Tools & Materials

Let's begin by talking about what you'll need to complete the projects in this book — starting with, of course, paint!

ACRYLIC PAINT

Acrylic paint can range from inexpensive to break-the-bank pricey. Student-grade acrylics are more affordable, but they provide less coverage than professional-grade paints. I have found, unfortunately, that the more expensive a paint is, the better it performs. However, I always recommend starting with cheaper student-grade paints and working your way up to costlier professional-grade ones as your skills improve.

Acrylic paint also varies according to viscosity, or consistency. For instance, heavy-bodied paint is thicker and great for adding texture, while high-flow paint works well for details and line work.

BRUSHES

For brushes, I recommend keeping it simple and selecting a few sizes of round brushes and a few sizes of flat brushes. I prefer synthetic bristles over natural ones, but I recommend trying both to see what you like best!

PAINT COLORS

There are so many colors of acrylic paint to choose from! To simplify your shopping process, I've narrowed down your list to just 9 tubes of paint. With these 9 tubes, you can paint your way through the rainbow. Yes, you really can mix almost every color there is with these 9 tubes!

9 Essential Colors

Titanium white
Black
Ultramarine blue
Phthalocyanine blue
Cadmium red
Quinacridone magenta
Cadmium yellow
Hansa yellow
Burnt umber

PALETTE

A palette can be just about anything you have that's flat. If you choose to buy a palette, it can be made from plastic or porcelain. I tend to use a paper plate or some wax paper!

PAINTING SURFACES

When working with acrylic, you can paint on just about any surface! To create the projects in this book, I worked on three different surfaces.

CANVAS: This is considered the standard painting surface. You can buy pre-stretched canvases at any art-supply store.

BRISTOL BOARD: This is unfinished paper board, and it's great for many kinds of supplies. I often work on Bristol board when I'm painting smaller pieces, as it's easy to store and scan into the computer for reproduction, and it's versatile. It's also easier to frame than a stretched canvas. Unlike canvas, however, Bristol board will bow if saturated with too much water.

WATERCOLOR PAPER: Just because it's called "watercolor" doesn't mean it can only be used for watercolor paints! This type of paper comes either cold-pressed (textured) or hot-pressed (smooth). It's your preference! Try them both and see which you prefer.

PENCILS

You'll need a good-quality pencil for sketching. Drawing pencils range from very hard lead (labeled 9H) to very soft lead (9B). The harder the lead, the lighter your pencil will draw. When sketching your subject matter before painting, it's best to draw lightly, so use harder lead.

MATTE GEL MEDIUM

Gel medium is very adhesive and makes a wonderful tool for collaging. It's also easy to work with and dries clear, so you can mix it with your acrylic paint to create transparent colors and even out texture.

MODELLING PASTE

An acrylic medium that's filled with a solid material, modeling paste dries opaque white and can be used to add texture to artwork. Spread it on your canvas and paint over it once dry, or mix it with your paint and then apply to the surface. Because it is white, it will lighten the paint color.

PALETTE KNIFE

A palette knife is used for mixing colors. I usually mix colors with a brush, but for creating a large amount of color, a palette knife is a great tool to have on hand. It can also be used to apply paint to your surface, making it a wonderful tool for creating dimensional, textured pieces.

Acrylic Painting Techniques

Painting techniques can be used to create different textures and effects in art. Here are some of my personal favorites.

WASH

Before slapping on thick layers of paint, I like to wash in color over my entire surface. This provides a first layer of paint and helps eliminate any fear of the white paper.

A wash is simply watered-down acrylic paint. To create a wash, mix a tiny bit of paint with a lot of water.

UNDERPAINTING

A wash can serve as an underpainting; however, a traditional underpainting is usually monochromatic (one color with many values) and applied thicker than a wash. The underpainting is the base layer of paint upon which subsequent layers build.

BLOCKING IN COLOR

This simply means painting in large areas of color. When building up a painting, it's best to work from less detailed to more so. Blocked-in color comes after a wash or an underpainting.

DRYBRUSHING

Add acrylic paint to a surface without first dipping the brush in water. Drybrushed strokes remain visible and have an almost scratchy appearance.

STIPPLING

Small dots or specks of color are layered upon one another.

Georges Seurat (1859-1891), the French post-impressionist painter known for A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, made this technique famous.

We will use it to paint "Pointillistic Panda," starting on page 104.

IMPASTO

Paint is applied thickly, resulting in a textured surface.

COLLAGING

Various materials, such as fabric and paper, are pasted onto a piece of art, creating an interesting, layered effect.

Color Theory Basics

If you wish to express yourself with color in wild, spontaneous ways, there are a few basic principles about color that you should understand.

THE COLOR WHEEL

The color wheel is a tool for organizing colors. It consists of three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow); three secondary colors (orange, green, and violet), which are created by mixing the primaries together; and six tertiary colors (red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet) that occur from a mixture of a primary and a secondary color.

COLOR CUES

In art, the word "value" refers to how light or dark a color is. To darken the value of a color, you add black to create a shade. To lighten a color, add white to create a tint.

Colors also vary according to intensity, which refers to how dull or bright a color is. To dull a color, add its opposite, also called its "complement." For instance, the opposite of red is green. To dull a shade...