I hope this overview inspires you to bring some abstract vibes and colorful joy to the next “ordinary” object you paint!
How to Paint Realistic Motifs in an Abstract Painting Style
Have you ever wondered how to apply abstract painting techniques to a realistic motif? In this blog post, I’ll walk through how to do just that! This will help you find your style and discover how to create paintings with mass appeal while keeping things playful, colorful, and abstract!
Abstract painting is the heart of the EttaVee brand. My love for color is what drove me to discover my signature style of painting with bold, colorful brushstrokes.
As I started to expand into the world of art licensing, I figured out that I needed to grow my portfolio beyond just abstracts. When you’re collaborating with brands to sell your artwork on products, they want to purchase designs that will appeal to a wide audience. So I started to work on painting trending motifs in my own colorful style. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but with practice, I was able to hone my skills and find a way to bring colorful brushstrokes to motifs like tropical leaves, butterflies, animals, flowers, and many more.
If you want to grow and sell your artwork on products, learning how to take your abstract style and turn it into realistic motifs is a great skill to learn!
So how did I actually do it? Read on to find out! Or if you’re more of a video person, I walk through my process in my class, Paint an Abstract Monstera Leaf!
Tip 1: Know the elements of your style
It’s important to know some foundational elements of your abstract style before diving into applying it to recognizable motifs. I know this can be daunting, especially for new artists. But think of yourself as a style detective. What do you gravitate towards in abstract art? Do you use certain brushstrokes? Do you favor certain textures? What colors do you tend to use? What kind of movement do you put into your pieces?
I tend to paint with bold, vibrant colors using textured brushstrokes. So when I started to apply my abstract techniques to realistic motifs, I knew I wanted to keep hints of colorful brushstrokes throughout my illustrations while making sure the object was still recognizable!
Tip 2: Practice & Explore
Now that you’ve identified the key elements of your style, it’s time to experiment – a lot! One of my favorite motifs to practice with was florals. Flowers are a great place to start if you’re a colorful painter like me. Flowers are vibrant already, so I was able to easily explore painting them with colorful brushstrokes! As I was painting flowers I started to discover what worked and what didn’t in translating my brushstrokes to a realistic motif. I noticed when there was too much color (is that even a thing?? ) and how to make sure that they looked recognizable even when I was using abstract brushstrokes.
Be curious and keep an open mind in this process. Go into it with the intention to learn what works and what doesn’t. And when something doesn’t work, don’t beat yourself up! Just treat it as a stepping stone on the path to discovering your style.
Leaves in green and blue
These large-format plant leaves in green and blue hues bring a bit of jungle into your home. Subtle beige palm leaves rise in the background and hint at the thicket of the jungle. A classic and elegant painting with a natural motif in a modern style!
Giclee, skillfully finished by hand
This modern and exclusive canvas painting is an eye-catcher for every home, lounge, or office. The high-quality canvas is stretched on a real wood frame. The picture is based on a giclée/digital print, which is manually refined and skillfully finished by trained artists.
Each hand-painted picture will show minor variations in colour or shape which represent the uniqueness of the painting. Our customers highly value the individual character and the quality of our paintings.
For easy mounting, flexibly usable hooks will be supplied.
Due to different screen/display settings, there are slight colour deviations in the display of the image material.
More pictures from this series
Acrylic painting 62,5 x 62,5 cm
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A real masterpiece is waiting for you! Conjure up a wonderful ambience with this work of art and turn your living room, lounge, office or practice into a real oasis of well-being with a very special flair. The modern painting is made of high-quality materials and is a real eye-catcher. You will hardly be able to get enough of it and your guests will certainly be quickly captivated by this work of art.
The living room accessory, which is made by professionally experienced and excellently trained artists, impresses with its brilliant colours and great attention to detail. Please bear in mind, however, that handmade works of art may show slight variations in shape and colour. Our customers appreciate individuality and therefore enjoy the unique character of our decorative items.
At imageLAND you will find acrylic paintings in all conceivable sizes and dimensions. And of course , you also have the free choice in terms of genre.
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