04-09-2015, 12:44 AM
If you've never worked in color before I'd highly recommend sticking to a limited palette. Something like Zorn's palette(black, white, yellow ochre and cadmium red) or your basic red, yellow, blue and white would be good to start with. Getting a ton of colors will only overwhelm you and make you lose motivation. Im actually sticking to just black and white paint for now after getting demotivated using large palettes. Learning to mix the right value can take a lot of practice so adding color will add unneeded difficulty. Also gesso is a good thing to pick up as well. Its a primer for your surface and will make the paint go on smoother.
Make sure you use a thick paper too. Usually art stores have sketch pads of it and it'll say "acrylic paper", "water color", "bristol" or "mixed media". Too thin of paper will just wrinkle up on you the second it gets wet. Gesso will add some sturdiness to the paper as well to keep it nice and flat when it gets wet. Or you can use cheap sheets of wood panel from the hardware store. I havnt tried it but I'd assume you'll need to prime it so the paint doesn't absorb into the wood. You'll need a nice wide paint brush for applying the gesso like the ones you'd use to paint walls.
Make sure you use a thick paper too. Usually art stores have sketch pads of it and it'll say "acrylic paper", "water color", "bristol" or "mixed media". Too thin of paper will just wrinkle up on you the second it gets wet. Gesso will add some sturdiness to the paper as well to keep it nice and flat when it gets wet. Or you can use cheap sheets of wood panel from the hardware store. I havnt tried it but I'd assume you'll need to prime it so the paint doesn't absorb into the wood. You'll need a nice wide paint brush for applying the gesso like the ones you'd use to paint walls.