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Home Articles Community My Profile Edit Home Categories Hobbies and Crafts Painting How to Paint Edited by Maniac, KnowItSome, Maluniu, FlaminPunkMonkey and 28 others Pin It Article Edit Discuss Painting is a medium through which many people find that their emotions and thou ghts can shine through. No previous experience is necessary, and if you ve ever ta ken an art class, even if it was finger painting in elementary school, then you ve had an introduction to painting. Edit Steps 1 Choose your paint. For your first painting, try using watercolor paints or a crylic paints. Both are water based and easy to use. In the future, after you ve p ainted for a while, you may want to experiment with oil paints. Watercolors come in cases or small tubes of pigment. When used alone, th ey are thick and opaque, and do not cover much area. When used in combination wi th water, they will thin out and become transparent. Watercolors are used on spe cific paper made for use with watercolor; any old piece of paper will not necess arily work very well. If you have difficulty finding the right kind of paper, an employee at any arts and crafts store will be more than happy to show you vario us tablets of watercolor paper sheets. Acrylics are tubes of paint ready to go to work. They do not need to be watered down, but can be to achieve a desired effect, such as tints and better c overage, as well as making your paint supply last a little longer. Unlike waterc olors, when acrylics dry, they will not moisten again so don t squeeze out more pa int than necessary. If you have paint leftover that you would like to use again, cover the tray or cup tightly in plastic wrap or tin foil. They will keep for s everal days to a week at the most. Acrylics are used on canvas panel, which is a canvas with a cardboard backing, or canvas that is stretched over a wooden fram e. 2 Get a canvas panel. For beginners, you may be more comfortable using a canva s panel than painting on a stretched canvas. Canvas panels are inexpensive and, while some artists may argue that stretched and mounted canvas is more professio nal, panels are just as good for painting on. The only downside is that if too m uch water or thick layers of paint are applied, the canvas will curl inward. Thi s can be remedied by painting a large X on the back side from corner to corner t o counteract the curl. You will encounter the same problem with watercolor sheet s, and you may do the same thing; just make sure your X is done in white paint t o avoid a darker color showing through your painting. 3

Select brushes. The larger the brush, the broader the stroke. The smaller the brush, the finer the stroke. Therefore, for covering large areas of canvas with paint, a b igger brush will get the job done quickly. A smaller brush will allow you to add detail more easily. For instance, if you are painting a landscape, you can use a big brush to lay down the base color for your sky. Then, you can go in with a small brush and add hues of different colors for clouds, sun rays, sky gradient, or even stars or birds. When considering brushes, not only is size important, but material. Most brushes you will come across and probably use the most are made from synthetic hair. Take care to rinse the paint out of your brushes when you are done. When a crylic paint dries, it turns to plastic, thus ruining your brush. While working, keep your brushes in a cup of water to prevent them from hardening. 4 Familiarize yourself with the color wheel, a circle of primary and secondary colors. Primary colors are: Red, Blue, and Yellow. These are colors that come st raight from a tube; they cannot be made from mixing other colors. However, secon dary colors (purple, green, and orange) can be made from the primary colors. Red + Yellow=Orange Yellow + Blue=Green Red + Blue=Violet Mix the two primary colors in equal amounts for a true color, or add a l ittle more of one color than the other. For example, making purple with slightly more blue than red will result in a bluish indigo color, while mixing with more red may result in a deep maroon. Adding a small amount of white or black to any color will make it lighte r or darker. Mixing more white or black into certain colors may change them dras tically, as red when mixed with white will become pink. If a color is too bright for your liking, mix the color s opposite into it to dull the vibrancy. A color s opposite is the one directly across from it on th e color wheel, i.e. the opposite of red is green, yellow is violet, and blue is orange. 5 Paint. It may take some time to find out what you like to paint. Some people enjoy portraits, others landscapes, and further more, some enjoy abstract artwo rk. There is an endless list of things you could paint. For inspiration, think a bout what looks pleasing to your eye. Maybe you enjoy certain color combinations more than others? Maybe certain shapes? If you get stuck on what to paint, you can always reference from life. The classic example is a bowl of fruit. It s overf lowing with different angles, colors, shapes, and sizes. Most importantly, it wo n t move, so you can reference from it as long as the fruit keeps. Then, you might try portrait. Chances are you won t find anyone to sit still long enough for you, so a photograph will probably suit you better when you first start. Here are so me additional ideas: Paint with just black and white. Or, choose any two colors and use in co mbination with black and white. Paint a picture with these colors only. Choose a subject matter and intentionally warp and distort the anatomy o f it, i.e. painting a cat with legs longer than the length of its body, a house that retains its typical features but bends into a spiral, etc. Illustrate a dream you ve had before. Ask someone to write down 3-5 random words, and paint what comes to mind when you read them. Try to paint water. It can be anything from an ocean to water running fr om the tap. 6

Practice techniques. When painting with acrylic, layer. This means start with the farthest th ing away in the background, for instance, paint the sky, then the mountain, then the plains for your background, then the trees, grass, and object of subject fo r your foreground. This prevents you having to paint around anything. When painting with watercolor, always work from lightest to darkest. Tra ditionally, there is no white paint in watercolor. These days you can cheat, as it is possible to buy a white watercolor, but for best results, start with very, very light colors for your outline before jumping in with the dark colors. An e xample would be painting something shiny, say a blue bowl. Take a very watered d own light blue, and outline the shape of the bowl, and then outline, not fill in , where the light reflections of the bowl will go, giving it shape and making it more realistic. Add method 1. Add Method x Know another method for How to Paint? Add it here... Edit Tips Making skin tone doesn t have to be tricky, but if you just mix orange and whi te for a peach tone, you ll notice it looks flat and unrealistic. Take a moment to look at your own skin. The underlying veins make all the difference in colors. For light skin tones, add just a touch of green, and for dark skin tones, just a touch of blue. Have a look at some classic examples of paintings, such as the work of Pablo Picasso, Johannes Vermeer, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Jackso n Pollock, Edvard Munch, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They will give you an idea o f different styles of painting. Visit art museums in your local area. If there are no museums, check in with art departments in colleges and schools nearby to see if they have anything on display. Some popular galleries in cities have online tours and high-resolution photographs of paintings. Try to befriend other painters. In some art schools or community-based art p rograms, they will have an open studio session where artists can use the same sp ace to work. Talk to others about their methods and preferred style, watching ot her people work can show you what else is possible. Watch movies about art, such as: Girl with a Pearl Earring, which portrays the art of Vermeer. Several sc enes deal with color theory and painting methods. Frida, about the life and art of Frida Kahlo, gives excellent examples o f illustrating vision and expression, also painting techniques. Be spontaneous, if you have no idea what to paint, dip your brush in random colours and stoke it on your canvas, you'd be suprised what you create, maybe a subconcious buried passion. Edit Warnings Don t give up too soon. Painting is a typically long and repetitive hobby and can take anywhere from half an hour to months to finish just one piece. Always r emember, most art looks bad until it s finished. If you re not happy with the way it looks, just give it time and keep working. Although overworking a watercolor pa inting can make it muddy, a new layer on an acrylic painting serves to correct, hide, enhance the layers beneath it. Edit Things You'll Need

Paints, either watercolor or acrylic. The appropriate base material for your medium: watercolor - watercolor paper . Acrylic - stretched canvas, canvas board, acrylic paper or even masonite. Brushes of a variety of sizes in synthetic fiber. A cup of water. Reference subject (physical model, photograph, an image from a publication, etc.) A palette Pencil and rubber for sketching preliminary design (optional). Sketch pad for collecting ideas (optional). An easel (optional). Edit Related wikiHows How How How How to to to to Oil Paint Clean a Paintbrush Create Realistic Flesh Tones Create an Abstract Painting

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