My first painting with acrylics. Materials review.

Hello, if you have known me for some time you know that I am a digital artist, I have been for approximately 6 years, but for a few months I have been curious to try new tools, new media, and today I am going to talk to you about one of them.

Painting on canvas is a very different process from painting digitally, there is no undo button, and there is no easy way to correct mistakes, which is why I shied away from traditional methods of creating art, because even if you don't believe it, my My beginnings were not really in the digital world, I drew with colored pencils and I loved the results, but that mental process when creating that I can make mistakes and that the work will be imperfect, made me abandon this medium.

My struggle with perfectionism is old and is related to an irrational need to want everyone to like me, to feel insufficient. This struggle came to me again a few months ago, along with a bunch of other things that I don't intend to cover in this post. The fact is that a part of me is striving to overcome these limitations, to overcome imposter syndrome and allow myself to accept, what we all know is an undeniable reality, no one is or can be perfect. And that in fact there is beauty in that imperfection.

I decided to try acrylics because I liked that the colors are quite striking and vibrant, so I could create works more similar to my digital art that I love, but with that rustic touch of the brush strokes and the texture of the paint.

Thanks to that perfectionist in me, who is sometimes a good ally, I carried out an exhaustive search for acrylic paints, because I did not want to make a mistake with my first choice, I had seen acrylic paints with colors that were a little dull, and without shine, and sometimes half transparent, so I decided to investigate. This search would take me a couple of months or so, but it was totally worth it.

Amsterdam Acrylic Paint Set (36 x 20 ml)

I found this brand of acrylics with very good reviews and that an artist I follow on Instagram showed live and I knew they were what she had been looking for. I bought a box of 36 colors because in my ignorance at the time I did not want to go for the basic colors to create my own mixes, although now I think that would have been a better option, since I hardly think I will use every color in the box, while that others will run out very quickly. Next time I buy acrylics I will go for this 120ml Amsterdam Acrylic Paint Set in Primaries, which contains yellow, blue, red, white and black.

Still, the variety of colors is great and I would recommend it if you are doing landscapes and want to have many tonal variations of the same color, I think that is very good for that. There are beautiful colors!

One of the points that I liked the most is that the paint covers with just one layer of paint, the paint has a creamy texture which I love, and the colors are really very vibrant, even after the paint dries. For me this brand of paint is a 10 out of 10. And the set would be an 8 out of 10 because I won't use some colors and others will run out soon.

Canson Imagine - Mixed Media Paper A5

With the notebook, I was looking for an A5 size with thick paper and a smooth texture, since I am not a big fan of textures. And I loved this one from Canson, made of white multi-technique paper with a weight of 200 g/m².

This paper is perfect for both dry techniques (pencil, pastel, charcoal) and wet techniques (watercolor, gouache, ink and pen), it has a silky touch and comes with 50 sheets gummed along the narrowest part. A 10 out of 10 for me for this role. It is available in larger sizes and if I ever need a larger one I will surely repeat this same model.

Basic Brush Set with Case and Mixing Palette

As for the brush set, I opted for this set of 10 brushes that come in a comfortable case to keep everything in order, since this is important to me. The brushes are of very good quality, but eventually they will have to be replaced so this set is economical enough for that not to be a problem. For now, since I will be working in a small size, the brushes that will wear out first will be the small and medium ones, in which case I will buy them separately.

For the mixing palette you don't need much, for only 5 euros this basic palette for 5 colors is more than enough and will be with me for a long time.

In both cases I would give them a 10 out of 10. Both the brushes and the mixing palette are not very expensive and will last a long time.

You can find these and other items that I use and recommend on my Art Supplies Page.

Here I show you a short video in which I show you some parts of the process of painting my first illustration with acrylics, so you can see the texture, the coverage and you can discover if this paint or any of the materials I used are really for you.

Demonstrative video of illustration materials. My first time painting with acrylics.

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