How to Improve Your Painting Skills?

KoolStories
3 min readMar 3, 2021

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Painting is more than a hobby; the skill is creative expression at its peak. When most of the times, it is influenced by mood and the muse; other times, the mental canvas draws a blank. It is in times like these where new techniques and methods come in handy. Not only do they pull you out of your creative rut, but they also give you ideas on things to draw. Alongside comes the refinement in your painting skills.

Here are a few tried and tested ways to adopt:

Work with new tools

It is not only monotonous drawing the same thing but working with the same tools also gets boring. To do away with it, try experimenting a bit. Play with a bunch of different tools apart from the basic ones to spice things up. Try a toothbrush, earbud, or your fingers for a change. If you don’t wish to go too unorthodox, use something apart from a brush or general paint colours. They may indeed induce a creative spark or generate new ideas.

Consume what you desire to produce

To polish your painting skills, it is best to take inspiration from masterpieces created by others. It not only keeps you up with the latest trend but allows you to amalgamate it with existing ideas you have. Therefore, you only produce what you consume. This is a quintessential phase where research assists in the planning phase.

Plan ahead

Painters are divided on the viewpoint if the art of painting is a spontaneous activity or a planned one. While deliberate planning may be counterproductive for many, knowing what to draw helps to a great extent. Ergo, if you get too overwhelmed with your painting elements, it is best, to begin with, the planning phase. Create a mental picture before you put your painting on canvas. Moreover, deciding the strokes and colours is a good practice. But of course, you cannot do the same when making abstract paintings.

Take inspiration from your surroundings

You may consume all the content available on digital media, but sometimes that may not be enough. Go to the source of all inspiration- nature. It is not only a romantic notion but the essence of all art forms. Hence, turn to nature when you feel low on inspirational juice.

Practice Relentlessly

Endless practice session lies at the heart of success. It also stands true for painting. The more you bring finesse to those strokes, the more you evolve as a painter. Moreover, rigorous practice sessions won’t be tiring if you are in love with art. If you closely follow successful artists, their journey is all about experimentation and extended practice hours. Every little step counts so, try focussing on every minute details.

Strengthen where you are weak

Every successful person is well aware of his flaws and soft spots. If you fall along these lines too, the next step is to focus on perfecting those imperfections. Get on board online knowledge-sharing platforms, consult experts or become start your self-driven journey to improve your painting skills. A pro tip is to take it one day at a time and not beat yourself up. Take small steps daily and watch how you transform.

Give it time

The best way to go headfirst into burnout is by exhausting yourself with too much activity. Since it is unaffordable, take baby steps. Do little every day and take a breather whenever you start getting tired. Spend time doing something other than painting to rev up your creativity.

At the end of it, the most important thing to remember is that creativity is a product of talent, skill & imagination, and the product/art is only the result of the outlet we choose. Inspiration comes in different forms for different people, and outlets are different for different people. The only wise decision here is affording oneself the freedom of expression.

At the end of it, the most important thing to remember is that creativity is a product of talent, skill & imagination, and the product/art is only the result of the outlet we choose. Inspiration comes in different forms for different people, and outlets are different for different people. The only wise decision here is affording oneself the freedom of expression.

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KoolStories
KoolStories

Written by KoolStories

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