How do you have any control over acrylic paint?

[JoshRaed]

I tried to make part of this work but none of the colors I tried to make were even close to a match, and I couldn’t cover the canvas or define any sort of border for things. This turned out so bad I didn’t even do all the things I planned to do with it, there was going to be a light blue highlight. What do painters do to make the paint actually do what they want, and not cover the canvas so unevenly?

[kyupol]

Tried using smaller brushes?

Acrylic is a tough one. Haven't done it since I took art foundations course. Never liked it. Preferred oil pastels or prismacolor markers.

Personal opinion... you need to be on a decent skill level with pencils first before doing anything else.

[NickRowler]

When I took a painting class, I was taught to use soft charcoal to map out what I want to do. This was such a huge game changer for me. Because it rubs off easily unlike stuff like pencil marks.

I then would put a thin coat of paint so that the canvas was no longer white. This helps a lot with building up values.

I then map out the shadows of the picture, then work out from there.

Watering down paint and using thin coats helps. If your paint is not watering down properly or mixing well with other colors, DON'T USE IT. It could just be bad paint or that color expired. Some brands and types of paints do not mix well with each other.

A small brush can help with details. Tho I preferred working with a bright or a filbert. I feel like it allows more control.. I also sometimes just painted with a sponge. It helps with softer colors and gradients.

My last recommendation is just patience. Some paint dries faster than others. You might have to wait for something to dry before adding on top of it.

[AshanaArt]

Small brushes are really good for details. I’d also recommend waiting for layers to dry before adding more paint in order to make things smoother and more even, as well as starting out with a sketch in pencil.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

What do painters do to make the paint actually do what they want, and not cover the canvas so unevenly?

Ample pre-planning, and multiple coats.

I think part of gaining experience with physical media is learning to wing it/fix mistakes on the fly, but if you're not at that point yet, you definitely need to plan out what the picture will look like before you even pick up a brush. Do a sketch first; including shading and highlights like @NickRowler suggested, so you know where all the colors are going to go.

Now, for even coverage, there is no way around just going over the painting again and again with multiple coats of paint. ^^; Acrylics are basically liquid plastic, and all but the darkest colors tend to spread very thin...fortunately, they also dry pretty fast, so you can totally do a coat, wait 5-10 minutes, and then do another coat, and repeat until the colors are as solid as you want.

Here's an example painting: the quality of the photo isn't great, but you can see that most of the colors are pretty solid.

HOWEVER, you can definitely see spots of old color underneath the yellow-- despite multiple coats, that color in particular is so thin, it just can't compete. ^^; I let it be in those spots, but for most of this woman's face and figure I primed/mixed it with white to help it cover properly.

I tried to make part of this work but none of the colors I tried to make were even close to a match, and I couldn’t cover the canvas or define any sort of border for things.

Tbh, I think a lot of the colors you made are actually perfect matches for what's in the screenshot...only maybe it's hard to tell because you kind of just threw them onto the canvas without any sort of technique in mind...? ^^;

Like, that skin color is fine...but there aren't enough coats, and the shape of her face has no definition or shading of any kind. Similarly, I see what you tried to do with that dark shadow between the layers of Jinx's hair...but you didn't paint a shadow, and you didn't really paint hair; you kinda just smeared a dark blob on top of a bunch of other blobs...

Real talk-- @kyupol had a point when it comes to skill level. I don't know what kind of result you expect when it looks like you're painting with your toes...color accuracy and solidity are honestly the least of your issues there; fixing those relatively minor things wouldn't make the painting look much better. I really think you need to get some smaller brushes and focus on technique first; build some muscle memory and dexterity when it comes to just making shapes on the canvas; then go back and perfect your colors.

[jwabeasley]

I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time! Water based acrylics are my main medium - all my Etherwood comics are done with it, along with most of my other paintings. I love acrylics because of how versatile they can be.

I even have an Arcane acrylic fanart:

Something less cartoon-style:

My way isn't the only way, but I find it helps to treat the acrylic paints like watercolors, and I prefer to work on watercolor paper than canvas. For the most part the techniques are the same, except you have to prime your canvas first, and paper generally doesn't need to be primed.

After you've planned and prepared the painting, I like to start with the light colored areas, slowly building my painting one color at a time. Use larger brushes for big areas, and smaller brushes for details. My favorite brushes for Acrylic painting are chisel tip brushes. Once you've painted all you need of one color, let it dry (it should only take a few seconds) and then add the next darker color. I find a 5 or 6 color palette to be more than sufficient for most painting subjects.

Especially when you're learning, it can help to make some monochrome studies. Paint whatever you want using only one or two colors so you can get used to how the paint interacts with water, brush, and paper/canvas. You do have to learn a feel for it if you don't have a lot of brush handling skills already, and that just takes practice. @kyupol is correct though, you also will need good art and drawing fundamentals to be successful, but that's true of all art forms.

[wolflu66]

Using the correct brushes and controlling the water content is quite important, but the key lies in your familiarity with the medium and having sufficient foundational skills.

Although I really like traditional art, I admit that I found it troublesome so later I switched to digital art for my creative work XD.

↓Speaking of which, one of my favorite artists—Master Chen Uen (鄭問)—was a master who excelled at acrylic paints.

[wolflu66]

Your acrylic painting is really good.
Do you have any drawing of Vi when she's grown up? XD

[jwabeasley]

Thanks! I don't have a painting of Vi - mostly because I don't do a whole lot of fanart, second because I mostly draw happy things and happiness is alien to the cast of Arcane. That's why I drew them having an innocent birthday party without anybody I care about being dead.

[JoshRaed]

About the blob, I definitely had no plans of capturing all the details, so I tried for the general shape instead without the details. Which I guess turned into a blob without any ability to make a specific shape with my brush.

[BoomerZ]

Do not water down acrylics with water, that breaks the paint. There are thinners for acrylic.

[jwabeasley]

Do not water down acrylics with water, that breaks the paint. There are thinners for acrylic.

I must disagree with this as a general rule.

Yes, if you have a heavy paint application style, you might have some adherence issues, but in those cases you also won't want to dilute since heavy application styles don't need thin transparent paint. And yes, there are plenty of thinners for acrylic if there is a specific form of adherence you need.

I've used water to dilute both low quality and professional-grade acrylics and I've never had an issue with the paint "breaking," even at very high dilution levels. Acrylic paints often contain up to 50% water right in the tube, and they're designed to be used with water. That's the main reason I started working with them (after spilling turpentine all over my dorm room three times in a row as a student). I have acrylic canvas paintings over 10 years old that used watery, diluted paint and they're fine, no adhesion or particle issues.

This article has a thorough discussion of the subject: https://justpaint.org/how-much-water-can-you-safely-add-to-acrylic-paint/

[moontokkym]

(I don't have many photos of the process from this one but hopefully you can see a bit of the build up. This was a "no sketch just paint one which I think is what you did)

You have to start lean (lots of water) and move to thick (less water) as you finish your painting, and with acrylics using the transparency of the paint is key. The problem is it looks like you were treating acrylics like oils by doing a full back wash of the background when you'd need to leave some white on jinx to get the luminosity of the rimlight.

Before even trying to paint a face i'd advice learning to balance your water/paint levels by painting squares in flat colour and then learning to do gradients. Acrylics is usually worked in layers because a flat colour layer of acrylics dries in 7 seconds.

Also it doesn't look like you're mixing your colours much and relying way too much on black. For the first 1,5 years in learning acrylics black paint was banned so we had to learn how to observe colour better, and to this day my black paint tube is barely touched because it is mostly useless I'm painting in black and white. I hope this helps.

[moontokkym]

Oh my God this is the worst advice ever.

I've never in my life used acrylic paint thinner, it's a waste of money, especially for beginners. Water is great, and is in general use at a professional level. Acrylics, unlike oils, are a water-based paint, you're supposed to use them with water, and you can even treat them like plastic-y watercolours if you want, they're quicker to dry in layers and you can immediately paint over your later meaning they're a staple of art school last minute paint assignments being both cheaper than most paints and quick. Never in 7 years of painting in acrylics has my paint "broken" with water, even when painting on pokémon cards, gesso and untreated canvas.

As an example here are some paintings in acrylics I did using a watercolour build up method. They're old because now I use more flexible techniques and at the time I was still learning, but again, water was 100% key to all of these.

Wholeheartedly agree with @jwabeasley

[BoomerZ]

I have acrylic canvas paintings over 10 years old that used watery, diluted paint and they're fine, no adhesion or particle issues.

not adhering is not what breaking means. Breaking is when the paint separates and floats on the surface tension of the water. It's why they don't use water is airbrushes. If the paint separates you will get color rings as the edges dry faster than the center.

[Lensing]

This looks really beautiful, I love the look of the Arcane fanart.

[diamantecreate]

you could draw a pencil drawing then color inside the lines, one color at a time and wait to dry. this will make it solid colors. and when you test on a test paper the effects the paint has when u mix it, then it won't be as unexpected. don't glop too much on the canvas at a time, be patient and focus on the color and placement of color, rather than how much paint you put on it.
Try to have fun!

[thepenmonster]

you also will need good art and drawing fundamentals to be successful

Warning- Josh has a very long history of NOT taking this advice because they're always hoping one of us will hand them a secret shortcut to getting good instead. When they don't get that magic secret they post the same question again and again hoping a third or fourth time will yield up the secrets we're all keeping from them. "Time and practice" just aren't acceptable answers.

At this point I'm gonna suggest they just start using GenAI since they want the results without the work.