There are many mediums available for an Artist to experiment with but I believe that Acrylic Paint is the best and easiest for beginners. Acrylic dries quickly and wash up in water. If you want to lengthen the time that it takes to dry, you can mix Extenders and Retarders. By extending the drying time of acrylic paint you can blend colors more easily with one another while you are working on an art project. Artists who paint model figures often use Extenders or retarders, Some Artists simply prefer Acrylic paints over other paints, but it takes a little more time to finish the work.
Acrylic Paint can be mixed with a huge range of media and you can add a variety or texture to your art by mixing other media to the paint. You can use sand, rice, pasta and salt or when the paint dries you can use pen, charcoal, pastels on the top of the paint to give a different texture.
What colors do you need to start out?
As we all know we can make a huge collection of colors by mixing red, blue and yellow and most of us like to squeeze colors directly from a tube. Here we list some colors to make up a good palette and you can add more colors you need.
Cadmium Red – Cadmium red is a yellowish, warm red color and relatively opaque.
Phthalo Blue – It is an extremely versatile blue. It goes very dark when combined with burnt umber and, You can create a lighter blue by mixing it with white because of its high tinting strength.
Titanium White – it is an opaque, bright white color with a strong tinting. Some manufacturers also provide a “mixing white”, which is the most affordable and, as the name suggests, it is formulated to blend with other colors.
Mars Black – It is a relatively opaque color and should be added to other colors in small quantities until you’ve got used to its strength. Another option is ivory black, but only if you’re not squeamish about it being made from charred bones.
Cadmium Yellow – You can easily create a lighter yellow by adding white to this. Remember that if you want to darken yellow to try adding its complements colors, purple, rather than black.
Purple – Buy a very dark purple because you can waste a lot of paint trying to mix one.
Orange – Make Orange by mixing red and yellow and you can also buy ready made orange color in a tube.
Phthalo Green – Phthalo green is a bright and bluish green. You can get a variety of shades of greens by mixing it with cadmium yellow.
Paynes Gray – It is a versatile, transparent dark blue-gray made from a mixture of black and blue with some red.
Yellow or golden ocher – It is a yellowish brown, golden and glorious color.
Raw titanium – It is a deep cream useful for mixing with burnt umber to create skin tones.