When you first begin painting, it can seem a little daunting. Your painting might look nothing like that of the professionals. It is really disheartening to create amateur-looking paintings when you want to create masterpieces. Do not lose your motivation! There are ways to improve your painting abilities. Try out these tips below to boost your painting skills.
Use Reference Pictures
Let us start from the beginning. A reference picture is a photo that you use as the basis of your painting. For instance, you want to paint a mountain landscape. You can find lots of photos of mountains. With the use of your picture, you can use similar colours, shapes, and placement of the objects. The use of a reference picture is not intended for copying. The picture is meant to give you an idea of how to paint what it is you are aiming for.
Because a reference picture can lead to copying, a lot of people frown upon its use. However, as long as you use the picture as inspiration and as a guide, using one is fine. Do not let other preconceptions stop you from improving your own artistic abilities. You might find that using a reference picture makes painting a lot easier.
Learn How to Match Colours
Colours are one of the things people struggle with the most. It is harder than people realize to match a colour exactly. It can take a lot of time to learn how to properly mix colours to obtain what you are aiming for.
When I am painting, a lot of my colours end up different than what I expected. Likewise, It can be especially difficult to ensure your colours are the ones you want when you are blending. The colours blend together and create unwanted mixes.
To make your art look better, I would suggest that you practice mixing colours before painting. Challenge yourself to match colours. Try printing out a paper with colour swatches or get some paint swatches from your hardware store. Use your paints to create the colours on the page. This is a great exercise in mixing colours.
Keep in mind that adding a very small amount of the opposite colour into your mix helps to dull the colour. When you add too much of the opposite colour, you create a new colour altogether. Moreover, white makes the colour more opaque. It makes the paint less transparent, which is what you are looking for in some colour mixes.
Layer Your Painting
The easiest way to tell the difference between an amateur and a professional painting is the layering of the elements. In other words, you add elements one at a time. For instance, you put the sky before anything else. Next, you would do the clouds if there are any. Then you add the foreground. By adding everything in layers, you are creating depth in your painting. The layers and depth make the painting look more realistic.
In addition, layering might also be applied to details. Highlighting is a big part of a painting. To make something look more realistic, you need lots of layers depicting how the lighting is shown in the image. Let’s say you are painting a tree. You start with a darker layer, then you add a lighter shade to one side. This way you have the shadows and the highlights on your tree.
Use Lots of Paint
One mistake people make is not using enough paint. I am guilty of this too. However, it takes away from your painting when you can see through one of the layers. If you can see through a layer, the painting looks less realistic. For example, if you are painting a mountain and you can see the sky through it, your mountain will look amateurish. (Sorry, I paint lots of mountains.)
One of the biggest problems with a lack of paint is seeing through to the canvas. Unless it adds more detail to your painting, you do not typically want to see the canvas. It can leave white spots in your painting if you are not careful. Because the canvas is not a smooth surface, it can leave gaps in the picture if not filled in properly with enough paint. By using more paint, you can ensure that the entirety of the canvas is covered.
Watch Others/Take a Class
One of the best ways to improve your skills in anything is to learn from others. When it comes to painting there are so many resources to help you improve. YouTube is the source of plenty of videos and experts explaining how to paint. It is a great place to watch how to do certain techniques, how to mix colours and more. If there is ever a skill you want to learn for painting, you can typically find someone to explain it to you.
If you require a more hands-on learning experience, you can always take painting classes. As a result, you have someone to help you by making personalized suggestions. It is easier to be helped by someone in person because they can see where you are having problems. YouTube videos might not be able to tell you exactly how to improve because the instructions are not specific to you.
Both options are great for improving your art. Sometimes you just need a little extra support from others.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
No matter what the skill you are trying to improve is, you will always be told to practice. Practice as much as you can. Even the masters in their craft can become a little rusty and lose some of their skills if they do not practice regularly.
For painting, you could set yourself a challenge or a routine. Try practising at least once a week. The paintings do not have to be masterpieces or even on canvas. A sketchbook (made for painting) works just as well for practice.
You can always try practising new skills at the same time. You can help improve your painting by learning new things while getting better at applying your old techniques. If you are trying to improve your painting abilities, maybe it is time to spice it up a little bit. Learn some new techniques, apply them to your paintings, and see how your painting improves.
Painting can be a difficult skill to master. There is so much effort and talent that goes into it that it sometimes seems impossible, but there are always ways to improve. Keep at it! Do not lose faith and you might one day paint that masterpiece you have been aiming for.
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