Perspective: An important principle of drawing, but also heavily used in paintings. Study one-point and two-point perspective. Learn to see the planes of an object and how it turns in space. This information will help your paintings to feel grounded, and will help you plot out the lighting within your scenes.
Step-by-Step Guide for Beginner Painters: How to Get Started
If you want to impress your friends or flex your skills, however, then it helps to learn basic things about painting. Today, we’re highlighting some of the most important things a complete beginner should know to start painting.
If you haven’t painted since fifth grade, then that’s okay! Paint and Sip LIVE welcomes guests with all levels of experience.
In fact, most guests have zero recent painting experience. They’re just looking for a fun night out with friends.
If you want to impress your friends or flex your skills, however, then it helps to learn basic things about painting.
Today, we’re highlighting some of the most important things a complete beginner should know to start painting.
Step 1) Picking a Medium
There are three main media for painting, including acrylics, oils, and watercolors.
Acrylics are the beginner’s choice. They’re easy to use and don’t require special supplies. They can work with mixed media works. They’re easy to clean up. And they’re affordable. Paint dries quickly and colors can darken, but acrylics are ideal for beginners.
Oils are what professional painters used. They’re more versatile. It’s what the masters used. It adds greater complexity to your work. They’re relatively easy to start using – but difficult to master.
Watercolors are the least beginner-friendly medium. You’re working with water, which can be messy. If you’ve tried acrylics and oils already and didn’t like the feel, then consider trying watercolors – but get ready to make mistakes.
If you’re starting to paint for the first time, start with acrylics or oils.
Step 2) Gather Supplies
We can ship a beginner painting kit to your address before any Paint and Sip LIVE painting party.
However, if you don’t want a beginner kit, then you’ll need the following basic supplies:
• An easel to hold your artwork
• A canvas (if painting with acrylics or oils) or paper (for watercolors)
• A palette and a palette knife for mixing colors
• Paper towels and a water cup (for cleaning)
Configure Your Creative Space
- Establish a well-lit and adequately ventilated workspace conducive to your creative process.
- Shield your workspace with a drop cloth or layers of newspaper to catch any paint drips or spills.
- Organize your materials efficiently within arm’s reach to foster a seamless workflow.
Grasp Essential Techniques
- Familiarize yourself with key acrylic painting techniques, including brushwork,blending and layering, dry brushing. Dedicate time to practice these techniques on a spare canvas or paper.
- Understand the rapid drying nature of acrylics. Employ a palette to extend paint usability and prevent premature drying.
- Delve into the captivating world of color mixing. Experiment with primary colors to produce a vast array of secondary and tertiary shades.
- Maintain a color mixing chart to catalogue your preferred color combinations for future reference.
Start Your Creative Journey
- Choose a straightforward subject or theme for your inaugural painting. Still lifes or landscapes with distinct shapes and colors are excellent starting points.
- Lightly sketch your chosen composition onto the canvas using a pencil or charcoal as your guide.
- Initiate the painting process by creating an underpainting that establishes the fundamental colors and shapes.
- Progress by layering and building upon your artwork, starting from the background and advancing towards the foreground.
- Fear not the prospect of making mistakes; acrylics are forgiving and permit paint layering once dry.
- Acrylics are celebrated for their versatility, inviting experimentation. Explore a spectrum of techniques, ranging from impasto to glazing, to yield distinct visual effects.
- Venture into the realm of texture by incorporating mediums like modeling paste or gels into your paint for added depth and intrigue.
Simplify
An important part of the painting process is learning how to simplify.
An important skill to develop and be mindful of is that of simplification. It’s the process of distilling complex information down into the most essential elements.
Beginning artists will frequently spend too much time on details when they should still be focusing on the big picture and broad strokes. Squint your eyes down when studying a subject, and note the broad values, main color relationships, and overall shapes you see. Instead of painting every tree and leaf in a forest, can you suggest that detail with a few simple strokes? Learning how to make those decisions will help with your painting efficiency and allow you to better focus the viewer’s eye.
Notice how I grouped the values to create the greatest contrast in the midground. That’s my focal point for this piece.
Always Self-Critique
Learn how to give yourself effective feedback to improve your own work.
An important step when you finish a piece is to analyze what went well and where you could make improvements. As you do this more and more, you’ll develop your critical eye and be able to catch potential problems earlier, or at least give yourself something to work on next time around.
Getting critical objective feedback from outside sources is incredibly valuable, but that’s not always available. Having that self-critique tool on hand will allow you to push yourself in positive ways.
When critiquing your work, analyze the following aspects individually: values, colors, edges, composition, etc. If an aspect stands out, ask yourself what could you do to improve upon it? Or if you don’t know how to fix it in your current painting, make note to pay attention to that particular aspect in your next painting and try and approach it differently. Having a fresh perspective or awareness when working on your next piece can help you identify more efficient ways to deal with the problem.
The purpose of the self-critique is not to beat yourself up. Go back to Step 2 and remind yourself that your goal is to help yourself improve. Objective feedback from yourself or others is an important part of the process.
The purpose of the self-critique is not to beat yourself up. Go back to Step 2 and remind yourself that your goal is to help yourself improve. Objective feedback from yourself or others is an important part of the process.
These steps just scratch the surface and are by no means a mandatory path when it comes to exploring the art of painting. Painting is a very fun and creative process where you can get into the fun of storytelling through expressive imagery. Remember that it’s within your grasp to develop these skills and don’t let anyone (including yourself) put out that spark.
A Final Note on Tools
The steps and principles I mentioned above apply to any painting medium. It doesn’t matter if you are painting digitally, or with a traditional medium (acrylics, oils, watercolors, or gouache). The basic principles of painting apply to all of these approaches.
If painting digitally, make sure you get a tablet that includes pressure sensitivity. The industry standard is a Wacom device, either an intuos tablet or cintiq display. There are other more affordable models starting to hit the scene, so explore your options. Recently the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate combo have been gaining momentum in the artist community.
Learn to capture the world around you!
The character, creature, environment, prop, and background designs that determine the look and feel of your favorite movies, TV shows, and games all probably started with a painting.
In Introduction to Digital Painting, you’ll learn to understand the basics of what makes a successful painting, to choose the right tools, and to apply these skills to your own interests and career path!
