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Learning silhouette painting for beginners

  • Sun Reflection


    Sunset Silhouette Painting for Beginners

    Paintings of silhouettes are often depicted in dim light against a bright background so that details are revealed in restricted light. A silhouette painting is best suited for beginners because it will help them learn about blending different acrylic colors and how to maintain a consistent color palette. The most popular colors to use for silhouette paintings are acrylics, but I would personally go for poster colors. Acrylic colors dry quickly, hence we can draw over them in one color anything like a reference image such as a person, animal, scenery, or object. This is the most common way of painting this.

    Thumbnail 1

    Fill in the background with more than one colors to create depth. The silhouette is uses multiple colors to create depth in the background. Black is traditionally used for silhouettes. You might want to try something different. Create an interesting set of colors like those shown in this image by mixing darker and lighter shades.

    Pic 1

    For this simple silhouette painting, I have utilized 4 main colors like Cadmium Yellow Medium, Lemon Yellow, Permanent Orange, White. For blending these colors, I used no.10 synthetic hair paintbrushes, which were excellent at holding liquid and were extremely smooth for the actual application of the paint.

    Tips: To ensure that chemicals do not contaminate synthetic brushes, clean them with warm soapy water after use. Nonetheless, use a solvent to clean them after you use them with Oil-Based Paint.

    Pic 2

  • Pic 3
  • Blending Colours

    In order to achieve the perfect finish, I have used detailing synthetic hair brushes for the cloud and sun. You’ll get a better grip, more comfort, and more mobility with a detailing brush.

    Here is the drawing outline for this Painting. This image can be printed and traced over your canvas or paper. You can use carbon paper for tracing.

    Easy Silhouette Painting 1

    Pic 4

    For the river, I have used Cadmium Yellow Medium, Lemon Yellow, and Permanent Orange.

    Pic 5

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  • Pic 7
  • Blending the Sky and Water

    For blending those colors, I used a similar technique to that used for the sky.

    Pic 8

  • Pic 9
  • Sun Reflection

    now I have used black color to paint the horizontal line and the ground.

    Pic 10

  • Pic 11
  • Pic 12
  • Tracing the Outline

    Place the cut out of the stork and draw an outline.

    Pic 13

  • Pic 14
  • Pic 15
  • Sunset Silhouette Painting Ideas Pic 17

    We’re done with our easy silhouette painting. Thanks for visiting us…

    Thank you

    Tags: acrylic painting , acrylic painting for beginners

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    May 28, 2021


    Beginner Oil Painting Project Tutorial

    Silhouette Painting

    Looking to get started with oil painting? Check out this beginner oil painting tutorial featuring a tree silhouette against a colorful painted sky. Practice an alla prima or ‘wet-on-wet’ painting technique using thickly applied paint from a painting knife. Get comfortable with how oil paints move and blend on the canvas to prepare you for future oil paint work.There is no one right way to do this painting and no drawing to worry about. Have fun!

    Supplies:

    Shadow box
    Canvas board
    Gesso
    Utility knife
    Oil paint set
    Palette paper
    Painting knife, pointed tip, like a trowel
    Oil paint pen, black
    Paper towels or paint rag
    Silhouette pattern

    Step-by-Step:

    Paint on palette

    Purchase a canvas board that will fit your shadow box frame. If you’re lucky, the size of your box may match exactly one of the standard canvas dimensions like 5 x 7 in., 7 x 9 in., or 8 x 10 in. However, you may be like me and need to cut your canvas board to fit. The opening in my shadow box is 6 x 8 in. I trimmed 1 in. off the length and width of a 7 x 9 in. board using a utility knife. The canvas board cuts easily with the knife. Cut from the front so the sharp cut edges are on this side of the board where it matters.

    Apply gesso to the board using a large brush. Allow the gesso to dry completely.

    Squeeze your paint colors onto your palette. I’m using ultramarine blue, scarlet, lemon yellow, titanium white and fluoro pink (not pictured).

    Apply paint to the prepared canvas using a painting knife. Spread paint thickly across the canvas with the knife as if you were spreading butter on a piece of bread. Apply paint next to – but not touching – another color and wipe your knife well using a paper towel when switching paint colors. This is sometimes referred to as blocking in color. You can use a reference photo to help you determine the location of color blocks or you can work intuitively using a pattern of your own design. Continue applying paint until the only white space remaining on your canvas are the narrow spaces you’ve left between individual colors.

    Paint applied to canvas with painting knife

    Paint applied to canvas with painting knife

    Drag your painting knife across two different colors, blending the paint. Continue to use a spreading motion, changing directions randomly as you work.

    Use white paint as a buffer between 2 colors as needed. Colors close to one another on the color wheel play well together; mixing these colors usually creates an attractive new blend. However, mixing colors opposite one another on the color wheel yields duller neutral colors like brown. These opposite colors include purple and yellow, red and green, and blue and orange. Use the white paint to ease the transition between these opposite colors.

    Blended paint on canvas with painting knife

    Blended paint on canvas with painting knife

    Allow the oil paint to dry. This may take up to 2-3 weeks depending on your location and the thickness of your paint.

    Completed painted sky background

    Cleaning glass using rubbing alcohol

    Select a silhouette from a source of public domain images or create one from your own original photo. I found my reference photo on Pixabay.com. Creators of all the images on Pixabay have relinquished copyrights to the images and offer them to others to use freely.

    Size your silhouette reference photo to fit the opening on your shadow box. Reverse the image (flip image horizontally) and print the image on paper. Reversing the image is necessary because you will be painting the image from the back side of the glass.

    Remove the backing from the shadow box. Wipe down the reverse side (inside) of the shadow box glass with rubbing alcohol.

    Lay the shadow box over your reference image with the reverse side of the glass facing up.

    Using a black, oil-based paint marker, paint the image on the reverse side of the glass. Trace the tree trunks and branches and outline the shapes of the ground. Use a tapping motion with the marker to create a general outline of the leaves on the tree.

    Place glass over image

    Begin painting tree on glass

    After the basic tree shape is complete, lay the shadow box on a sheet of plain white paper and fill in the shapes in the image. Maintain some of the lacy tree edges while creating substantial dark areas to contrast with the vividly-colored, painted background. When you’re finished, set the shadow box glass aside to dry.

    Tree painted on reverse glass

    Finished painting on glass

    After the paints have dried, use white glue to adhere the oil painting to the back of the shadow box. Reassemble the shadow box. Enjoy your new artwork!

    Silhouette Painting in Shadow Box

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    Lee Ann is a mixed media hobbyist who enjoys using her Cricut machine for art projects as well as decorations for her home and garden. She’s a new empty-nester with 2 adult daughters. Now she and her husband are free to embark on that US pizza eating tour they always talked about. Lee Ann provides IT support to Craft-e-Corner.

    Colin Wynn
    the authorColin Wynn

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