Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:23 Practice Painting On Paper
01:50 Use A Palette That's Made For Acrylics
02:41 Use A Limited Palette
03:47 Use An Acrylic Paint That Works With Your Style
05:26 Sketch Before You Paint
06:40 Tone The Canvas With Color
08:56 Learn How To Control The Drying Times Of Acrylics
09:33 Learn The Basics Of Color Mixing
10:00 Experiment With Blending Techniques
10:28 Mix Colors Slightly Lighter

The original painting is available
https://www.dailypaintworks.com/finea...

In this video, I cover 10 acrylic painting tips for beginners. These are the things that I wish I knew about acrylics when I was a beginner. Below is a quick summary of each tip and links to the products that I mention in the video.

The links that lead to Blick Art Materials and Amazon are affiliate links which means that I earn a commission if you click on them and make a purchase.

1 PRACTICE PAINTING ON PAPER
Acrylic paper is good to practice on because cheap and yet it's archival. There are canvas boards that have actual canvas glued to them and they're more affordable and easier to store than stretched canvases.

Montval Acrylic paper has a cold press watercolor texture
http://shrsl.com/2pr8h

Strathmore Acrylic paper has a linen finish that's similar to canvas
http://shrsl.com/2pr8o

Canson XL oil and acrylic paper has a canvas texture
http://shrsl.com/2pr8w

Raymar canvas panels (the sturdy wood canvas panels)
http://shrsl.com/2pr9n

Gessobord
http://shrsl.com/2pr9v

2 USE A PALETTE THAT'S MADE FOR ACRYLICS
Here's the Mijello Fredi Weber Peeloff palette that I find easy to clean.
http://shrsl.com/2pr91

I store it in the Masterson StaWet palette, without the sponge or paper.
http://shrsl.com/2pr95

3 USE A LIMITED PALETTE
A limited palette is a small selection of colors. I use between 5 and 7 colors plus white. I do use some of the convenience colors to make things easier or when I'm looking for a specific property such as opacity or saturation.

However, as a beginner, using a limited palette will force you to learn how to mix the colors you need instead of relying on using colors straight from the tube.

4 USE AN ACRYLIC PAINT THAT WORKS WITH YOUR STYLE
Acrylic paint is available in a variety of consistencies. You'll have a much easier time if you choose one that has a consistency that works with your style. For example, it's easier to mimic watercolors with acrylics that have a fluid consistency like acrylic inks or fluid acrylics.

Golden High flow acrylics (ink like)
http://shrsl.com/2pr9h

Liquitex Acrylic Ink
http://shrsl.com/2pra7

Acrylic Gouache
http://shrsl.com/2pr9s

5 SKETCH BEFORE YOU PAINT
It's helpful to sketch out the basic composition with a pencil before you begin painting. You can even use a brush to sketch out the main shapes if you don't like drawing with graphite.

The idea is that it's easier to fix mistakes in the preliminary drawing stage than it is to repaint entire sections of your painting. How much drawing you need to do varies depending upon the subject. Generally speaking, landscapes are more forgiving and portraits require more accuracy.

I like using these pencil extenders.
http://shrsl.com/2pr9d

6 TONE THE CANVAS WITH COLOR
Toning the canvas with color before you begin painting will eliminate the intimidating stark white canvas. It also helps to fill in the gaps between shapes so you won't have white gaps between the objects in your paintings.

7 LEARN HOW TO CONTROL THE DRYING TIMES OF ACRYLICS
Use retarder to extend the drying times of acrylics or use Golden OPEN acrylics. The slower drying times will help you to create smooth blends and soft edges. On the other hand, you can use a hairdryer to speed up the drying times. Using both of these methods will give you more control over how long it takes acrylics to dry.

Golden OPEN Acrylics Sets and individual tubes
http://shrsl.com/2pr9b

Liquitex SlowDri Blending Medium
http://shrsl.com/2prak

8 LEARN THE BASICS OF COLOR MIXING
It helps to practice mixing colors as an exercise in itself. It's frustrating to not be able to match a color when you're in the middle of a painting. You can watch my color mixing shorts to learn more about color mixing.

9 EXPERIMENT WITH BLENDING TECHNIQUES
I recommend experimenting with blending techniques to find one that works best for you. There are techniques for using acrylics like oils or you can even use them like watercolors. I bet one method will be more appealing to you than another so try them out.

10 MIX COLORS SLIGHTLY LIGHTER
Acrylics have a tendency to dry darker, this is because the emulsion has a milky appearance when it's wet. This lightens the color slightly. The issue is that the emulsion clarifies as it dries which eliminates the lightening effect which makes your color appear darker. The solution is to mix your colors slightly lighter to compensate for this. Some colors and brands of acrylics are more susceptible to this.