Art Medium Basics
If you’re just starting out in art, you’ll know how confusing all the different mediums are. How do you choose between oils and watercolours, gouache and charcoal? And what about materials? Well, there is a lot of choice and also many decisions to make, true, but at the same time it’s actually very simple. All the mediums lend themselves to particular styles of art, so really it’s a case of working out what your work is best suited to. Here’s a quick run-down of the mediums and what and who they are ideal for.
Acrylic: probably the easiest kind of paint to start with. Acrylics are plastic and water-based, which means they also dry very quickly—unlike oils which sometimes need weeks. Choose acrylic as a training ground for oils and you can’t go far wrong.
Charcoal: this comes in stick or pencil form (the latter being more controllable for the beginner). It’s ideal for still life or nudes, and is a good way of getting an impression of a landscape scene down quickly before it rains. It’s also very cheap. The only thing you need to be careful of is sealing it afterwards with a spray, ensuring longevity.
Watercolour: possibly the most difficult of all mediums, watercolour is either easy to use at its simplest, or a total nightmare for the beginner who is unaware of its particular qualities. Your best bet is to buy pans rather than tubes and start out by painting washes and leaving them to dry. After you’re confident you can try adding wet paint to paint already put down, and watch the colour explode.
Oils: probably the most renowned type of paint, oils possess a solid and extra-life-like quality which makes them great for portraiture. The disadvantage of oils is that you need to mix them with turpentine—which can stink a small unventilated room out—and they take skill to use without making muddy.
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