Is Acrylic Paint Good For Beginners? (4 Best Reasons Why)
Beginners at painting are often bombarded with different mediums and it’s easy enough to fall in love with every one of them but not all paint mediums are good for beginners.
So, does this mean acrylic paint is a good medium for beginners? Yes!
The main reasons why acrylic paint is good for beginners is mainly due to the fact that it is versatile, easy to use, dries fast, can be layered, and relatively affordable which makes it the best of most.
Acrylic paint is a great medium for beginners to use since it will allow them to become accustomed to the medium very easily and you don’t need to be too concerned with issues such as toxicity and mediums that other paints that might have like in the case of oil paints.
There are plenty of styles and techniques that can be used with acrylic paint that beginners will find alluring.
If you’d like to get into the details of why acrylic paint is one of the best mediums for beginners, here’s everything you will need to know.
Reasons Why Acrylic Paint Is Good For Beginners
Now that you are aware of the slight concerns about acrylic paint, here are a few reasons why it’s still an awesome paint medium for beginners and it’s one that I started with.
It’s Easy To Use And Versatile
What I love the most about acrylic paint is how uncomplicated it is to use.
When I was first interested in learning to paint, I couldn’t even remember the names and the difference between the paints (like vermillion, hanza yellow, yellow ochre) but as I learned and studied more, things became way easier and sooner than later, it was a really fun medium to use.
Whether you would like to use it to paint full detailed paintings or explore the world of abstract art, using acrylic paint is one of the best you can start with.
You don’t need to concern yourself yet with knowing how to use mediums but all you need is a few paint tubes of the basic colors, a canvas, and gesso.
Another great fact about acrylic paint is that you can use just about any surface to paint on whether that’s a canvas sheet, cardboard, watercolor paper, or even wood, as long as you prepare the surface correctly, you’re good to go.
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Acrylic Paint Dries Fast
If you’re someone who is impatient and likes to see a painting finished in one sitting, then acrylics is your best medium.
Its drying time is what makes it fun and challenging to use but it can also push you to figure things out more quickly and find new ways to approach how you paint something.
You can also layer acrylic paint as many times without worrying if the previous layers will be affected.
It’s Affordable
Before getting started with painting, I didn’t realize how taxing this hobby can be on your wallet especially if you’re tight on cash.
It’s enticing to keep buying more art supplies and in the beginning, you will find yourself buying different brands of acrylic paint to find the one that suits you best.
This is not that much of a bad thing but the sooner you find the one that works for you, it’s easier to save money when you know how that paint works.
However, acrylic paint is much cheaper compared to other paint mediums! Using other mediums isn’t required unless you want it but these paints can be used on their own.
If you want to save time and money by not making the same mistakes as I had, then here are our recommended acrylic paints that are great for beginners:
- Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylics
- Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint.
- Arteza Acrylic Paint
- Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint
Possible Cons of Using Acrylic Paint For Beginners
As mentioned before, acrylic paint has a boatload of positives to them which I will discuss in a moment but I do not want to paint acrylics as if it doesn’t have any issues either or make it seem like the absolute perfect medium.
Acrylic paint can have its bad moments but there are ways to work around it.
For example, using too cheap acrylic paint will make the painting experience very poor and difficult.
You may encounter that your paint is too weak or runny and the colors tend to look dull and muddy.
This is why it’s best to opt for a better quality student grade paint or artist grade paint to make learning how to paint a more pleasurable experience.
The second issue that I’d like to make you aware of that although the paint drying fast may be a bonus for some.
If you are the kind of artist or learner who wants to take their time and paint, having your acrylics dry before you start to blend will make you easily frustrated.
There are slow drying mediums that may allow a certain window of time for you to paint longer but it won’t be as long as in the case of oil or gouache paint.
In this case, you may find that painting with a different medium might be more of an issue to paint with than with acrylics.
That is why it’s best to try a few mediums for a certain period to ensure you give each a good chance to become accustomed to it before moving on to something new without figuring out how the first medium works.
However, don’t let this stop you from enjoying the benefits of acrylics.
Each painting medium has its own unique charm and overcoming its challenges is easy enough if you take the time to learn it.
Beginner Tips For Painting With Acrylics
If it’s your first time painting with acrylics, I know you must be feeling a tad bit nervous but I would love to share with you a few helpful tips that I wish I knew before getting started with painting with acrylics.
1. Color Mixing
Learning to mix colors on your own will save you an incredible amount of time and money.
You won’t need to buy individual tubes of paint for each color but you can easily mix them with the colors you already have.
Knowing how to identify a color will make it easier to paint but this does come with time and practice.
2. Solution To Paint Drying Fast
You can keep your palette from drying out but placing a rag with cold water in a plate or bowl and placing your paints on a sheet of wax paper.
If you’d like to slow your acrylic paint to give you more time to paint longer or blend easier, there are mediums such as Liquitex which will extend the drying time or use a specific type of acrylic paint for this.
There is also a thinning medium that is better to use to thin down acrylic paint rather than using water.
3. Painting Surfaces
Although you can paint on just about any surface, having a few layers of gesso will make it easier for you to paint on.
This way the paint won’t be seeping into the surface you’re trying to paint on if there is a layer of gesso on it.
4. Transferring A Sketch
If you’re not good at drawing but you really want to just get started with painting, having a decent sketch is important.
A fast way to get a sketch onto a canvas is to either use the grid drawing method or you can use transfer paper to trace the sketch onto your canvas.
Related Post: Should I Learn To Draw Before Painting?
Conclusion
Acrylic Paint is, without a doubt, good for beginners and is often a painting medium that I will recommend to anyone who is just getting started with painting.
There are also so many free acrylic painting tutorials online and detailed step by step lessons on youtube that will teach anyone to paint which is absolutely fantastic.
It’s also the way that I learned to paint on my own and you’re bound to valuable information from these artists compared to if you had to go out and find it on your own which will take longer.
Acrylic paint is a great way to dip your toes into the world of painting without spending too much money and time.
