Creative Acrylics
A Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide to Creating with Paint & Mediums
Creative Acrylics offers would-be artists an easy and colorful introduction to the medium.
Painting with acrylics may seem daunting, but it is actually one of the more accessible painting options: painters don’t need a lot of tools to get started, and many techniques are easy to learn. Carla Co Chua guides new painters through the required materials and basic skills, suggesting twenty-two projects, including still lifes and renderings of flowers, landscapes, and animals. The result is a firm foundation in the medium, including in basic color theory and mixing colors; in essential techniques like applying washes; and in using a dry brush and adding textures.
The projects are broken down, step-by-step, with text and photographs, making it easy to follow along. Tips throughout help with skills such as layering colors to add more depth, using two colors on a brush at the same time, or working with a palette brush to add texture to a mountainside. In addition to its approachable, skill-building projects worked on paper or canvas, the book also includes six projects painted on different materials (a clay pot, an apron, and a pair of shoes). These different substrates are fun and open up the imagination to other items that might be painted.
From a still life of a single orange to painted roses, a sunset with power lines, and a dog, Co Chua demystifies the process of successful acrylic painting. It’s not a fast process, but taken in stride, even new painters can achieve wall-worthy results.
Creative Acrylics takes the mystery out of working with acrylic paint, exploring basic techniques and demonstrating how to apply them to a variety of projects. It is inspiring and encouraging, with professional tips for new painters that will help them to get good results, even with their first projects.
Reviewed by
Sarah White
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
