I am fairly new to acrylic paint and the process of painting can feel very discouraging. Don't feel discouraged! Be patient and experiment. Also use search engines like Google to look up solutions. You can fix or keep the mistakes and make it work for you. I wanted to create something from imagination because I will be attempting something for a friend next and I wanted to familiarize myself with the process of painting with acrylics. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that I have made so many mistakes!!!
Day 1: I created the majority of this painting in one day.
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| Step 1 - It never ever looks pretty in the beginning. |
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| Step 2 - It looks like a little kid painted this, but persevere! |
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| Step 3 - Start fine tuning by adding shade, highlight and details. |
Day 2: I made the cosmic galaxy by dabbing on the paint with foam sponges.
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| Step 4 - Add the background by dabbing paint with a sponge. |
Day 3: I thought I ruined it but I found a way to save it.
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| Step 5 - If you love something and someone suggests changing it, ignore them. |
I did not effectively convey that the gold was a part of the hood and not hair. So I decided to add texture to make it look like a hood. That made it worse. I ended up crying and hoping I could fix it.
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| Step 6 - Sand off the acrylic paint you hate. |
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| Step 7 - Paint gesso over the sanded part of the canvas. Let dry. |
Day 4: Paint the gesso'd area gold again.
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| Step 8: Step away from the painting if nothing is making you happy. |
It looks awful and completely different from the other side. So I decided to step away from the painting for a week until I could figure out something.
Week Later: Add Glass Bead Gel Medium.
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| Step 9: I thought various peaks of metallic color would be cool, but it looked like caramel popcorn. |
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| Step 10: I smoothed out the peaks to resemble hair. |
I thought the Glass Bead Gel Medium looked awful wet, the gold looked washed out and pastel. I decided to be patient and wait for it to dry. I added glitter nail polish to the hair. I also added cool metallic nail polish colors to the cosmic galaxy.
The Next Day
I love the results. The gold looks GOLD! I plan to finish it with a gloss varnish. Hopefully the galaxy and eyes will shimmer again! Below is a video of my end result.
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| Step 11: Be patient and wait a week to add glossy varnish! |
The Moral of the Story?
Mistakes are sometimes blessings in disguise. Also constructive criticism I will always take into account now. The person who suggested a change I am beginning to think is my angel.
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