If questions like: How do I use Acrylic Paint? Or How to start painting with Acrylics? Has crossed your mind, then this article is just for you!
Contents of Discussion
This article is aimed towards people who want to start acrylic painting and also happen to be beginners at art. We will discuss the minimal and inexpensive supplies you’ll need to get started while also not delving too deep into it, so you can back out without regrets. Other than supplies we’ll be discussing some tips regarding acrylics that will allow you to understand the medium better.
What is Acrylic Paint?
Let’s start with talking briefly about the medium in question. Acrylic paint is a water-based painting medium famous for its versatility. It is made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion. It is a fast drying medium, resilient and flexible, able to paint over any and all kinds of surfaces that are oil and wax free e.g. Wood. It is typically non-toxic and odorless. When dry it turns stiff and water-resistant.
The distinctive features of Acrylics that you should know when using it are briefly discussed below.
- It dries very quickly. The drying time relies on several factors such as temperature and humidity. So when working with Acrylics, it’s better to work in layers than alla prima. ( Alla prima is known as direct painting on wet-on-wet paint, instead of letting the previous layers dry.) It can sometimes be very frustrating how quickly the paint dries, because you haven’t blended the colors properly on your first layer.
- Some Acrylic Paints are commonly known to appear darker after drying, so keep that in mind as you paint.
- Acrylic paints also tend to finish off with a near plastic layer if you use too much paint. This also helps as they become water-resistant upon drying.
- They can be used to give various textures. Add more water to give it a texture akin to watercolor paints, use a medium to give it a texture akin to oil paints.
- They’re easier to clean from unwanted spaces or hands by peeling them off or washing with water and soap.
- They can be used in mixed media artworks and are suitable for beginners
Acrylic paints are safe and resilient to use on almost any and every surface that is grease and dust-free. These include but aren’t limited to canvas, paper, boards, wood, fabric, cement, glass, brick, pottery and walls.
Taking these surfaces into consideration, you should have your own surface ready, I would personally suggest you stick to a canvas and explore other surfaces as you become more familiar with acrylics.
Since it’s your first time trying acrylic painting, I would suggest buying small tubes or packaging of the paints, and not buying too many colors, having the primary colors should be a good start. A color palette of red, yellow, blue, white and black can take you very far. However you don’t have to stick with these colors, if the paintings you’re planning to create have other colors then you can simply buy the paints depending on your requirements. This is also why you should decide on a painting idea before buying any supplies, so you know exactly which colors to get. Getting them in small quantities allows you to not have any regrets later, if you couldn’t adjust to the medium.
If you’re interested in painting but don’t have a clear idea of what to paint yet, why not go through my blog created just for you? 7 Easy Canvas Painting Ideas for Beginners !
Brushes
Brushes are essential for every painter. Having a nice selection of brushes works well regardless of which medium you’re working with. For acrylic painting, I would suggest having two major brushes, a round brush and a flat brush. You can get one of each or two of each in varying sizes according to the size of canvas you’re planning to work with. Normally an experienced artist keeps a variety of brushes to help in adding various brushstrokes to their pieces, but to begin with, these two are good enough for all kinds of painting.
I do suggest that if you intend on making very detailed paintings, you get a liner brush for the minute strokes, and that if you intend on working on larger pieces, get a larger brush like a mop brush.
But don’t get too many different brushes at once, I speak from experience. Even for some professional artists out there, by the time we’re used to the paint we have our comfort brushes which we just love to use. At that point, other brushes don’t really work for us, we get comfortable using those selected brushes. So having a variety of brushes may not be a good idea for those just starting off.
Extra Things to Have By Your Side When Painting
Not for drinking! It’s best to have water in either a bowl or a cup. Having two containers for water is better, as you can wet your brushes in one container before starting and then rinse them in the other to ensure the brushes don’t have residue paint before you go back to work on your painting.
When your brush has too much water, having a cloth to dry it is a great way to save time. Similarly if you make any mistake on your canvas having tissues at the ready is really helpful in preventing the mess from getting worse. Not to mention if the paint accidentally gets on your clothes or hands, having something to wipe it is convenient.
This isn’t a compulsory item but it's useful to have. It’s used for mixing paints, as doing that with a paintbrush damages the paintbrush and makes it clogged with paint that doesn’t wash out easily and dries quickly, stiffening some strand of the brush.
However, if you don’t want to get a palette knife, you can use other replacements like the back tip of an old pen or pencil. Since it’s wood, the paint will stick to it, so using the thin tip of an old metal spoon or fork would work as well. At the end of the day we just need something to mix the paint colors.
As we just mentioned mixing colors, you must’ve thought about where the mixing will occur.
On the surface you’re painting on? Not suggesting that at all! I’ve seen many videos of artists mixing their paints on the canvas itself, but that requires a lot of experience and knowing the exact quantity of paint needed to acquire that certain shade in the certain amount you want, and then to use it in it’s required areas without the paint drying the whole time.
And that’s a lot of work for someone just starting out and things might turn out messy and uneven if the paint starts drying before you can evenly spread it. So long story short: Get a Painting Palette!
Common palette materials include but are not limited to : Plastic, Metal and Porcelain. I would suggest the cheapest and most common option which is : Plastic! But if you want to go with either of the others go ahead.
And if you find yourself not wanting to spend money on these, there are several household object replacements for these. The easiest is to use a transparent cling wrap, which you normally use for wrapping sandwiches. You can place it over your table or any flat object and make sure its placed smoothly and is nicely clinging to the surface, and then pour paint over it for mixing or simply assessing quantities. Once you’re done, you can take off the cling and throw it in the bin. It’s an easy and convenient fix for beginners who don’t want to delve too deep into painting.
However, if you decide to get more information on Paint Palettes, be sure to check out my upcoming blog solely on Paint Palettes!
After Painting
After you’re done with acrylic painting you can consider using a varnish to seal it, but it is not necessary for acrylics as they have a water-resistant finish. You should make haste in cleaning the brushes thoroughly before the paint dries on them. All you need to clean the brushes is water, as the paint is water-based. Rubbing them gently while submerged in water is a method that works well in extracting all residue paint. Cleaning the brushes comes first, you can clean your hands after that, because the paint can be washed off easily with soap and water. However using soap on the brushes can be somewhat damaging to their strands so I would suggest you to not use soap when cleaning brushes.
And with that you’re done with all you need to know before painting with Acrylics!
Conclusion
Acrylic painting is a great medium to start painting with and it has some distinctive features which sets it apart from other mediums. Acrylic painting also requires minimal materials to work with, it doesn’t require oil like in oil painting and nor does it require turpentine or white spirit for cleaning brushes.
I hope that your journey with Acrylic Painting doesn’t end too soon and that you find the freedom and joy that painting is meant to give to the artist! In case you lack the inspiration to paint, check out my blog on Acrylic painting for beginners!
Thank you for reading and I hope you check out my other blogs!
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