What is the best medium for a beginner painter to start painting with?

Question

I can't decide if I should start with watercolors, acrylics, oils, pastels, color pencils...Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I want something with which I can achieve decent results without years of practice.

Answer 1

I can advise you to start with acrylics and charcoal. I've done art school and that's the medium they advise for beginning students as well. Of course you can try other methods, watercolors are nice but they require special paper and it's not an easy technique to master quickly. Oil paint is usually expensive and I would try it if you feel comfortable with the acrylics which are relatively cheap so you can experiment as much as you want on either a canvas or normal paper. Color pencils are also affordable and a good way to exercise details, in general you have to be a bit more detailed with pencil then with paint. If you want to be a bit more freely try using charcoal, its fun as well.
So my advice is get acrylic paint and charcoal and have fun.

Hope this helped and good luck

Answer 2

I'll vote for acryllics too. I started with oils and I thought that I just hated painting. I moved to water colors and found that they are nice, but not always easy to control. Now I paint in acryllics and I could not be happier. Yes, they dry very quickly but you can get a slow-drying medium (blending medium, retarder etc.) which will give you more time to work with the paint.

Answer 3

Sorry, but decent results means lots of painting with any medium. Any medium is personal choice, each with its own set of benefits and difficulties. But if you really want to paint, try acrylics since they dry quickly, produce no odor, clean up with water..and you can judge results quicker and can paint over mistakes more effectively than with watercolors. Whatever you choose you can expect disappointing results for a while, but that will change each time you learn more about the medium. Good luck.

Answer 4

Well, how about I suggest another way to look at this. Instead of worrying about the "decent results" and "years of practice" - try to develop a creative process that has nothing to do with outcome, but rather an exploration of whatever your subconcious mind leads you to. I found that when I started to "do art" that it was far more frustrating to take on a new medium when I tried to direct where it was going, control how it was used, rather than naturally letting it form on it's own.

start with the basics. Grab some blank paper, and head on off to an art store. You're going to sample the different mediums. First try a simple watercolor drawing pencil, feel how that glides. Now try different types. There is a difference in all the brands, and you can't know where you're going to want to start if you don't know what your choices are. take note on the margin, what your favorites are.
Now other things, that can be "transformed" to paint, by adding water after the sketch. i.e. the washable markers, sketching pens - try all the different nib widths and try various brands. There is a huge difference between them. Just stick with black right now, don't worry about color.

Now try the various grades of charcoal. Then move on to soft pastels. then the oil pastels. try blending with them - using your fingers, then with a stump. Don't worry about all the colors - again, just try the black, and see what brands move well with you. Now move on to the conte crayons and drawing sticks, doing the same, staying with just one color. Remember, each brand moves differently - and when you add a liquid - they transform.

Then move on to actual paint. watercolor (many to choose from) doing the same - stick with one color, and just get used to how the different brands and grades move on the page. some come from tubes, other gives you a pallette of many - some you buy by the block of color. Then try out the acrylics, and even the mediums. Then oil. Good art stores have a display that allows you to try out their paint. otherwise, ask for samples, or an opportunity to try them.

now that you've tried everything, you decide where you want to go next. there's much to be said about starting at the beginning, but heck, i.e. drawing -- but heck, life is short, live dangerously. determine what medium rocked your world and go for it. bear in mind, that there are various grades of product - some are made for students - others for professionals. until you get used to the medium, you might want to use the cheaper stuff -- i.e. - go to walmart and use their acrylics in a bottle -- they are less than a dollar vs. the professional grade paint, that goes well over $10 per tube.

Don't kid yourself though -- you're missing out on an important aspect of art, if your effort is done to impress others. Your art may match someone's couch, or add a splash of color to a room, but it won't be true art, which really is something far deeper. That comes when you give of yourself freely, and not as a means to an end. That's my opinion anyway.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Your dry mediums like oil sticks, colored pencils, water-color pencils, charcoal and pastel sticks are probably your fastest route to a completed work.
If you have the art within you, you should attempt water color or oil (starting with acrylics perhaps).
Only oil paints have been around long enough for us to know the effects time will have on the colors and the inner glow

Answer 6

Hi, Painting for fun would probably work best for you with either oil paint or water color. Bob Ross (?) was on tv for a long time teaching people how to paint. Look for his stuff at any hobby and art store. Also, get some easy to follow books on water color if you prefer and go for that. Both can work with minimal effort up front but a lot to learn as you get into it.was on TV

Answer 7

oils they are very forgiving, they meld over night and if you stuff up you can wait untill they dry and over paint
water colours require a lot of thought to know where you going in teh first place and acrylics dry too fast.
painting is what you use it is how you see , using a brush isnt hard but seeing is the hard part

Answer 8

Decent results, no practice... no offence to tradesmen but you might try paintroller and a blank wall. My house could use a new coat.

I understand the desire for amazing results with no investment but it doesnt really work that way.

Answer 9

i think it should be charcoal and pencil colours...coz they allow u to experiment freely and u will learn certain useful things like how the shades would appear, where the shadows should be and stuff like that...at least, that's what they taught me...once, you master these, oil would be the next ideal step....watercolour and acrylic comes after that...

Answer 10

Acrylic....Oil takes forever to dry , Acrylic is fairly cheap..oil is NOT !!!