ACRYLIC PAINTING BASICS ~ A guide through my portrait painting process :)

hi y'all i hope you're doing awesome in this video i'll be showing you guys some methods and tips that i use when painting with acrylics disclaimer i'm not a professional but a few of you guys have asked for this video so i just thought why not give it a shot in this video i'll be painting ashley best dress because she is a goddess walking among us among us anyway let's talk about the paint itself everyone has brands they gravitate towards based on quality price and i guess just the ability to get done whatever they need to do i've tried a few higher grade paints but i always come back to this daler rowney brand paint that i got from walmart for like two dollars a tube if you guys haven't noticed before i like my cheap art supplies and i encourage everyone to give it a shot just to kind of let go of that notion that they're using something that's super expensive and valuable just to make something that looks good sometimes the good old crayola brand is the move and sometimes cheap acrylic paint from walmart can get the job done if you're taking away anything from this video i want you to find something that suits your needs not just whatever some random girl on the internet is telling you to buy think about what you want do you want something with a lot of pigment that's really high quality do you want something that's super cheap just to fill in those solid colors there are so many options out there and there are probably a few other youtube videos that you could find where people really go in depth about different brands and their quality i don't want to sound like a broken record but just find what's good for you if it's necessary maybe just sit down and jot down some notes brainstorm think about what exactly you want to suit your art but yeah if anyone is looking for something pretty affordable and accessible try the daler rowney brands i use about six or seven colors which adds up to around fourteen dollars at most so it's a pretty good deal at the end of the day let's get into the painting now shall we okay hi here's my canvas pretty generic i usually use canvas with acrylic paint but the possibilities are really endless you can use cardboard which is so underrated and really fun to work with also conan gray actually introduced me to masonite board which is so cheap and sturdy i've also used canvas paper but if you guys happen to be using that i would recommend putting some kind of tape around the edges to minimize the warping you know so when i sketch i use a regular number two pencil to draw some loose guidelines before drawing the features of the face what helps for sketching out paintings is to also draw the highlights and shadows so for instance i went ahead and drew the shadow that her nose casts on her face if you guys want to see a more in-depth video on how to draw faces i actually have one of them from a few weeks ago on this channel it's a really laid back video and it's kind of chatty but i explained the process that i use when drawing faces so you know it could be some help and obviously there are so many other art youtubers who have amazing tutorials as well now that our sketch is out of the way i'm going to grab some canvas paper my primary colors white and a burnt sienna and burnt umber these colors are really all i need to mix my colors in this painting and here's some super basic color theory for anyone who needs this so when you're looking at a basic color wheel you can see there's red orange yellow green blue purple right our primary colors are red yellow and blue and our secondary colors are orange green and purple and you get those by mixing the primaries brown could be achieved for mixing the primary colors but it is a bit more tricky so i like to have a tube of it just for convenience of course color theory is extensive and goes beyond this basic knowledge but this is all we need to pretty much achieve the color wheel in my opinion having a more limited color palette can help you get used to mixing colors and it kind of like activates your brain which is pretty cool all right here's our water and having a paper towel or rag makes the painting process so much easier and here's a quick section on brushes now i'm not too keen on them and i know some people especially the professionals prefer them to be higher quality but to be honest all mine are either cheap brushes or they're ones that my mom doesn't use anymore like hand-me-downs i will point out though that it's immensely helpful to have a good variety and it's really helpful if you experiment with different sorts of brushes if you use smaller ones for example maybe try some larger and flatter bristles and see how much of a difference it makes in your art it definitely did for mine after lightly erasing my sketch i like to do a light wash of paint there are different approaches that people like to take when doing this but i like to use pink or purple because it usually fits the color scheme of what i'm using i know some people like to use complementary colors of what they're mainly using so if you're going to use a lot of cool colors like blues purples and greens you could do a wash of red or orange something like that on your surface it's really up to you though because some people like their under painting to kind of peek through the brush strokes while others aim to cover it up entirely i like to have it somewhere in the middle nothing too intentional though i just kind of go with the flow when i first heard about doing this it was actually in my art class and my teacher says it helps you become a little less intimidated by the white canvas which i agree with ignore the fact that i'm about to start painting on top of the wet paint i'm an impatient woman but let's talk about mixing skin tones let me start out by saying skin tones are not just tints and shades of brown they are made up of so many different colors and when i start mixing my skin tones i like to really stare at my reference picture maybe zoom in if i have to and decide how much red is in this color is it a little orange should i add a little yellow i highly recommend that you shift your brain into thinking a bit more critically about mixing colors because it helps you learn so much when you ask the right questions instead of just slapping the paint on there you know i like to think of my painting process in different phases or layers first i block out everything with simple colors and minimal blending and again i look at each kind of section of the face and i think what would the color look like if it was standing alone so yeah i'm just building up the paint not really aiming for perfection and when i add something like red or blush to the face i take some of my initial skin tone that i mixed and then i simply add some red to it and voila we got a slightly more pink skin tone and i do this with other parts of the face too like if i notice a section of her skin is a little more yellow toned then you know i'll add some more yellow to that color and ashley's more blush colored skin was around her cheeks and nose and a bit on her chin as well so yeah i just kind of took note of that and put that red tone wherever i saw it on the reference picture from my experience with acrylic paint while it may be tempting to water your paint down a lot similar to watercolor i actually don't recommend that you do especially if you're using a smaller brush and the reason i say this is because the more watered down acrylic paint gets the more streaky and transparent it's likely to turn out and i get it when i was first painting with acrylics i was like okay let's take it easy and not go super bold with the paints let's water it down but over time i learned that having a good amount of water but not a lot helps the paint look more creamy and blended when i'm laying down the general colors of the skin i find it helpful to block out my shadows as well towards the beginning of the painting rather than towards the end i mix a lot of brown with some blue and maybe some red to fill in those darker areas and this helps the painting feel a little more full and less daunting in the beginning now some people like using black in their palette and some people actually love to discourage the usage of black in paintings at all but honestly you do you but you know if you have been using black every time you paint maybe give yourself a little bit of a challenge and eliminate it from your palette next time a lot of people like to use dark blue or dark purple instead of black just to add a little bit of spice to their paintings um so i don't really feel the need to use black so i don't but no judgment here if you do and i mix my colors on the palette not on the canvas for me mixing my colors on the palette mostly just helps with the painting staying clean and not getting too muddy so contrast is a big deal to me and really helped change the way i paint when i was first getting back into art around two years ago i was looking at my drawings and i realized i wasn't incredibly happy with the outcome and after a bit of brainstorming i realized that the contrast had a huge part in it after amping up my contrast and starting to use more bold colors i noticed a difference so a big tip that helped me and one that i want to give you is to try your best not to be scared of your shadows and highlights because they really can make or break a piece every time i paint i really hone in on where i see dark areas and then amp up the lighter areas and highlights so there's a lot more contrast going on here and the painting doesn't look as flat as we're easing into that second phase or layer i was mentioning on the face at least right now i'm focusing on getting accurate colors and really pushing that contrast and i'm just rendering the piece a little more and trying to get that perfect blend now you may notice another brush is starting to come into the picture this brush is a pretty cheap one i'll admit that at some point over summer i absolutely ruined while working on a project and i decided this from here on out will be my dry brush now you may have heard of this before but when you paint with acrylics there's this blending technique where you can take a dry brush right after laying down your paint while it's still wet and going in circular patterns to really blend it out i like to think of it as blending out makeup it's pretty similar to that and i learned this in my art class but i've also heard it here on youtube so i'm guessing it's pretty commonly used and i think it works quite effectively it's just really imperative that you constantly wipe off your dry brush so you don't accidentally like blend and unintentionally add another color to the mix while you're doing so so again i'm just rendering the painting more and more and every time i kind of sweep through i add a bit more contrast to slowly materialize that three-dimensional aspect of ashley because she is of course a 3d person i also wanted to mention some little acrylic painting tips just to help any beginners on their painting journey and to pass the time because quite frankly i don't know what else to talk about first off number one the white of people's eyes isn't actually a solid white you may notice i mixed a little bit of light blue for the eyes but i'm actually gonna go back and add some other kind of off-white colors so maybe some white mixed with a bit of each of the primary colors this makes the eyes look a little more natural because if you think about it the whites of our eyes they are white but they do still have shadows and different kind of tones within them so it just helps them look a little more realistic you know number two don't try and rush your painting i know acrylic paint can be fast drying which is a little overwhelming but rushing your work may not be the best way to address that it's still important to take your time when painting and this may be obvious but don't give up if it doesn't immediately look good trust the process i go through the same exact thoughts even if i know it'll turn out fine i still have my initial doubts but i always gotta tell myself to just trust the process and follow through and to start what i finished number three sometimes pushing the saturation and colors can really help i do it for almost all of my art now and it's kind of part of my style when i look at a reference picture i like to find a color and then kind of emphasize it so for example if a shadow is like kind of purple in the reference picture i'll make it a little more purple than it actually is in the art piece which is also a reminder that you don't have to make everything 100 accurate unless you're actually going for that photo realism things can look imperfect or more stylized than they actually are and that oftentimes can be really good for your art so don't be scared to use bolder colors and to push yourself number four if you're really stuck with what exactly to paint in the first place you can always hop onto pinterest and find some really interesting reference pictures i'll link my pinterest board where i try to pin images with the most unique contrast and colors and highlights and shadows and all that jazz and number five from one of my followers don't dip your brush into your drinking water happens way too often another tip i have is to take a break if you need to if you're really frustrated with any art it might be a good idea to just walk away for like 10 minutes take some deep breaths get a snack and some water maybe stretch if you need to because it can honestly do so much letting your brain rest for a little bit can change your attitude towards a piece also make sure that when you're cleaning your brushes use water and maybe a little bit of soap to really get all the paint out and just really get in there with your fingers some people don't clean their brushes all the way and then they get all like hard and gross and you have to buy new brushes so just avoid all of that and clean your brushes right to avoid clogging your pipes with acrylic paint make sure you have somewhere outside to dump your paint water and if you're using an actual palette make sure to get most of the paint off before cleaning it to avoid paint going down the drain something else that a follower mentioned was to mix enough paint i didn't really think of this tip because i'm definitely guilty of not abiding by it but yeah try and think ahead as much as you can in terms of mixing your paint because i promise you it saves a lot of time and energy sometimes i'm painting something and i run out of a certain color that i mixed only a little bit of and it just throws me off so much trying to get back to a color that you mixed like 10 minutes ago is pretty difficult so yeah it's really helpful to just mix a little more than you think you'll need of a certain color just to avoid that whole catastrophe i'm gonna get all preachy with you guys for a second because i wrote the stuff in my notes and i think it matters so to be honest with you guys if you really want to push yourself if you have the time try your best to paint as often as you can incorporate it into your schedule not everyone can manage to make art every day and i know some of you guys are like kicking ass in school and working really long hours so i get it i really do but practicing consistently even like once a week routinely can really help if you're like me and you need to plan out your days by the hour instead of just making a list of general things to do put paint on that list and if you need help staying motivated i'm sure this is obvious to some people but maybe not everyone watch other artists content watching other youtubers or documentaries about different artists gives me this different kind of drive not that i want to live like them or anything but i want to be a part of this kind of universal journey of art even watching art take talks motivates me to create because i'm just so inspired by seeing other people creating not to mention seeing other artists process can actually help you find something that really speaks to you if you see a certain artist using some kind of technique or material that you find interesting you can take inspiration from that over time after watching a lot of different art youtubers and creators i've taken a bit of their knowledge of certain techniques and slowly but surely kind of subconsciously applied it to my own process and i think that's quite beautiful relating this to my own personal workflow i think it's also important to note that if you really want to improve in your art it may not be healthy to go into it with social media in mind and i'm speaking from experience when i really want to improve i actually don't record my process and i make art without the intent of posting my results and i also try and practice challenging things for myself if necessary you can buy a cheap sketchbook and use it as your quote-unquote book which i've been inspired by mew tripled to do thank you mew tripled i love you i adore you and in this sketchbook you can practice whatever's necessary for you nobody else has to see and posting can just be a little added bonus you know what also helps is to find or take an interesting reference picture for example if you're painting portraits try and use reference photos that aren't straight on faces find something with unique and complex shadows and what helps us to go beyond trying to replicate a picture and think critically about what you're really looking at it helps to think about where the light source is and how it's affecting the shadows and whatnot i only say these things because shifting my brain to be a bit more observant of the reference picture has helped me improve over the last couple years of course it's always good to draw the things you love and by all means keep doing what you're doing do what makes you happy and comfortable but also try to shake things up every once in a while to try and diversify things because it can be fun believe it or not it can be really fun and it just helps you kind of build up a diverse portfolio if you're trying to do that all this to say i am getting really preachy so i'd like to remind you all that i'm still learning everything i've said in this video is just what i know what i've gathered in my art journey but that doesn't mean i'm an all-knowing beacon of art information i still have a lot to learn and this channel is simply documenting my growth as an artist alright now that we're getting pretty close to the end of this video i just want to tell you guys how appreciative i am of you we're almost at 50k and to be honest i thought it would take much longer to get to this point so i'm just so grateful for that i also have some big plans for this summer including prints more shop stuff and some earrings and stickers and possibly a little patreon if you guys are into that i don't want to get ahead of myself but that idea is very cool to me i hope that this video has been helpful in some shape or form and i hope you learned something if you're starting out with acrylic paint or if you're already well-versed i hope you just enjoyed watching at the very least i love acrylic for so many reasons mainly because it's just so fun and accessible 10 out of 10 would recommend all right here's the big reveal the finished painting thank you guys so much for sticking around i apologize if this video got a little ranty and i hope you have a wonderful rest of your day see you soon love you so much all right bye [Music]

Channel: karina singh

Views: 45,913

Rating: 4.9935217 out of 5

Keywords: art, artist, acrylic painting, acrylic painting tutorial, acrylic tutorial, acrylic paint, painting, how to paint, how to use acrylic paint, drawing, paint, artwork, tutorial, art tutorial, art motivation, art block, sketchbook, sketch, draw

Id: 01IRnu9GQL4

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 24 2021