Blending acrylic paint can come with certain difficulties. Luckily, there are multiple ways for blending acrylic paint. However, to make it blend, you should make it dry slower. Since blending is an essential technique in painting, it is important to find out how to blend acrylic paint.
Blending is an important aspect of painting and is applicable in different areas. This may include certain methods such as surface spraying, wet on wet blending, and glazing.
Table of Contents
Step-By-Step Guide to Blending Acrylic Paint
Method 1: Surface spraying
Surface spraying is the most affordable means of blending acrylic paint. This method requires you to get a spray bottle and water, including your ready acrylic paint supplies. Although it is an affordable method, certain setbacks are associated with it.
Put enough water into the bottle and sprinkle a little quantity over the surface and apply the wet paint for blending. Make sure you blend it while it is not yet dry. Always remember that when you spray the surface with water, it will result in paint dilution.
Additionally, it requires you to work faster as resoluble is not possible when acrylic is dry. Therefore, you should spray with water while the paint is yet to dry. When you spray it with water, it increases its open time to a shorter length.
Method 2: Wet on Wet
Using this method requires you to make use of slow-drying paint. Alternatively, you may use a slow fluid retarder or an open medium. The mixture of transitional color, that is, shades in between the color to blend, is a helpful tip you can use while you blend with acrylics. This is because, by the time you want to blend, there will not be too much color difference.
When you do this, it helps to achieve a smoother appearance. A mixture of transitional shades requires mixing two gradient colors but not in the same proportion and helps these shades in between your desired color to blend on the canvas.
Apply your first paint color in a line on your canvas. Ensure that the brush is not stained and apply your next transitional shade in line to avoid it touching the first color you have applied.
You should work the colors together by using your dry blending brush. This will help to blend the wet paint. If the gradient you are creating isn’t of a smaller size, you should paint two transitional shades at once while you blend it as you move on.
There is no specific transitional shade amount of mixture when it comes to how to blend acrylic paint. However, achieving a smoother gradient depends on the more you mix the shades. It is important to blend the colors until it melts into each other due to the extended open working time.
Method 3: Glazing
Regular acrylic paint and glazing medium can be adopted for this method. Creating a smooth blend using this method requires wet-on-wet blending. However, creating a smoother transition using this method requires the transparency of a glazing medium from one color to the next.
If you are covering a larger area, mix your two gradient colors. Alternatively, you can also mix a transitional shade. You can also include a fluid retarder in your color if you have one. Allow your brush to wet while soaking it in your first color.
Apply the paint to a straight line where you desire the gradient. Insert your brush into the next transitional shade, but make sure to clean it first. Apply the paint quickly to the first color. This will help the edges to meet.
You can blend the two colors by using your dry blending brush. For every color you mix, repeat the same process of painting and blending. You will need to wait for a few minutes for it to dry and once it does, mix the first color with some glazing medium while waiting till you have a transparent quality.
FAQs
How Smoothly Can I Blend Acrylic Paint?
The best time to achieve a smooth blend of your acrylic paint has to be before the paint completely dries out. The best procedure is to use a soft brush to blend the colors. To do this, you’ve to stroke forward and backwards across the edge. After this, you should extend each stroke far outside the edges of the surface the paint will be applied. You should turn the brush to ensure a blend between the blended colors and the ones on the brush.
How do you paint without leaving brush strokes?
If you prefer not to leave brush strokes while blending, you can take the following tips:•Make sure the end strokes go in the same direction
- Do the blending with a high-quality brush
- In place of a brush, you can opt for a spray gun or roller.
- When using the brush, avoid applying overwhelming pressure.
- At every time, leave the right quantity of paint on before applying
Can I bend acrylic paint with a sponge?
Yes, you can. It is usually a way of avoiding having to spend too much money. Apart from its cost-effectiveness, blending acrylic paint with a sponge also expands the scope of your blending techniques. The process and rules are similar to the use of a brush. The sponge can be dry or moist and you’ll also need to dab the colors together by fading them into one.
Final Thoughts
How to blend acrylic paint can be easier when you know the right method to use. While these methods all provide easy blending, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of each, including the process involved to know which one will work best for you. You may not achieve the desired outcome of blending if you adopt a method you are not familiar with.
