Painting is an extremely fun art form that anyone can do. Because it’s so subjective, it doesn’t take a great artist to be able to paint a masterpiece. However, in order for you to get your artwork to the masterpiece status you desire, you may need to know a bit about some of the different painting techniques that are out there. With this in mind, here’s a brief overview of a few of my favorite painting techniques!
Acrylic paints are great to use for many reasons. First of all, they are very bright in color. The paint itself can be diluted with water if need be and they are extremely easy to use. Besides this, acrylic paints dry very quickly, which is definitely an advantage when corrections don’t need to be made and you’re looking for a fast drying project. Once dry, the paint should also be water-resistant which is a nice plus. This type of paint is also resistant to light as well, which helps delay aging over time. A negative though for acrylics for some people can be the fact that they dry fast. This aspect of the paint means you need to work quickly before the paint dries out. However, I find this medium very fun to work with!
Watercolor paints are another great medium to use. They are generally applied with water and a brush on paper or canvas to create images of transparency. Half the fun I find with using watercolors is all the ways you can blend your colors to make a realistic looking image on paper. Watercolors can be frustrating to use though if you haven’t had much experience with them or don’t have the patience to deal with them. It can be very difficult to obtain the exact colors and shades that you want to portray in your painting. It is also very hard to correct mistakes in a watercolor painting because instead of fixing your work of art, you may instead ruin it just because of the fluidity of the paint. Details can also be hard to create in these paintings.
Oil paintings are quite nice because they can give more of a sense of realism than the previously discussed mediums. Everything from the colors used in these paintings to the brush strokes are so intense, aiding in the construction of details for the work of art. Additionally, oil paints take a very long time to dry. This could be seen as a negative if you’d rather have a type of paint that dries faster, but it is also an advantage because it allows for corrections to be made easily. Oil paintings are created layer by layer which can be very time consuming. To me, this is one of the hardest types of paints to work with and many artists would agree with me. However, because it is such a challenge to work with, it can also be very rewarding.
Now that you know about three awesome painting techniques, go out, buy some paints, and get crafty!
