# Wet Paint Smear: motion graphics style

> Wet paint text effect: thick glossy letters in yellow, vermilion and ultramarine bands on primed canvas. The cursor drags the paint into swirls and streaks that creep back into shape. Ideal as an interactive website hero title.

- Category: [Reactive Styles](https://aimotions.art/category/reactive-styles/)
- Also known as: paint smear hover, liquify cursor, smudge text effect, wet paint text, finger paint effect, oil paint drag, smear distortion
- Demo built with: WebGL · Energy: Lively · Background: Light bg
- Live demo: https://aimotions.art/styles/wet-paint-smear/
- Spanish version: https://aimotions.art/es/estilos/wet-paint-smear/

## Prompt (replace [TEXT] with your text)

```text
Paint [TEXT] in thick, glossy wet paint on off-white primed canvas, the letters loaded with diagonal bands of cadmium yellow, vermilion and ultramarine with a fine bristle texture and wet highlights. At rest an invisible fingertip drifts slowly across the word, softly dragging a little paint along its path. On hover the pointer becomes a finger in the paint: everything under it is dragged along the stroke, colors fold into marbled swirls, ridges stretch into long streaks, and where the paint is pulled thin the canvas weave shows through. A press dabs the paint outward in a ring. When left alone the smears slowly creep back until [TEXT] is crisp again after a few seconds. On touch screens the finger smears the paint the same way.
```

## Visual DNA

- Thick glossy paint letters in diagonal yellow, vermilion and ultramarine bands
- Fingertip drag: paint is pushed along the stroke into swirls and streaks
- Bristle ridges stretch into long streaks; thinned paint shows the canvas weave
- Wet specular highlights shift with every ridge
- Smears creep back to crisp letters over a few seconds; press dabs paint outward

The prompts are free to copy, adapt and use in personal and commercial projects, with no credit required. Republishing the collection or a substantial part of it (for example as another library or a dataset) requires written permission.

How to cite: Wet Paint Smear, aimotions, https://aimotions.art/styles/wet-paint-smear/