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How do i improve
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Posted
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXF9GwpTPdm18o0HdxttCmA
Take a look there (assuming the link works of course) and if you explore a bit you'll find Patrick's watercolour course.
Or
http://us11.campaign-archive1.com/?u=650133418307a95455de862b6&id=65bdfe3c2d&e=95cf177286
Posted
I've just looked at one of his videos and enjoyed it. I was interested to see that he showed a shot of his palette showing the amount and consistency of prepared washes. This is something which most beginners struggle with and few demonstrators ever include in their videos. Other points I noted were: his use of bulldog clips, the way he mixes washes on the paper and I particularly liked the way he indicates reflections in water. I found it of interest and it certainly should be of great help for beginners. I shal certainly be looking at more of his demos - thanks for the link Robert.
Posted
I would agree with the previous posts watch Youtube there is a vast amount of info there and on top of that I would say paint, paint and then do some more painting. Keep all your efforts no matter how bad you think them and after a while look back at them and see how you have improved.
I have a painting I did 10 years ago when I started painting and my late wife thought it so good made me frame it - I look at it now and its - terrible, but I have to keep it.
Ray.
Posted
Books are useful, better than most DVDs in my view. Instructional books by Alwyn Crawshaw are good.
I suggest you attend an art class. If you've not done much art in the past, it's better to join a drawing class. Drawings skills are the basis of art and it will help you paint better.
I wouldn't aim to paint everyday. It's time consuming, especially setting out all the equipment and clearing up after. You'll learn more from doing quick sketches of things you see during your normal routine. All you need is a 2b pencil, a black fibretip pen and a small sketchbook. I like the A5 or A6 sketchbooks by Daler Rowney which fit in a pocket or bag, and are inconspicuous because they're bound in black.
http://www.jacksonsart.com/p55433/Daler_Rowney_Ebony_Hardback_Sketchbook_Portrait_A5_:_62_sheets_:_150gsm/product_info.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=allprods&gclid=CLqa1JixwscCFSb4wgod5f0LvQ
Posted
Acrylics - as it happens, I have an article coming up in the next issue of Pratim Das' online magazine Coloured Canvas on acrylics; there was one last month too, although not relevant to technique particularly, and there'll be a final one in the October edition. And in due course - maybe October if all goes well - I'll have an article in Leisure Painter too.
In short, though: there are broadly three types of acrylic: the liquid, free-flow; the heavy body; and interactives, which can be re-wetted and worked into again. I know little about the third, except that I've never much liked the sound of them. If it's still life you want to paint, I'd suggest a canvas board, canvas, MDF or hardboard, watercolour paper - ANYTHING but so-called acrylic paper: I've never yet found one that was anything other than foul to work on, although I believe some people get on with Galeria acrylic paper. Decide whether you want to paint fluidly, or with body (or with a bit of both) and choose your paint accordingly: if you buy online, you can find a lot of information about the properties of the paint; and a good artshop will have staff who can advise you. Use plenty of water for your first paint layers (obviously not so much that the paint just breaks up: some brands are prone to). And work in a combination of layering, scumbling, and glazing - acrylic is perfect for adding glazing, because it dries fast, and there's no risk of picking up and muddying or lifting the dried colour underneath (unless you use the interactives, which is another reason why I don't). You can add as many glazes as you like, always bearing in mind that you might need to re-state some of the construction lines if they get obscured.
Finally, don't use your best watercolour brushes - they won't work well with acrylics anyway, and you run the risk of ruining them. Instead, use synthetic brushes - Dalon from Daler Rowney, or choose from the large range on the Rosemary & Co website (Shiraz and the Golden range, especially) or from the acrylic brushes section of one of the big art suppliers - Jacksons, CassArts, Gerstaecker/Great Art: and of course there are several others.
And there are plenty of YouTube demos (finally finally...) - look out for those by Brandon Shaeffer: he's gone back to oils now, but he'll have left some acrylic videos on his site.
Posted
Agree with the latest advice......... what acrylics are you using, I wonder; most makes don't come in small tubes. Certainly no vaseline, and the paint won't hurt you (but don't get it on your clothes if you can avoid it). Sponges - you can use a sponge; I never have, but you can.... I think there's a book by Wendy Jelbert on acrylic painting: she often uses all sorts of things as additives, or tools. Although to be honest, I'd get the hang of brushes and painting knives first - on the principle of walk before you can run.
But if you do want to use a sponge, you'll be able to use it again IF you wash it out before the paint has dried on it. If you don't, it'll be useless. (Sylvia, sponges are used by some for textures - especially over layers of dried paint: maybe that's how he got his hands covered in paint, of course....)
Are you trying to get the full range of colour in one go ... ? Acrylic benefits a lot from layering: let one layer dry, then apply another. Build it up slowly, adding detail at the end. There are many more ways to use acrylic than that, but from the sound of it this may be the way that suits you, if you're exhausting your paint tubes on one A4 support - you're not using cartridge paper, are you...? It'll soak up paint.
I do think my Leisure Painter article, when it appears (nudge) will be of some help to you..... but in the meantime, there really are dozens of books on acrylic painting, from the basic to the advanced: and around as many YouTube films. I should have a play with Mr Google and see what you can find. I was going to write another e-book on acrylics, as I have for oils: wish I'd got on and done it now; seems to me I'd better.......
Posted
Damn - I replied to the question on differences between oil paint and acrylic, somehow hit a rogue key, and lost the flaming lot....
In short, because I don't feel much like typing all that out again, yes there's a big difference, even between acrylic and water miscible oils, and an even bigger one when you come to regular oil paint. The paint itself, and its mediums, are more toxic, so you'd need to beware of that (plenty of ventilation, wash your hands often, especially if stopping for a snack or drink), its richer, it will form ridges and shapes which are a little harder to do in acrylic, and it dries MUCH more slowly.
But this is a very big subject, and I couldn't begin to cover it all in a thread like this: this is why I wrote my e-book, Oil Paint Basics, which can be found under my name on the Amazon Kindle store: you don't need a Kindle, you can download an app. I don't mean to advertise - pause, while the sheer enormity of this lie sinks in - but I know people have found it helpful; and at the price I'm compelled to charge (ie, a low one) I have an easy conscience on the matter. Besides which, it'd be a lot easier than trying to give a seminar here on POL - for both of us!
If you'd rather not buy the book (cheapskate.....) then ask specific questions as they come up, and I and others will be able to answer them here.
Got to give you a word of caution about YouTube here, though: there are excellent 'how to' videos on watercolour and acrylic there; there is also a fair amount of utter tripe on oil paint which you really need to avoid - anything calling itself wet-on-wet, the Bob Ross method, or the Bill Alexander method - and there are others who model themselves on those gentlemen: you'll soon encounter a number of them, most of them American. If you want to paint just as a hobby, you want to paint generic scenes - you don't want to actually study oil painting and express anything deeper than just achieving a "nice" look: then Bob and Bill and their numerous imitators may suit you. If you want to paint .... what's the word? properly, I suppose; if you want to find out about the way in which genuine artists have painted in oils, then you'd be much better advised to go to young Brandon Shaeffer, and artists to whom he links. And read my book - naturally.....
(Bob Ross by the way was a very nice and very good man - so, doubtless, was Bill Alexander. But their methods and their materials alike are not to be trusted.)
But you're not there yet, so enjoy the acrylics you've bought - you could do with bigger than 12mm tubes; and yes, it can be a job getting the tops off without decorating your shirt sleeve; don't, whatever you do, squeeze on the tube while removing the cap - this way, messy madness lies. Acrylic paint can be very fluid: but then, it looks as though you've already discovered that...
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