Acrylic painting on paper is a fantastic way to create vibrant, expressive artwork, especially for sketchbook entries. Whether you're an experienced artist or just starting out, there are some essential techniques that can help you achieve better results when working with acrylics on paper. In this guide, I'll walk you through my best tips for painting on paper with acrylics, from surface preparation to color mixing and blending.
Please note: I have linked some of the products I personally use below as Amazon affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission as a result of your purchase. However, if you are able to shop local, please do so! I love supporting small businesses.
Why Paint with Acrylics on Paper?
Painting with acrylics on paper is an excellent choice for sketchbooks, quick studies, or experimenting with new ideas. Paper offers a convenient, affordable surface, and with the right preparation, it can handle acrylic paint beautifully.
Plus, I love keeping all of my paintings in one location, like a visual diary of my life. It honestly feels like magic when you flip through the pages.
Choosing the Right Paper for Acrylic Painting
For my acrylic painting sketchbook, I use a Strathmore watercolor sketchbook with cold press paper. However, if I were to start again, I'd opt for the Stillman & Birn Zeta Series. I prefer hot press paper for acrylic painting because its smoother surface makes blending easier. Cold press paper tends to absorb paint faster, due to its dimpled surface, making blending more challenging.
Preparing Your Paper with Gesso
To improve your painting experience, I recommend applying a layer of gesso to your paper. Gesso creates a thin barrier between the paint and the paper, slowing down acrylic's fast drying time and helping colors appear more vibrant.
How to Apply Gesso to Paper:
- Use binder clips to secure your pages and minimize buckling.
- Apply Liquitex Professional Artist Grade Gesso (or gesso of your choice) with a foam brush for smooth coverage.
- Once dry, reposition the clips to ensure full coverage across the entire page.
- Optionally, use a delicate strength painter's tape like Scotch 3M Delicate Painter’s Tape or Frog Tape Delicate to create clean edges.
Even with tape, some paper lifting is common—this is just part of the process when working with paper.
Protecting Your Sketchbook Pages
To keep your sketchbook neat, place a protective sheet of paper over blank or completed pages before starting a new painting. This prevents paint from transferring and keeps your sketchbook tidy.
Using a Homemade Wet Palette
A wet palette extends the working time of your acrylic paints, which is crucial when painting on paper. To create your own wet palette:
- Line an artist butcher’s tray (or baking sheet) with three layers of damp paper towel.
- Lay a sheet of wax paper on top to keep your paints wet for hours.
Be mindful not to over-saturate the paper towels, as too much moisture can thin your paints and affect coverage.
Color Mixing for Acrylic Paintings on Paper
In my painting process, I often rely on a core set of colors. These are split primary colors, and form my limited palette, which allows me to mix most colors that I need:
- Titanium White
- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Umber
- Quinacridone Magenta (or Alizarin Crimson)
- Cadmium Red Medium
- Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Cadmium Yellow Light
- Phthalo Blue (green shade)
For muted tones, my go-to combination is Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Umber. This mix creates beautiful greys and neutrals, perfect for moody skies or stormy water scenes.
Using a split primary palette allows me to have the full range of all of my hues. By splitting the primaries into a warm and cool hue, I have options to mix both incredibly vibrant hues and gentle muted tones. For example, with my reds, I can go all the way from a cool, purplish red into a warm, orangey red. For more information on this, check out my upcoming Color Mixing with Acrylics course.
Managing Acrylic’s Fast Dry Time on Paper
Acrylic paint dries even faster on paper than on canvas, which makes blending tricky. To stay ahead of the drying process:
- Mix your colors in advance.
- Assign one brush per color to avoid frequent cleaning and to allow quick color transitions while blending.
Blending Techniques for Skies and Water
For my Lake Nipissing sunset painting in the YouTube tutorial above, I used three dominant colors in the sky:
- Greyish Blue (mixed with Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, and a hint of Phthalo Blue)
- Peachy Orange (a blend of Cadmium Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Magenta, and Titanium White)
- Warm Magenta (Quinacridone Magenta with a touch of Cadmium Yellow Medium)
Starting with the lightest value first helps define shapes while maintaining the softness of a sunset. I also tape off my horizon line to ensure it's straight, since I tend to paint on a tilt without guidance.
Fixing Mistakes with Acrylic Paint
If you make a mistake, don't rush to fix it immediately. Acrylic paint’s fast drying time can cause fresh layers to lift if disturbed too soon. Instead:
- Let the mistake dry completely, then paint over it with fresh layers.
- Avoid excessive scrubbing, as this can damage the paper's surface.
Do Acrylic Mediums Help on Paper?
While some artists use mediums to extend acrylic paint’s drying time, I find that they don't improve results significantly on paper. In my experience, mediums tend to dilute pigment without dramatically increasing working time. However, if you're curious, experimenting with mediums can help you decide if they suit your painting style.
Creating Depth in Landscapes
When painting distant objects like hills or shoreline features, adding hints of blue can push those elements further back in your composition. For my painting, I adjusted the horizon line by darkening it slightly with Phthalo Blue to create the illusion of depth.
Painting Realistic Water
For realistic waves and reflections:
- Use muted tones with strong grey undertones to create natural color shifts.
- Work in layers, starting with blurry background shapes, then adding sharper details in the foreground for depth.
- When painting reflections, create subtle variations in value for a lifelike effect.
Final Thoughts
Acrylic painting on paper can be incredibly rewarding with the right techniques. By preparing your paper with gesso, using a wet palette to extend your paint’s open time, and mixing colors in advance, you’ll have better control and more enjoyable painting sessions.
If you're looking for more acrylic painting tips, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for reference photos, resources, and my free acrylic painting ebook.
I also have a brand new Color Mixing Course that will be released March 28th, you can sign up for the waitlist here.
You can also check out this other blog post I wrote about painting with acrylic on paper.
If you enjoyed that, you'll also like this blog post: Color Mixing with Acrylic: Why Acrylic Paints Dry Darker
Happy painting!
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