How to Start Painting With Acrylics for Beginners

What is the most versatile painting medium for anyone who enjoys painting? If acrylics come to mind then I have to agree. It is likely that your earliest introduction to painting as a child was with acrylics. Maybe watercolour too, but as far as scope of use is concerned acrylics must be first choice. What about for beginners? Acrylics is my choice for beginners and not watercolour.

You may be thinking that you grew up with watercolours so they must be simple to use. Not so.
Here is why you should consider acrylics instead.

Master’s Medium
Sure watercolours seem benign. Just add a little water and paint on paper. Easy. This may be fine if you are painting a simple one dimensional doodle. Perhaps the typical school subject you remember from back in the day. Which, incidentally most adults would also struggle with. But take watercolours to fine art subjects and you will soon find this transparent paint to be a deceptive and unforgiving medium for beginners. There is too much going on in real time with little margin for error. This is why watercolours is rightly called a master’s medium.

Learn the Ground Rules with Acrylics
To learn the basics of painting is a necessary step in every artist’s journey. Acrylics make this challenging stage a little easier to cope with and there are excellent reasons for this.

1. Acrylics are less intimidating than oils because there are no solvents used. Whether for medical reasons or simply due to the added complexity many beginners want to avoid various solvents;
2. Acrylics are widespread. It is usually easier to get your hands on a range of acrylics than oils. This may not be relevant in major centres, but even in remote areas a selection of acrylics can be found in a store. Quality may not be great, however, but if I have no choice then I would take what I could find.
3. Financial outlay can be modest. Yes you can get away with a few good student quality acrylics, one brush and a sheet of paper. If you are undecided about painting in the first place then you will not regret spending a little to feel your way into the painting experience. I know many beginners that spend a small fortune on oil painting kit only to give up after one painting attempt.
4. Versatility. No matter what your style of painting is acrylics can usually meet your needs. You can use acrylics almost like watercolours or use them thick and juicy like oils. Plus the variety of painting surfaces, concepts and added mediums is astonishing. Acrylics stick pretty much to anything so you can paint on whatever your imagination suggests. You are not bound to canvas or painting panels. There are many substances like modelling paste that can be added for textures and wonderful effects. No surprise then that contemporary abstract artists love acrylics.
5. Longevity: No worries about paint cracking, fading or discolouration. Once dry acrylic paint is tough yet flexible something like plastic.
6. Drying Time: Mostly seen as an advantage if you use this to good effect. For example glazing can be done same day. Not so with oils as the paint must first be dry to glaze. Building up layers is also simpler. I find the speed of painting is also improved. Mistakes can be covered up quicker too.
7. Benefits of Opaque Paint: You do not lose the benefit of opaque paint when you need it. Watercolours is pretty much transparent throughout, but acrylics can have the best of both worlds. You can still get that thick painterly opaque paint effect you use in oils. You can even paint over parts of the acrylics, when dry, with oils to best effect. Learn more about this technique in my course From Acrylics to Oil Painting in 5 Easy Steps.

Of course every medium has its benefits and problem areas. But overall acrylics have the greatest variety of uses.

Getting Started the Easy Way
I did mention the cost effectiveness of acrylics. However there are also tons of acrylic materials of various quality that can add up to big expenses if you are not careful. The topic of acrylic mediums on its own can bog you down. I advise beginners to forget about mediums until more important issues are dealt with. I take a similar approach to oils too. So what should you have to begin painting in acrylics?

Paint
Of course, but the choices are endless. What to purchase? Simplicity is best so stick to basic colours that give you the most options. A basic set will include:
Titanium white
Warm Red (like cad. Red light)
Cool red (like alizarin crimson or magenta)
Warm blue (like ultramarine blue)
Cool blue (like cerulean or cobalt)
Cool Yellow (like cad. Yellow lemon)
Warm yellow (like cad. Yellow deep)
Orange
Burnt sienna
Yellow ochre
Burnt umber
This list of colours is extensive yet not too complicated to confuse you. There are the essential primaries. A few convenience colours especially the earthy hues that are used often. What is important is that you use a good quality paint that suits your budget. Student quality is fine to begin with. Why use expensive artist’s quality paint to learn the basics? Examples are Winsor and Newton’s Galleria range. Maimeri’s Acrilico range Zellen’s Zelcryl range will be fine to learn with.

Brushes
You are spoilt for choice since acrylics are gentle on most brushes. Synthetic brushes work very well with acrylics unlike with oils. So you can save good money on brushes. But as always simplicity is best so try these:
Round brushes in sizes 4 and 8
A filbert shape in size 6
A long flat in size 4, 6 and 10
A rigger
One large short flat for blocking in. Size 12-14 should do.
In a pinch one round, one filbert and one large short flat will do to start with. These brushes have so much variety of shapes that you can easily complete an entire painting with a couple of brushes.

Supports
As mentioned what you paint on is limited by your imagination. But for simplicity a few panels in 10”x 12” size is perfect to learn on. Buy them ready made or make your own from MDF. Make sure they are primed with gesso.
Panels are cheaper than canvas. But cheaper still is paper unless you are using expensive watercolour paper. But why would you do that? Anyway for learning purposes any of these supports will do nicely. For your typical painting a panel or canvas is perfect.

Easel
Once again limited only by your budget. If you prefer to stand while painting then the adjustable H-frame easel is best. If you prefer to sit then a desktop easel may suffice although painting sizes are more limited. Avoid the A-frame easels. These are more for displaying paintings. Also take portability into account if you do not have a permanent space to paint.
If you are handy then you can easily make an easel and save a lot of cash. There are endless designs to find online so take your pick. Probably the simplest is a wall mounted easel consisting of two or three planks.

The Big Picture
Overall you want to be inspired by your equipment and not intimidated. Also you do not want to feel guilty about spending a small fortune. This is meant to be fun. Plus painting is not an overnight thing. If you love it then you will have to grow with it and improve over time. Naturally you will add to your basic starter studio too. This is the nature of things. I can assure you though that learning the right things about brushwork, composition, colour and practice will take you much further than materials alone.

What Next? Dive In
As an art teacher as well I could say that you must take up lessons right away. That is a good idea, but first get familiar with your materials and find your joy. That’s right. Your joy! This is about fun and play as well. So mess around a bit too. Paint what grabs your attention. Try things. Found objects around the house can make a still life. Your imagination must begin to work. Make marks with your brushes and see what variety of shapes they make. Mix colours and see what happens.

Read books, blogs and watch videos on YouTube. No pressure. When you are ready then take classes. As a beginner you will want to get the foundation of painting in place. These principles apply to all painting genres. But for oils and acrylics I can suggest Learn to Paint with Impact. This is my flagship course for beginners that teaches the time-honoured methods of painting.
 
Begin
Most importantly it is best to start. Get over the learning hump in one month by practicing the basics. Do many starts on paintings without worrying about the finish. Leave them half finished. By practicing a good start you are setting a strong foundation for excellent painting skills in the future. Too many beginners focus on the finished painting before they even have a solid grasp of the basics. The result is frustration and they drop painting altogether. Set yourself up for long term growth by concentrating of the start of a painting. Enjoy.
 
PS: New Acrylic Course for Beginners in 2018
I am currently working on a new course for acrylics that will show you the simple yet effective way to use acrylics with confidence. If you want to stay in the loop for the pre-launch special of this up-coming course then be sure to join my Artist’s and Collectors Circle below.