There are 8 main types of brushes when painting with acrylics: Round, Pointed Round, Flat, Bright, Filbert, Angular Flat, Fan and Detail Round.
Painting for Beginners: How to Get Started
Painting for beginners and how to get started. We have made a collection of the basics you will need for your first painting. Don’t expect too much, but just enjoy yourself.
Traditional art has been around a lot longer than digital and it’s gonna be around for centuries to come. But something new always comes with a learning curve. You need to learn the materials, the techniques, and with oil you’ll need to learn how to work with canvases too. Thankfully there are tons of books out there tailor-made for beginners.
Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner
Based on the author’s successful courses and workshops, Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner really does start at the beginning, helping new painters find “what works” while providing information on all the necessary tools, tips, and techniques they’ll need to create a representational painting.
This unique book is a complete course in acrylic painting, built up from key techniques. As you progress through the sections of the book, the author demonstrates each technique with the creation of a mini painting, measuring 5-inches squared. So by the time you have worked right through to the end, you will have an amazing collection of 50 mini paintings—on board, paper, or canvas—that will be a testament to your skill and creativity.
How to Paint: A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Watercolors, Acrylics, and Oils
Start Painting Today! Covering the three most popular types of painting: watercolors, acrylics and oils, this comprehensive step-by-step guide provides basic information on materials and techniques as well as an exciting series of demonstrations aimed at complete beginners.
The unique approach of this book is so simple that the reader can start immediately on original and exciting projects. Each section has practical information on materials and equipment and includes a gallery of work by various artists to inspire the beginner. The projects cover all types of subjects, including landscapes, still life, people, flowers, animals and buildings.
Acrylic
Acrylic is a very versatile, durable, and forgiving medium. Acrylics can be used thinly, like watercolor, or more thickly, like oil paint. They dry fast and can be painted over easily. They are water-soluble, requiring only water to thin the paint and, along with soap, to clean the brushes.
There is a wide range of acrylic mediums for different effects. For example, if you want a slower drying time you can add a retarding medium to the paint, for thicker paint, add a gel.
There are different grades of paint for students or for professional artists. Professional grade paints contain more pigment, but student grade is fine to start out with and easier on your budget.
- “Painting with Acrylic for the Beginner”
Watercolor
Watercolor is also a good place to start if you are new to painting and perhaps less of an investment. Buy a set of watercolor pans, or some tubes of color to get started. You can choose whether or not to use white with watercolor. Traditionally the white of the watercolor paper serves as the lightest light in your composition when you use transparent watercolor and you work from light to dark.
- “Watercolor Painting Tips for Beginners”
Gouache
Gouache paint is an opaque watercolor and allows you to work from dark to light on a light surface as you would with acrylic paint. You can also mix Chinese White with watercolors to make the colors opaque.
You can buy both transparent and opaque watercolors with:
- Grumbacher Transparent Watercolor Set, 24 Colors & Brush
- Grumbacher Opaque Watercolor Set, 24 Colors & Brush
- “Gouache for Beginners” by David Halliwell of the Westhoughton Art Group
- “Painting in Gouache,” an informative article by gouache artist, Ralph Parker
What Techniques Do I Need to Learn?
Now that we’ve talked through the items you need for acrylic painting, let’s talk about the mediums you can potentially paint on: canvas, wood or fabrics. For beginners, the easiest medium is canvas – buy a 16″x20″ canvas that that doesn’t require pre-treatment. If you choose to go with a canvas, grab an easel so you can paint comfortably while you sit.
Color Mixing
We’ll provide you with some quick color mixing tips, but a lot of it has to do with experimentation.
1) Don’t use black to make colors dark – adding black paint typically leads to colors being more cloudy and muddied.
2) A touch of white or a lighter version of the color you are using will add a differentiated hue to the color. Adding the color white to any color will help with hue and opacity as well.
3) Make your blues deeper in color by adding – red to it. Who knew?!
Now we’ll go over some painting techniques.
Dabbing
Dabbing is similar to taking a web sponge and putting it onto a canvas. It is a commonly used technique that creates a unique texture. We used the splatter technique to create the backdrop for our Lovebirds At Dusk painting
Drybrush
When you take a completely dry brush, put some paint on it and then apply it to a canvas you will create a strong color on the canvas. The lines will be rigid and uneven because there is no water to smooth it out. The dry-brush technique leads to a unique look with jagged edges.
Washing
The perfect technique when you want to see texture – dilute the paint with water and it’ll set with the texture applied.
Stippling
This technique allows you to create smaller dots. Dip your paintbrush into the color, hold it perpendicular to the surface, and then touch the tip of the paintbrush to the surface several times. Keep repeating as long as needed.
No Matter What Keep Having Fun
It’s fine if the painting isn’t perfect – it’s yours! Have fun, relax and create something.
For a live demo, check out the video tutorial above – it has some of the techniques we covered and shows you how to use all the materials.
General FAQ
◄What do I need to start painting? The following items are needed to get started with acrylic painting: acrylic paints, paintbrushes, canvas, thick paper palette, cup of water, easel or table to set canvas on. ◄What type of paint is best for beginners?
Acrylic paints are the best to start since they dry easily, easy to mix, and easy to clean up. Oils take a longer amount of time to dry and are not as easy to apply.
◄What colors do I need to get started with acrylic painting? We recommended starting out with small amounts of basic colors which include the following: White, Black, Red, Yellow and Blue. These basic colors can be mixed to create varying hues and additional colors. ◄What types of paintbrushes do I need for acrylic painting? We recommend that you buy the following synthetic brushes to get started Round 1, Round 6, Filbert 8 and Flat 12. These brushes can be used to carry out most acrylic painting techniques.
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- Acrylic Painting Techniques
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