Art & Art Tutorials
Painting With Acrylics Tutorial
Intro
Getting started painting with acrylics is real easy. All you need is some paint, some brushes and something to paint on. Oh, and not to forget; a well lit room unless you plan to paint outside. Whether you paint using a table or a painting stand is a matter of taste. Just pick the one you find most comfortable, and is most suitable for the place where you intend to work. But before you leap into the thing I will go through some stuff important knowing when painting with acrylics. Read on.
Brushes and Paint
Compared to oils, acrylic paint is relatively cheap and you can make just as great paintings using acrylics as you can with oils. They come in tons of different colors and qualities in both tubes and small cans. As with many others things high quality paint is a bit more expensive but is well worth the extra bucks. Be sure to buy paint with a high level of lightfastness so the colors dont faint over time. Compared to oil paint acrylic paint dry faster. Much faster. If you like working fast this is no problem, but if you wish to dwell over your painting or take small breaks from time to time, you might want to mix your paint with something called retarder. Retarder is a colorless transparent substance you mix with your colors so they don't dry so fast. It doesn't alter the color in any way and allows you to paint wet-in-wet. Wet-in-wet is a great painting technique for making smooth color transitions and in that respect retarder is invaluable. Retarder can be bought in most art stores and comes in tubes and smaller cans.
Brushes come in various sizes from very small like 000 brushes for fine and detailed work, to rather large sized brushes. There are both brushes with natural hair bristles and synthetic hair bristles and they both work well and last a long time. Of course brushes made with bristles of natural hair are more expensive as they last longer and keep the bristles in place for a longer time. Be sure to buy some good brushes even if they are more expensive. In the long run it'll save you some money. Finally, brushes can have both flat and pointed tips. Pointed tip brushes are ideal for detailed work while flat brushes are more suitable for painting larger areas. I suggest you buy both types.
Paper, Canvas or Art Board?
What you decide to paint on is, again, a matter of taste and what appeals to you, and of course what you are willing to spend. Art boards and canvasses can be bought in various sizes and many of them are already basecoated so you can get started painting quickly. Art boards are usually cheaper to buy than canvasses and are simply a rigid boards wrapped in canvas. If you wish to paint on traditional canvasses, you can either make them yourself or buy some ready to be painted on. You can also choose to paint on paper made specifically for acrylics painting. They come in pads with several sheets in numerous sizes as well. My painting "15 Messengers" was done on A3 sized 340gms acidfree paper. If you choose paper it's important that you buy an acidfree type so the sheets don't turn yellowish over time. One more thing. Canvasses have a more structured surface which will often show when you're looking at them at a close range. Paper has a much smoother surface.
Palettes And Cleaning Brushes
Naturally you'll need a palette to mix those colors and you can choose a classic wooden palette with a hole for your thumb or you can choose a pad with many sheets of expendable paper palettes. I use the latter so I don't have to do alot of cleaning once I'm done painting. It's nice and easy and works excellently. Infact you can use anything to mix your colors as long as it doesn't ruin your paint or suck it up and dry it.
As far as cleaning brushes goes; DO NOT FORGET IT! Even though acrylic paint is water based it will most likely ruin your brushes altogether if you forget to clean them properly. Once the paint has dried up there is no turning back so please remember to do it. To clean brushes used for acrylics painting simply use water.
The last few words
That's it for this tutorial. I hope it has equipped you with enough information to avoid the most common pitfalls when starting out painting with acrylics. And with these words the only thing left to say is;
Happy painting!
Have comments, suggestions or critique? Sign up and share it here!
Getting started painting with acrylics is real easy. All you need is some paint, some brushes and something to paint on. Oh, and not to forget; a well lit room unless you plan to paint outside. Whether you paint using a table or a painting stand is a matter of taste. Just pick the one you find most comfortable, and is most suitable for the place where you intend to work. But before you leap into the thing I will go through some stuff important knowing when painting with acrylics. Read on.
Brushes and Paint
Compared to oils, acrylic paint is relatively cheap and you can make just as great paintings using acrylics as you can with oils. They come in tons of different colors and qualities in both tubes and small cans. As with many others things high quality paint is a bit more expensive but is well worth the extra bucks. Be sure to buy paint with a high level of lightfastness so the colors dont faint over time. Compared to oil paint acrylic paint dry faster. Much faster. If you like working fast this is no problem, but if you wish to dwell over your painting or take small breaks from time to time, you might want to mix your paint with something called retarder. Retarder is a colorless transparent substance you mix with your colors so they don't dry so fast. It doesn't alter the color in any way and allows you to paint wet-in-wet. Wet-in-wet is a great painting technique for making smooth color transitions and in that respect retarder is invaluable. Retarder can be bought in most art stores and comes in tubes and smaller cans.Brushes come in various sizes from very small like 000 brushes for fine and detailed work, to rather large sized brushes. There are both brushes with natural hair bristles and synthetic hair bristles and they both work well and last a long time. Of course brushes made with bristles of natural hair are more expensive as they last longer and keep the bristles in place for a longer time. Be sure to buy some good brushes even if they are more expensive. In the long run it'll save you some money. Finally, brushes can have both flat and pointed tips. Pointed tip brushes are ideal for detailed work while flat brushes are more suitable for painting larger areas. I suggest you buy both types.
Paper, Canvas or Art Board?
What you decide to paint on is, again, a matter of taste and what appeals to you, and of course what you are willing to spend. Art boards and canvasses can be bought in various sizes and many of them are already basecoated so you can get started painting quickly. Art boards are usually cheaper to buy than canvasses and are simply a rigid boards wrapped in canvas. If you wish to paint on traditional canvasses, you can either make them yourself or buy some ready to be painted on. You can also choose to paint on paper made specifically for acrylics painting. They come in pads with several sheets in numerous sizes as well. My painting "15 Messengers" was done on A3 sized 340gms acidfree paper. If you choose paper it's important that you buy an acidfree type so the sheets don't turn yellowish over time. One more thing. Canvasses have a more structured surface which will often show when you're looking at them at a close range. Paper has a much smoother surface.
Palettes And Cleaning Brushes
Naturally you'll need a palette to mix those colors and you can choose a classic wooden palette with a hole for your thumb or you can choose a pad with many sheets of expendable paper palettes. I use the latter so I don't have to do alot of cleaning once I'm done painting. It's nice and easy and works excellently. Infact you can use anything to mix your colors as long as it doesn't ruin your paint or suck it up and dry it.
As far as cleaning brushes goes; DO NOT FORGET IT! Even though acrylic paint is water based it will most likely ruin your brushes altogether if you forget to clean them properly. Once the paint has dried up there is no turning back so please remember to do it. To clean brushes used for acrylics painting simply use water.
The last few words
That's it for this tutorial. I hope it has equipped you with enough information to avoid the most common pitfalls when starting out painting with acrylics. And with these words the only thing left to say is;
Happy painting!
Wait, there's more!
Have comments, suggestions or critique? Sign up and share it here!