The best Acrylic Painting books: Reddit reviews

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my suggestion is to find a small painting group run by a real artist. i pay $65.00 for 6 once a week sessions that go 2 1/2 to 3 hours. the artist will critique your work, give you suggestions, and sometimes do a demo or even paint on your painting to show you haow things should be done. the other thing to do is findsome books at the library and see step by step instructions. here is one i borrowed from local library, https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Paint-Acrylics-Small-Paintings/dp/1631590561

>The initial conflict is that creative things are dangerous

YES. I have so much trouble with this question! What I have found helps is doing lessons out of a book. I know it seems silly, but if I can do a lesson out of something like Learn to Paint in Acrylics with 50 Small Paintings, I can think of the thing I am doing as "a lesson" and not "aa creative thing". But once the lesson is over, I can tell myself "well, here I have been messing around with paint and nothing bad happened, so I can keep playing with it and nothing bad will happen" -- and that seems to help calm me enough to slide into being creative.

The trick is, it needs to be a lesson in the material I want to use. So a watercolor lesson if I want to work mostly with watercolors, etc. But that helps a lot.

This is the answer. I bought this book (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1600582834/ ) when I first started out and it was helpful for a minute. But actually doing the mixing is how I learned too.

Mark Carder of Draw Mix Paint's video for mixing oil paints was really helpful for me in mixing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNB3XY67Q-I

Not really. In order to have an accurate calculator you would need accurate color values for every paint. Unfortunately paint varies from batch to batch just a little and frankly unless you are measuring at the 0.1ml level or precision you will get additional variations.

What you can do though is obtain a book of color recipes and then use primary colors from each paint line to mix a color you like. Useful if you want to mix a unique color.

For most typical modeling applications modelers have developed recipes for colors. For example: Soviet Aircraft were painted a light blue underneath called AMT-7 — one way to mix this using Tamiya paint is you mix 6 parts XF-23, 2 parts XF-8, 2 parts XF-2. There are other recipes for each color.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1631590561/

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First projects are basic but it has some neat-o ones too.

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Next project in it is to paint a piece of toast :)

Since you are spiritually perhaps you’d enjoy rock painting, making dream catchers, doing yoga, or fairy garden.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486808939/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_Eg-8FbP2NXH3R

Congratulations and welcome back. Since you have access to a place that will have a kiln, I’d strongly recommend you contact them and either get your clay directly from them or get the clay they recommend. Most places are not going to fire an unknown or unusual clay mix as it can cause too many issues. Plus they will likely purchase it in bulk so you can get it a bit cheaper (no shipping!).

I wouldn’t worry about purchasing any glazes until after you have actually sent some pieces to the kiln to be bisqued. You can’t get glazes until you know what cone the clay needs to be fired at and can’t know that until you know what clay they provide you. So save your money. Instead get a potters tool kit with the basic tools.

You’ll need to also figure out a place to wedge clay. And figure out where you are going to rinse your hands and tools. You can’t just use your sink. Look up clay trap or bucket techniques, etc. Last, what are you going to do with your clay to be recycled?

Simon Leach has some great YouTube videos. I’d also suggest you get A Potter’s Workbook. https://www.amazon.com/Potters-Workbook-Clary-Illian/dp/0877456712. As it is the best book for learning and relearning, not how to do something but what to do.

For books I'd recommend these two above the ben carter books... Don't get me wrong. I think Ben carter is a fantastic potter and teacher. But these books I think cover more useful philosophy:

A Potters Workbook by Clary Illian

Functional Pottery by Robin Hopper

If you use an iPhone, the iModelKit app can help with mixing. I find it so-so, as it relies on scanning web colors, not measuring them directly. However once you know a color’s correct values, you can mix in the app to get close, which gives some ideas. I then try the mix IRL and adjust to my liking.

Get a color wheel. It helps with visualizing where to begin and which colors to start with. As you get more comfortable, consider getting a color recipe book that has every color you would want and ratios of colors needed to mix them.

If your available colors will be limited, but you are willing to buy modeling paints via mail order, I recommend Tamiya. It sprays very well using either DIY store lacquer or isopropyl alcohol 91%. The latter is better but it is possible to mix a tiny bit of lacquer thinner into the IPA. There are quite a few mixes using Tamiya for just about any and all military colors.

I’d focus on the base colors: white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, and silver. You can use the colors to mix or adjust the other colors to just about any color you would want. If you know you’ll use a premixed color often, get it.

Get Painting In Acrylics: The Indispensable Guide by Lorena Kloosterboer. Not only will it give you a good foundation in the medium and all its possibilities, as well as a good grounding in color theory, there is a very large section on realist painting strategies and specific techniques to achieve realistic results. Kloosterboer is a photorealist painter, as are most of the artists she chooses to highlight in the book. I really think this one is up your alley.

https://www.amazon.ca/New-Acrylics-Complete-Generation-Acrylic/dp/0823031594/ref=asc_df_0823031594/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292942809563&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13904807460932317148&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001425&hvtargid=pla-452997108388&psc=1

I found this book really helpful for explaining mediums and newer colours and what can be done with them. Also, the photography in it is fantastic.

Welcome to the clay world and this sub. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of A Potters Workbook. https://www.amazon.com/Potters-Workbook-Clary-Illian/dp/0877456712 It is the best at teaching you the underlying concepts of form. I try and run through the exercises every few years and am always learning.

I still don't know what I'm doing either, but I've been working through the super-accessible and helpful book "Learn to Paint Acrylics in 50 Small Paintings" by Mark Daniel Nelson: http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Paint-Acrylics-Small-Paintings/dp/1631590561

These kind of artist paints are all that I use to paint. Thinning them down is handy, but not essential. If you are careful to not overload the paint and rely on very thin layers they work fine right out of the tube with a bit of medium mixed in. Artist acrylics tend to have a very high pigment density and very finely ground pigment they also are very opaque compared to pre-mixed miniatures paints so it takes less paint to achieve a similar effect.

The biggest difference is that you'll be mixing colors more often. Artist paints are very forgiving in that regard, but you will probably want some kind of mixing guide until you are used to the properties of the paint.

Hey! Nice work for someone who is new to painting. Here are a few of my suggestions and a few artists you can look at for inspiration.

Firstly, I would consider going more monochromatic (one colour, different shades) because in your works with multiple colours they're blending and turning brown which is taking away the contrast.

Second, I would go with thinner layers of paint at the start and increase the thickness as you allow the layers to dry. This will allow you to build texture. I don't know what you're using to apply the paint but if you go to any hardware store you can grab some great plastic tools used to apply plaster that are different sizes and allow for different grips.

Third, if you want the paint to dry faster you can use something like galcid to speed up the process.

There are also lots of different painting techniques you can use to create really interesting effects as you progress. I recommend either getting a couple of pads of canvas paper to practice or some small canvas boards. I have this book and it's got some great techniques http://www.amazon.ca/Acrylic-Solutions-Exploring-Mixed-Media/dp/1440321124

Lastly, check out Gerhard Richter, Rothko and other similar painters. The movie Gerhard Richter Painting is fantastic and I love watching him paint.

(edit: I'm an art teacher and I teach high school kids how to do abstract art so that's where I got my sources)

Here is a tip for those who want a new approach to using 3D impasto texture in their work that is entirely acrylics...

SECRET TIPS TO Paint Acrylics in 3-Dimension

Use:

1. Cake Decorating Tips
2. Thick Paint
3. Separate Drying Layer than the Canvas

The separate drying layer enables you to PEEL & PLACE the dried paint before committing the arrangement down to the painting.

Learn where to get thick paint in bulk for cheap.

You do not need to own a Kindle to read. Download the Kindle app to whatever device you want. Read on your PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet, iPad, or Kindle device.

Free from now until Monday, Oct 6:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KPM0NSC

Oils are really fun, but they definitely require patience. You might want to try acrylics again. You can get really good results if you know how to manipulate them. The New Acrylics is a great reference.