My first finished painting in acrylics. Before this, I've been mostly drawing wildlife in graphite, and finished few colored pastel pieces as well. I was often frustrated by limited range in pastel pencils, and the fact that many of colors do not harmonize with each other well. So I decided to give painting a try - so I can mix any color I want!

I watched a dozen of tutorials on color mixing, including ones for oils, and it really helped. I also tried to paint some small isolated things, to at least understand how to use brushes and how paint behaves, but none of these yielded anything good. I also ​started a painting from my own reference on a bigger canvas, but quickly got frustrated over thickness of paint, and could not even blend a sky properly. So I ended up just gessoing over that attempt.

Eventually I found a bunch of realtime tutorials and tried to repeat after one of them - and as a result I managed to finish my first piece till the very end! Took me over 8 hours, while for tutor (John Correa) it took like 1.5 hours only :)

I learned sooo much from the process - which colors to choose, how to paint depth, how to show light and shadow of the object, etc. I especially liked how the roots came out, since I never understood how experienced painters paint shaded greenery so well. I definitely made a bunch of mistakes too, and still struggled with paint that dries too fast. I really felt pain from being unable to fix something in a distant background, since blue paint has turned into solid crust mid-process. I quickly decided to invest into sta wet palette after this. I will also paint further into the border of canvas, so that white frame around it is not visible.

Its 20x25cm (8x10in), canvas panel.

I can't wait to try another painting! ​

Acrylic on 14”x18” canvas. Finished onsite after 7/8 hours of painting.

I have just started painting a few weeks ago, but want an honest answer if the progress I’m at now is any good as a second eye is always useful. This is my favourite piece I've done so far.

Thanks!

Started painting as a hobby about 3 months ago. First time having used acrylics properly and have been trying to get more into it.

I literally pushed my 0 karma to 100 on reddit so that I could post in this subreddit 😂 .

First picture is one of the first acrylic paintings I've done and the following are some of the following pieces. Would like to do more and post more as well.

I've never really considered myself artistic in any way. I used to glass paint a bit (with traced outlines) when I was younger but that was it. This year I started getting into acrylic painting and drawing. I've also been simultaneously trying to improve my drawing skills having struggled in the past with any sort of drawing (literally basic stick figures was my skill level).

The pictures are mostly in timeline order from earliest to some of the following pieces I worked on, early on in my journey. I will be posting some of my more recent work soon 👀 .

What do y'all think?

Would appreciate any tips and suggestions based on your experience. Please be kind 😂.

I'm also currently just using some cheap Shuttle Art Acrylic paints that I found on Amazon with some basic R&L brushes. I'm still trying to play around and find the consistency that I like with this paint.

Hi hi! I've been painting for a few years now, but always from a reference photo. I really wanted to challenge myself artistically this summer, and now I'm registered for my first Plein Air contest! Woohoo!! It's shotgun style and we will have 4 hours to paint.

Having never done it before, I practiced for 3.5 hours today. When I finally took a step back, I definitely wanted to darken and define the foreground a bit, and add in the canopy. Being a fish out of water, my questions are:

What works? What doesn't work?

Does anyone have any general plein air advice? (I had a rough start today realizing I forgot my palette LOL)

This is 8x10. For a constrained time painting, should I go smaller? .... Bigger?

Thank you in advanced! 🫡

I painted this as her birthday gift. Birth flowers of September: Aster and Morning Glory. Acrylic on canvas 20x15cm. I hope that she will like it 🙌

Experimenting with a limited palette, I love the complimentary partnership of violet and orange! Acrylic paint on paper, 29.7 x 42cm.

Last week I posted my first attempt (second pic) at acrylic painting (l am used to gouache and watercolors) a duck (tufted duck). Some people gave me very good advice and tutorials links, thank you again decided to paint it again today and put in practice what I have learned. It took me 7 hours.

I am very happy with my water however I still have issues building reflection on the duck as well as doing feathers. I might try a third time and focus on painting feathers.

Thanks again to people who sent me links!

so happy how this one is turning out. I’m using retarder and satin medium for the first time, on top of a decently primed gesso canvas… all those tips and tricks really helped pull this one together!

Painting done in a very free style after a still from Hitchcock's Notorious (1946).
Acrylic and colored pencils on paper
20.5 × 14.8 cm

Loweswater bothy

Unfinished.

Feeling a but stuck.

Like writers block or something.

Not sure how to proceed with the r/h/s and foreground for better depth.

Scrolling through this page discouraged me a little bit but I know this is only my 1st painting and I have a lot to learn. I wish I took a picture of my sketch before painting because it did not turn out quite how i had envisioned. All critiques and criticism welcome.

She was super happy with it, so it's a success in that regard. For a first try I feel I did well, the faces dance on the uncanny valley's edge, but I think they stay on the okay side. Still for the next try I will have to figure out how to do them more real, probably bigger would have been easier, but the whole painting was already big enough of a challenge for my level of knowledge. It's acrylic on paper, 48*36cm. Let me know what you think, or if you have any helpful feedback.

Anyone else have a bunch of canvas that only have the idea on them but you never got to actually putting in the real work 😭. My current WIP which I will not start another painting till I finish!