Basics of Acrylic Painting

Paints & Mediums

Anyone can learn to paint, in any medium, Acrylics, Oils or Watercolor. But, first of all, you must have the desire to learn: about the medium, about color, about how to actually “see” what you’re looking at and then learn how to translate that onto a canvas or other surface.

With a little help from a teacher or other artist and some practice, you will learn about composition, color-mixing, values from light to dark and simplified perspective and proportion.  All of these are important to a successful painting but the best way to learn is little by little, as you paint an actual subject.

And, although drawing isn’t absolutely necessary to be able to paint (at least in the beginning), drawing and sketching from life will greatly improve your abiliity to “see” everything around you.  Look for basic forms such  as cone, cylinder, sphere & cube in all that you see.  Keep a sketch book with you, draw what is around you and date your drawings so that you can see your progress.

I promise you that once you start really “seeing”  and begin translating that to paint on a canvas, you will never again look at the world in the same way.  It’s just so exciting to be able to recreate all the colors, forms and dimensions of nature!

So,  here is a beginning to help you get started!!

Basic Paints to Get Started

My favorite paint brand is Liquitex.  Altho I also use some of the store brands like Artist’s Loft (Michael’s).  When you’re starting out, you can buy single tubes of  paints,  or purchase a starter set of 6 or as many as you want.
I also use some craft paints in bottles to supplement my palette.

Basic palette of tube  colors I use are: Titanium White, Mars Black, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Sap Green, Thalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson (or Magenta), Dioxazine Purple  (or any deep purple).

Bottle Colors:  White, Black, Thicket Green (DecoArt), Orange, Bright Pink, Cad  Yellow Light, & Christmas red.  DecoArt is a good quality bottle acrylic (not too thin or watered down).  The bottled acrylics are mostly used in mixing specific colors.

Mediums

In general, Mediums refer to products that are added to acrylic paint to change its basic characteristics like slow the drying time, make the paint more liquid so it flows better, make the paint thicker for impasto (built up textures) work, or to glaze over a previously painted & dry element.

Slo-Dri , Flow Aid and glazing medium are products all the major paint companies manufacture.  I use Floetrol by Flood (Home Depot or Lowe’s) for most of this because I also use it in paint pouring and always have it on hand.  All of these additives must be added very carefully  to keep from thinning the paint too much (more about that when we discuss techniques of painting.

For texture mediums, there are many on the market of all different consistencies and with other additives like sand, glitter, etc.  I sometimes use painter’s Spackle (Home Depot) for this and add my own texturizing materials.

There is one more Category  to discuss and that is Finishes (to protect and preserve the finished painting.  I use Minwax Polycrylic (matte, satin, semi-gloss, & gloss).  I’ve tried others & find that the Polycrylic flows on nicely without brush strokes and gives a beautiful finish.

Other Tools & Products

Gesso is also a helpful product.  This can be used to coat & recoat a canvas before painting.  Most canvases that are purchased, have a very light coat of gesso  on them, but they will provide a better painting surface with another coat of gesso applied.  Gesso may also be used instead of white acrylic, for mixing color tints

Also needed when painting are the simple items such as table covering, palette for putting your paint on (I use styrofoam plates mostly but  you can also get tear off sheets of palette paper.  Paper towels, graphite paper (comes in black, gray & white), chalk pencil, chalk, ruler, eraser will also be needed. 

One other useful tool is a Color Wheel.  These can be purchased for around $5 or $6.  This tool will help you in selection of colors, what colors to mix with what and the end result.

Brushes & Strokes

Let’s start this off by saying, there’s an old artist’s adage:          “Start with a broom, finish with a needle”      Basically that means to use the right size brush for whatever you’re painting –background, block-in, shadows/highlight, finish detail.  It also means to use the right type of brush for what you’re painting.  These include  sketching & blocking in a design,  creating textures – whether rough or smooth, or finish strokes – grass, twigs, facial features.

Types of Brushes

White Bristle (stiff Hog bristles)

     Flat (also brights – shorter bristle)
     Filbert (like a flat but with rounded corners
     Round 
     Fan (there are also soft bristled fans but these stiff ones are all I use)

All of these are durable brushes and are used when blocking in or scumbling for background or to create particular textures.   The filberts are good for backgrounds & clouds.
The stiff fan brush can be used to create grass (by “jabbing” up), foliage and some background textures.  Using the corner of the brush prevents the appearance of curved “fan” shapes.
Rounds are good for certain leaf forms & sketching in design prior to painting.

Synthetics (primarily Golden Taklon)

      I like most of the golden Taklon brushes that are on the market and are good for Acrylic painting.  The best brushes have good edges with “snap”,  good tips and holds  up well with proper cleaning.  Brushes have come down in price from what they were just a few years ago.
     Flat        (also Brights – shorter bristle)
     Filbert     (like the Flat only w/ rounded corners)   Create flower petals,  leaves, clouds,  other soft shapes.
     Round   ( Use the tip to draw with, create leaves, grasses, some flower petals
     Liner (a script liner has very long, skinny bristles.  It may be known as a “rigger” from watercolor.    Because of its very long bristles, this brush holds more paint, thus allowing it to pull long lines or write your name and any other fine detail
     Detail   (a very tiny round brush but with short bristles)  This is for tiny details like shine marks in eyes or other detail that doesn’t require long lines
     Fan  (these are too soft  to do much of anything except blend or possibly create soft fur or hair texture

 

CAMEL HAIR BRUSHES ARE BASICALLY CRAFT BRUSHES AND ARE TOO SOFT FOR PAINTING

Brush Cleaning

Because acrylic paints are quick drying, brushes should be frequently rinsed in clean water & blotted on flat paper towels.  At the end of the painting session, wash the brushes with soap and rinse until there is NO visible paint in the bristles and the rinse water is running clear.  Reshape the brushes back to their original shapes.  To aid in this, you may leave a  bit of bar soap in the bristles to hold their shape.  Your brushes will only work if you keep the tips & edges  in good shape.

Old scrubby brushes may be kept as they can be useful for creating texture.  You only need 1 or 2. Ha!

Painting Technique Glossary

For me, Acrylic paints are the most versatile of all mediums , especially for beginners.  They can be used in an Opaque method just like Oils.  They can be used in a Transparent method like watercolors.  Mistakes can be painted over & new paint applied with no adverse effects. 

Consistencies range from very thick like oils to very thin (ink-like) as in bottled craft paints and acrylic inks.  Various substances may be added to vary the thickness depending on the desired application.

Acrylics - Pros & Cons

Pros

  1. Easily diluted with water – no need for  special thinners
  2. Brushes & tools can be cleaned with soap & water
  3. Fast drying – no waiting between applications or layers
  4. Can be painted on any surface (with proper Prep): Canvas, paper, wood (even furniture), glass, plaster (walls & ceilings too)
  5. Colors change very little as they dry (small amount darker) so color mixing is easier
  6. Washes out of clothes while wet, with soap & water
  7. No solvent smell

Cons

  1. Because of the fast drying time, can be a little more difficult to blend  until you get some experience
  2. Must keep brushes MOIST as you are painting.  Clean brushes immediately when done
  3. Once paint is dry on clothing, furniture & carpets, it won’t come out so wear paint clothes and cover furniture & carpet with drop cloths
  4. Don’t leave tops off tubes & bottles as the paint inside will dry

The Techniques - Transparent & Liquid

  1. Washes –  Use for undercolor on canvas before beginning a  painting.
    Use  to paint in Watercolor manner – even layering but remember, Acrylics won’t LIFT like Watercolors
  2. Flowing & Pouring – Paints thinned with various mediums, layered & poured out onto surface 
  3. Detailing – use with liner or script brusb

Techniques - Opaque

  1. Dry Brush: Brush is DRY & has very little paint on it & is dragged over a dry base to create texture.  Tree bark, stones, background textures
  2. Scumble:  Again, over a dry base. Using side of a filbert to lightly layer 1 color over another dry color. Background trees & foliage, modeling for surfaces.
  3. Stipple: to use a stencil  brush in an up & down motion (a stencil brush is a round brush w/ flat end bristles.
  4. Sponge: to use a sea sponge in a dabbing kind of motion, with light pressure.  Works for foliage, rock, clouds.
  5. Dabbing:  similar to sponging but using a wadded-up rag or paper towel with light pressue.
  6. Impasto:  Adding modeling paste to paint and applying with brush or palette knife to create thick teztures.
  7. Palette knife:  apply strokes of any thickness of paint with the side or flat of the palette knife to create varying textures.
  8. Detailing: Adding  strokes for highlights & final finishes (like light in an eye)