Acrylic Painting

Acrylic painting is a type of painting similar to oil or watercolor painting, except that it uses acrylic paints, which are plastic paints. Acrylic paints are quite new to the paints. They were invented by German chemist, which was taken up by a company, and they launched new type of paint. After this, the paints started gaining popularity and today we get to see various types of acrylic paints. One can mix them in water or oil. This means you can use acrylic paint colors to get an oil painting effect, or you can use them for a watercolor painting effect.

Acrylic Painting Tips & Tricks

• First of all get all get the painting supplies. If this your first time experimenting with acrylic paints, then buy a small box of acrylic paints. You will also need few brushes and canvas papers. Apart from this you will also need a water bowl, to clean the brushes and dilute the color if you want to. A color mixing palette is also required, and a cloth to blot the brushes and keep your workplace clean is essential.
• These paints have a very fast drying, also once they dry they become permanent. Hence one can see acrylic paint on fabric, glass and wood too. So, to work with acrylic paints you will need to work fast. And if you like to paint using oil paints, but feel the drying time is too long, then acrylic paints can really help, as they tend to dry faster, and allow you to layer with various paint colors quickly.
• Acrylic paint removal is almost impossible, but with alcohol you can lift off some of the paint. Hence, using techniques to remove the paint like scratching can help you achieve various layering effect.
• Now, it is time to start painting with the colors. For your first painting, take out a bit of color from the tube, as this are fast drying paints, take out a little amount at one time. If you want a watercolor painting effect, then mix a bit of water with it, and then paint. However, do not use more than 30% of water, or it will make the paint unusable. Mixing it with water will give a soft effect. To slow down the drying time, you can dampen the paper a bit. Also, sometimes you will get a hard edge when using these paints. To avoid this, take a damp water brush, and then apply it on those edges immediately to soften it.
• To try out oil acrylic painting, mix the paint with white or black color, and then use it for painting. It will give a beautiful oil painting effect. Once this layer dries off, you can use another layer of the color.
• This way you can paint using acrylic paint colors. There are many other techniques, like you can try scratching a fresh layer with an old screwdriver or with a blade. You can even try out other techniques like painting blobs on damp canvas, and then use a rag to mix up the color.

These were the basics on painting using acrylic colors. You can find many advanced video painting lessons, that will help you to learn more new and interesting techniques. Good luck!