Step-by-Step Acrylic Painting for Beginners

How to Paint With Acrylics

To start an acrylic painting, you need two things:

1. Seven basic painting supplies (see below), and
2. Ideas for what to paint.

Of course, there are best practices and tools that can help turn your idea into a work of art. We will discuss those further on, including:

• Best lighting
• Deciding the subject and focal point
• Planning your painting's layout
• Tinting your canvas
• Drawing your idea first
• Painting the middle values first
• Adding details and highlights

Let's get started!

7 Supplies You'll Need for Acrylic Painting

Do you want to learn how to paint with acrylics? I've compiled a list of the seven things you'll need to get started. Read on for details on each one.

1. Acrylic paint
2. An assortment of brushes
3. Painting surface
4. Palette
5. Water
6. Cloth rags or paper towels
7. Easel

1. Acrylic Paint

Get the best quality paint you can afford. Aim for artist quality, not student quality. The student-quality hues have more fillers and respond less efficiently to color and media mixing.

You don’t need many colors; a limited palette of basic colors is great for starters. To begin with a very limited palette, you can buy single tubes and make your own primary color combination.

Or, I really like the pre-made Liquitex 4-Color Mixing set. It has a good choice of tubes: Quinacridone Crimson, Yellow Medium Azo, Phthalo Blue (Green Shade), and Titanium White.

• Tip: A "black" can always be obtained by mixing the three primary colors together.

A Note of Caution About Phthalo

Note of caution: every time you use a pigment that has "pthlalo" in the name, usually a blue or a green, be aware that it's a very strong pigment. A small amount goes a long way.

I had a hard time with phthalo for many years, but now I've learned that when used in small quantities, it's an amazingly flexible color, very useful in many color mixes. I rarely used it pure, right out of the tube.

2. Various Brushes

A rule of thumb for brushes: Use big brushes for big areas and a "loose" style, and use small brushes for small areas and details.

This is why it's important to have a variety of brush sizes.

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As I mention in my article about choosing the best paint brushes, acrylic painters may use both the stiff bristle brushes used by oil painters and the synthetic brushes made for smooth watercolor painting. It all depends on the effect you want to obtain with your brushwork.

• Stiffer brushes will leave visible marks on the painting with more textural results. Softer brushes will give you smoother brushstrokes with more subtle blending.

Nylon brushes are best to create flat paint areas, while natural bristles give a more uneven texture.

On What Support Should I paint?

3. Painting Surface

Acrylic paint works on many kinds of surfaces, including canvas, paper, or board. If you buy pre-primed canvas, make sure it’s primed with acrylic gesso.

A canvas primed for oil painting is not suitable. Acrylics don’t stick on oily surfaces and will peel off with time.

4. Palette

Your palette is the surface on which you mix your paint. You can use any flat, tray-like object made of plastic or other waterproof material.

My example, above, has convenient compartments to help separate your different paint colors.

I use a Masterson Sta-Wet paint palette with airtight lid. Inside, I place wet paper towels and on top of those, parchment paper, on which I mix my acrylic paint.

If you close the lid after each painting session and when taking a break, your paint stays wet for days.

When it's time to change the papers, to prevent mold, clean the palette with a ammonia-based glass cleaner, like Windex, and rinse well. Then replace the wet towels and the parchment paper.

5. Water

You need water to rinse your brushes when you switch from one color to another.

Have two containers of water nearby: one to rinse brushes after painting and one with clean water that you can use to dilute the paint and moisten the brushes when needed.

(Read Tips for Cleaning Acrylic Paint Brushes for more information.)

6. Cloth Rag or Paper Towels

The choice is yours: Either a reusable cloth or paper towels come in very handy to dab brushes after rinsing, correct mistakes on your painting, and keep your hands clean and dry.

Just be aware that, once acrylic paint dries on your cloth, it will be difficult to wash out, and the fabric will become stiff. Paper towels, while not the more environmentally friendly choice, will be easier to manage when you're new to painting.

7. Easel

It’s beneficial to keep your painting support at an angle directly opposite you as you work. This helps a lot with perspective and proportions.

To keep your canvas or board inclined, you can use a stand-up easel or a tabletop one. Easels come in different shapes and prices. You can get a tabletop easel for less than $10.

Pay Attention to the Quality of Materials

The quality of the materials you use is crucial, especially the paint. If budget is your biggest concern, there are student-quality canvases, brushes, and paints. On the opposite end of the quality spectrum are the professional artist-grade varieties of these supplies.

Student-quality paint has a smaller percentage of pigment in the acrylic binder and fillers. It’s hard to see the difference until you start painting with it. The paint behaves in a less efficient and more challenging way.

The rule of thumb is this: Get the best tools you can afford.

For high-quality artist-grade paints, Golden and Liquitex are great brands.

What Is the Best Light for Painting?

Once you've gathered your painting supplies, it's time to find a well-lit area. The old masters like Leonardo and Botticelli set up their studios in a room with tall windows that would get northern light because it's less direct, remains pretty stable throughout the day, and does not alter colors with its warmth or hue.

• If you can’t have a nice northern window in your painting area or if you need to paint when it’s dark outside, make sure that your artificial lighting has a neutral light scope. Compact fluorescent lights (CFL) are good for this.

Arrange your light source and your canvas so that the light is higher than the canvas, and it’s not coming from behind you. This is to avoid disturbing reflections on the painting surface and having your shadow cast on the painting surface.

What Should a Beginner Paint?

Even the best painters don't necessarily choose complicated subjects to paint. One of the most challenging things to paint for beginners is probably a portrait of a person. You don't have to start with a huge challenge.

Think about all of the beautiful paintings you've seen (or seen pictures of) that are of much simpler subjects.

• A vase of flowers
• A simple landscape
• A scene at the beach
• A still life of simple objects
• A bowl of fruit, or one fruit
• A plant
• The interior of a room

These subjects will offer plenty of challenges for a beginning painter while allowing you to keep your painting simple.

There is no substitute for practice. The more acquainted you are with the acrylic medium... the easier it is to express your ideas with more professionalism.

— Joseph Orr

Deciding Your Painting's Focus

What do you want to paint? What are you trying to represent? Maybe it’s a landscape, but what is it about that landscape that inspired you to paint it? Its light? Its calm? Its liveliness?

Before you get started, decide what you are trying to represent in your painting and, on a piece of paper, plan the composition of your painting keeping your focus in mind. It might take several small composition sketches before you find one that "sings" to you.

If you work from a photograph, there is no reason to be totally faithful to the photo layout and/or colors. You can alter sizes, positions, and colors of things to suit your artistic goal. You can edit some of the trees out, add some others, and move a home or a bridge to make your composition more balanced.

In fact, if you do use a photograph, use it for reference only, don't copy it. Make a sketch of the elements and shapes that you like, but then put the photo away. Then feel free to rearrange the figures and create your own composition for your painting.

Plan Your Layout: It Will Save You Trouble Later

The temptation to start painting right away is huge, but if you jump right into the drawing and painting on your canvas, you may find yourself stuck with a weak painting that needs improvement and you don't know how to "save" it. In many cases, this is a sign of poor composition and value structure.

Before you jump into your painting, make some preliminary sketches to use as a reference. The rule of thirds can help you decide how to plan the layout of your painting and where to place your focal point.

You can paint different colors from what you see in order to stick with a specific color scheme. Some planning using value sketches can make a huge difference.

The quick drying time and incredible flexibility of acrylics allow for 'almost' foolproof experimentation.

— Corrine Loomis-Dietz

Start Drawing on a Tinted Canvas

I used to draw first and then apply a tinted background for my painting. The problem with that is that the paint smudges your drawing, and it can make details hard to see.

I learned to tint the canvas first and then draw my layout. It’s much easier this way.

You can pick any ground color that complements your composition. When in doubt, I usually paint a diluted base of yellow ochre on the whole canvas. It provides the painting with a vibrant undertone and it helps me avoid the feeling of "artist’s block" in front of a white canvas.

Tips for Painting With Water-Based Paints

1. Acrylic paint is water-based so you can thin it with water. There is no need to use chemical paint thinner. You can also clean your brushes with water.
2. Even though acrylic paints are water-soluble, they dry quickly and are water-resistant when they're dry.
3. You can't mix acrylic and oil paints (oil and water don't mix).
4. You can use acrylics with a watercolor technique, but unlike watercolor paints, you can't reactivate the paint once it's dry.

Paint the Middle Values First

When you are happy with your composition, fill the rough shape of the focal point of your painting with the middle value for that object.

Then move to another object or shape adjacent to your focal point and paint its rough shape with the middle value.

Keep working around the whole composition blocking in all the shapes and objects. Don’t bother about shadows and highlights at this stage.

Here's some guidance on different brushstroke options to help you.

Adding Details to Your Painting

Once you have blocked off all the shapes in your composition, step back and take a look. Does it make sense? Did you choose good colors for each object?

Then go back and make any needed changes to the colors. When you are happy with the colors, it is time to start filling in more details: smaller shapes and different values. Start with the lighter values then move to the darker ones.

Paint the shadows. Shadows should be of a cooler color than the rest of the object.

Note: Shadows are never black.

Paint the Highlights Last

The last thing you need to do is to add the highlights. Highlights don’t have to be white; they can be a very light value of the main color of the object.

Step back often and look at your painting from a distance. This will help you see the direction your painting is going and evaluate the values and areas that need tweaking or improvement.

Tell a Story on Canvas

Throughout the process, keep your focal point in mind.

What were you trying to achieve? Does it come through to the viewer?

The goal should not be to represent something, but to tell a story, to convey feelings.

To remind yourself of the story that you are trying to depict, it’s a good idea to decide on a title that summarizes it from the beginning and keep it in mind. (It might help to write it down and keep it in front of you.)

Keep Painting Fun, No Matter What!

One of the main challenges for beginner artists is that the painting does not come out looking like what you had in your head. How our imagination envisions the final piece is often very different from the results on canvas.

It’s okay for the painting to take a different turn during execution and come out differently. It takes a lot of practice to be able to plan to know exactly how to render a certain effect.

Don’t get discouraged. Keep painting, and don’t forget the most important thing: in painting, the fun is in the journey, not the destination.

Enjoy every step of it, even the mistakes, because they teach you a lot.

My First Artist-Quality Set of Paint

At first, I used very cheap paints (not recommended). When I felt ready to try better quality paint, I wanted to start with a few tubes of acrylic paint, just to see how I liked the medium. I got the Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paint Set. It has four hues plus white, a set from which you can mix all kinds of colors: quinacridone crimson, yellow medium azo, phthalocyanine blue, and titanium White.

I loved it so much that I have kept using heavy-body acrylic paint for many years to come. Recently I have started experimenting with fluid and soft-body as well.

"Painting is damned difficult—you always think you've got it, but you haven't.

— Paul Cezanne

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2012 Robie Benve

Comments

y,Naga tayaru on March 21, 2020:

I love painting

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on January 20, 2020:

Hello Rob, painting can be great art therapy, whether we need it or not, lol. I love the feeling of evading reality that I get while I’m painting, I really get “in the zone”. Best of luck to you, keep painting and paint whatever pleases and/or intrigues you. We are our own worst critiques, but don’t let that stop you, after all we do it for the process and the journey more than the final products.

I did not write any books (yet?, lol) but there are many out there. If you have a public library near you, you can check out many art books at no cost. Best wishes!

ROB on January 10, 2020:

I'm a 77 year old PTSD veteran

painted tree in art therapy w student paint

got good comments from class mates / except me

my mind started to get filled with abstract things to paint

got a acrylic gesso canvas

looked at it for the past three months / visualizing

went to an art store to look & touch

went to the internet there you were, red your notes

I'll purchase supplies in due time / read a beginners art books / yours?

in due time, I'll be set, relaxed and ready to begin

Thank you for your inspiration

emily on January 08, 2020:

this might help me because I never paint before

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on December 30, 2019:

You can achieve dripping with fluid paint, or by diluting heavier acrylic paint. also like to apply thick paint and then spray with water while keeping the canvas tilted.

Rene’ on December 28, 2019:

I love the effect of dripping on an abstract painting. How do I achieve that ?

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on December 04, 2019:

That is so very true Lily! It's one of the main challenges of painting, that disconnection between our vision and what our hand creates. Keeping painting is the best way to overcome that hurdle. :) Happy painting!

Lily O on November 24, 2019:

I love painting but it could be frustrating.Sometimes what's in my mind isn't what my hands follow but it takes patience. I'm on my way!

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on July 15, 2019:

Hi J'Ariel, I am not in the supply sale business, so I don't know how much it would be. I recommend you look for back to school sales in your area and shop around.

J’Ariel on July 14, 2019:

I want all the school supplies how much that will be I am 10 years old please be cheap

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on June 30, 2019:

Hi Nikita, it sounds like we have a lot in common :) Keep on creating and following your dream. Happy painting!

Nikita on June 29, 2019:

Hi im Nikita,i love painting. Its my dream,my life,my all...

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on June 04, 2019:

Yeah, do it! :)

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on June 04, 2019:

If dreams are not big, why even dreaming? Give it a try, make a plan, and work on it. You may surprise even yourself. Best of luck to you.

Haritha on June 03, 2019:

I am a sri lankan mother of three and seeking some way of earning as i am now in the depth of the depth of well of life . found your attempt when i am searching for painting guide.I am impressed and thanks .you have noted that you hope to share ideas to improve creatives of others .But it is such a big thing to me .

Reabetswe Hancho on June 02, 2019:

Yea I'm a beginner n I'm will to do it

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on March 20, 2019:

Hi Claudia, you are right, painting the middle value first is not the first instinct for an artist. I actually learned it when I read a book by Carol Marine, and it is a great, useful concept. Thanks for your comment!

Claudia Mattis on March 18, 2019:

I like the suggestion to paint the middle value first, I've never tried that, I usually paint what I see, and try to mach the final look from the beginning, but you are describing a slower approach that adds details much later in the process, that sounds like a good way to get looser, not too tight and detailed. Thanks!

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on February 04, 2019:

That's wonderful to hear Madhu! Best wishes for many more paintings completed and lots of great exhibits of your work.

Madhu on January 30, 2019:

I am a retired Doctor (Anaesthesiologist). When I was in school I used to paint well. Our Drawing teacher always used to appreciate my paintings. Now during my retirement I restarted my hobby. & it has helped me a lot. I must thank you very much for giving very useful tips for using acrylic colours. I have done few water colours, oil colours & pastel colours. & I am glad to tell you that I held an exhibition of my paintings in one art gallery in my city.

Madhu

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on January 25, 2019:

Hi Lory, aren't social media amazing? You found me through Pinterest and somehow that has had some kind of good influence on your life and inspired you to paint. I find it amazing and totally wonderful that complete strangers from different part of the world can ow connect and inspire each other just with an online search. How wonderful!

Lori on January 24, 2019:

Thank you so much. I just found you on Pinterest, and feel very empowered to fine tune my painting.

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on January 15, 2019:

Cyn, I'm not sure what gave you the impression that I would support copying from artists you like instead of purchasing from them.

That is not something that I would encourage.

Cyn Rogalski on January 14, 2019:

Instead of copying from artists you admire, why didn't you purchase from them? I feel this is ripping off the artists.

Please don't encourage such actions.

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on January 08, 2019:

Hi Adyson, I painted on and off all my life, but 2010 is when I started doing it full time.

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on January 08, 2019:

That's awesome to hear Lorenzo, so happy the info in my article helped you get an A+!

James on January 02, 2019:

Thank you

Lorenzo Ditieri on December 29, 2018:

So I take a art school here and when i went to this website i got an A plus thank you for the great article! :)

Adyson on December 25, 2018:

This was very helpful and for christmas my dad got me this cool set and yea so and when and why did you start paintng but thx alot

Frances Plascencia on October 18, 2018:

I would love to learn to paint but have no experience

Chris hemsworth on October 15, 2018:

Thanks for sharing the idea

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on July 27, 2018:

Hi Kylee, thank you very much for your feedback, it's very much appreciated.

Kylee Henrie on July 27, 2018:

This is the most helpful and straight forward article I've found. Thank you so much. :)

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on July 02, 2018:

Thanks a lot Nouveau Artiste for your supporting words. I see that you are new to the Hubpages community, welcome!! I hope you'll love it as much as me. :)

Nouveau Artiste from Dover, NH on July 01, 2018:

Hi Robie,

I appreciate the detail in this article. Well written and too the point! Thank you for your valuable resources keep share the information like this…

Robie Benve (author) from Ohio on June 26, 2018:

Thanks a lot MaryB, glad to hear you appreciated my writings.