Acrylic painting hacks for beginners         

Are you a beginner artist and is looking for some hacks on how to use acrylics in a better way? this post is totally the right one for you :)

1- Using a canvas or thick paper, never printer paper

Printer paper is too thin for a thick medium like acrylic paint, it'll either tear apart mid-painting, or you wouldn't be able to pick up the paper afterwards; it may even bleed through to the other side. That's why you have to always make sure to use a thick paper, preferably canvas. 

examples of stuff you might find at home and paint on:

- a piece of cardboard (example from a tissue or cereal box)

- a phone case

- an old T-shirt (acrylic paint works very well as fabric paint too) 

- last year's calendar, usually thick pages 

2- Using 2 cups of paint water 

Though its a very simple step, yet it affects a lot. not everyone mentions it when talking about painting hacks but I promise that its so helpful. You basically have 2 cups of water, you dip the brush in cup 1 to remove excess paint and then dip it in cup 2 to have it completely cleaned and ready for the next colour. Instead of having to change up your paint water every few minutes, it'll last longer and have your painting a lot more cleaner 

3- Mixing the paint with a drop of water

This isn't necessarily a hack, though mixing a little bit of water with your acrylic paint makes it thinner to use for a background for example where you don't want it to be too thick, it also helps it blend more seamlessly. not too much though, a drop is enough.

4- Colour mixing

When I first started painting, I didn't know how to mix the colours to form the shades I wanted, but a useful thing is to search for a 'colour mixing chart' where it shows you which colours make which shades when mixed together, also swatch the shades you have on a paper as the colour of the tube isn't always the same colour as the paint itself 

5- STOP USING BLACK

Refrain from using the black color as it will ruin your painting and you colour shades, instead try using the complementary colors on a color wheel (colors that are the opposite on a color wheel are known as complementary colors, example to get a darker red you may add a bit of green as they are opposite from each other)

These are a few tips for using acrylic and other paint mediums, hope they were useful to you!!