Tips for Painting with Acrylics

Acrylic painting is a great way of beginning your creative journey. They are affordable and they will dry quickly. If you have found a love of arts and crafts, you can start here and then gradually explore your imagination and creativity using acrylics as a flexible medium.

It is best to choose professional grade paint instead of craft paint but this will be the pricier option. The reason that these will serve you best is that you will get more pigment with professional grade paint and you will be able to get more coverage out of it. It is also easier to blend it. You can look for student grade paint types in different brands to see the price ranges. You can also add a bit of white to the cheaper craft paint to make them more opaque. When acrylic paint dries, it tends to dry a little darker. This will be more prominent when it comes to cheaper paints as they don’t have a lot of pigment. You don’t need to buy a full set of acrylic paint at the beginning. Start with the basics which are red, yellow, blue, black, earthy tones and white. You can mix the colours to get what you want. After some time, you will get an idea of the colours that you use more frequently and you can buy more of them.

There is a quick drying time for acrylic paints so you don’t need to wait for days for it to dry as you would do with oil paint. However, you will have to understand the basics of blending as it can be a little challenging with the quick drying time. You can also use an extender that can slow the drying time of acrylics in the beginning until you get the hang of it. Make sure you don’t wear new clothes as the fast drying time of acrylics can be difficult if you spill any of it on your clothes. Mixing colours is a basic skill you have to learn in the beginning. There are many YouTube tutorials you can follow to get an idea of this and you can then start applying it to your painting to see which gives you better results. There are many brushes you will come across that will work with acrylic paint. You need to take care of them well after each session otherwise, it can be very difficult to get dried paint off the brushes. Use water and some mild soap to get the paint off the brushes.

Use a synthetic brush for acrylic paint. It should not be too soft or hard. You don’t have to purchase expensive brushes but it is best to stay away from the cheapest brushes as they can shed hair onto the paint. Have the brushes laid flat on a surface so that they can dry without the water getting into the ferrule. Make sure that the brushes are not immersed in water for a long time as it can loosen the glue. When it comes to storage, you should have the bristles of the brush facing up instead of down. This ensures they don’t get bent during storage.