Acrylic Painting Simplied

Creating an acrylic painting is relatively easy, even if its your first time making a painting. The texture of acrylic is simple to use. Acrylic paints are thicker in texture. If this is your first time painting, it is perfectly fine to use paints and materials of a lesser brand or quality, such as from Wal-Mart.

All the materials required can be found in the Arts and Crafts section of Wal-Mart, so just one trip is all you need. The materials you need for a simple acrylic painting are:

-A canvas of any size

-Variety of paint brushes

-Variety of cheap, acrylic paints

- Paint trays (little plastic trays to separate and put paints in)

-Acrylic Gesso

-Large foam brush, usually a black foam on a wooden stick

-Pencils

-Ruler

-A large eraser

To paint, make sure to assemble newspaper on the work site, and wear old clothing so you won't sacrifice any good clothing. Also, it's helpful to have paper towels and a cup of clear water for cleaning off the brushes. Before anything, use the black, foam brush and apply the Acrylic Gesso on the canvas. The Gesso will help create a good, textured surface on which to paint on. Paint the Gesso on in long strokes, and in one direction. When that layer dries, paint more Gesso on there, and again in long strokes and in the opposite direction. So if the first time you painted up and down, this time do side to side. You want to create a completely even surface and you want to let it dry until it's completely set.

So decide on a painting you want to do. Make sure it's something simple that you can manage, like a fruit, or a simple animal like a Koi fish or a bird. You can make a flower, or a caricature with simple lines like Mickey Mouse. You'll find out pretty fast that trying to freehand a drawing on the canvas can be extremely hard. What I have done that works is this: I find an image that I want to draw and print it out. I use the ruler to make horizontal and vertical lines on the drawing with the pencil to make a grid of equal squares. Then you do the same thing with your canvas. With the pencil, lightly draw on the canvas as you make the grid on it with the ruler. Keep the dimensions the same. So if on your image you have 12 squares on the grid, have 12 squares on the canvas. Now, square by square, transfer the outline of the image onto the canvas. This method makes it easier to transfer the image on the canvas because you are using each individual square as a guide. Take your time with this step. It might take a little while.

Now you are ready to paint. Use the paints you have and to create an interesting effect, blend colors together on the canvas. Experiment with the different brushes. Smaller brushes will create finer lines, larger brushes can create effects that are more feathered or bolder. You can pour a bit of paint on the paint trays and even experiment with mixing colors. It's easier to outline everything on your image in black, and then paint in the lines, or you can be brave and not use black lines. But it always helps to make an outline with the paint and blend it into the painting. You can add water to the acrylic to create a more water color effect, for example with making a soft background. The paint will cover up any pencil marks. This is how you make a beautiful, simple acrylic painting. Have fun. The more you do it, the better you get. The better quality acrylics are not as thick, but still very easy and fun to work with. Start small and above all else, have fun!