Acrylic Arts

Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners

Acrylic paints are an extremely versatile paint medium.  Acrylics are fast-drying paints, can be thinned with water, or can be used straight from the tubes like oil paints.  Here are a few painting tips for beginner acrylic paint artists.

• If you would like to increase the flow of a color without losing the color strength, use a flow improver medium instead of water.
• Acrylic paints can be opaque or transparent.  If you apply them straight from the tube with very little water, or if you mix with a little white, all acrylic colors can be opaque.  If you dilute them they can be used like watercolors.
• When blending acrylic paints you will need to work fast because they dry very quickly.  If you are using paper to work on, you can dampen the paper to increase your working time.
• It is tricky to get masking fluid out of a brush, you could just use an old brush just for this purpose, or some artists recommend dipping a brush in washing-up liquid before you use masking fluid.  This will make it easier to wash out the brush.
• You can use acrylic paint as a glue for a collage.  You will need to use it in a thicker state and provided the item you are using isn’t to heavy.
• To create a hard edge on your painting you can use masking tape.  It can be put onto and removed from dried acrylic paint without damage to the existing layer.  This is an easy way to produce a hard or sharp edge.  Make sure you press the tape edges down tight. Do not paint thick edges over the tape, or it will not give you a clean straight edge when you remove it.
• If you want transparent glazes, you will need to build these up in thin layers, if you don’t a heavy layer will produce a glossy surface.
• Get in the habit of blotting your brushes on a paper towel or cloth after you rinse them.  This will prevent blotches on your painting from the water drops running down the ferrule of your brush.
• Here is a way to keep your acrylic paints workable.  Because acrylic paints dry so quickly, only squeeze a small amount out of the tube.  If you use a plastic palette, buy a spray bottle so you can spray a light mist over the paint to keep it moist.  Or you can use ‘stay wet’ palettes, they are covered palettes designed to keep acrylic paints moist and usable for days.  Stay wet palettes use a sponge-like material and specially designed permeable palette paper to keep the paint fresh.

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