Alright, I've been having these tubes of acrylics lying in my room for about 5 months and I only used them 2 or 3 times and had a bad experience (okay, not that bad..but not as good as I hoped). I've tried to get really nicely blended areas but I find it hard. Maybe I need to find some really good paint brushes or whatever. Is there any way to dilute it to make it come out less thick? I know with oil paints you use lindseed oil...I don't think I can use that with acrylics. Anyways, I just want to know what do I need in order to get a decent acrylic painting out there. I would hate to see these go to waste. :\

you should be able to use water...acrylics are good for that reason..easy to dilute easy to clean :)

hehe, yes water. I've tried it but I'm wondering if there is anything else out there that I'm missing :\ Is there any acrylic medium out there to help blend? Maybe it's my cheap paint brushes. lol

Water.

just water? Good, because I'm broke and I can get water from the toilet. I guess I better get to practicing. If comes out horrible I'm going to get mad at both of you (jk), then I'll just blame it on my paint brushes and not my lack of skill.

Thanks.


Oooh yah, before that. Do you know where there is a good online acrylic tutorial? :'( I need all the help I can get.


edit: I wouldn't mind getting any tips upon examination on how to get the skin like this http://www.hotboxdesigns.com/Fortified.html



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i did this monstrosity with acrylics http://www.deviantart.com/view/8784908/ ...it was a really quick way to see if i could pull off something close to what i can do here, on canvas..and NOPE! WRONG! BZZZT! but lesse..if you water it down too much its like watercolor and you have to wait for it to dry before adding more paint so that was a bitch since i didnt want to wait. and i just layered color after color, eventually with enough layers (like oils) the paint went on smoother. hm..OH...do you have those small tubes of acrylics that are uber thick? they sell thinner acylics also..
LOL kirby's so funky fresh

edit: i wouldnt mind tips on that either..oh my golly gosh i love her art

that's hellva lot better than what I can do. lol

Yeah, I'm sorta curious to see how far I can go with acrylics and I'm just praying that it'll come out like my digital paintings. So a lot of water, lots of layers and eventually smooth. I can do that. hehe.

Ohh I got those small tubes, yes they are really thick. Thinner acrylics? so if I get those would it be less of a hassle?


edit: I think I'm going out on a limb for tips on that. Lol. Maybe it just comes with years of experience. That would SUCK!!!! *sniffs* <(v.V)>

yeah..i have small tubes and large tubes and small bottles..the small tubes i have are thicker than the bottles or LARGE tubes, tubes, tubes. saying that word over and over makes it sound not right...
ANYWAY..you want to use up what you have so add water..but not TOO much, and they sell 4 oz tubes that are thinner, yes yes. oh and cheap canvases really suck..thats why mine looks shitty..not enough paint to make it smoooooth

lol, I have some really good canvas because my mom got a good deal at this garage sell.lol YAY mom! oh i forgot I'm suppose to be mad at her >:(

I even got one that is almost as big as me!!! whoa, like what am I gonna do with that one? My older brother wants me to paint him on a throne with my two dogs on each side. lmfao, he cracks me up.


edit: I forgot to thank you for all your help!!! Thank you! you helped me and inspired me <3 Love LOVE!

sweet! dont forget to show us the results, please and thank you :D

Hey, i don't know if you read the bottom of her page but it says there: "she applies numerous, super thin layers to try and achieve a brush less patina on her big-eyed girls"
Other than that i always found acrylics a bitch to work with

ps. that nun painting kicks major ass.....YAY sacralicious

Paint that lastface you did here. Paint it big. Sell it for $2000.

Kasha, although water is the only "thinner" to be used with acrylics, there are some things you can mix with them... there are a couple of mediums, I think they are gel-based, and there are also what are called "extenders"... you can use those if you want to extend the drying time of your acrylics (you can also spray the canvas lightly with a spray bottle of water when you are done to get that effect) I have used acrylics on and off, but I really prefer oils.. although they are really expensive. Make sure you use cotton canvas and not that crappy board stuff. The extra money there is worth it. Also, you can get Gesso and use almost anything for canvas... I have done that when I was really broke before. Happy paint slapping! :)

From my "experience" with acrylics, blending is most easily done by layering. I'm not that great at mixing colors, so I would just apply 3-4 layers and eventually get some sort of good gradient. But at the same time I have no good examples, and also I have no idea how to get gradients like on that picture you linked, because that picture is insane. Just an idea to throw out there.

Oh yeah, and in printmaking, oil based Intaglio inks can be mixed with tint base extender but I am not sure you can use the stuff with acrylics.

Kejoco: Yeah I noticed that too. That's one of the many things I have yet to master. lol

Axil: I think you accidently added an extra 0. That's insane. Maybe an auction! see how high it goes. lol

DBA: Omg. THANK YOU! I knew there was something else. There is always dirty tricks to different mediums. Extenders.... excellent. I'm so happy. Thank you thank you thank you.

Method: thanks! Yeah. Layer after layer for now. Man, I just gotta found out how the hell that chick does it. Thanks for the info!!

KASHA! Thanks for posting this thread! I've been havin' the same troubles with acrylics. Like you, I've only done it twice.. and I was unhappy that I couldn't blend properly. I've never even done art outside of my computer stuff. lol So all the advice y'all just gave is very valuable to me! Thanks bunches! *happily goes to finish a painting that has just been sitting there*

i used to do a lot of acrylics but i havent in yeaaars. i remember blending a lot on the canvas? if i remember right, put down a base color and put on a *small* amount of the color you want to blend in and gently blend it in. its kinda tricky but do-able. nnh.. though i cant really remember. those were from my art class days in jr high :)