Types of Acrylic Paints For Portrait Painting
There are many different acrylic paints on the market each with slightly different properties.
One such paint is by Daler-Rowney Cryla Acrylics which allows the portrait artist to use the paints impasto or thick.
These paints are slightly cheaper than Golden, Liquitex or Winsor & Newton.
If starting out as a family portrait artist or a artist of any kind, it is probably best to try and buy the best paints you can for your budget and don't get greedy - a little paint goes a long way! An artist should buy a few quality colours rather than a whole range of cheap colours: white with the three primary colours, red, yellow and blue is actually all you really need.
Student acrylic paints usually have more filler in them or are made from cheaper pigments that will fade over time.
Even if you don't want your paintings to last for generations, good quality paints flow better, have similar opacity and mix well together, keeping secondary and tertiary colours vibrant and not muddy in certain areas of the spectrum.
Each portrait artist has their own way of arranging the colours on their palette.
As a general rule though, keep the warm colours on one side and the cool colours on the other with a large blob of Titanium White in the middle.
A basic colour range for family portrait artists when painting faces is arranged in an arc starting with: Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Crimson, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, a touch of Olive Green, Ultramarine, Coeruleum, Payne's Gray and Mars Black and a big blob of Flesh Tint at the bottom.
It is good practice to make sure all the lids are screwed back on each tube as there's nothing more disheartening than starting a new painting to find your favourite colour has dried completely solid.
Mediums The medium used for mixing acrylic paint is water but other mediums can be used for different effects.
Cryla Gel Retarder slows down the drying time and Glaze Medium can be mixed to make acrylic paint more transparent for over-glazing.
A good medium for family portrait artists to use is Texture paste which can be used as a base layer straight onto the canvas or can be mixed with paint to create texture for hair and skin.
Some portrait artists varnish their work if it is not going behind glass using a soluble varnish which is available in matt or gloss.
One such paint is by Daler-Rowney Cryla Acrylics which allows the portrait artist to use the paints impasto or thick.
These paints are slightly cheaper than Golden, Liquitex or Winsor & Newton.
If starting out as a family portrait artist or a artist of any kind, it is probably best to try and buy the best paints you can for your budget and don't get greedy - a little paint goes a long way! An artist should buy a few quality colours rather than a whole range of cheap colours: white with the three primary colours, red, yellow and blue is actually all you really need.
Student acrylic paints usually have more filler in them or are made from cheaper pigments that will fade over time.
Even if you don't want your paintings to last for generations, good quality paints flow better, have similar opacity and mix well together, keeping secondary and tertiary colours vibrant and not muddy in certain areas of the spectrum.
Each portrait artist has their own way of arranging the colours on their palette.
As a general rule though, keep the warm colours on one side and the cool colours on the other with a large blob of Titanium White in the middle.
A basic colour range for family portrait artists when painting faces is arranged in an arc starting with: Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Crimson, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, a touch of Olive Green, Ultramarine, Coeruleum, Payne's Gray and Mars Black and a big blob of Flesh Tint at the bottom.
It is good practice to make sure all the lids are screwed back on each tube as there's nothing more disheartening than starting a new painting to find your favourite colour has dried completely solid.
Mediums The medium used for mixing acrylic paint is water but other mediums can be used for different effects.
Cryla Gel Retarder slows down the drying time and Glaze Medium can be mixed to make acrylic paint more transparent for over-glazing.
A good medium for family portrait artists to use is Texture paste which can be used as a base layer straight onto the canvas or can be mixed with paint to create texture for hair and skin.
Some portrait artists varnish their work if it is not going behind glass using a soluble varnish which is available in matt or gloss.