Acrylics is a very nice coloring medium - they dry fast, they are water soluble, odorless, and are easy to clean up. Acrylics are not intended to be as transparent as watercolors - so use water for cleaning the brush between the colors only - do not dilute the paint itself.

Few additional supplies you'll need besides paints: Brushes Have a few brushes ready before you start painting - flat and round brushes sizes 2-10. Flat brushes are great for painting inside shapes define the edges. Round brushes are great for painting longer strokes. board and tape Definitely use it! Tape the print on all 4 sides to the board. Water cup Change water regularly Palette Plastic palette, old plate or even paper plate will do. There are also paper palettes available with one side coated - they are easy to clean as they are disposable.     Drying retarder Add a few drops to slow down the drying process. It does not change the color of the paint, but please, do not use too much! Paper towel Wipe clean brushes between colors. Remove excess water from a brush.

Truth about real painting

Unlike with colored pencils, you cannot get away with using just 2-3 colors to color in an area. Make sure you prepare your palette with multiple colors, even the ones, that you don't think you have in your area. These "extra" colors will serve you as add-ons to your main colors to create variety of shades for more "painting-like" effect. Flat colors make everything look cartoon-ish.

	Use my rule #1: Always mix colors before painting!! Do not use colors directly from a tube!!! Mix, mix, mix colors!!! Please do not use, for example Green paint to paint a green area. Try instead to mix a few variations of Blues and Yellows. As you can see in the picture - you can achieve a large variety of greens by mixing just 3 colors in different proportions.
	This green square is painted with just three paints mixed. None of these paints was Green. Can you see the slight variations of the colors? That is the effect that you want to achieve in your painting.
	Even White and Grey areas can use some variety.

 

examples