How NOT to Lose the Detail in an Acrylic Painting
When I'm working on a painting, I can paint up to 50 layers sometimes. After many translucent glazes, eventually you can start to lose some of the important details you drew in the sketching process.
"Portrait of a Gulf War Veteran," 16 x 20, Acrylic on Canvas
In this video (about 8 minutes), I am going to show you how I define certain areas so that in a portrait especially, I preserve the details. This way, I make sure the painting looks like the person I'm trying to portray.
(I am still going step-by-step through this military portrait of the man who served in the gulf war.)
And now, here's the video...
[Gulf War Veteran Portrait Step 4] (
Finally, here is a question someone just emailed me, along with my reply back to him. I can take for granted the fact that I have been painting for over 20 years, so I always appreciate a question that reminds me to make sure to teach EVERYTHING I know.
Q: Hello, thank you for your kindness. I very much appreciate your effort. I would like to ask about your glazing: do you wait until each layer has dried before adding the next one ?
A: Yes, I do wait--always--until the layer has dried. If I don't, the new layer will begin to disturb the previous one, and you will get lumpy paint in areas that just looks terrible. What I do is move around to different areas--such as the background, hair, face, clothing, etc, so that the paint is always dry before I begin a new layer.
But you can always use a hair dryer to accelerate the process if you're impatient (as I sometimes am :) You may need to do that in the first layers, when you apply thicker amounts, because you're using a larger brush, and so it takes longer to dry.
If you have any questions on any of the techniques shown in this video, or anything else comes to mind, just let me know!
Enjoy your painting and God bless,
If you like this post, please upvote, follow and resteem. I post regularly on art, tips on painting and drawing, and encouraging thoughts.
You have reached the amazing skill level. Thanks for sharing tips with those, who are only at the beginning of the road, or simply looking for answers to their questions.
Thank you, ArtClub. God has been good to me. He gives us all many talents. Steemit is such a great forum to share with others, and so I'm looking forward to sharing more!
This is a great question, and I like the suggestions you offer to speed up the process by moving to a dry area or to use a hairdryer - otherwise it may take someone forever to finish a painting as they literally watch the paint dry!
Right. And that is about as much fun as watching the linoleum peel off your kitchen floor.
Sounds like you're speaking from experience here ;)
Your artwork is really impressive! I have the utmost respect for artists - who can achieve this kind of realism. Follow you - now. :)
This is so beautiful, especially the shading in the body.
Thank you, Prabal. The colors and values within the clothing are very important to capture correctly, and so I give it a lot of attention.
Awsome drawing :)
Thank you.
a master at his art this is great teaching , not much of an artist but i love art and art that is done well, you seem to know what you are doing , big up. keep it up
Thanks, Joe!
Well done
Amazing, i have never seen Photo like this
Another beautiful piece! I don't have any names that pop in my head yet. Love the colors too. When I look at it I feel that all my senses are affected. Smell, sight, sensations, sound... You have captured the essence of witnessing this awe inspiring place.
How are you?, Matt Philleo
@mattphilleo am following you. And Here is my little upvote
I would like to thank you for your contribution to the STEEMiT community.
Upvote this comment as I just upvoted your post
And please find time to check my post here @beulahlandeu.
This is so realistic
Thank you!
Cool....Thanks for the hints ;-)
Anytime, Dennis.
superb painting skills! i dunno how to paint tho.....but i draw with colored pencils