How to make a smooth color transition with acrylic paints

Video: HOW TO BLEND ACRYLIC PAINT on Canvas for Beginners 🎨

Content

Method 2 of 3: Wet on Dry Mixing
Method 3 of 3: Using acrylic glaze
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

1 You will need a wet brush. Soak the brush in water for a few minutes and then shake off excess water. Water should not drip from the brush. To remove excess water, you can lightly brush across the towel several times.

Brushes of various shapes are suitable for mixing acrylic paints. You can use a flat, round, fan or oval brush.
If you are concerned that the ink will dry out too quickly, you can slightly dampen the paper with water. Nevertheless, you still have to work very quickly.

2 Use large strokes to paint over the top of the sheet in one color. Try to work with continuous horizontal strokes from one edge of the sheet to the other. Paint about 3–5 cm of the leaf surface with this color.

For example, you can start by painting the top of the sheet with dark blue.
You can also paint over a large surface - it depends on how much area of the drawing the color you choose should occupy.
In the same way, you can paint the sheet in any direction.

3 Apply some second color paint to the sheet. Place the strokes horizontally, gradually moving from bottom to top to the first color. Without rinsing the brush, run it several times over the first paint. Continuing to apply continuous horizontal strokes, go down a little. Using broad strokes, continue mixing the colors. Gradually, the first color should blend with the second. As you move lower and lower down the sheet, the paint gets lighter.

For example, if you want a smooth transition from dark blue to white, scoop up some white paint with a brush.

4 Add more paints of the second color under the first color. Scoop in some more second color paint with the brush. It should be applied slightly below the already painted surface. Using broad strokes from edge to edge of the sheet, work your way up and down to blend the colors.

In our example, without rinsing it, additional white paint is added to the brush.
Continue working your way down the sheet, all the while adding a new small batch of paint and using the technique described above until you have completed the entire sheet. Each time you add a new stripe of color, blend it with the stripe higher on the sheet, working with broad strokes.
Remember to work quickly - if the paint dries, you will no longer be able to use the wet paint mixing method.

5 At the bottom of the sheet there should be a stripe of the second, pure color. Rinse the brush and then dip it in the paint you plan to finish the sheet with. Paint over the bottom of the sheet, and then work up a little to blend the final color with the previous stripe. Work the brush across the entire width of the sheet until the colors on the border blend properly.

If you need to make a transition from blue to pure white, wash off all the blue paint from the brush and then finish off the bottom of the sheet with white paint.

Method 2 of 3: Wet on Dry Mixing

1 Prime the sheet with one of the two colors you are going to mix. As a rule, a darker color is chosen for the background. Prime the sheet with broad strokes. Let the paint dry completely.
- For example, if you want to depict a sky where colors blend smoothly into one another, prime the sheet with a medium blue tone. Let the paint dry completely.
- The big plus of this method is that you can work without haste.
2 Let the background dry. It is not necessary to wait until the primed surface is completely dry, but generally it should be dry. In this case, you can easily add another color on top of the background.
- If the background is laid on a thin enough layer, it will dry quickly, within 5-10 minutes.
3 Start painting over the bottom edge of your drawing with a lighter color. Dip the brush in a lighter paint and start applying it around the edge. You should get a thick and dense strip of light paint.
- Start with a little paint on your brush.
4 Cover half of the primed sheet with light paint. Use broad strokes to paint over the primed sheet from edge to middle, without adding additional paint to the brush. As you progress, you will have less and less paint on your brush, and the color will become more transparent.
5 Paint over the sheet in this way towards the other edge until the result is satisfactory. If the brush gets too dry, you can add a little water. Keep using wide strokes to help make the transition from one color to the next smoother.

Method 3 of 3: Using acrylic glaze

1 Paint the sheet one tone. Choose a darker paint for the background color and prime the entire surface to be painted with it. Apply paint in broad strokes.
- This method can be used without first priming the sheet. Just use frosting to thin the paint and make it clearer.
2 Mix the second color with acrylic glaze. Acrylic glaze will add transparency to your paint. Use a brush to scoop up a large portion of the frosting and then the second paint you will be mixing with the first.
- Acrylic glaze is available in glossy, semi-matte and matte - choose whichever you like.
- You can work more leisurely with this method. Glaze dries much more slowly than paint, giving you plenty of time to make the perfect transition from one color to the next.
3 Apply the glaze mixed with paint to the sheet. Start applying paint from the edge of the primed sheet. Brush along the edge of the sheet several times to mix the colors and glaze. Then start gradually moving towards the middle of the sheet.
4 Move from edge to middle, adding glaze as needed. Towards the middle of the leaf, you may need some extra glaze to smooth the transition from the second color to the underlying background. Adding glaze will make the paint more transparent.
- Use broad strokes to make the transition smooth.
5 You can additionally paint over the other edge of the sheet with a darker color. If you feel that the contrast is not enough, mix the glaze and paint in a darker tone than the one with which you primed the sheet. Start applying paint from the opposite edge to the middle with broad strokes.
- For example, if you used a medium blue for the background, you can use cyan on one edge and dark blue on the other.