Torching creates an intriguing design. Using a small torch, like you would use to brown the top of crème brûlée, paint can be “torched” to darken it and create bubbles on the surface.
39 Easy Yet Impressive Painting Techniques
Have you been wanting to try some new painting techniques, but maybe thought they would be too challenging?
In a Brown University study of renowned painter Jackson Pollock’s “drip technique,” Professor Roberto Zenit states that “Like most painters, Jackson Pollock went through a long process of experimentation in order to perfect his technique.”
So, take your time and experiment. You’ve got this! To get you started, here is a list of techniques that can improve your painting and help you discover new talents. Give some of these a try the next time you are relaxing with your easel.
Jump to Section
- How to Master New Painting Techniques
- Acrylic Painting Techniques
- Oil Painting Techniques
- Textured Painting Techniques
- Paint Pouring Techniques
- Abstract Painting Techniques
The best way to master new painting techniques is through painting classes. From watercolors to oils, or abstract to realistic focus, you can explore the painting techniques that have always sparked your interest.
To learn from home, join online painting classes led by experienced artists who will walk you through each of these creative painting ideas, and you will finish the interactive class with lots of painting tips and a beautiful painting you can be proud of.
Some people enjoy taking classes from their homes, while others prefer in-person classes. If you really want to let your creativity flow, try fun paint and sip in Sacramento, paint and sip in San Diego, paint and sip in Boston, or paint and sip near you.
Acrylic Painting Techniques
1. Splattering
To create splatters on a painting, dip the brush in water before dipping into the paint, then flick the color onto the surface.
2. Blocking In
One acrylic painting technique is to start with a broader brush to block or fill in larger segments of the design, and then move to progressively finer widths and dimensions as you build up layers of paint. Use the smallest, finest brushes last for surface details.
3. Dry Brushing
Dry brushing is a technique often used when painting rocks and grass. To dry brush, put a little bit of paint on a brush and make quick, light movements over the dry paint that is already there.
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4. Sgraffito
Sgraffito is a technique involving scratching a surface to remove paint to reveal a layer underneath. You can use anything that has a point to do this: a palette knife, the end of a brush or even your fingernail.
5. Stippling
The stippling technique uses a fine point brush to create tiny dots on the surface of a painting. You can also use a ballpoint pen, sharp pencil or fine-point marker.
6. Underpainting
Artists don’t paint directly on a white canvas with acrylics or oils. Instead, they use a technique called underpainting. Starting with a dark color like burnt umber, burnt sienna or phthalo blue, layers of paint are added on top of the bottom layer to create shadows.
7. Dabbing
This technique is useful for creating foliage on trees and bushes. Dabbing involves repeatedly tapping the canvas to spread the paint and create a texture. You can use many things for this technique: brushes, a palette knife, paper towels and crumpled foil or plastic bags.
8. Glazing
Glazing refers to applying a coat of transparent paint over a section of the canvas where the paint is dry. This technique can be used to make shadows stand out or to change the color of some parts of the painting.
9. Washing
The technique of washing involves adding water to acrylic paint to give a watercolor effect.
Top acrylic painting ideas for beginners
If you are a beginner, you should have certain basic acrylic painting materials to be ready before you start with painting. Make a checklist for the art supplies mentioned below, which would make your job easy.
You can also check out some acrylic craft ideas to combine the painting ideas with your interests in doing crafts at home.
1. Acrylic Colors
This is the first thing that comes to mind when we think of getting started in painting. However, there are a lot of parameters on how to select the right colors for beginners. Most brands have two variants called Student’s color for beginner artists and Artist’s quality color for experts, which vary in terms of both quality and price.
If you are keen on budget , then go for student colors, while if you can afford to splurge a little more, you can pick artist-quality paints, based on the preferred pigmentation. Choose small tubes of paints especially when you would love to explore the colors of various brands as a beginner .
2. Paint Brushes
While selecting from an array of brushes with various brush sizes for canvas paintings , choose those that bounce back when bent for confident brush strokes. Considering the cost factor, it’s likely that the cheaper ones will have a fall out of bristles while better quality will do the job. You need a round brush for backgrounds, flat brush ones for simple shape, a pointed brush for precision, a fan brush to blend colors, and a splatter brush for other detailing.
3. Palette
The paint palette should be flat and large enough for basic painting, color mixing, and easy to clean after usage. An acrylic material palette is long-lasting, and buying it will be an investment as it doesn’t scrape. For beginner painters, any cost-effective palette would work with the mentioned requirements. There are specialized palettes that keep the acrylic paint wet for longer hours without having a quick drying time, thereby minimizing the wastage of colors.
4. Painting on Canvas
Any stationery shop would provide a cotton canvas pre-primed with the best gesso, to begin with, while you can also consider buying primer oil to re-prime the canvas for extra satisfaction in your painting.
Make sure it is thick enough to hold and absorb the paint and create tension on all the edges of the canvas so that it’s easy to paint. Learn why we recommend acrylic plastic frames over glass frames to showcase your acrylic paintings beautifully .
5. Paper Towels
This is used for wiping the brushes in between as you wash them. Paper towel is also used for acrylic pour painting with swipe technique to create particular patterns and designs in the canvas.
6. Masking Tape
Masking tape can help you keep the canvas intact and fixed so that while painting you can focus only on it rather than trying to adjust with the trembling canvas .
7. A bowl of water
Well, this probably doesn’t need any explanation as its use is known. Any paint would require some water for dilution, mixing two colors, and cleaning brushes while changing acrylics with water.
8. Varnish
It’s applied after your painting is complete and has dried out. A transparent fixer that gives a glossy finish to your painting is a varnish. It also prevents the yellowing of the painting even after years.
Best Acrylic Painting Ideas you must try as a Beginner
Are you looking for some inspirational ideas for acrylic painting? The following ideas can help you with making stunning and vivid paintings that would grab the attention of anyone.
Also, don’t forget to check out our step-by-step guide , to start working with Acrylic Paint to get more insights on how to get started. Let’s deep dive into some interesting acrylic painting ideas for beginners:
- Moonlit Skystep-by-step guide to start working with Acrylic Paint
The moonlit night sky is one of the popular modes of painting that every beginner would love to give a try. The wide strokes for illustration of luminous night and twinkling stars give a mesmerizing edge to the painting that grabs all eyeballs. You can start with circular objects to trace, black background, and white paint acrylic touches to paint night ideas and give them a realistic effect.
The art can capture the beauty of the evening sky and the view of fireflies that dance in the dark. You can blend the glowing aura with acrylic paint design to make the moon, stars, and fireflies. Present the contrast of the vivid white lights to get the glossy effect similar to the glass.
The impressionist painting art style incorporates painting ideas with the light bouncing off instead of focusing only on objects. The acrylic paint colors are focused here, with a brushy, loose, and messy style making the real beauty. The painting with reflections, water, and water lilies can grab everyone’s heart at the very first sight.
The birds, colorful trees, and branches with a catchy silhouette keep the painting great for beginners. The blotting technique, ie. the use of tissues or paper towels to pick up the applied pigments on the paper can let you achieve an acrylic background texture painting, leaving curiosity among the audience about how you made this gorgeous piece.
This popular Painting style is not only about the subject, but also about the background. You can keep your swashes of rainbow colors to span the complete spectrum, with layers of paint, to customize and showcase the blend of your favorite variety of colors. Try making out realistic reflections, and natural elements, to make the water illusion with perfectly placed brush strokes both in black and white acrylic colors.
The criss-cross brushstrokes can be amazing to combine the colors in the background to keep the painting amazing. To develop the branches, you can turn the acrylic flat brush on its side, to grow crisp lines that represent branches. The Filbert brush can be used to get smooth and soft petal shapes for the flowers.
Some tricks can make the landscape painting look more stylish and dramatic. For instance, the heightened acrylic color palette in the beach landscape. When you keep the family of color variants in a palette, it can make blending easier for beach paintings, with sunny and warm colors. It would be more impressive when you use a blend of these colors.
You can let your mind travel to a shoreline, paint the waves, sun-kissed umbrellas, cold drinks, and the warmth of the sun on the tourists’ skin to your white canvas with the magic of acrylics. Beach vacation painting and the blend of sunny yellows can make the beach scene picture warm and realistic.
Bright, glossy, and fresh succulents can be an amazing acrylic painting project if you love plants. It can be a blend of deep green and large acrylic color blocks on your blank canvas with minute details like flowers and sharp thorns. You can also personalize the picture with clever ideas like abstract flowers to make it look more realistic and natural.
The skylines are unique subjects for the artists. The skyscrapers, snow-packed mountains, and bright green bushes can help you make incredible views in your rooms. Create art on canvas with pictures of bustling cities and try using an abstract painting idea that makes your painting sources of curiosity.
Create a painting of the space explorer or an astronaut. Build the constellations and darker space background with a touch of glossy stars with white. The use of a darker color like black and blue colors in the background makes the painting look impressive and lively.
A pretty garden of your thoughts with bright color combinations can make the acrylic paint simply beautiful. Keep a garden fence, and create the garden with some paintbrush clicks. Plants, blossoms, butterflies, chirping birds, a basket of flowers, and a sunny backyard, with blocks of color, can make the dream garden look vibrant.
Final Thoughts
A painting is the result of a combination of both talent and painting skills. Your creative flair can vary with the born talent, however, it takes time to learn shortcuts and the acrylic painting tips you can own to make the painting look more realistic.
You can also enroll in drawing and painting classes, watch live Acrylic painting Youtube videos, or check it out with your freehand efforts. Now you have got the idea about painting with acrylics, various aspects of painting, and the materials needed.
Let us also provide some tips and tricks to keep in mind that can make your artwork more meaningful, bright, and appealing.
- Try making acrylic art piece and keep stunning pieces beside an acrylic display for your home decor.
- Get some basic primary colors first like yellow, red, blue, green, black, and white. You can mix them to get the other colors easily.
- Buy inexpensive paints as a beginner and later go for artistic colors or professional grade paint.
- Choose relevant materials as mentioned in the above sections
- Check out the best acrylic lighting ideas to relax and concentrate on every single detail of your artwork
- Clean the acrylic brushes and palette
- Store the acrylic brushes in containers or acrylic storage boxes
- Replace the palette knife with plastic knives, or the used old debit credit cards.
- Fast-drying paints should be taken care of, with the best acrylic-friendly storage containers.
The only thing to remember is that you learn from the mistakes, and the thumb rule is to paint consistently, add your personal touch, keep learning, and finally evolve into an expert with elegant ideas on canvas.
