Here are some extremely important features of acrylic painting…

1. When in comparison to oil painting acrylic paints get dried up very quickly.

Traditional painters have always believed that the oil paints are much better because they give much longer time to dry up and thus allowing paints to mix up. However, some painters literally lose the real purpose of what they exactly want due to this time delay. Thus many have started preferring to use acrylic paints as they dry up pretty fast.

2. Water color painting is considered to be similar to acrylic painting because acrylic painting can be used up after mixing them in water.

The major advantage of acrylic paints over water color painting is that they resist water, as soon as they get dried, where this is not the case with watercolor painting.

3. Flexibility.

You can easily resemble other techniques using the power of acrylic painting. If you take into consideration the dilution of the acrylic paint and the composition of the mixture in the paint you can easily resemble it in the form of watercolor paint or canvas painting. This is not to say that acrylic paints does not have its own features…

- It also has many of its own features, it is just like you can use it as per the composition and dilution in the same way as we get shades by mixing two or more colors.

Nowadays painters tend to use acrylic paints because they can be used as well as an oil paint plus it allows its own flexibility.

This makes it a real choice of paint for the new artists.

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However, to increase the number of working hours, you may dampen paper.

Acrylic painting is not vulnerable to different and easy techniques due to its easy-drying component. To solve this predicament, you thin the acrylic paint by adding more than 30% water to it.

Acrylic retarded are composed of glycol additives, so acrylic painting becomes workable until it is totally dried up. When the acrylic paint dries up, it becomes permanent and addition of water will not re-soluble.

Acrylic paints are more flexible on whatever working at environment it is in. It can be made on a canvas, fabric, wood, or paper. However, with respect to wood surfaces, because it is porous, it needs to be primed first.

However, aesthetically, it works at advantage on a transparent surface. Instead of using the conventional paintbrush, explore beyond the bounds of painting by sprinkling or pouring the paint on one area and incline and tip it on different directions.

Combine as many colors as possible, but if you prefer simple colors, do it in one or two colors. It is not impossible to create a realistic image using acrylic paints. The best thing to do to arrive at this reflection is to brush light paint onto the surface. Because it is light, it creates a supple and elastic feature.

It will likewise reveal the lower layers. For a watery texture, what need to be added is a sufficient amount of water. The less amount of water added, the thicker it will appear.

While acrylic painting tends to put off and deject color mixing, it nevertheless is the most permanent painting.

It cannot be subjected to any discoloration until after 50 years, contrary to other types of painting. Being the newest painting variety, it is not restricted to the conventional mediums of painting.

It welcomes other foreign objects such as chalk or charcoal above and beyond the acrylic paints, not to mention sand, sequins, or pasta. However difficult is the application of paint, many artists favor its usage due to its versatility. It can be applied thickly for a strong exterior or in glazes to mimic an original view.

Other painting media can be used to add texture, or flexibility of the acrylic painting. Examples of another medium used are varnishes and topcoats to make the painting glossy and lustrous.

These paints can also be used in matte after coats. The top layer scratching technique is one of a kind in this kind of painting. It includes scratching the semi-wet layer of paint in order to expose the color underneath.

This is unique because while a dominant color is present in one area, it does not rule out other colors mixed in the same area.

This is specially designed due to the vulnerability of the paint easy-drying which makes it impossible to easily mix and match the colors.

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Mixing color and water may look simple, but it is not; for techniques in watercolor painting are typical only to this medium.

Oil and acrylic paints for instance have the quality of being able to stay exactly where these are applied unlike water which is complex and active that one must have a good understanding of the how water behaves and how to control it. Also, watercolor paints have less hiding capacities that a wrong stroke cannot just be easily covered by another stroke. The paper as well unlike the canvass is too delicate as make mistakes often irreversible.

Though brushes provide the traditional medium to apply the paints, modern experimental paintings have made use of other media such as scrapers, sponges, sprayers, and even sticks.

Most of these media also work in various ways depending on the watercolor technique one uses. Among the common techniques are the glazes, the dry brush, the washes, and the wet and wet. The glaze technique is done by applying a layer of paint or water with the outer layer in a more diluted color to allow the inner layer color to be visible.

In this technique, it is suggested that one makes use of a round brush. With the surface of the paper, one paints, it with the first layer of paint which is highly diluted to loosen up the surface of the paper. When the first layer is dry, a second layer of paint is applied thereby refining the first color and eliminating irregularities and an artist can apply as many as 100 glazes to illuminate colors.

The dry brush technique requires great precision and control which is predominant in most botanical paintings. An undiluted paint is taken up with the use of a small moistened brush.

The paint is then applied to the paper surface by crisscrossing or hatching brushstrokes with the intention to mix the color paints trough a precise touch on the surface. Often, after dry brush watercolors are applied, the surface is varnished to enhance it.

The wash is a technique which makes use of diluted paint wipe out individual strokes and form a unified stroke which is often used in landscape paintings where one has for its background the horizon in blue wash.

In making the wash stroke, make every stroke even and horizontal and each overlaps the stroke above to get excess paints and wick it with a moist brush or a paper towel.

To make graduated from wash strokes, dilute the paint after every stroke to make a dark to light finish. Lastly, there is also the wet and wet technique or the application of paint over a previously painted area.

Among the effects of the applications are the back runs in which the addition of paint in a paint area causes the surrounding areas which are denser with water or paint to creep to it. The salt texture is one where the sprinkled salt tends to produce the impression of snowflake.

There are many more techniques to learn about watercolor painting depending on ones skill and control.

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The Brushes. The important thing to remember though is that most oil painting brushes can also be used for acrylic paintings.

With modernization though, numerous brushes emerged in the markets which are typically for acrylic painting and most of these now come in the form of un-toxic brushes.

The trend nowadays is to use painting brushes made of nylon which is more durable than its natural fiber made counterparts. These brushes are not the ordinary nylon but those are made of filaments that provide for coarser though smoother strokes than ordinary nylon and natural hair brushes.

Acrylic brushes also come in different shapes to serve different purposes. Among the common ones are the rounds, the fan, the short flats and the long flats, and the rigger. The rounds are perfect for detailed painting as these brushes produce thin strokes and lines.

The short or long flats are used depending on the length of the strokes. The fan brushes are perfect for blending colors and textures such as leaf clusters and furs. For long straight strokes, use the long flat and use the short flat for short strokes.

Then for very fine lines, the riggers, commonly a watercolor painting brush, also serve the same function. For a start up acrylic painting brush set, it is suggested to get a 1/8 inch round brush, 1/8, 3/8, and ¾ inch long and short flat, 1 inch hog bristle fan brush, 3/8 and ¾ filbert brush, and a no.1 or no.2 nylon rigger.

The Paints. It is important to note that aside from being versatile, acrylics are fast drying that one most remember to squeeze out only enough.

Also, make sure to work quick and precise especially when blending colors as acrylics easily dry and one might not achieve the color blend in time before the paint dries up.

Also, wash effect is irreversible in acrylic as in comparison to watercolor wash which can be over painted aggressively. Blend acrylics with water or white in order to achieve the opaque effect.

For making glazes, be sure to make thin layers than heavy layers to distinguish it from a glossy surface. Since acrylic paints are relatively thick, it may be used to hold collages without putting in glue.

Water is a good solvent but there are now, called a flow improver medium which basically retains the color strength yet increases the color flow.

Caring for your brush tools. One must have the habit of wiping or cleaning the brushes to avoid damaging it as when paint dries on it without being removed. Always have paper towel or moist cloth or a jar of water to wipe off the paint on the brush.

The use of masking fluid maybe hard if not impossible to remove, as such, to avoid damaging the brush, better dip the brush in a washing up liquid.

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Acrylic paints dry fast also that store keeping is not at a problem as in comparison to oil paints which take months to dry. Another is that, color from the point of application to its dried up stage is almost the same and one can expect the same image as applied.

On the negative side, however, its ability to dry fast is an obstacle for blending. The brushes too are to be handled with optimum care by not allowing acrylic paints to dry on it though most dried up paints can be removed by water.

Special palette used to avoid paints drying out too fast are quite expensive also. Also, excessive squeezed out paints would be useless as these turn rocks so better squeeze just enough.

The texture and finish of an acrylic painting though can be modified to suit what a painter wants to achieve by modifying the surface or by making changes in the paint medium itself in order to show characteristics of solidity, suppleness, consistency and many others.

The mediums used in painting with acrylics are relatively greater than those of the oil and watercolor painting. In fact, unlike oil and watercolor, acrylics have the distinct feature to bond with a variety of surfaces or these surfaces may be altered or primed to prepare it for a painting job with the use of acrylics.

Unlike oil paintings as well, acrylics may be used to make thick layers at a short span of time without necessarily destroying the previous layer through several mediums and additives.

It is thus important to get the best mediums and additives for acrylic painting and some of these are the enhancer, impostor gel, interference medium, gel retarded, primer, glaze and many others.

An enhancer basically is added in order to prevent thickness and enhance the flow of acrylic paints, especially for works that require great consistency and smooth finish.

On the other hand, the technique used gel is added to the paint in order to produce a thick color which can either be on matt or gloss texture.

The interference medium or the pearly luster medium have almost similar effect of making shimmering surfaces or a metallic effect.

A gel retarded performs the most important task in acrylic painting which is to a slowdown a bit the drying of the paint and which also has the effect of increasing the transparency.

The primer produces both black and matt white surface in order to seal an un-primed canvas. The glaze is effective in making skin tones and producing translucent effect.

For the painting surface, the canvas is a perfect choice although other painting surfaces may be used such as papers, boards, and many others.

To prepare the painting surface, do make sure to coat the canvas with an acrylic primer or a primer before painting.

Choose acrylic over oil-based primer and if a primer is not available, a latex emulsion will suffice. A white base is the most ideal since it keeps the other paints colors.

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1. Oil Paint

Keep this thing in your mind that all paints are made of two things only. One is binder and other one is pigment. Binder helps paint to provide its consistency and pigment works for giving its color to paints. Generally, pigments are common in every kind of paint but the binder gets changed in different paints.

Let me tell you one thing, oil paints are very oldest artist paint among all paints that are available in the market. You will find poppy oil, linseed oil or safflower as a binder in oil paints. These are very special oil, and they will give rich consistency and extraordinary shining to the paints. Oil paints take longer time to get dried up and this is the most important feature of oil paint.

2. Watercolor Paint.

Watercolor paint is the second most popular paint among the artists. Gum Arabic, glycerin or honey is mostly used as a binder in watercolor paint. They become fluid as you add water in these binders. They will remain transparent, even after they get dried up once.

3. Acrylic Paint.

This paint has got mind blowing popularity in recent years among the leading artist in the world. The acrylic polymer acts as a binder in this kind of paint. Acrylic paints dry up as quick as you use it, and it also becomes water resistant after it dries up. These paints have amazing versatility, and they are very easy to use.

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