.
