It's always difficult to start a hobby when you don't have any idea on what materials to use or if you lack the skills to start it. That's why I gather this informations and videos on how to start acrylic painting for beginners or for those who hadn't tried acrylic painting yet.

First Step: Materials

1. Acrylic Paints

I used 5 limited colors because I want beginners to learn on how to mix and get the desired colors they want and it's very important for beginners to learn mixing first. It's a must for beginners, that's why I just used 5 colors in all of my tutorials and even in real life I used the same colors. Just sometimes it's hard to mix and get brilliant purples, that's the time I bought if needed. Below are the most common color names I used of if you know some colors and it's closely similar to primaries then you can try it. 

My colors are compose of 3 primaries and 2 neutrals. Primaries are blue, yellow and red. Neutrals are white and raw umber or it's dark brown. I don't recommend using black because it will make other colors muddy, although it's part of basic neutral but I recommend raw umber, burnt umber and burnt sienna or similar colors to brown. I used black before but mainly to create browns. 

1. Titanium white
2. Phthalo Blue / Ultramarine Blue / Primary Blue
3. Brilliant Red / Primary Red / Cadmium Red
4. Medium Yellow / Primary Yellow
5. Raw Umber / Burnt Umber / Burnt Sienna

       Black - Exception and only use for mixing practice. You can use black on your painting but make sure you know how to handle it. Just mix it with other colors so it won't look so black.

I recommend Liquitex Basics, Reeves and Pebeo Studio acrylics for beginners and choose the opaque colors because it has better quality of pigments. You can buy acrylic paints on my amazon store https://www.amazon.com/shop/artofjohnmagnelisondra?listId=1YT4AOWM9Q1JQ.

2. Artist Brushes

I'm not so certain with the brands of brushes I used in my paintings, whenever I went to art stores and malls I couldn't stop myself from buying brushes or just checking if there's a good brushes available in the stores I passed by. I always picked cheap brushes with good quality but I also buy a little expensive brushes specially liners.

1. Number 12 Nylon Flat Brush (Long Handle)
2. Number 14 White Bristle Fan Brush (Long Handle)
3. Number 10 White Bristle Flat Brush (Long Handle)
4. Number 8 Nylon Flat Brush (Long Handle)
5. Number 3 Nylon Flat Brush (Long Handle)
6. Number 0 Nylon Liner Brush or Round Brush 
   or No. 1, 00, 000 (Short Handle)

You can buy brushes on my amazon store https://www.amazon.com/shop/artofjohnmagnelisondra?listId=1KM0N75JINIIV

3. Canvas

I remember when I was still starting to paint before, I had no formal canvas or I couldn't find it in local stores in my town and if there was I coudn't afford it so I used flour sacks and build my own canvas stretcher and made my own. And even my paints was household paints because I cannot afford acrylic paints. 

You can create your own canvas by following my tutorial video below.

If canvas is expensive for then you can choose canvas pad, thick cardboard or plywood because in your practice experience, you're gonna need a lot more materials that's why I recommend the cheapest so you can have more. You can also find some canvas on my amazon store https://www.amazon.com/shop/artofjohnmagnelisondra?listId=1V0Y42W9SBO90. 

4. Other Materials

• Easel - If you can afford an easel, then this is a good investment for beginners because you can have a better comfortable position while painting.
• Palette - You can use paper plate as your palette or you can buy a good artist palette for color mixing. 
• Water - It should always be ready to clean your brush because acrylic dries fast and it will be hard to get rid of dried paints on your brushes or you may throw it away.
• Rag - Dry rag to clean your brush.

For now this are the essential materials for beginners who wants to learn acrylic painting. In the future you may need acrylic retarder to make the drying time longer or some gesso to paint textures but for now those materials I mentioned above were enough for you to paint your first acrylic painting. You can check my amazon page for more materials https://www.amazon.com/shop/artofjohnmagnelisondra

Second Step: Acrylic Painting Basics

1. Basic Color Mixing

In this tutorial you can learn on how to mix the basic colors with 2 neutral colors. Basic colors are blue, yellow and red and neutrals are black and white. You can refer to the colors above for the exact color names.

2.  How to Blend Acrylics

In this tutorial I show 3 ways on how to blend acrylics. It's actually hard and challenging for beginners because acrylic dries fast so it's so tricky. In this video you can learn some techniques on blending this colors.

3. How to Paint Lights and Shadows

In this video, I will teach you on painting lights and shadows. It is very important because if you know how to add it properly, painting realism will be a little easier for you.

4. Color Mixing to Match the Reference

This video will teach you on how to match the colors from your photo reference. This will also teach you on how to mix properly using 5 limited colors.

 So goodluck everyone! You are now ready to start your first basic acrylic painting! You can visit my level 1 and level 2 painting tutorials on my website here https://learntopaint.jmlisondra.com/learntopaint/. Please comment below if you have some questions and suggestions! Happy painting!