Mistakes new painters make & how to avoid them.

The only true mistake a new painter can make is not painting. But there are habits that are more prevalent in newer artists (all of which I’ve been guilty of at some point 🙋‍♀️) that it’s useful to be aware of!

🖤🤍Using pure black/white. Even the brightest lights & darkest darks have some colour so keep a colour wheel nearby & use it to make chromatic shadows using complementaries or adjusting highlights (often with a bit of yellow to mimic natural light).

🌈 Using straight-out-the-tube colour. Nature is rarely intensely colourful. vibrant colour can be a stylistic choice but if you’re going for realism learn the beauty of using grey, brown, or complementaries to tone down colour, creating a sense of atmosphere & depth.

👩‍🎨 Using a small brush. Switch up your brushes, use the biggest one possible for the area you’re painting. It’s more efficient & leads to more dynamic brushwork.

😤 Over-blending. This is how you get muddy paintings. Instead mix transitional mid tones & ‘put colour down’ in the right spot. You’ll be surprised how natural this looks.

Ps. There are no black & white rules for painting (pun intended🤭) which is difficult to convey in a short vid.

Eg. one of my most successful vids is about why you shouldn’t use pure black paint but I never said there are no situations where u may knowingly prefer to use a black pigment. The key here is knowingly. If you’re educated about the potential outcome that come from a particular habit (aka. black paint lacks depth) & choose to still use it it is an educated choice not a mistake.

This is the first time I’ve split a video into a series but I wanted to do the topic justice. I’ll post these vids consecutively so you won’t have to look far to find the next one in my profile & I’ll share the longer full vid as well.