How to Draw and Paint Easy

This is a comprehensive guide for absolute beginners looking to get started in painting. In writing this, I considered what I would do if I had to go back and acquire painting all over again.

I have broken the guide into 7 elementary steps you can follow:

Step 1. Consider Why You Desire to Take up Painting and What You Desire to Get out of Information technology

Step 2. Pick Your Medium (Acrylics, Oils or Watercolors)

Footstep 3. Get Your Supplies

Stride 4. Get Familiar with the Fundamentals of Art

Step 5. Make up one's mind What You Want to Paint First

Step half dozen. Create Your Offset Painting

Pace 7. Review and Amend

Bonus Tips

John Vocaliser Sargent, Simplon. Laissez passer, 1911

Step 1. Consider Why You lot Want to Take up Painting and What You Want to Go out of It

Earlier y'all go out and buy all your new fine art supplies and outset throwing paint onto the canvas, you should consider why exactly you lot want to take upwards painting and what you desire to get out of it.

Your answers will decide how you proceed and what y'all should focus on learning. I don't believe that at that place is a static learning path that everyone must follow to main painting. Everyone has dissimilar tendencies, interests and natural skills which make up one's mind the optimal learning path they should take.

For example, some people do non take the patience to sit downwards and accurately render every tone and detail of a subject. Therefore, they may be meliorate suited to learn color and brushwork from the Impressionists, rather than the rigorous practices of the Russian bookish painters.

Or maybe yous accept no interest in breaking into the commercial art world and just want a fulfilling hobby. In that case, you may want to take a more relaxed approach to how you acquire.

Or maybe you lot want to go a primary realist painter like John Singer Sargent or Joaquín Sorolla. To get anywhere nigh this goal, you lot would need to follow a dedicated and rigorous grooming authorities which focuses on drawing and the other fundamentals of painting (color, value, limerick, etc).

Joaquín Sorolla, Sewing the Canvas, 1896

Whatever the case, information technology is important that you lot take the self-sensation for why yous are doing this in the showtime place and what you want to leave of it.

If you lot have not already, take a second to think nearly it. Yous may even want to share your answer in the comment department at the stop of this mail service.

Step ii. Choice Your Medium (Acrylics, Oils or Watercolors)

Next, you should make up one's mind on a medium to focus on, at least for the short-term. This will let you to actually get a feel for how the medium works, so that y'all can then pay more than attending to the large-pic aspects of painting, like color, composition, value, etc.

The major choices are oils, acrylics and watercolours. There are some other options, similar gouache and watermixable oils, but I won't touch on these in this guide.

But in that location is no correct answer here. Every medium has pros and cons. Here is a crash-course on the unlike mediums to help you make up one's mind which suits you:

Acrylics - The Beginner's Choice

Acrylics are widely favored by those just starting out with painting as they are easy to use and do non require whatsoever special supplies. The downside is they dry very fast.

Acrylics may suit you if:

• You lot are a complete beginner and practice not want to worry yourself with the complexities of oil and watercolor painting.
• You desire an easy cleanup time.
• You are painting on a limited budget.
• You lot bask experimenting with mixed media.
• You are sensitive to the harsh chemicals involved with oil painting.

The downsides of acrylics are:

• The paint dries very fast. This means you only have a express amount of time whilst your paint is responsive on the sheet.
• Some colors darken equally they dry (the colors which are lighter tend to accept a greater change).

I personally started with acrylics many years ago. Below is 1 of my childhood paintings in acrylics.

I eventually moved to oils, later getting frustrated by the quick drying time of the paints. But acrylics were great for developing a broad understanding of painting whilst I was a beginner.

Dan Scott, Early on Painting - Mount Reflection

Oils - The Master'southward Selection

Oil paints are the nigh widely used medium among professional artists for a number of reasons:

• They are versatile. You lot can vary the drying time and consistency of your pigment dramatically using pigment thinners and boosted oil. This allows you to piece of work with a wide range of painting techniques, including blending, glazing and scumbling.
• They were favored by the all-time greats of painting.
• Oil paintings seem to exist held in higher regard by fine art collectors compared to acrylic paintings (there are of course some exceptions to this).

You really cannot go wrong with oil paints. If you are not sure where to start, I suggest either jumping straight into oils or starting with acrylics with a view of jumping over to oils once you are more developed. There are some fantastic acrylic painters, but many of them pigment in a very contemporary fashion. The traditional painting techniques which were used by the old masters are much better suited to oil painting.

If you lot remember oil painting is as well complex for you, then I urge yous to reconsider. At that place are actually only a few 'rules' which you need to empathize in oil painting and the remainder is very similar to acrylic painting.

Tip: For those of you who are concerned about the harsh solvents used in oil painting, similar turpentine, then check outordorless solvent. It makes oil painting much more pleasant in my stance.

Dan Scott, Secrets on the Lake, 2017

Watercolors - The Untamed Dazzler

Watercolors are generally considered to be the nearly difficult to option upwardly due to the untamed nature of water and the fact you are not able to practice much re-working of errors (as the paper tin can only absorb so much water). However, if mastered, watercolors tin produce stunningly elegant paintings.

For this reason, I recommend you starting time out with either acrylics or oils earlier venturing into watercolors. However, watercolors are a fantastic complement to your acrylic or oil painting as they train a dissimilar skillset.

For example, John Singer Sargent was famous for his meticulous portraits using oils, just he used watercolors to pigment impressionist and loose landscapes and portraits. These watercolor paintings probably felt very refreshing for Sargent who would take been accepted to the lengthy and tedious portrait painting sessions.

John Vocaliser Sargent, Carrara, Working, 1911

Which Should Y'all Go With?

There is no right answer hither, merely if you are just starting out in painting then I recommend you get-go with acrylics or oils. But feel gratis to outset with watercolors if you are upwards for the challenge.

Also, this is non to say y'all must choose a medium and ignore the rest. I encourage you lot to endeavor all dissimilar kinds of mediums, but have i which y'all really focus on and become familiar with. Information technology is better to exist a master of one medium, than be average at all mediums.

Step 3. Get Your Supplies

It's time to stock up on art supplies. Merely brand certain y'all read all of this section kickoff earlier you start buying every type of castor or every color of pigment – yous do not actually need that much stuff!

The supplies you get will vary depending on the medium you lot decide to go with. In a wide sense, all you lot need is:

• An easel to hold your artwork;
• Canvas (for acrylic or oil painters) or paper (for watercolor painters);
• A palette for color mixing;
• Brushes (suitable for your chosen medium);
• Palette knives;
• Paints;
• Solvent (if oil painting); and
• Paper towels (for wiping your castor between strokes).

That is information technology actually. Painting can be as uncomplicated as you want to make it.

Y'all will be able to find all this at your local art store. If you are an absolute beginner, information technology may be worth starting with a beginner packet which includes most of the bones supplies you would demand. Y'all can then upgrade later on.

My chief suggestion is to keep information technology elementary and purchase quality where it matters, like your brushes, canvas and paint (a premium quality easel volition not make you a better painter).

As Richard Schmid wrote in his book Alla Prima:

"If Michelangelo had possessed only a broom and a bucket of mud, he could yet have painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and it would have been just every bit much of a masterpiece!"

Every bit for the colors, I suggest yous starting time with a limited palette which has red, bluish, yellow (the main colors), white and an earth tone similar raw umber. Here is a proficient starter palette:

• Cadmium red
• Ultramarine blue
• Cadmium xanthous
• Titanium white
• Raw umber

I go into more than item on painting supplies in this guide. Yous can also meet what I utilise and recommend on the supplies page.

Step 4. Go Familiar with the Fundamentals of Art

I am a big laic in learning efficiently rather than just putting in time for the sake of it. You could practice for years and hardly improve if you don't know what you are doing. This is where the fundamentals of art come into play - color, value, composition, edges, brushwork and technique.

These are what I consider to be the core pillars of painting. It is important that yous get familiar with them early on, as they volition assistance you understand what exactly is going on when your brush hits the canvass. Learning these fundamental areas will do good every stroke yous make.

Here is a summary of the fundamentals:

Color: We are all familiar with color, so much so that we take it for granted. Few people fully understand and appreciate what color actually is.

I find it easier to embrace colour in terms of hue, saturation and value. These are the three elements which make up a colour.

Hue refers to where a color is located on the color wheel. Red, blue, yellow, dark-green – these are all different hues. Saturation refers to how rich, intense or vibrant a color is. Value refers to how light or dark a color is.

Learn these three terms and learn them well, as you lot will run into them with every artwork yous create.

Childe Hassam, The Aquarium with Gold Fish, 1912

Value: Value is an element of color, but it is generally considered as a separate primal expanse due to its importance to painting. Every color - cherry, bluish, green, orange, purple - has an underlying value somewhere between white and black. For case, have the following painting by Claude Monet.

Claude Monet, Angling Boats, 1886

If I take colour out of the equation, we are left with nix but the different values ranging from light gray to almost black. This painting has a potent value structure, as you lot tin can conspicuously make sense of it without color. A strong value structure is non essential past whatever means (just look at many of the great Impressionist paintings) but it certainly helps in giving your painting a solid foundation. If you paint with accurate values, and then you have more elbowroom with your use of brushwork, color and detail.

Composition: Yous will hear all kinds of complex terms, "rules" and theories
used to explicate composition in painting. Things like…

Focal point

Rule of thirds

Gilt mean

Horizon line

Leading lines

Harmony

Rhythm

Move

Balance

…. and and then on.

But actually, there are only two questions which are of import for
creating great compositions.

What exercise you want to say?

How are you lot going to say information technology?

That is it. None of the other stuff matters all that much.

Let's dive into those questions a bit deeper…

What do you want to say? In other words, if your painting could
speak, what would it say? If yous don't know, then yous are working
bullheaded.

Also, this does not need to be some deep and philosophical
statement. It could be as simple as…. "I desire to capture the style lite is bouncing off the river surface".

But information technology is important that you know what you want to say - a big idea you desire to communicate.

How are y'all going to say information technology? Or, how are you going to arrange all
the elements in your painting to work in harmony and communicate
what yous want to say. Remember of all your private strokes, shapes, lines, colors and textures as tools at your disposal.

(Additional resource: Limerick breakup checklist.)

Claude Monet, Etretat the Aval Door Fishing Boats Leaving the Harbour, 1885

Edges: An edge is what separates two shapes. It can be either hard, soft or lost. Hard edges have a clean transition betwixt the ii shapes; soft edges take a smooth transition; and lost edges are so smooth you can barely see them.

Dan Scott, Three Boats at Kingfisher Bay, 2016

Brushwork: The physical marks left past your castor (or your palette pocketknife, finger, or anything else you use to paint with). This is an overlooked aspect of painting, which is odd considering it is what makes a painting look similar a painting. If not for brushwork, nosotros may too just take a photograph, or practise digital art rather than traditional art.

Dan Scott, Honeymoon Bay, Tasmania, 2019 - Close-Upwards

Technique: How well you are able to perform certain actions. Skillful technique will develop over time as you gain experience and become more comfortable with your castor and paints. But you lot demand to be careful of any bad habits which you may selection upwards along the way. This could be the way you hold your brush, or the types of strokes y'all make. Bad habits tin be incredibly difficult to set after you accept been practicing them for a number of years.

To develop good painting technique, I suggest you carefully watch masters paint. Notice how they hold their brush, how they apply pigment to canvas, how they mix colors, and so on.

(I go into much more detail on the fundamentals in my Painting Academy grade.)

Step 5. Decide What You lot Want to Paint First

I of the most challenging aspects of painting happens before you selection up your brush – selecting a field of study to paint.

The perfect field of study should be inspiring and challenging. You should feel the need to paint information technology.

Here are some questions to help yous determine if a subject is worth painting:

• Is in that location a "large why"? A single idea which makes yous want to paint information technology.
• Is there a clear and identifiable colour harmony?
• Does the subject have an interesting design (think almost the arrangement of shapes, forms, lines and colors)?
• Is in that location anything you tin can do to improve on the subject field?
• Are you capable of painting it?
• Do yous accept the supplies required to paint it?
• What problems will you encounter painting it?
• Does the discipline provide you with opportunities to challenge yourself and demonstrate your abilities?
• Does the subject inspire you?
• Tin can you come across a finished painting at the cease of it all? If and so, do you like what you come across?

Enquire yourself these questions side by side time you lot are not sure if a field of study is worth painting.

Note: These questions are non necessarily there to be answered, but rather to make you question and explore the subject before yous commit to something more.

As an case, the following photograph is something I would like to paint. Here is why:

• I beloved the dissimilarity between the light greens getting hit by calorie-free and the foreground in shadow. This is what I would focus on capturing if I were to paint it - mybig idea.
• The composition is interesting.
• There is a pleasing residuum between active and quiet places.
• I can see myself painting this.

Step 6. Create Your Get-go Painting

You are now ready to create your first painting. Just a give-and-take of alarm though, information technology will be harder than it looks!

The master artists get in expect effortless, merely don't forget they have been painting for many years, even decades in some cases.

My master proposition for your first painting is to start general; try to capture your initial impression of the subject. Remember about the subject in terms of shapes and colors. Y'all can then refine the painting and add more item.

As an example, I will run yous through one of my paintings. Beneath is the reference photograph I painted from.

I started by loosely painting in the major colors and shapes with a light wash.

I then started to build upwardly the form and structure.

The finished painting is below. This should give you an idea of how crude and full general I offset a painting. Of course, some subjects require more delicate attention, just that is something yous demand to consider on a example by case basis.

Dan Scott, Dusk Study, Kingfisher Bay, 2017

You lot can run across more than step-by-footstep paintings on the video page. Hither is an example of a simple landscape painting:

Tip: Be proud of your showtime artworks, even if they do non plough out as planned. Ane 24-hour interval, you will look back and see how far you accept come. Below is ane of my early paintings from when I was a kid. Non perfect past any means (I even forgot to paint the right side of the ocean...) only information technology reminds me of how I started.

Also, don't compare your get-go few paintings to the works of other artists. Most people do not share their early or failed works; you but see their best.

Dan Scott, Early Painting - Impressionist Wave

Step 7. Review and Improve

In one case you take created your outset painting, it is fourth dimension to take a pace back and review what went right, what went wrong and where yous tin improve. Unless yous are some kind of prodigy, your outset painting probably won't be a masterpiece but that is ok. Everyone starts as amateurs, even the masters.

Look at your painting similar an fine art critic. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What aspects of the painting exercise I like?
• What aspects would I change?
• What is the mood of the painting?
• What is my outset impression of the painting? I suggest you take a break from looking at the painting for a mean solar day or two, then come dorsum to it.
• Practise the colors work, or do they appear muddied?
• Is the composition pleasing?
• Is there whatsoever visible brushwork which adds to the painting?
• Have I captured the overall likeness of the discipline?
• Is there annihilation in detail which irritates me about the painting?
• Take I captured the perspective accurately?
• Does the painting appear cohesive?

Fisherman in Valle d'Aosta, John Singer Sargent, 1907

Bonus Tips

• Don't worry nearly what other people retrieve. Accept criticism merely do not let information technology be the principal driver for what you do.
• Engage in the customs – enter competitions, visit galleries, talk to other artists, read creative person blogs, subscribe to artist newsletters, etc. The more engaged you lot are, the more than inspired you will be.
• Endeavor not to exist intimidated by artists who are more skilled. There will always exist someone more skilled, experienced, knowledgeable or technical than you. Wait to them for inspiration, rather than be intimidated past them.
• Don't worry that much well-nigh developing a memorable or unique style if y'all are only starting out. Information technology will develop over time with experience.
• Focus on the fundamentals - color, value, limerick, edges, brushwork and technique. These areas volition do good every stroke yous make and will compound your level of improvement over time.
• Research the masters who came before united states. Learn almost how they lived, studied and worked. This will provide you with a constant source of inspiration and knowledge.
• Don't be afraid to experiment and endeavor new things.
• Exist careful of gimmicky techniques, secrets, rules or methods.
• Be open-minded and flexible with how you learn.
• The just secret to condign a great painter is to learn, practise, review and improve.

Dan Scott, Honeymoon Bay, Tasmania, 2019

Now over to You

In the offset part of this guide, I asked you to consider why you want to take up painting and what yous desire to go out of it. If you accept non already, I urge you lot to recall about this for a moment. You tin can share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thank you for Reading!

Thanks for taking the fourth dimension to read this post. I appreciate information technology! Feel free to share with friends. If you want more painting tips, check out my Painting Academy form.

Happy painting!

Dan Scott

Depict Paint Academy

dicksonnotenjoyard.blogspot.com

Source: https://drawpaintacademy.com/painting-for-beginners/

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