Robust Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners

Are you a newbie looking to explore the acrylic world? Acrylic paints are an excellent medium for beginning painters. They are easy to use after you've gotten used to the rapid drying times and much quicker to clean up than oil paints.

In fact, it is recommended that anyone interested in learning to paint, must begin with acrylic paints, and then go to oils or watercolors.

The fundamental principles of painting apply to all mediums. The fundamental distinction is in the approaches employed.

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed when you first start, this article has you covered. Continue reading to become acquainted with acrylics and to learn some useful tips and tricks.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What are Acrylic Paints Exactly?
• Painting Tips for Acrylic Beginners
• Additional Tips While Painting with Acrylics
• FAQs
• Summing Up

What are Acrylic Paints Exactly?

Water-based acrylic paint is made up of pigment particles suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Any acrylic paint has three major components: pigment, binder, and vehicle.

Pigments are granular particles that give the paint its color. They are ground to very fine particles that do not dissolve but remain suspended in the paint. Organic, inorganic, natural, and synthetic pigments are all possible.

They have little to no affinity for the surface they are applied on.

A binder is a material that holds the pigment in place after the paint has dried. Acrylic paint's binder is an acrylic polymer, which creates a film once the water has evaporated.

The term "vehicle" refers to the portion of the paint that contains the pigment and binder. Water is the carrier for water-based acrylic, which when coupled with the binder results in a polymer emulsion.

The paint dries when the water in the system evaporates or absorbs, leaving a stable transparent polymer layer full of trapped colorful pigment particles.

The most remarkable painters that only paint with acrylics. Of course, as a newbie, you'll need some pointers, which is why this page exists.

The Specialty of Acrylic Paints

• They dry rapidly (Ten to twelve minutes for thin applications, longer for thick applications)
• They can flex
• When they are wet, you may clean them with water.
• They're also permanent once dried.
• They are available in a variety of consistencies and shapes to meet your needs. They adhere to practically any surface.
• They work in a variety of styles and techniques, ranging from experimental applications to classic painting approaches.
• They have a mild odor, no fumes, and are non-flammable.
• You may influence their personality by using media.

Painting Tips for Acrylic Beginners

Want to try your hand at acrylic painting but don't know where to begin? Or perhaps you've already begun painting and simply need a few suggestions.

Acrylics are ideal for beginning artists. They are quite simple to use, dry rapidly, and are less expensive to purchase than oils or watercolors.

A few basic acrylic painting techniques can help you get started and enjoy the creative process.

You may also like this:

• Everything You Need to Know About Acrylic Paint
• How To Use Acrylic Paint?
• Acrylic Painting For Beginners - Things To Get

Tip 1: Choose and Plan the Right Strokes

In contrast to oil painting, you only have a limited amount of time for the paint on your canvas to be wet and receptive. Acrylic paint dries quickly, so you don't have much time to experiment with it.

However, this has the advantage of allowing you to swiftly paint layer upon layer.

The goal here is to make sure that each of your strokes is deliberate and decisive. Because you don't have as much freedom as you have with oil painting, each stroke must be counted.

If you're still having trouble with the quick-drying period of acrylic paint, you might want to consider combining it with a medium to reduce the drying process.

Tip 2: Work Well with Mixing Your Colours

Have you ever viewed videos of expert painters at work? They appear to spend more time blending colors on their palettes than painting. This is because color mixing is one of the most distinguishing features of the painting.

Be as confident as you can about the color before applying the brush to the canvas. Use your palette for color mixing and experimentation, not your canvas.

Unlike oil paints, you don't have time to experiment with the paint on the canvas since it dries quickly.

Tip 3: Paint with Artist Quality Materials

While your budget may be tight, investing in high-quality products will save you money in the long term.

They will not decay, and your completed artwork will be of much superior quality as a result. If you want to sell your paintings, this is a must-have.

Look for the designation 'Artist Quality,' not 'Student Quality.'

If you have a limited budget, you should start with high-quality paintbrushes. The remainder would be used to purchase artist-quality paints and canvas. To save money on paint, I recommend learning how to paint using only five colors: red, blue, yellow, white, and burnt umber.

Tip 4: Take Good Care of Your Art Materials and Tools

If you don't clean your paint brushes correctly between sessions, they will degrade quickly.

Now I see that spending half an hour gently cleaning each brush after the painting is impractical, especially if you paint frequently. Place the tips of your brushes in a basin of water, lying as flat as possible without drowning the entire brush. You don't want the bristles to bunch up.

When you're ready to paint again in a few days, simply take them out of the water, pat them dry with a cloth, and you're ready to go.

Tip 4: Prepare to Stain Your Canvas

Painting on a stained canvas is much simpler for me than painting on a stark white canvas. The stain should be quite toned; you don't want a stain that is too bright and brilliant.

In general, you can take some yellow ochre, soften it down by combining it with blue, and then wash it all over the canvas with a lot of water.

The stained canvas will aid you in judging your painting's values and tones. It will also help paint your dark values on the canvas simpler. It can be very difficult to paint the dark areas in your painting directly on a white canvas.

If you want to save time, stain many canvases at the same time.

Tip 5: Try Upsizing Your Brush Size

Using huge brushes does several things: it improves your brushwork economy, forces you to think about your strokes, and makes it easier to cover a canvas.

Many beginning artists believe that using smaller brushes would result in more realistic and delicate paintings. Even the great master realism painters, however, used brushes that were far bigger than you would imagine.

Tip 6: Use a Graphite Pencil Draw out Your Artwork

Artists will frequently use a graphite pencil to draw out their composition on a painting. We recommend using HB graphite because it is lighter and will not show through as much in the finished painting.

It is critical to push softly so that it does not show through the paint or produce a scratch on the canvas. Before you begin painting, draw in your image or add guidelines with light, soft strokes.

Tip 7: Use a Palette Knife to Apply Impasto Techniques

Impasto is a painting technique in which thick layers of paint are applied to a surface. If you want to achieve this effect using acrylic paint, use heavy-bodied acrylic paint like our Dimension range and a palette knife.

Alternatively, you may thicken standard acrylics using impasto paste, such as our Acrylic Colour or Satin Acrylics.

To achieve a variety of effects, experiment with varied quantities of paint and pressure. Don't be afraid to experiment on paper, a canvas pad, or a canvas panel before creating your final artwork. This will assist you in discovering new ideas and maybe a lot of fun.

Tip 8: Use Varnish to Provide a Consistent Finish

Did you realize that not all acrylic paints are created equal? Acrylic paintings do not need to be varnished, but if you find varied finishes in your painting, you may want to apply a water-based varnish to make it more uniform.

These are available at your local hardware shop in high-gloss, gloss, satin, and matte finishes. Varnishing your artwork will also provide further protection against moisture and dust.

People frequently ask us if they can use our gloss and matte media to get a consistent finish on their paintings. The answer is true, but it dries rapidly, which might damage the finish of your painting.

This is because if you don't distribute it quickly enough on your artwork and the brush runs back over-drying layers, it can create a harsh texture. As a result, you'll need to use a wide brush and paint fast and in wide strokes down your canvas.

Since of their quick-drying period, our gloss and matte mediums are more suited for tiny artworks because they can be applied to the canvas more quickly.

Additional Tips While Painting with Acrylics

Acrylics must never be diluted with more than a quarter of a cup of water. Why? Too much water will disturb the equilibrium and distribute the acrylic polymer too thinly. This prevents the molecules from properly reconnecting to create a stable film.

Instead, dilute with acrylic medium, which is practically the same as paint but without the color pigment. You're adding more acrylic-water emulsion this way to keep the recipe and film stable.

An acrylic-water emulsion has a somewhat milky look while wet and becomes clear as it dries. This milkiness lightens the color's value somewhat.

The value of the color darkens as water exits the emulsion and the binder clarifies. This color shift is known as the wet-to-dry color shift. It is most evident with dark transparent pigments such as alizarin and less obvious with light opaque pigments such as cadmium yellow.

Use some good acrylic resins available for Liquitex materials to get the finest wet clarity possible.

Acrylic paint films are sensitive to extreme cold, therefore avoid rolling, unrolling, or flexing acrylic paintings at temps below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, as they will become more brittle.

FAQs

Do you dampen your brush before applying acrylic paint?

Keep your brushes wet when painting to prevent paint from drying in them. Use a small layer of water in one container to keep the brushes moist without wetting the handles (which will cause the lacquer to peel off) and another container to clean the brushes between colors.

How to paint without brush strokes in acrylic?

• Begin with a smooth panel that has been pre-gessoed or apply your gesso and wet sand between applications.
• Use a soft brush, such as a synthetic squirrel tail.
• Instead of heavier body paints, try Golden fluid acrylics.
• Opaque colors, rather than clear, should be used.

Why isn't the surface of my acrylic paint smooth?

Drying times for paint might result in a rough finish. A longer drying time is advantageous if you want a smooth finish since it allows you more time to work.

Since fluid acrylics dry slower than heavier-bodied acrylics, this should not be an issue.

Summing Up

Learning to paint with acrylics may be a productive and enjoyable experience. However, the voyage (particularly at the beginning) might be daunting. There may appear to be a plethora of things to study and master.

Whatever got you here today, one thing stays constant: It is never that hard once you start and practice. Mastering acrylic painting is a wonderful journey and giving up is not an option especially with the tips mentioned above.

Go ahead and get painting while you also share this article with your fellow painters and friends.