10 Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners - Improve Your Paintings!

[@creativEve278]

I found this channel (thanks to the algorithm) like an hour ago, I watched a couple of your videos and came across this one. Wow, the first time I watched a video with tutorials (and I watched many of them) and I had the feeling that someone actually really wanted to teach me how to use acrylic paint and other techniques. Thank you so much. You have a new subscriber.👏

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad you find my videos helpful!🙂

[@laurierounds7102]

Your videos are excellent. Thank you!

[@viccim4262]

Loving your videos. You’re a great teacher. Thanks for the knowledge

[@mariagordanier3404]

Your videos have helped to improve my paintings considerably! Thanks so much!

[@ChrisBreier]

I'm glad to hear my videos have been helpful, I enjoy receiving comments like this! 🙂

[@ximenaalegria2134]

Im a huge fan from tiktok!! I really enjoy how u explain everything

[@devendrasinghrawat6112]

Very nice & and knowledgeable video many many thanks for you

[@Humaninsult]

Very helpful. I haven't painted in 20 years. Your videos are helpful in getting me going again.

[@ewacroning3084]

Thank you 🤩

[@dianea9765]

Very helpful and clearly presented. Thank you for sharing. Lovely colorful paintings.

[@chantalrochon3566]

Thank you for this video 😊

[@alleynanci]

Thank you ! Best to tip for me is make paint a little lighter.

[@kimbalfre3759]

Thanks - this is really helpful summary for beginners,

[@waleedali3829]

Thank you so much💐

[@shvetak5693]

thank u Chris!!!!! 👑👑👑👑

[@carolmarlatt3834]

Great tips! Thanks for sharing!

[@ludab5073]

Thank you! Very helpful ❤

[@karenfox9982]

Thankyou for sharing😊🤗

[@frances3254]

You make your tips easier to understand, thanks very much!

[@hthedinga]

Great video! Thanks for the tips.

[@anchalkhanna88]

Great video

[@LeftBrainedArtist]

Awesome content Chris! Keep it coming.

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks David!

[@Handotr]

Great tips. I just received my paint from Amazon. I have been watching your videos before I put brush to paint. I plan to jump in with some practice tomorrow. I figure I’ll start with shapes and grading.

[@ChrisBreier]

Cool! It’s good to see people taking up painting.

[@mejiaart5363]

Well done great tutorial 👍 👍

[@nybb8938]

Please do a beginner's video for acrylic painting techniques and colour ratio mixing with water etc.

[@jennyk8124]

I found this so incredibly helpful. Simple and so informative too. Thank you!! I have ocd and I’m struggling with all these options. Your video was so helpful. Please consider more beginner “painting for dummies” videos lol. For ex, setting up area to paint and not make a mess.

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks! I’m glad you liked the video. There are so many awesome colors available it can be difficult to narrow it down. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll have to see if I can come up with more beginner videos.

[@familiemooi3768]

Very useful. Excellent presentation.

[@ArtWithMarc]

Lots of really great tips! Well done!

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks Marc!

[@JF-xx5kn]

Thank you, I enjoyed your video.

[@joaquindelgado8501]

This is extremely helpful please continue to make videos 💝💝

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks for the encouragement, there's more on the way! 😀

[@Furrysuperstar]

Great video!

[@seangerlach4594]

I ❤ Draco 😍

[@MichaelKensinger]

Ampersand makes a lovely painting surface called Claybord that is excellent for acrylics. It will absorb some paint at first, resulting in a blotchy look on the first go, but as you work in layers with opens, it comes together nicely. If I want to avoid any absorption I airbrush a base coat with golden high flow acrylics before using the opens.

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks for the suggestions! Funny you should mention claybords because I have a small sample that I want to try out soon with watercolors, or maybe I’ll paint with acrylics in a watercolor style.🙂

[@dianneparks3625]

I just purchased an Ampersand clayboard and was wondering how I was going to use it, so thanks for the suggestion!

[@geegeeyy1813]

YO IM GONNA MAKE MY ART BETTER BY YOUR TIPS

[@gideonros2705]

I've read an article by Joe Bergholm; Acrylic Color Shift - The Cause and the Cure, where he describes his experience on why color shifts in acrylics and how to avoid it. He says that there is little or no color shift if you avoid using water in the painting process. Do you use water or medium to dilute acrylic paint? I'm using oils and considering acrylics for color studies but dislike the difficulty in matching wet color with dried layers.

[@ChrisBreier]

The shift is still there even if you don’t use water or medium. I think what he is saying is water makes it worse. I wouldn’t let that stop you from experimenting with acrylics though. Every medium has challenges, watercolors dry lighter for example. I wrote a blog post about this issue which includes comparison swatches so you will get an idea of how much it shifts. I also demonstrate how the surface sheen affects this issue. Matte black actually dries lighter because of the matte finish. Winsor & Newton professional acrylics use a binder that is more clear and are supposed to have less of a shift. I’ve yet to test them but the videos I’ve seen show that they still have somewhat of a shift. drawandpaintforfun.com/acrylics-dry-darker/

[@gideonros2705]

@@ChrisBreier Thanks for replying. Will definitely try acrylics.

[@royalecrafts6252]

I often use a techniques that involves doing an oil glaze with an airbrush over the acrylics

[@katiebisaro1229]

I have flow medium which I use to thin my paints to make them easier to use. Am I using it right?

[@40bdg]

Is the pen you used a regular calligraphy pen without the ink cartridge installed?

[@ChrisBreier]

At 4:54 that's a crow quill pen which you can find at craft/art supply stores-they're inexpensive and you can easily replace the nib when it gets worn out. I never tried a calligraphy pen with acrylics. I think calligraphy pens have nibs that are wider.

[@asherrogers2687]

Controlling drying time.......ummm nope. LOL I live in Phoenix and I struggle so much with the heat/dryness. It really does discourage me from picking up a paintbrush. I've tried everything I've ever read about (seen on KZbin.LOL) Although I did take art for 4yrs. There's so much more info available now. You would think I could conquer this by now.

[@ChrisBreier]

Have you tried oil painting? I use cobra water mixable oils and they clean up with soap and water so you don’t need any solvents. In my climate they stay wet for days. Aside from open acrylics, another acrylic option are interactive acrylics. Once they start to dry you can mist them with water and they become workable again.

[@MichaelKensinger]

Hi Chris! Just subbed to your channel! I was wondering if you’ve ever used the golden retarder with golden open acrylics? I bought some to try, but someone told me they weren’t too sure about to given the nature of opens to stay wet. Ultimately I’m planning to use it to make out of focus, well-blended backgrounds.

[@ChrisBreier]

Hi Michael,when I paint with open acrylics I normally use them straight from the tube. If they start to tack up then I add a drop or two of open thinner to loosen them up. If you want to add retarder to open acrylics I think they’re compatible. The only thing you want to avoid is adding too much retarder because the paint may dry tacky or take a really long time to dry-the instructions on the label should say how much you can add. Golden does state that open acrylics are compatible with their other lines of paints and mediums but if you’re still unsure Golden has good tech support.

[@holyfamilyiluvu]

If u blow dry the open acrylics do u know if it affects the longevity of the painting or messes with the layer bonding yadda yadda?

[@ChrisBreier]

I use a hair dryer to dry my paintings and never had an issue. I checked the technical data from Golden and they list hair driers and heat lamps as a way to speed up drying times. That’s one advantage open acrylics have over oils is you can force them to dry in a short amount of time. www.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo/technicalinfo_opendrytime

[@helgaleifsdottir5191]

Nice. I am giving up, using acrylics. They dry too fast and feel like plastic. Golden open acrylics are too expensive. Going to shift to oils or Atelier, acrylics.

[@ChrisBreier]

Water mixable oils are another option, I have a few demos. They only smell like linseed oil and clean up with water. My only complaint is they dry too slow!🙂

[@stephaniesmith76]

Any brush recommendations?

[@ChrisBreier]

For acrylics I usually use the inexpensive synthetic brushes, just check to make sure the bristles aren't falling out before you buy it.

[@stephaniesmith76]

@@ChrisBreier thank you!

[@seangerlach4594]

I am Slytherin🐍

[@ChrisBreier]

Do they teach acrylic painting at Hogwarts? 😂

[@ldypepper]

I have only ever used Liquitex, heavy body...thinking of trying Golden Open...kind of leary to try them though.

[@ChrisBreier]

I know what you mean, I've tried out a lot of different brands over the years. Golden does have an affordable intro kit that contains smaller tubes and a bottle of open thinner, I added a link to it in the description (it's under section 7). You can also try adding retarder to any brand of acrylics but I find that open acrylics stay wet longer and are easier to blend. Golden states that you can mix open acrylics with regular acrylics, so if you find that you don't like them this could be a way to use them up so they don't go to waste.