Acrylic Painting Technique: The Basics

 Acrylic paints are water-based and do not require any special thinners. Paints do not turn yellow and do not cause allergies. They simultaneously have the properties of watercolor and oil. Look at the magnificent paintings of Mahassa, who paints three-dimensional acrylic paintings!

Like any other technique, acrylic has its own characteristics.

When working with acrylic, you can use various techniques and successfully combine them in one picture. In general, a picture painted with acrylic paints can be indistinguishable from watercolor or oil. It also happens that a certain picture has its own unique and inimitable color rendition, which is almost impossible to repeat with other techniques.

Learning to paint with acrylics is not difficult, especially if you are already familiar with oils or watercolors. But you need to keep in mind that acrylic dries very quickly. For example, while you enthusiastically swing your brush, you may be in for a “disappointment” in the palette in the form of dried paints. However, already during the “waving” of the brush, you will see how the paint is already drying. Therefore, for some, this is a clear advantage over other paints, and for some, it is a complete inconvenience. But you just need to do the right thing. So. Mahassa Arts strive to make art that touches people's hearts, and hope to connect with others through the beauty of color, harmony, form, texture, and energy.

What is the best way to organize a workplace for an artist?

Well, everyone understands that a well-organized place has a positive effect on the creative process. A comfortable workplace allows not only to work comfortably, but also to save money. To organize the workplace, we recommend that you follow simple rules that will help you concentrate well on work:

• Diffused and even lighting
• the most optimal for work;
• Make sure that the illumination of the plane of the canvas and the model does not change abruptly during the day;
• The light on the canvas should fall from the left;
• Do not allow sharp differences in the illumination of nature from the canvas;
• Artificial light should not blind the artist.

What is needed for painting?

You will need: Canvas stretcher, tablet or easel, any surface for painting, masking tape, spray gun, a set of acrylic paints (basic range of 6-8 colors), art brushes, water, moistened palette, acrylic thinner and a palette knife.

Canvases. The good news is that any surface can be used for acrylic painting, but whatever you choose, it needs to be primed, except for white watercolor paper.
To give the surface whiteness, use an acrylic emulsion. You can also use dark acrylic paint, which can give the work the desired contrast.

• Brushes. As you know, there are natural and synthetic brushes. Here, of course, individually, but if for convenience, it all depends on how diluted the acrylic is:
• If the paints are diluted, I advise brushes from kolinsky, oxhair, sable or synthetics.
• If the paint is thick (impasto technique) - hard brushes made of sable, bristles or combined with synthetic fiber. It is appropriate to use a palette knife.
• Squirrel is suitable for pouring large surfaces.

Basic principles of acrylic painting

So, we must definitely take into account that acrylic dries quickly, so there is no time for "fuss". It is best and easiest to start your painting with diluted acrylic using the “wet” technique. Only a sheet of watercolor paper must first be moistened with warm water and stretched on a tablet, fastening the wet edges with masking tape.

You can also paint with diluted acrylic paints and on a dry base, but for this it is still better to moisten it. It will be much more convenient for you to write if you take two brushes, the first to actually apply the paint, and the second (clean or wet) to remove excess, smooth out contours, correct defects and soften color transitions.

In painting, you can give more depth, brilliance and expressiveness if you paint a picture using the layer-by-layer glazing method. It lies in the fact that first, as an undercoat, you need to apply thick paints. After you can write already diluted, but it is very important to wait for the complete drying of each layer.

In acrylic painting, you can also use the impasto technique, as if working with oil. Fortunately, this allows a wonderful hiding power and density of colors in an undiluted state.
You can do underpainting with acrylic, and complete the picture with oil.

Important nuances

1. When working with acrylic pasty, it happens that the result does not justify itself, such as the effect of oil, even if the acrylic is glossy.
2. Theoretically, you can overwrite over dried layers many times, but there are problems with some paints, so you have to scrape the paint down to the base.
3. There are acrylic paints that do not have high transparency. Therefore, with such paints, the glazing technique can be ineffective.
4. In general, you need to develop individual techniques by trial and error, then acrylic will “play” in your hands!

Tips and tricks to help with acrylic painting

When it comes to smoothly blending multiple colors on a canvas, the quick drying of acrylic is not uncommon, so there are a few tricks that will increase the drying time:

1. Soak your brushes in water overnight. This will allow you not to waste precious moisture from the paint when dry brushes quickly suck it up;
2. Before applying paint to the canvas, spray it with water using a spray bottle (the main thing is not to overdo it!);
3. Spray the canvas a little and more often while working;
4. Use special additives that slow down the drying of acrylic paints (oils).

The palette also needs moisture!  But for this moment there is one trick:

Use a special palette in which moistened foam rubber is placed at the bottom.

You can make such a palette yourself. To do this, select any flat container with a lid, in which lay a layer of wet wipes or toilet paper (soaked) on the bottom. Make sure that there is not too much water, napkins or paper should not become sour. Level the surface and cover with a sheet of dense and smooth tracing paper. It will become an incomparable palette for your colors.

In conclusion: how to make a palette

Finally, it would be worth highlighting one convenient and profitable way, for which you only need a thick sheet of plastic or cardboard (A4). Put a clean transparent file on it, and this can be used as a palette. A soiled file is simply thrown away, and a dense base can serve for a very long time. Agree - cheap and cheerful!