Learning How to Paint

The wondrous world of painting is accessible to everyone, but perhaps the biggest obstacle holding people back from this hobby is uncertainty. Children get plenty of opportunities to paint in school and clubs, but most adults don’t really practice it, so getting into the swing of things is a bit intimidating. Whether you want to rekindle your love for painting, or learn the art from square one, this guide should provide some helpful tips.

1. Warm up with a simple kit

As is the case with many learned techniques, it’s best to start small and simple. To create a first piece of tasteful art, many people opt for paint by number: a kit containing everything needed to complete a composition. As the name implies, the different sections of the painting are numbered, so all that an artist has to do is use their supplies to fill them in. The difficulty level is based on how small and complex sections are – and how many hues are engaged.

2. Buy good supplies

When you’re ready to move on to the freestyle, blank-canvas mode of painting, it’s recommended to buy a good set of supplies. How do you choose from dozens of offerings? Well, you can look up the relevant products online, check their category and descriptions, or turn to a shop assistant for advice if you’re shopping in person. Choosing cheap or low-quality supplies can have a drastic effect on your art, often producing colors and textures nowhere near those expected.

3. Try emulating an existing style

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to make an original painting. Thankfully, thousands of talented painters have mastered this field and defined some common approaches and methods that you can rely on. Even if you can’t paint anything in the same league as your favorite painters, it’s very likely that you can find guides and tutorials for emulating their style – then apply it to your own visualizations.

4. Invest time in color mixing

Mixing colors is an essential part of painting, as you’ll never be able to buy paint in every exact hue. You can start by learning the basic color combinations, and move on to getting the shades, purity, and depth you’re aiming for. It’ll be crucial to understand how the color will change as the paint dries so you can accurately predict the final result.

5. Don’t fret over mistakes

Making a mistake in a painting isn’t the end of the road, and will likely happen a handful of times in your first weeks. The main thing to remember is that such issues can usually be remedied. Sometimes, you can just paint over the mistakes. Other times, it’ll make sense to scrape off a certain amount of paint and cover it anew.

Last point to make is that mistakes aren’t always something you need to fix. It’s impossible to achieve perfection in art because it’s so subjective – even the uneven and rough patches of a piece could be seen as elements that define your work and make it original.