Painting isn’t easy for everyone, so it takes some skill to make things look like a painting when they aren’t originally paintings. We know that some people just want to be able to achieve the skill of making something look like a painting. In this article, we discuss how to create paintings in a painterly style.
Since 2015, we have seen the rise of adult coloring books and paint-by-number kits. They look fun and easy enough to do, but some people want to know more about how to make their paintings look more like paintings.
This is more applicable to customized paint-by-number kits that use personal images rather than the paint-by-number kits that you can buy from hobby stores. It may take some time to learn, but blending and layering play an important part when you want to make the picture look more like a painting.
We think that getting into paint-by-number kits is fun, but some people would have to practice making their paintings look more like paintings by using the different art variables to be able to execute the right shapes, colors, highlights and shadows.
In this article, we give you tips on how to create paintings in a painterly style. We think that these tips are helpful if you’re a beginner and you want to have paintings that look realistic but have nice dimensions.
What Does Painterly Mean?
Before we get into how to create paintings in a painterly style, let’s talk about what painterly means. Painterly style is also otherwise known as expressive painting. It refers to paintings that have more distinct brush lines and don’t focus a lot on blending the lines to make the painting more realistic.
In short, painterly painting deviates from realism, and produces a certain whimsy that comes with painting, and is actually ideal for beginners because it teaches how to embrace the little details that are left by the brush or palette knife.
With that, we think a lot of new painters would enjoy trying out painterly style painting because there’s less pressure to make the painting look realistic.
How To Create Paintings In a Painterly Style?
Now that we’ve covered what painterly style painting are, let’s talk about how to create paintings in a painterly style:
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Use a larger brush: While a lot of people would say that with realistic paintings, the devil is in the details, that is not the case with painterly style paintings. You don’t have to use smaller brushes to get the right details and larger brushes are more effective in laying down colors.
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Make use of thicker textures: When it comes to painterly paintings, the key is to express yourself. One way you can make the colors pop more is by using thicker layers of paint to add texture to your paintings.
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Focus on highlighting certain features of your painting: As we have mentioned previously, painterly paintings don’t have to be highly accurate to be considered art. Highlight certain aspects of your painting to make the detail stand out more.
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Plan your composition: While the colors and brush strokes may seem distinct, there is nothing accidental about painterly paintings, which is why you should plan the composition of your painting before you start. This will give you a rough idea of what you want the painting to look like.
- Be decisive about your brush strokes: As we said, painterly paintings aren’t created by accident. It’s better to know where and how you want the brush stroke to look so that you don’t change your mind after.
Key Takeaways
Painting can be intimidating if you don't know the style you’re going for. While some people want to be able to paint realistic images, others are just striving to come up with paintings that allow them to express their raw emotions. With that, we hope you learn from our tips on how to create paintings in a painterly style. We think that this style is great for beginners and that you would really enjoy being able to leave your brush strokes without worrying too much about how to blend the colors seamlessly or even how to layer colors evenly.
