Rachel Bennett

If you’re just starting with acrylics, you’re probably making at least a few of these mistakes without even knowing it. I’ve taught hundreds of beginner painters over the years, and the same errors come up again and again. The good news? Every single one of them is fixable. This guide covers the most common acrylic … Read more

Acrylic paint dries fast because it is a water-based medium that dries through evaporation. As water evaporates from the paint film, acrylic polymer particles fuse together to form a solid, continuous coating. This process typically takes 10 to 30 minutes depending on your environment, but many artists report their paint drying in under a minute … Read more

To blend acrylics like oils, you need to slow down acrylic’s fast drying time with a slow-drying medium and keep your surface damp so you can work wet-on-wet for smooth, gradual transitions. This technique gives you the buttery blending and rich depth of oil painting while using water-based acrylics that clean up easily and don’t … Read more

For most beginners, acrylic paint is easier to learn with. It dries within minutes, cleans up with just soap and water, costs less to start, and has virtually no fumes. Oil paint offers smoother blending and more working time, but it demands solvents, ventilation, and more patience upfront. In this guide, we’ll walk you through … Read more

You do not need to seal an acrylic painting if it will hang indoors, away from direct sunlight, moisture, and heavy handling. Acrylic paint dries to a flexible, water-resistant film on its own, so for casual display many artists skip sealing entirely without problems. You should seal your painting when it faces humidity, sunlight, mixed … Read more

Why does my acrylic painting look patchy? If you have ever stared at your canvas and wondered why the color looks uneven, streaky, or see-through, you are not alone. Patchy acrylic paint is one of the most common frustrations for beginners and even intermediate painters. The good news is that patchiness almost always has a … Read more

If your acrylic paint keeps skinning over before you finish a brushstroke, you are not alone. In a dry studio, regular heavy body acrylics can go from wet to tacky in under ten minutes, and that is exactly why so many artists ask me how to keep acrylics wet longer on the palette. After testing … Read more

Acrylic paint is a fast-drying, water-based medium made by suspending pigment in an acrylic polymer emulsion. For beginners in , it offers the easiest entry point into painting: it dries quickly, cleans up with water, and forgives mistakes you can paint over once a layer dries. In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you … Read more

You need just 5 to 7 acrylic paint colors to mix nearly any color you want, and starting with a smaller palette actually makes you a better painter. After working through hundreds of beginner questions on Reddit and seeing the same frustration surface again and again, our team keeps landing on the same conclusion: most … Read more

Paper weight for markers vs pencils is one of those topics that sounds simple until you actually shop for art supplies. I remember buying a “premium” coloring book at a big-box store, only to watch my Copic marker bleed straight through the page and ruin the kitchen table underneath. That single ruined sketchbook sent me … Read more