Acrylic Painting Complete Guide for Beginners - Theodore Griffin

Acrylic Painting Complete Guide for Beginners: Master Techniques for Portrait Painting, Landscape Painting and Everything Else

Table of Contents Introduction BONUS: Your FREE Gift Chapter 1 – Getting Started Chapter 2 – Popular Subjects Chapter 3 – Tips and Tricks Chapter 4 – Acrylic Painting Benefits Conclusion FREE Bonus Reminder BONUS #2: More Free Books

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Introduction Many people admire artists. They see the old and new masters in museums or they go to galleries to witness the handicraft of contemporary painters. All art is fair game of study and contemplation. It is how we develop “an eye” for fine art and the highest quality in particular. We can learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, that is the ability to spot poor art that is ill-conceived or imitative of others, art that is not authentic or from the inner being. It is how we learn about originality, skill, and even true genius. Above all we want to stay away from the idea that all art is equally valid and good art is in the eye of the beholder. It is not. You may also pop in at fairs and expos and take a gander at the collection in someone’s home or office. Some of you will even aspire to the calling yourselves. The good news is that you can learn to depict your favorite subjects step by step, and even go abstract, with acrylics. They are cheaper than oils and give as good a result. Both are called mediums. Acrylic has its distinct benefits over oils and, along with watercolor, is one of the most popular choices for artists today. Acrylic paint was invented by Leonard Bocour in New York in the exciting artistic milieu of the 1940s and 1950s. He had a small but well-stocked little art supply store in the art of the bohemian area where Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, and other big time Abstract Expressionists lived. They would buy brushes and paints from him and embraced the new substance that was a great alternative to more costly oils. Once they tried the Bocour’s formula, they could never go back. The problem was that most of them hadn’t sold much art yet and were not yet rolling in cash. They had to trade artwork for what they needed usually every month. Thus Leonard acquired a stellar collection of the what would come to be seen as the greatest paintings in the world. He died in 1993 in the city a very contented man leaving his wife and son Peter to carry on his good name. Fortunately, he donated much of his art to museums so the public could share in historical landmarks of great note.

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Chapter 1 – Getting Started A great method of mental preparation for acrylic painting is to go online or to a library and look and look and look. Make every effort to spend adequate time. You can learn from the pros as your guides. Select as many types of art as you can from the gamut of history. Concentrate on painting primarily as that will become your task shortly. It is a process of osmosis: it all sinks in. You learn what you like and don’t like, what you want to imitate and emulate. There are famous artists to note and as many styles as there are individual practitioners. It is a wonderful, enriching way to start the process for yourself. Let’s say you like Degas and his glorious ballet dancer paintings. You can also visit dance studios in your area. They will be flattered that you want to sketch in their classrooms. You can research the soft colors that he uses and how black accents define forms and bring them out. You can analyze his compositions for figure placement and see what he does in the background. You can try urban museums that may contain an original. You would be in real luck. If you can travel, so much the better: Boston, New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Washington DC, etc. This is a kind of research I recommend to prepare yourself for an adventure in acrylic paint. Knowledge breeds success. By contrast you may like non-figurative or abstract art and have zoned in on Picasso from the teens of the 20th century. there are remnants of his favorite subject, the guitar, but is low key and used only as a pretext for an interesting play of shapes and lines. Color is well-chosen and a good lesson for your eye in adjacent placement. Pablo Picasso, Guitar, 1916

Getting started painting with acrylics is as easy as a trip to the art supply store. If you don’t have one nearby a hobby shop will do, or you can sit back, relax, and do it all on

line. Why not compare brands and prices. But then you will have to wait for everything to arrive! A partial list of what you need is shown below:

Acrylic paint, which is water-based and fast drying compared to oils. Both oils and acrylics are known as “mediums.” You can thin acrylic, as with oils, or use it with a palette knife for an impasto, or thick, application. You mix the colors, so you will need the primary and secondary hues first and foremost. Then you can add it some accent colors, black, and white. We suggest paint in tubes for ease of use and storage, but you can get them in jars as well. Note that if kids are around, these paints are non-toxic. Cadmium red and/or alizarin crimson Cadmium yellow Pthalo green Cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and/or ultramarine Burnt sienna and burnt umber Black Titanium white (get a larger tube you will use lots of this) Gray optional if you don’t want to mix your own and plan on using a lot. Palette for mixing paint (plastic or wood preferably) Paper in the size you want to work in most of the time. It is specially prepared for acrylic paint. Canvas board is a stronger alternative, especially if you are not going

to conventionally frame your work. Canvases in varying sizes. If you work very large, you can stretch your own, but for beginners we suggest readymade. Very small paintings take quite a bit of skill, so keep that in mind. Brushes in assorted sizes including some smaller ones for detail work. Brushes can be high quality of natural materials (and therefore more expensive) or cheap, synthetic, and sometimes ineffective. You want a good brush that glides the paint on and the bristles do not clump together. Try to buy something in between as a beginner and see how it feels. They come squared off or pointed.

Mixing Color

You can mix your colors on a palette right at the time of application. It is simple. Red and yellow make orange. Blue and red make purple. This is true of oils and acrylics, as well as watercolor paints. White can be added to any color to lighten it. Black and white make gray. Black or brown will darken and alter a color. It is best to experiment and learn what the colors you have purchased can do. If you don’t like the results, you can buy the colors you desire and currently lack.

Chapter 2 – Popular Subjects You can paint just about anything you want with acrylics. There is no limit. They are a great alternative to oils and yield similar results without the long-drying time and messy clean up. Water will take care of your hands, brushes, and any drippings. What a brilliant idea Boucour had. Oils are of course very rich in nature, but modern art beckons for ease of application and preparation. The categories for any type of painting include: abstracts, landscapes, the nude, and the still life. You may have an immediate preference or over the long haul find one you like to do the most. They each have challenges and rewards of which you will soon learn. Any choice of subject is called one’s “imagery.” It is usually employed by critics when describing what is visually apparent, but it is also a handy term for artists to use when talking to others about their choices. Landscapes If you live in a scenic area, you can take your paints, brushes, and canvas outside to paint “en plein air.” This just means in the open air. On a nice day, there can be nothing quite like it. If it is off season and you have some photos, that is a good route, or you can invent something from your head after looking at old masters or other artists in books or galleries. For the purposes of this book, landscape includes any scene from reality or “nature” such as the beach, a park, a flower garden, distant mountains, and/or a stream. They all have wonderful potential for a beautiful inspiring painting. Within this category, there are several approaches: Impressionist: like the famous French artists of this name, such as Claude Monet, you dab on the paint in a loose manner such that the brushwork is free and easy. It is a sketchier approach, if you will. You might even call it atmospheric. It has become a standard approach although it was criticized as too vague and loose at its inception. See how quickly the eye adapts to change! Claude Monet, Garden at Giverny, 1870’s.

Expressionistic: artists who like to portray strong emotions will exaggerate forms and colors to bring out certain associations in viewers’ minds. They tap into the depths of the psyche to create their work. Red is an active, hot color that could portend a threat, yellow can be vibrant and intense. Distortions of reality occur when colors go beyond the norm. You may easily detect the subject but it has been transformed and transmogrified. Emile Nolde, Red Clouds

Realistic: many artists in this vein aspire to convey a scene, whether it is a mountainscape or seascape, with great precision. Often great emotional has been purged from the rendition. Realism is a matter of degrees from hyper-realistic, which is photographic, to a more personal type of rendition. One can be impressionistic or expressionistic and still portray a subject from nature. Then there are all the varieties in between. When you create many paintings, you come to know what kind of artist you are and what works best for your skill level. If you do not draw well and can’t closely approximate the true nature of your subject, a stylistic variation can be very appealing. You can still be realistic without being a draftsman. Rembrandt, Landscape, 17th century

Corot, River Landscape, mid-19th century

Still Life When you take an art class, and it is always a good practice, you often start with nudes or still lifes. This is the classical approach to teaching art. The teacher will set up a group of objects to be portrayed. They can be different shapes and sizes, even colors, to help you create an interesting visual grouping. In a class, you can see what others have done and how amazingly different the styles may be. It is an object lesson with great power which will give you insight about creativity and originality. Few people just copy what they see any more. It is all about personal expression, whether controlled or overt. Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples, 1879

Nudes The classic subject in the history of art is the nude. Maybe because the ancient Greeks and Romans focused on it when depicting the mythological gods and goddesses. It is always best to have a model, male or female. It is called working from nature and it beats photographs. In class, the model will take a pose, often suggested by the teacher, and hold it for about an hour—with, mercifully, a few rest periods every ten to fifteen minutes. Students can then sketch different versions and keep them as finished works or use them to inspire a later acrylic painting. There is no requirement as to size in any of these

categories but typically learners work with a manageable size of 12 x 18 inches. August Renoir, Seated Bather, late 19th century

Abstract Painting This is the most open-ended subject of them all, only limited by one’s fertile imagination. You can base your work on nature (something in your surroundings or in books) or not. If it is loosely inspired by a person, it is still called figurative. Abstraction can be nonobjective as well, which simply means there is no discernible subject. Abstract art is often confused with just a display of unidentifabloe forms or colors, when it really denotes something anything non photographic by today’s standards. Using the right terms shows sophistication and knowledge, and is also helpful when explaining and/or selling one’s art to others.

When you are new to painting as a hobby or personal endeavor, you might want to try all of these categories and find out what you like best, or have a particular talent for. Some people specialize. There is nothing inherently wrong with being good at only one type. Geometric Versus Organic El Lissitsky, Proun Composition

Hard edge or not (also called linear), geometric paintings have found their way into art history for a century ever since Picasso went Cubist and shocks the world. Forms that resemble objects in nature such as plant forms are said to be “organic.” They evoke certain memories or feelings that differ from those derived from geometric art which seems to be more of a human construct. The irony is that Piet Mondrian’s famous geometric compositions grew out of a series of tree depictions as shown below. Nowadays people like to create abstractions without reference to anything seen or experienced; and if they do use a subject, it may be all but dissolved.

Style A word about style is relevant here. It is often the key to public success. As one grows their talent and technique, he or she can begin to show a consistent manner of rendering forms or using colors that become an identifiable style. When selling your work, this will mark you as a professional and make you stand out from the crowd. Some people are cartoon-like, others are heavy on the paint. Some like precise detail, others swabs of freeform color. It could be a matter of certain subjects as well. Finding yourself is an exciting side benefit of working with acrylics. It should be an ultimate goal after you have mastered the basics and are ready to move on and up to the higher clouds of creation. It is very flattering for someone to say to you, “I like your style.” They could be referring to your colors or your subject, but often they mean the way you interpret it—the real artistic you. The best advice to give to an artist is to develop a personal way of handling paint, for that is your medium after all. A lot of it can create an “impasto” effect of texture. Thinner paint is easy to layer and therefore to cover mistakes. Free swaths of paint show energy and exuberance. Flat areas of color can be serene and descriptive. You can see that everything you do and every touch you make on the canvas has an impact and an effect all its own. You may find you like several styles and are an “eclectic” type of personality that does more than one type of painting. You may like to dabble in realism and abstraction on different canvases. That is certainly your choice and the public accepts this all the time. Size is also an important factor. You can become known for huge paintings or tiny miniatures. You can also paint on wood, plastic, metal or other surfaces for unique effects. This is the exciting aspect of painting of any type. The world is your aesthetic oyster. Open it and find the pearl within. Vocabulary In addition to the terms defined and illustrated above, there are a few more that come in handy. Genre: when one speaks about a specific “genre” (noun) of painting, they may be referring to categories like landscapes and seascapes, or approaches such as realism or abstraction. In art history, a “genre” (adjective) painting shows people in everyday life. I know, it’s confusing!

Photorealism: exactitude of forms such that a painting looks like a photograph. The portraits of Chuck Close come to mind. Narrative: descriptive of art that tells a story. Subjects can be historical, mythological, religious, everyday, etc. Scumbling: rapid circular brushwork that usually uses a dry non-saturated brush. For example, you could scumble white clouds onto a blue sky already in place. Action painting: characterized by broad brush strokes that seem to track the action of the artist’s arm. See the painting by Karel Appel, Whirling Sun, below. De Kooning, Pollock, and Franz Kline and were among great action painters of the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s, Surrealism: a type of art that is dreamlike and therefore set apart from reality although the approach can very depictive or illustrative. Salvador Dali is the epitome of this genre. Pop art: art based on everyday objects such as advertising images. Cartoonish art comes under this category. It usually is best applied to an historical period or an artist like Andy Warhol. Minimalist: art that is pared down to the bare essentials of line, form, and color. It can apply historically to the Russian Constructivists of the 1920s and 30s or later abstraction by Frank Stella or Elsworth Kelly after 1970.

Subjective versus objective: expressionistic art that is clearly from the inner soul is a type of subjectivism, but it also denotes a choice of subject matter rather than just style. It seems that the farther one gets from reality (or objectivism) the more subjective it is. Classical and romantic: another good pair. These comes from art history and apply to certain decades and styles such as the Classical Greek period, the Classical Renaissance, the Romantic period of the 19th century, and any revival times. Now they are loosely used as follows: Classical denotes traditional and objective while romantic is more subjective and personal, often roaming into the realm of fantasy subject matter. Picasso had both a classical and a romantic period in his long, illustrious career as shown below. Both are figurative. The family scene is also narrative. The one on the left uses sculptural forms akin to ancient statues, the one on the right is softer and more emotional in nature.





Chapter 3 – Tips and Tricks Perhaps you are an experienced artists in oils and now want to try your hand at acrylic painting for a change of pace. It is an easy transition as all the principles apply other than clean up. However, if you are new at the game, these principles must be learned and absorbed before starting out. We have outlined them here and they can be committed to memory in any order as a totality. Without a background, your work could turn out to be “provincial” or naïve. While there are famous painters of this ilk like Grandma Moses, you want to do it as a matter of choice, not ignorance. You eventually want to show your prowess and be proud of your achievements beyond dabbling in paint. Preparing the canvas If you do not use paper, you may want to prepare your canvas to receive paint. The type you purchase ready-made on a stretcher will have a coating already applied. You can eliminate a step and get right to the fun. If you use raw canvas to stretch to your specifications, you can buy gesso or another type of layering material. You also may wish to do a wash of color as an undercoat on top of it to avoid areas of white showing through. If you layer your paint, you will avoid this problem. You generally don’t want to expose your canvas without a clear reason for doing so.

Sketching Many people sketch an outline of what they want to depict before applying paint. This will keep you on track with your subject and having you avoid running out of room or making objects that are too large or small for the space. It is a good rule of thumb. Going out and finding inspiring subjects is one of the nicest parts of being an acrylic painter. Take a nice sketch pad with you and some soft pencils or charcoal sticks. You can play with drawings as preparation for a final painting where it is a less spontaneous enterprise, sometimes because colors can become muddied from too much layering. Sketching will help you learn what your preferences art in terms of motivating subjects and compositions. Use a pencil of choice as it will be ultimately covered in paint. An easel is a nice accessory for larger paintings, even smaller ones since you can walk away and get some perspective on your work. Yes, you can work flat or on the ground, but it may take its toll on your back muscles. Easels that fold up for easy storage are recommended.

The Palette You can squeeze about a half inch to an inch of each color you want to use on the palette you have chosen so that you can work simultaneously and not have to stop to pry open the tubes and lose your momentum. You don’t want to risk the wonderful work you have been doing to stop and do something practical. Try to cap the tubes carefully, wiping paint off first. Otherwise you will mismatch them and some of the color could mix with the top layer of the tube. They also do not go on properly if the screw on area is thick with paint. If this happens and you ignore it, the paint will dry out and become useless. Color Themes

It is always wise to limit your colors to a theme, or group of hues that work well together to create a pleasant visual experience. It enhances the subject or concept and also helps to identify your style. Too many colors can either become muddy when they are over mixed or too garish when subtlety has been overlooked. Look at artwork you admire and see if you can detect the theme. Take a look at the color wheel below. Primary colors are red, yellow, green, blue, purple. Complementary colors are opposites like red and green, the Christmas colors known round the world. Tertiary colors are mixed colors such as red and yellow make red orange. There are hundreds of possible themes. Every color has certain emotional associations and expressive properties so it is an exciting open-ended enterprise to work with them and explore viewers’ reactions. Color is so important as to dominate many paintings and impart the prevailing visual tone. Browns and yellows

Primary colors

Complementary colors

Pastels

Perspective Perspective is the traditional principle used to show space. It comes from the High Renaissance period in Italy. Medieval artists had elongated and distorted forms for

religious purposes and an other-worldly feel. In the early 15th century and on, artists felt a need to approach a more “realistic” view of the divine world as we see in Leonardo da Vinci. Now we are used to it as the best way to show depth. It is a learned technique that uses recession to lead the eye into an illusion you have created. In effect, the eye goes to a “pinpoint” in space that results from converging lines. This is an obvious example and it can be more subtle. You can consciously avoid it and your work will look modern and personal. But there are times when it comes in handy.

Line An artwork that is “linear” is said to use line to define forms and create details. Most artists before the 20th century found it to be the essence of creating composition like Paul Cezanne shown below. Abstract art changed the game considerably and now anything goes. It is your choice how to employ it for best effect. It can be strong or imperceptible: the range is large.

Shape and Form Along with color and line, understanding that composition comes from the placement of shapes and forms will help to achieve a better and more interesting result. Objects closer

to the viewer are larger than those far away. You can overlap forms for spatial effects or simply juxtapose them. A composition comes from the interesting interplay of forms and colors as well as the assistance of line. One is said to have an eye for it.

Clean Up Cleaning up is the least fun part of the painting/creative process, but with acrylics it is a matter of washing brushes in cold water with or without a purchased art cleanser solution or powder. A utility sink is best as opposed to the kitchen for obvious reasons. It just makes good sense. You can even do it outside with the really large brushes with the garden hose or a pail and some rags. You will want to have a container of water near your palette in your work area to thin paint and clean brushes between colors. You don’t want to have any residue on the brush when employing a new color. If you are mixing, then it is a different matter. Plenty of paper towels are always in order when working and cleaning up alike. Store your brushes in a clean state only whether in drawers, a cabinet, art box, etc. It is unpleasant to pull paint-coated items from your storage unit. Removing caked-on paint just takes longer and keeps you from your beloved activity. Taking care of your valuable implements will extend their lives and make them perform better each and every time.

Chapter 4 – Acrylic Painting Benefits I have mentioned some of the benefits of acrylic painting already such as lower cost per tube or jar and faster drying time. These are nice bonuses, but what really matters is the quality of the paint on paper, board, or canvas and how it looks compared to other techniques in the long run. Oils are known to work beautifully in translucent layers that are built up to create a final image. You can blend colors by applying paint when the earlier layers are still a bit wet. It is an acquired skill. Acrylics dry fast and once in their final state, you would create too much thickness by overpainting in most cases. Oils bleed through layer upon layer; acrylics not so much. You feel like you are painting “all at once” with them. It is quite a different process and visual result. Selecting acrylics means opting for very specific textures and brushstroke effects. When you conceive of an idea, keeping the special properties of the paint in mind helps to achieve the appropriate finish. Yes, you can add solvents and solutions that make acrylics more akin to oils, but then why not just use them to begin with! You are just masking the real nature of the acrylic paint and disguising it as ersatz oils. Acrylics have a very modern appearance as well as a simpler application. The old masters used oils, some they mixed themselves to create an enormous range of subtle tones. They scumbled and impastoed their way to fame using traditional methods. Acrylics can be less subtle and more intense used right from the tube, thus appealing to the contemporary eye and mind. Artists love their immediacy and vibrancy. They can be flat or matte finish compared to oils, and that, too, is part of their attraction. Karel Appel, Whirling Sun, 1966

Conclusion The art of acrylic painting has been opened to you. We have given you basic information and some steps toward effective creation. Now that you know the ins and outs of successful acrylic painting, and how enjoyable it is, you can decide to indulge part or full time. You need to make a modest investment at first, but paints do last a long time. It is fun to buy the supplies and line them up in a studio, your garage, or designated area of your home. Everything should be close at hand to make it easy to grab the things you need. One by one, your finished products will grace your home and prompt you to continue on. You can be proud of your accomplishment, so much so that you may want to go into the selling business. Acrylic paintings are a rival to oils and a companion technique. You can save a lot on expenses by using them and still get wonderful results. Some people cannot distinguish acrylics from oils when looking at a painting. So, it is a matter of preference which medium you use. Some people like to paint with both at times, as the mood moves you. Go forward as an artist now and take advantage of the tips and tricks in this e-book. Some of the terms will be new to you such as perspective, non-objective painting, expressionistic, impressionistic, or complementary colors. You have the basics under your belt and you can research more as needed. Accolades are no doubt coming your way in the near future. Learn to treasure them.

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