Beginners Guide to Acrylic Mediums

Acrylic painting involves the use of different types of acrylic mediums. The number of different acrylic mediums can be overwhelming for anyone beginning to paint with acrylics.

Acrylic mediums are used to control how the paint moves on the palette. Acrylic mediums can also also be used to lengthen the otherwise the drying time of the acrylic paint. Still other acrylic mediums affect how matte or glossy the acrylic painting is once it completely dries. Other mediums can be used to refract light and color, add texture to acrylic paintings, and to adhere collage items to paintings.

With all of the choices of acrylic mediums, how does a beginner distinguish between all of the choices?

Because acrylic mediums can be cost more than the actually acrylic paintings themselves, it is important to start with only the acrylic mediums you need to produce a desired painting effect. Once the painter is comfortable using the basic acrylic mediums, one other acrylic medium could be purchased each week, or each month.

Not overwhelming yourself with every acrylic medium available will give you time to explore the full capacities of each individual acrylic medium. It will also give the artist a chance to see which mediums work best together. When you slowly add one more acrylic medium to your collection of art supplies, you can comfortably and slowly explore each one.

Acrylic mediums need to be explored, played with, and used for painting experimentation. The acrylic medium may not behave the way you intended. An artist would rather find that out during the experimentation phase of exploring acrylic mediums than when working on a final painting.

Top Three Essential Acrylic Mediums for the Beginning Artist

The Essential Acrylic Mediums for the Beginning Artist are the ones that will be used with each painting. Once these acrylic mediums are used, the acrylic artist will come to rely on their consistent effects.

Acrylic painting is as much about the acrylic mediums as it is about the acrylic paint itself.

Credit: fugue

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