Adventures with acrylics

19th June 2006, 9:35am

Generally I'm more of a colouring-pencil-and-paper type, but I got myself some canvas and acrylics recently and I have to admit I'm struggling with colour consistency and patchiness.

Can anyone give me hints and tips? I was rubbish at art when I was at school, but I'm determined to do better now

tw199y · 19th June 2006, 9:38am

What are you using to thin the Paint out, and also what acrylics are you using?

19th June 2006, 9:42am

I mixed with a little bit of water, but then had problems with colour consistency. It's just el cheapo acrylics from internacionale - I think the brand is Venus.

tw199y · 19th June 2006, 9:45am

have you tried a little white spirit? and make sure you really mix the paint.

Violet Grimm · 19th June 2006, 9:46am

acrylics are funny beasts. with a board i tend to dab to get a stippled effect, but i use water to thin as well and my lighter colours do tend to go opaque. I'll post something in progress later to show you what i mean.

Deadboy · 19th June 2006, 9:59am

Good quality paints help, but even then you just sometimes need a couple of layers to sort out the patchiness thing.

Undercoat the bit you want to paint with a light wash, then slap it thick on top of that.

19th June 2006, 10:02am

If I can get the hang of painting then I'll invest in better quality paint but I grudge paying a lot to learn with

punkin_drunk · 19th June 2006, 10:06am

i got some really good cheap ones on the net when i was doing an art course. it was just techniques and theory shit at the time so i grudged paying a fair bit, like the ones i normally use. i cant for the life of me remember but il have a swatch n see if i still have the link when i get home. i just bought a couple of packs from different sites online-they were cheap enough that i could do that. and these ones im blabbering on about turned out to be good!

Violet Grimm · 19th June 2006, 10:10am

I find the winsor and newton site informative

http://www.winsornewton.com/index2.php

Creative encyclopedia>product information>acrylics>hints/tips/techniques.

Damien-Gosh · 12th July 2006, 3:37pm

You may want to try the sets of Reeves acrylics from the Works or BookWorld, they're about £6 for 18 tubes. As for working on canvas, it'd be a lot cheaper to gt some good qualit paper to try things out first before committing to canvas.

Jen-Y · 12th July 2006, 4:24pm

I know the paints you're talking about. My mum bought them and the oil pastel ones when she felt like painting something once (:s). They stunk the house out(mighta been the oil ones that smelled so strong).

I know its paint you were wanting to try out but if your after something that is a little bit more exciting than pencil and paper try oil pastels on some cartridge paper or something. My absolute favourite medium. Its so messy(i used to end up with red raw skin on my hands because i'd smudge everything with them but you can use a rolled up bit of paper to smudge and a craft knife to take colour off) but so satisfying to work with.

Bobzilla · 12th July 2006, 8:34pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vonnie

I mixed with a little bit of water, but then had problems with colour consistency. It's just el cheapo acrylics from internacionale - I think the brand is Venus.

Ive got a bick jar of acrylic thinner sitting in with my wargaming paints. Barely need to use any of it and mix it with water to thin paints better. Acrylic flow enhancer i think it is. Stops water thining the paint out too much but still letting it flow.

Advertisement