How to paint like a Master

What you will learn today is the keys to successful painting; whether your medium is watercolor, acrylic, oil, or pastel, by utilize these tips or keys you too can paint like a Master! Following is a guide to paint like a Master in Acrylic, but the keys are apply for all medium.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Positive attitude
• Paint or other medium and brush if need
• paper or canvas to paint on
• reference pictueres
• Varnish or fixatives

1. Every time you are approaching a project; the very first thing to do is have a positive attitude, trust me this is what separate a novice from a master. My master once said, "to master something, you must first master yourself." Anyway, I assume that most of you have a clear idea of what you wanted to paint; this I would recommend starting out painting a simple still life or a simple reference picture.
   Remember, start out SIMPLE; make sure to consider the lightning (contrast from deepest dark to lightest light is what make a masterpiece), and an easy reference image to start out with.
2. Do a few quick pencil sketches of what you are going to paint on a separate paper. This give you an idea of what the composition of the painting going to look like. Once you are confidence in yourself and the subject; you can sketch the subject onto the canvas or paper which you are going to paint. This guide, I use pottery as my subject. I set up my own lightning to give a dramatic contrast. I transfer my sketches to my canvas using a grid-transfer method. For those of you who don't know what this is, you can contact me and I will show you in detail.
3. Once you have the sketch on canvas or paper, start out doing a glaze. A glaze is a thin (transparent) layer of paint, this is also call an underpainting. What this does is provide a color harmony to unify the art work as a whole. In this pottery painting example; I apply a thin layer of burnt umber as an underpainting.
   Remember, this glaze step apply over the whole canvas or paper, and it should be transparent enough that you should see the sketch underneath.
4. This step is crucial; observer your reference images or still life carefully. With the paint or whatever you are working on; lock in the darkest area; like shadow and dark shade of the subject; then, lock in on the lightest area too, like the highlights. Carefully mixing the dark color of the shade area and the shadow, make sure the color are close to the color you OBSERVE from the reference image or still life. Paint in the dark part. Then paint in the highlights. Here is a good tips to remember; never use black directly to paint shadow because it will make the art work dull and flat; instead mix up your own black or dark shadow area; such as, red and green, add little blue if needed or little brown. The same apply for the highlights, don't use white directly, tone it down a little or mix it with the color you are using for the subject. This should keep you close to finish the painting.
5. Compare your overall painting with the still life or the reference photo. Your last step should be to go in and apply the mid tone to your subject to create a sense of 3-demensional. Again, a good painting requires good observation, make sure to notice the color different between, highlights, midtone, and dark shadow. Carefully take PATIENT time to paint in the detail. Make changes that you feel necessary. IF you are using acrylic or oil make sure to apply varnish after the paint DRY to protect your artwork; for those that use dry medium, please us fixative. Please read instruction on the varnish and fixative before spraying because some fixatives or varnishs apply for particular medium. And remember, to always paint is the way to a become a better painter.

Tips & Warnings

• Be Patient with painting; it takes practice, before acquire skill.
• Remember, mistakes are good because it help us practice our skill.
• Also remember, patient learning and gaining experience is more important than result.
• When dealing with paints and mediums for a painting; please read instruction on the tube or on the box cover.
• Remember, this article is cover the general medium to paint a masterpiece. If you are having a problem or questions; please feel free to give feedback or contact me; I am more than happy to talk to all of you.