Ready to take the exciting first steps in acrylic painting? In this comprehensive beginner’s class, esteemed artist Nina Weiss walks you through the basics, from choosing a palette and paint to fundamental techniques such as color mixing, layering and more. Practice your new skills with simple exercises and projects including a monochromatic painting and full-color still life. With Nina’s step-by-step guidance, you’ll be confidently using acrylics in no time!
Startup Library: Painting With Acrylic
Everything you need to start painting with acrylic — tools, techniques and more.
Rated 2 out of
5
by
JLVF from
Dissapointing
I am an experienced watercolor painter but have been intrigued with acrylics for years and thought this might be a nice introduction before pursuing an in-person course. Unfortunately, I found this course disappointing.
First, the supply list was not really geared towards a beginning. All listed supplies were professional grade with no cheaper options. I understand the importance over quality supplies but there was absolutely no discussion of alternatives that might work while you decide if you are just taking this one course or planning to pursue this as a life long hobby. Had I purchased all the supplies on the list they would have been well over $200.
The course is 12 lectures and the first four, covering supplies and setting up your work space, could easily have been combined into one lecture. Lecture 5 was on stretching your own canvas which is not something a beginner need to worry about. She finally starts painting on lecture 6. Lectures 6-11 are all exercises. Finally on the last lecture, she gets into painting a picture.
I starting skimming through the demos, not yet having purchased any supplies, trying to see if I could avoid buying all eight recommended brushes. She didn't even identify which brush she was using in her first demo. I understand the need for working on technique and theory but it would have been nice to incorporate those into lectures that also allowed you to do some real painting. Watching 11 videos before the final payoff of getting to paint a picture is pretty rough.
In the end, I found an acrylic paint class on YouTube that was more applicable to my current interests and jumped right into painting. I may go back and review the exercise lectures in more detail if and when I finally purchase supplies but I honestly found this course discouraging. Maybe I should just stick with my watercolors.
Date published: 2024-04-21
Rated 5 out of
5
by
AKLJ from
How to Paint with Acrylics Ep. 1
Just got my 2 week trial started last night, its AM now and i'm still browsing and watching and testing, but i must say, this one was a very good video to get my appetite for a new hobby going. I am looking forward to what else I find up here. If you're still not sure if u wanna try it, im here to tell ya, you wanna try this place for sure.
Date published: 2024-03-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Gayle70 from
Nina did a great job of showing and explaining all the aspects of painting with acrylics. I learned about setting up and organizing my painting space, how to keep my paint from drying out, differences in brushes, etc. She discussed color theory, value and more importantly, showed how to apply them.
Date published: 2023-03-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
kiwi from
well done
Addressed all of my technical questions. Instructor was very good speaker.
Date published: 2022-01-02
Overview
About
In 1980, Nina Weiss left the cities of the East Coast for the farmlands of the American Midwest. The vast open spaces inspired her to begin her journey as a landscape painter. Today, Nina's work is represented in private and corporate collections throughout the United States, as well as in a variety of books and films. Nina taught for more than 18 years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she's currently teaching at Columbia College Chicago.
01: What You Need: Paint & Palette
Meet Nina Weiss and go over the tools and supplies you'll need to get started, including what paint and palette to buy.
21 min
02: What You Need: Brushes
Take a look at the different types of brushes available as Nina explains what each one does, plus cleaning and care instructions.
14 min
03: What You Need: Supports
The great thing about acrylic paint is that it will stick to almost any surface. Traditionally it's used on canvas. Here, Nina shows you various options for supports and how to gesso a pre-stretched canvas or board.
15 min
04: Method: Stretching Canvas
Nina walks you through constructing your own custom canvases, from buying supplies to finishing corners.
23 min
05: Method: Workspace
Having a clean and tidy place to work is essential for any artist! Nina shows you how to organize your workspace and arrange your lighting for maximum comfort while you paint.
6 min
06: Exercise: Value Painting of Geometric Shapes
Once your workspace is set up, you're ready to start painting! First Nina helps you select the right brush to achieve the correct paint consistency and opacity. Then she demonstrates edge-to-edge painting before sharing the various composition elements.
39 min
07: Exercise: Value Painting of Eggs
Continue value painting as you work on a representational painting of eggs. Nina teaches you how to use directional mark-marking, depth and contrast to make the eggs look round, and blend values to create smooth transitions.
26 min
08: Exercise: Monochromatic Painting of Eggs
Throw some color in the mix as you create a monochromatic painting using the same subject of eggs. Continue to practice the fundamentals: seeing light, re-creating form, mixing, edges and transitions.
30 min
09: Exercise: The Color Wheel
Now you're ready to create a color wheel! In this lesson, Nina teaches you basic color theory, from triads to temperature, and fundamental color mixing techniques.
33 min
10: Exercise: Neutralization Scales
After working with black, white and a single color, dive into the world of complementary colors: yellow/violet, blue/orange and red/green. Understand how neutralization works to open up your paint possibilities!
26 min
11: Exercise: Complementary Color Painting of Eggs
Use your new understanding of color theory and color mixing to create a painting of eggs using the complementary colors violet and yellow, as well as white.
32 min
12: Make It: Lemon Painting
Once you're comfortable mixing colors, adjusting values and working with complements, apply your new skills to a lemon still life. Nina helps you work from dark-to-light and thin-to-thick, look for full-range values and use complex colors effectively.
42 min
