Have you ever thought of painting as a scary or difficult process? Do you feel that you are not good at painting and you don’t know how to get better? Fear can be paralyzing, so it’s important to learn to paint like no one will ever see it. As you paint, free yourself from the constraints of perspective, color, brushstrokes, etc. Let the painting unfold naturally and trust your creativity. If you don’t think too much about each step, chances are you’ll do better. Once you’ve pushed through the fear and established your painting, you can start to consider the previously mentioned elements of art as you figure out how to bring your painting to a finish. The more often you practice painting, the better you will get at overcoming your fears. Just show up with the goal of having fun or releasing some tension, and eventually you’ll find a comfortable groove to paint.
How to Get Better at Painting: 14 Practical Tips
When it comes to learning a new skill, most of us have the same goal in mind – to improve over time. Whether you’re learning a new language, playing an instrument, or painting, seeing yourself get better at something gives you confidence, and the satisfaction of having a finished product is rather rewarding.
But if you’re just getting started, developing your painting skills can feel daunting. There’s an enormous amount of information available out there—so much so that it can be difficult to know where to start. Plus, if you’re just starting out, the thought of creating your own painting from scratch can be intimidating. Fears of making mistakes or not being able to produce a good piece are common but don’t let that hold you back. The journey of learning how to paint is all about embracing and learning from mistakes to push past your comfort zone. As long as you keep showing up, you’ll see that progress is definitely possible with enough practice. But what is the right way to go about practicing? In this blog post, I’ll be covering 14 simple painting tips that will help you improve your painting skills.
Learn About the 7 Elements of Art
Although painting seems simple at first glance, there are several elements you need to understand and take into consideration within your art practice. The 7 elements of art include color, form, line, shape, space, texture, and value. Each element plays a vital role in creating a painting that is visually and technically good. Each element can be seen as an ingredient in the art skills mixing bowl. Different combinations of these elements produce different effects on the viewer.
Color and Value
When color is used correctly, it can create a sense emotion in paintings. For example, by adding strong colors to a painting, you create drama, while soft colors may have a more subtle effect. Color and value go hand in hand in art. A well-balanced combination of light and dark values creates depth and shadows in the painting. Color theory is a vast subject, so if you aren’t yet comfortable with it, there are tons of resources out there from which you can learn! I’ve put together another post on finding color palette inspiration which also covers color theory, so check that out if you’d like to learn more.
Form
Form helps artists organize their ideas and create visually appealing and meaningful compositions. Without form, a painting would be just a pile of colors thrown together without any order or structure. Understanding form helps painters control their viewers’ attention by directing it where they want it to go.
Line
As one of the key elements of art, line is essential for creating a balance between form and content. There are many different types of line that can be used in painting: soft lines, cross hatching, fine lines, strong strokes, etc. The way you use line to create effect is up to you, but understanding how it impacts your artwork is an important skill.
Shape
Shape helps to create balance and harmony in a painting. When everything in a painting is organized according to shape, it becomes easier for viewers to understand and appreciate the artwork. Shape is also essential when it comes to creating tension and drama in a painting. By arranging different shape elements within a frame, you can create an intense visual experience that draws viewers into your work-of-art.
Space
Space allows us to see the entire composition as a whole, and helps us understand how each element affects the rest. Artists use line and shape to fill space, but also strategically leave negative space, or empty space, to create visual interest.
Texture
Texture can give a painting depth, richness, and dimensionality. It can also add complexity and interest to a composition by providing variation within a single image.
Improve Your Drawing Skills
If you want to improve your painting skills, improve your drawing skills. Learning to sketch will help you learn how to capture the complex shapes and forms of the world around you, but with a simpler medium. Practice drawing simple objects on a daily basis. This will help you develop your observational skills. Also, use sketching as a tool for developing your creative ideas. By spending time sketching ideas, you can develop an eye for detail and familiarity with different aspects of a subject before you even start painting.
One of the single best ways to become a better painter is by showing up often. However, the cost of canvas can add up with daily painting practice, as well as the space it takes to store it. Practicing painting in a sketchbook is an approachable, economic way to increase the frequency that you paint, accelerating the growth of your skills. Sketchbooks come in different sizes, but be sure to get one with thick enough paper for painting practice so it doesn’t warp with the moisture. The best part about a sketchbook is you can truly paint freely like no one will ever see it, because you can rip the pages out and throw them away if you don’t like it!
Are you struggling with focusing on one style of art making? (Part 2)
One of the key things is to just paint a lot, so that you slowly discover your preference. So, relax and don’t put pressure on yourself. Pressure will not help. Forcing yourself to pick something will not help. Everyone is not supposed to find their style in a certain timeframe. For some it can be a few months, for some it can be a few years. The key is: Keep creating and practicing. But what’s important as you try different things is not just trying to be happy by how your painting looks once it’s done, but also tune into how you feel “during” the creation process. Be a little more aware of how YOU feel vs how the finished artwork looks at the end. Which approach gives you more of the emotions that feel good to you as you create? Give yourself time to explore this aspect (more on mindset later).
2 – Work in a series (themes) approach over certain time periods
What helps is if you can group the artworks you create into a theme based series of few pieces over a timeline (this can be a week, a month – you chose). Then create another series over a new period of time.
Let’s say you like acrylics and water color. And you also really like abstract florals, but then you’re also drawn to abstracts that do not represent anything but are more contemporary in nature. So an example of what you can do is this:
- Commit to creating 5 different “floral” abstract paintings with acrylic over a period of time.
- And then create 5 “floral” abstract paintings with water color over the next period.
- After that you can create 5 non-representational abstracts in acrylic.
- Then do 5 non-representational abstracts in water color.
This phased (series style) will allow you to have a longer focus to study a certain style and medium without switching to another style too quickly. This will be beneficial for your self-discovery. Because we learn and discover best through a lot of repetition with “focused attention”. Repetition on ONE thing is the key to mastery. And before mastery, it will also help you actually find what you enjoy more (and shed more light into what you really don’t like that much after all). And this approach will free you from the constant pressure of feeling you have to commit to a style “today”. You don’t have to. Give yourself time. Keep exploring different styles, but instead of switching from one thing to the other with every painting, allow yourself to get a little more intimate through a series (or theme) before you switch things drastically.
3 – Remember, your style can always evolve and change over time
Always remember this. As an artist, let’s say you settle on a style today and paint in that style for a few years – this doesn’t mean that your style will remain stuck and not evolve. Over an extended time your creative style should evolve, so it will just naturally always change bit by bit. Sometimes artists change their artistic direction quite significantly even after a number of years. It can be your technique, tools, moods, or color choices that evolve or shift. So, the reason I’m saying this is to help you NOT think that you have to be stuck in one style for life. You don’t have to. And you should not have to. You can always chose to follow what gives you most joy in a way that still carries your personal touch.
4 – You can create your own unique style by merging various aspects of multiple styles
Let me try to explain this. It’s easiest if I pick some examples. Let’s say you like the random blends and effects that happen with a pouring technique, but you also love painting abstract with brushes as that makes you feel more in control of your composition. You can develop a style over time where you do some brushwork to develop an abstract underpainting, and then you can add some interesting details via pouring in only some parts of the painting (and.. no – I haven’t tried this one but just using as an example to make my point). Obviously the chosen aspects of the two styles need to come together in a way where the painting looks like one painting (one combined style) and not like two styles were accidentally squished together. And this requires your sense of practice, mastery, and aesthetics you develop over time (this doesn’t happen overnight). But I hope you get the idea here. Many artists (as they evolve) integrate multiple techniques and molding them all into something new, in a way that is distinct and pleasant to the eye. There are ways where you can merge certain aspects of different styles and yet create your own signature marks.
I as an example, love using big brushes and creating beautiful brushstrokes and blends, but I also love using the catalyst wedge (or similar tools) and spreading glazes with it or creating interesting details. I can do this combination by creating multiple layers that look pleasant and integrated on top of each other. So my style often integrates two different ways / tools – so I get to enjoy both worlds that I love very much (as I feel so happy using booth and I don’t have to chose just one thing). This may change over time, as I always try to experiment a little and discover some fresh bits and pieces over time – but that would relate to point #3.
Here’s a different example where it’s not about technique but “mood”; Say you adore certain styles of art that you are seeing out there. Try to observe the things you like that are NOT about the technique. Is there a certain color palette you seem to love? Is there a certain way the light and dark colors are interacting? Is there a sense of boldness, or calmness, richness, or playfulness, minimalism, or messiness in those paintings. What about the colors, what combinations of colors are you more drawn to? Look at the things you enjoy about the artworks you see that are not even about the technique. Often it is NOT so much the technique but the theme or feeling we like in what we see, and this can help you discover what you love.. And then you can pull some of that inspiration and that feeling into your own work, while still having your own very different technique and style that still looks distinct.
5 – Spend more time nurturing yourself and your creativity, rather than looking at others’ (art) photos on social media for hours
I’m not saying skip consuming social media altogether. There’s so much inspiration and support there – I know first hand. And I’m personally grateful for the inspiration out there as I see such an abundance of creative work being shared there every day – this can be such a big inspiration for me too, especially when in a creative rut. But limit your time of browsing each day or each week. Just get whatever minimum dose of visual inspiration you feel you need and then give yourself more quiet time to create. And take some breaks, switch things up, and go for a walk instead of browsing social. Listen to inspirational books (doesn’t have to be about art), or podcasts, or get some other dose of “non-visual” inspiration into your day. Having a calm and healthy mind can do wonders in boosting your own creativity and finding your way! (and that is not just in art but in life)
6 – Don’t compare yourself to others (this connects to the previous point)
Take in the ideas and inspiration you see out there, but don’t aspire to do things exactly like someone else. Instead use that inspiration to create your own unique touch. This will not happen on day one, but remember this over time: that you want to grow into a style that has YOUR OWN unique hand gestures, unique strokes and mark makings, and your unique touch, or your personal moods, colors, feelings that the paintings emit. If you always compare yourself to others, you will never be happy with your own work (it’s how the brain works – constantly criticizing ourselves if we let it to). Think about this, you may be comparing yourself to someone who is a few (or many) years ahead of you and they may have put in hundreds or thousands more hours into practice. Who knows what struggles they went through at the beginning. We just don’t know. Or, you could be comparing yourself to someone who paints to express a certain feeling or emotion (say for example chaos and conflict), and yet perhaps that is not the main emotion you wish you express in your work (perhaps you want to express a sense of calmness and joy through your work). Or visa versa. You both might even use somewhat similar techniques, but can you see how that different emotion would show up differently too and there’s just no point in making a comparison ?
A healthier way of comparison is this: Compare yourself against your “own” work a year or two ago, you will see the progress you made, or perhaps the changes in direction you created in your work. Swim in your own lane, don’t get distracted by others – not by their style, nor what point they have reached. This will help you to get more focused on your own growth and journey, and you will love and own what you do so much more.
7 – Remember it’s less about the technical style but more about your personality and what gives you more joy
Think about how YOU want to shop up in your art. Use the different techniques you learn or explore as an inspiration and a “vehicle” in your journey, as a tool for you to enjoy the process, but don’t let actual techniques undermine how you want to show up through your work. In the end, it’s not as much about the technical skills or methods… if you focus too much on the skill alone or the type of materials or techniques, you will miss out on your authenticity and power to express something you truly enjoy or care about. Methods can change over time. It’s more important that you think about what inspires you – you want to explore the things you have a personal connection with. There could be visual clues, like various aspects of nature, places, travels, maybe colors in a certain type of photography that you admire. Do you see a theme in the colors that excites you in these visual clues? What is the energy in this visual clues? How could that translate to mood or colors in art? Or there can be emotional clues like joyfulness or tranquility, softness or strength, or excitement, curiosity, power, love etc. that you want to express via art… how do you think this may translate into your art in terms of colors, lightness, darkness, busy-ness vs calmness in colors or shapes etc ? And there doesn’t have to be just ONE thing you care about, there can be a theme of a few things that you can explore in phases in your art journey.
As you get more clear on the things that really appeal to you in life, you can put yourself on a discovery to collect a lot more inspiration for yourself, regardless of the technical style you chose to work with.
What has been your experience so far? Share your discoveries or struggles with your creative journey below.
