Blending acrylic paint (red through yellow)

[TheTeenageDanceParty]

The only problem with acrylic is that it drys way to fast

[HelloArtsy]

@TheTeenageDanceParty

it sure does... add retarder and/or use it in thicker quantities.

[ajsztehlo]

Hello. I am doing an art project, and I need to paint a background of a medium blue blending to a medium orange. It is quite a large canvas. Do you tone down your acrylics in this video with water? Since I have a large canvas, what would you suggest I do to blend the colors?

[HelloArtsy]

@ajsztehlo In this tutorial I am using color straight from the tube (maybe a drop of water but no more) It's the thick stickiness of the paint that makes it blend so well. Be careful...adding water to the paint can make it less controllable. For large surfaces and brushes here's what I typically do:

1) have all colors mixed and ready at about a heavy cream consistency +add retarder to paint

2)mist the surface with water

3)paint really fast! and use the biggest brushes available (3-5inch!)

[Dikshitasur]

hi, since acrylic dries really fast i have trouble blending, i cant seemt o do it so quickly and hence it becomes patchy. any advise on that?

[HelloArtsy]

@Dikshitasur

there's a few things you can do:

1. use a large quantiy/thicker paint

2. add acrylic retarder

3. use large brushes

[MrsLeto12]

@HelloArtsy hello :) what is acrylic retarder???

[HelloArtsy]

@MrsLeto12

Acrylic retarder is a painting medium (something you add to paint) that slows down the drying of acrylic. It's useful when you want to blend acrylic paint for extended amounts of time. I use Golden brand acrylic retarder.

[jounetsunoakai]

what a perfect blend, it's looks like gradient tool in photoshop lol, thanks for the vid! i find it difficult to blend with acrylic but you're video have helped me

[TIGERABIT]

Does this work with blending black into white?

[HelloArtsy]

@TIGERABIT absolutely, but note you will need very, very little black.

[TIGERABIT]

@HelloArtsy So do I put more white first, and than a little black beside it. Then, I blend like you did in this video? I'm doing an art project and it requires me to blend a lot with black and white. I can't seem to get the smooth transition you have in the video. it's stressing me out!

[HelloArtsy]

@TIGERABIT

Instead of stressing, practice! :)

yes i would add plenty of white first, then add black a little at a time, you can always add more.

* Keep your brush upright/perpendicular to the painting surface.

*Wipe you brush frequently with a rag (but don't soak in water/solvent)

[TIGERABIT]

@HelloArtsy thank you soo much! If it's possible, please do a tutorial on it :) it would help tons! thank you again!

[HelloArtsy]

@TIGERABIT

I would love to, but I don't own a good video camera; I've had to borrow a friends video camera for every tutorial here...at the moment I don't have his camera :( I have a few more vids waiting to be released but not on painting... I'm going to see if I can raise money for a decent HD video camera by selling some of my sample/tutorial artworks. I have many of them. Probably about 20 of those charcoal eyes if you can believe that. What do you think of that idea?

[TIGERABIT]

@HelloArtsy I think that is a great idea! Then you can teach art to people over youtube :) you are really talented!

[HelloArtsy]

@TIGERABIT

hey thanks! I'll see if I get together all my art examples and post them online for sale...then buy an hd camera when i raise enough mone...then make more tuts. (I'll have to make a blending black to white vid for you)

[velliebellie]

Thank you!

[FrenchyBunnyStudio]

Excellent! You're a master with that technique! Not that easy on large size, though. Thanks for the demonstration, I was coming from the water colour technique of gradients, and always ended up with some kind of impressionist gradient, so your thing is a good lesson! Thanks!

[HelloArtsy]

@FrenchyBunnyStudio

Thank you, and yes; large gradients can be challenging! My advice: use the largest brushes possible and keep the paint thick.

[victorite16]

@HelloArtsy -- I've painted something such as this, and now that it is dry, I am going to paint a very light, probably white layer over the top of it; but want some type of heart pattern to retain this original color...any tips on how I could do this? Kind of like stenciling it....but the inverse...Like the Heart will still be orange/red, but the rest will be the white -- I can't figure out how to create such a "stencil"

[HelloArtsy]

@victorite16

It's actually quite easy:

1. paint the gradation just like i did

2. place heart shaped mask over it (heart is positve space...you could your heart stickers or cut your own...know any kids they might have some heart stickers!)

3.paint the whole thing white

4. remove mask

I have a 3 part masking tut somewhere around here...check it out.

[Catz4ever1]

Watch the paintbrush go!

[victorite16]

@HelloArtsy -- Are you using the same brush throughout this demonstration? Are you doing anything to the brush between color changes?

[HelloArtsy]

@victorite16

Yes, I am using the same brush the whole time - a half inch, flat, hog hair natural bristled brush.

Typically I wipe my brush periodically during blending to keep the colors from spreading too far, but in this ultra fast demonstration most of the excess paint gets pushed onto the mask. So I didn't really wipe the brush much at all in this specific example.

[asyarihahaha]

Omg! you made it seem so easy!

[shiftybilz]

very nice! do you use water?

[HelloArtsy]

@shiftybilz

not for this type of blend; water would smear the paint too far and make it less controllable. Use a large quantity of paint...it's the stickiness and drag of the paint that lets you blend the paint well. Water only takes away those properties making it too fluid. If your paint is super thick add a few drops of a medium to the paint such as mat medium or a glazing medium.

[AleksPrada]

@HelloArtsy and how can I blend on a very little surface like a bottom for example?

[HelloArtsy]

@AleksPrada

same way on a smaller scale.

smaller brushes. less paint.

+make sure you don't add water, especially on small areas or you will end up with a mess.

if the area is quite small; say under 1 inch i would even elliminate the middle color and let it be create by just the two end colors. And the reverse is true...if I were creating a gradation on a huge area I would add more "in-between" colors to help smooth out the transition.

[mreinstein48]

Do you paint on canva or paper?

[HelloArtsy]

@mreinstein48

I personally have painted on many supports...but for this particular blending demonstration I painted on canvas. I use a pad of Fredericks brand canvas paper for most of the painting demos. But the pad contains actual canvas, primed and flattened; just not stretched.It's a great way to practice on real canvas but at a low cost.(there are some inferior "canva-papers" out there that are simply paper stamped to have a canvas-like texture; I would stear clear of those)

[mreinstein48]

@HelloArtsy Okay! Thank you for your response

[Angelval21]

Thanks for the lesson!

[Kerachan135]

Thank you that was very helpful!

[Godschosenwun]

cool

[autumnleaving]

this is great, thanks