Acrylic Paintings

Well I wasnt even going to bother posting these but I thought people on here might be able to give me some advice.
I pulled out my acrylics and had a go using them today I have only ever done a handful of acrylic painting and Im finding it hard using them.
These arnt meant to be super realistic or detailed, just playing around with colours. I would love if anyone could give any advice on using acrylics. If so it would be much appreciated!

Proportions arnt great either I realise.

Acrylics tend to dry pretty quickly, which is part of the reason they can be difficult to work with. I believe there is a clear medium of some sort available to help with this (the name escapes me, unfortunately!). I use them quite a bit for solid designs, but I haven't really tried anything other than that with them.

Great work!

Its called Gesso. It comes in glossy, thick, thin....etc It's sold at most art stores. It can help. However you should not need to use gesso. Acrylics are not meant to have that nice blended work. Oils would be better for that. Gesso is more of like a filler, it thins out acrylics and makes it more like a clear coat.

Mm never heard of Gesso before!

Thanks JaphyJaphy!

Here is another two I did. Bearing in mind Im spending no more than 1 hour tops on these. The quality of these photos are horrible sorry they look better in real life.

In real life this has more detail in the eye :(



This also has more detail in real life. And yes I realise it is so out of proportion Hmm will work on that with the next one.



Any Advice?

Hey Caitlin! It's great you're getting into other mediums.... *Reminds oneself to open that drawer with all them colourful pastels and paints*

I think your proportions look pretty good actually. Just a few minor things really. The only thing that really sticks out to me in the head portraits is that the nostrils are too small. Nostrils are a bear to do with acrylic paint (at least in my opinion).

I don't have a ton of advice about acrylics because I am not nearly as proficient with paint as I am with pencil, but here are a few things that have worked for me so far.

Do you have different types/sizes of brushes? There are brushes that are square in shape and flat, brushes that have round tips, brushes with more pointed tips, fan brushes (I have one, but have no idea how to even use it...lol) and all these brushes come in different sizes. I have just played with the different brushes over the years and figured out which brushes work best for certain strokes, though this is still an ongoing process for me.

As far as mixing colors go, don't be afraid to use colors your wouldn't otherwise think to use. I will sometimes mix a little purple or blue with brown for dark areas. Someone once told me not to use black directly to creat shadows, but to mix blue an dark brown. This works for me most of the time. As with the brushes, figuring out color mixing combinations is also an ongoing process.

And then there's the old saying "Practice makes perfect."

Just thought I'd throw it in but if you are using canvas you can remove acrylic paint using nail polish remover or strait up acetone but use q-tips.

I love acrylics but they do dry fast! Very annoying!

I really like the palomino though :)

Good work. No work is ever a waste of time, even if they aren't masterpieces. Acrylics are hard. I , personally, really don't like working in them because of the way they dry and the lack of luminosity (showing light through from the whitepaper behind). I just don't know how to manipulate them. And, I am all about black and white.

Are you painting these from photographs? How do you start them out? By sketching, or just freehand?

I really like your work, I think it's just a matter of becoming more comfortable with this particular medium.

Thanks Sarah! Yeah Colours a lot harder than black and white but its fun.

Equusketch- Yeah I find the nostrils really difficult. I'm not sure about the brushes I have I just have a few different sizes (as in thickness yeah) they are nothing special. I will try adding some purple and blue to my next one thankyou. With a palomino/Buckskin what colour would I add to the shadows for them? ... Thankyou for the advice!

Smguidotti- I never knew that I might try it. THankyou!

Tinyliny- Yeah that's what I figured I would just try and do a heap of non time consuming paintings and then when I get a good grasp on colours etc. I will spend a bit more time on them. I find myself actually watering them down a but and using them similiar to watercolour. Thankyou Tinyliny!

JaphyJaphy- Yes I am doing them from photographs (they arnt turning out like them though haha) . I sketch them out before hand and then paint. Thankyou :)