Painting is an art form. Like many art forms, final works are often subjective and beauty remains in the eye of the beholder. While no professional painter will force you to learn “rules” that hinder your creativity, they will tend to warmly recommend certain techniques and approaches that can help you. You might call these painting principles.
These principles are especially important for beginners. After all, how can you invent new methods if you don’t know which options are already practised?
In this post, we’ll discuss ten of the best painting tips and principles for beginners:
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Canvas!
Painting uses materials, and a big canvas on an easel can seem somewhat intimidating at first. You’re not silly for feeling that way, but it’s helpful to try and overcome it. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – you’re here to learn and have many “drafts” ahead of you. Not being afraid to start afresh can help you get over that initial fear.
Learn What Each Individual Brush Does
A flat brush can help you cover large areas or create sharp “edges”, while a round brush is great for finer work with fine lines. Fan brushes can add texture, and “filbert” brushes offer a balance between them. You don’t have to be an expert just yet, but getting comfortable with the brush you’re using can help you better translate your intent to the canvas.
Practice With Primary Colors
Red, blue, and yellow are primary colours, and they can combine to offer a great deal of versatility. They can provide almost any hue you need, pending some exceptions. Learning to mix them helps save you money on a vast paint collection, but it also helps constrain your creativity, which often helps it thrive.
Start With Simple Subjects
You don’t have to create a perfect still life just yet. A simple subject can be enough, like a relatively open landscape in your mind’s eye, or painting a simple house. This way you can focus on the basics of how to fill a canvas, be that dividing into thirds for grass, sky, and other layered details.
Keep Your Brushes Clean & Cared For
All good painters take care of their brushes no matter their favorite painting techniques. Cleaning them gently with water, drying them, and storing them appropriately can help you avoid the need to replace them often, and even cheap brushes can benefit.
Step Back & View From Different Angles
Painting is about perspective, so challenging your own perspective can be wise. Viewing your work from different angles can help you picture it more completely, help you notice certain applications you’ve missed, or just give you further satisfaction for a job well done!
Take Your Time
There’s no race to run, and no test to pass here. You get to decide when the piece is finished, though remember that less is often more. That being said, taking your time, step by step, helps you avoid feeling limited.
Sure, some classes allow you to finish a piece within a certain time frame for fun, but for the most part, being “unfinished” in those environments can add more authenticity to the artwork, not less. Painting is about reflection, meditation, and breathing steadily. Let yourself fall into the passion and go with it, don’t assume your paintings need to be perfect right now.
Celebrate Small Mistakes
Bob Ross once said, “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” That’s a great attitude to have. Who knows, your next mistake might showcase something fun and a new direction to take your painting. Use it as a learning experience. It will help you avoid frustration and keep your artistic flow.
Practice Layering
Layering can help you add depth to your canvas. Thin layers of paint, slowly adding more when the paint dries, can help you create complexity. You don’t have to go overboard now, but doing so to provide a little emphasis to a scene and experimenting with layered colours and brush applications can help painting “click” in your mind. Have fun and experiment!
Find Your Comfortable Painting Position
Maybe you prefer to be seated. Maybe you prefer to stand with a palette in your left hand. Perhaps you prefer performing an acrobatic handstand with your paintbrush in your mouth (we don’t recommend this for safety reasons). Put simply, how you prefer to paint is how you prefer to paint, and you’re not incorrect for feeling more comfortable as you try to express yourself.
With this advice, we hope you can feel more comfortable starting out in painting for the first time!
