Getting Started with Acrylics, What you need to start painting with Acrylic for the Beginner..

People ask me  what do I need to get started painting, they want to know what brushes to use, what to buy, how many, what sizes, what to paint on, and more, so here is a list of the items, materials and supplies you may want to have to get started painting with acrylics..also for oil painting, just use linseed oil instead of water for oil painting..

l..ACRYLIC PAINT:

You can use Tube paints or bottled paint, the colors you need are the primary's, RED, YELLOW, and BLUE, and Black and White to lighten or darken the values..Green and Brown are also good extras to have, you can make all your colors you need from the Primary's..so if you don't have Brown you can mix the YELLOW and BLUE to make GREEN, Then mix RED and GREEN to get Brown, I will have a list of Color mixing in the next section of my blog.

2.BRUSHES:

Just get a few of each to start, Small, Medium and Large Flat Bristle brushes, Flat Sable Brushes, Liner brushes, fan brushes, angular brushes, filbert brushes. make sure the brushes spring back when you pull back the bristles with you finger..

3.PALETTE KNIFE:

A couple of palette knife is good to have to mix your paints, you can use them to paint clouds, hills, rocks, flowers and so much more..

4.CANVAS:

You will need something to paint on, Canvas is nice to paint on, they come in Stretched Canvas which is wrapped around wood, you don't have to frame it just hang it on the wall, Canvas board or panel can be framed.. Cardboard, watercolor paper, Acrylic paper, Canvas paper, Bristol Board a heavy paper..wood, Masonite, stone, glass, dishes, walls, cereal boxes, anything that will hold the paint, you may have to add a couple of coats of white paint or gesso before you paint on the cardboard..

5. PAINTERS TAPE: 

 Great for masking off parts of your painting that you want to cover, or to tape of the horizon line so you can work on the sky area first..Taping a sketch to the canvas for transferring, or tracing.

6. PAPER TOWELS, OR RAGS:

You need something to wipe of the excess water from your brushes, or to clean your brushes when there is to much paint...

7.WATER CONTAINER:

You need a container to hold your water and brushes for cleaning between painting with different colors,  Don't leave your brushes on the table when you not using them as the paint will dry and ruin your brush..Always put it back into the water until your ready to use it again, when your finished painting for the day, clean your brushes and stand them up" bristles up"in the container with no water..

8. MISTING BOTTLE:

Acrylics dry fast so it's always nice to have a misting bottle to mist your canvas or paints on your palette to keep them moist for blending..

9. CARBON PAPER:

Carbon paper is good for transferring you drawing to your canvas to get ready to paint..

10. CHALK: 

Chalk is great for drawing parts of what you want to paint, for example a house, if you don't like the shape you can use a damp clean brush or cloth to wipe if off..

11. RULER:

A ruler is great to have for straight lines in the painting..

12. SEA SPONGE:

Sea Sponge is nice to have for foliage, like grass and trees..

13. BLENDING GELS:

Blending gels help acrylic paint blend better, because it slows drying time..

14. HAND WIPES:

 Hand wipes are great to have to clean your hands between painting, your hands do get pretty dirt, you can also use gloves if the paint bothers your hands..

15. EASEL:

An Easel will hole your canvas so you can paint standing up..

16: PALETTE:

A palette is what you put your paints on, it can be a paper plate, plastic plate, glass, disposable palette, or a palette you can buy in a craft shop..


That's about it, there are other things you can use but are not necessary, like measuring tape, eraser, tripod, camera, computer, brush cleaners, extra lighting, overhead lamp, projector, apron, template for circles, straight lines..


You can see my YouTube video on GETTING STARTED WITH ACRYLICS by clicking on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/allisonprior





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