Looking for some unusual acrylic painting techniques to liven up your artwork?
Unusual acrylic techniques are perfect for creating unique textures, patterns, or color gradients that catch your eye. Plus, trying your hand at these new methods can help you develop new skills no matter if you’re a beginner or an experienced artist.
Let’s not waste any more time. Here are eight unusual techniques for acrylic painting
1. Scrape Art
If you love the look of abstract art, try your hand at this unusual acrylic painting technique. Scrape art is a fun way to add texture to your painting and experiment with different colors.
Essentially, you can master this technique by using a tool, like a palette knife, to scrape acrylic paint across a surface and create random patterns of color. This method is ideal for acrylic paints because they tend to have a balanced flow and viscosity, blend well together, have strong pigments, and dry more quickly.
While a palette knife is typically used to create these scraps of color, you can get creative and use a dry brush or other tools to create this interesting effect. Similarly, these creative marks can be made by pressing clear acrylic sheets or planes of glass against dabs of paint. This 'scrapes' or smears the paint against the clear surface. It’s ideal for acrylics since the effect will dry quickly.
2. Pour Paintings
Fluid acrylic painting is another unusual acrylic painting technique that can help you achieve truly one-of-a-kind paintings without a paint brush.
This unusual acrylic technique requires you to get creative with your materials and be conscious of your color mixing. There are many different fluid acrylic painting ideas to choose from, but methods like the puddle pour are the most popular. You simply pour each separate color into the center of the canvas sequentially and tilt it to allow the wet paint to evenly coat the area.
Similarly, you can spin the painted surface on a lazy susan or set of suspended wires. The centrifugal force will create unique effects as the poured paint spreads.
As you can imagine, this method is perfect for covering large areas of canvas or other materials at once.
3. Stamping
Have you ever wanted to create textures or leave a distinct mark on your canvas?
Try your hand at making your own stamps. You can find plenty of items around your home that can make for an interesting stamp. Anything from bubble wrap and patterned paper towels to fruits and vegetables (remember making a potato stamp in elementary school art class?) can be used to make stamps perfect for canvases or even as a DIY wallpaper at home. For something that lasts longer, you can also use standard pink erasers.
Experiment with different items to create abstract shapes and textures.
4. Dry Brush
Dry brushing is a simple paint technique that can create distinct and unusual lines and shapes. As its name suggests, this process requires you to paint on your canvas with a dry brush. The result is a highly pigmented stroke of color with ragged edges and texture.
This method is great for capturing texture and making things look rough or if you want to repaint an old toy or create a diorama of a scenic view. And it can be layered over a dry painting for more dramatic effects. Use different sized brushes to see which look you like best.
5. Subtractive
Subtractive painting is a cool way to create a layered and textured look in your painting. This unusual acrylic painting technique involves creating layers of paint and wiping away layers to reveal what’s below and create shadows and texture.
Subtractive acrylic painting is a great way to experiment with colors and translucent shades. You will also have to work with thinning mediums to help your acrylic paint be more fluid. This makes it easier to wipe away the layers of acrylic paint on your canvas.
6. Splattering
This unusual acrylic painting technique is all about pure human expression with a brush. While you can control many of these acrylic painting methods, splattering is great for adding abstract elements to your art and letting go a little. Get inspired by Jackson Pollock, the leading force behind the abstract expressionist movement.
Simply wet your brush in a lot of water before adding paint and then flick or splatter your brush on the canvas. You can also use unconventional materials like a hair comb or squeeze bottles to make different size specks on your canvas. Even an old toothbrush or your own hands can help you achieve the desired effect.
There’s no right or wrong way to splatter paint. Start thinking outside the box and find other materials that you can use to express yourself.
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7. Dabbing
Grab a brush, paper towel, sponge, palette knife, or whatever you have on hand to try dabbing. This unusual acrylic technique involves applying paint with light and fast pressure with different objects.
The result is a stunning texture that can create the illusion of movement - think like some of Monet’s famous works. Mix paints to create more depth or use acrylic mediums to make your paints thicker for more dramatic texture.
Take a look at Nova Color’s wide selection of brushes that can help you achieve a variety of marks for this technique.
8. Wet on Wet
Don’t want to wait until your paint is dry? Are you eager to blend your colors to create a beautiful gradient? Wet on wet painting is a great way to work relatively quickly and blend your colors. Simply keep applying wet paint and use lots of water on your brush to soften edges and blend colors on your canvas.
When you’re ready to try your hand at these unusual acrylic painting techniques, turn to Nova Color. Explore 94 brilliant colors of professional acrylic paint we have available today!