This demonstration will show the progression of an acrylic painting.

The first step in acrylic painting is preparing the canvas. A canvas needs to be stretched, and gessoed before use. Many will also find it helpful to start with a toned canvas. If there is a dominant tone in your painting, it is recommended that you start with a light wash of that tone, otherwise a washed of a neutral color such as burnt sienna will work.

The next is a general outline. Acrylic paint can be cover up any mistakes so you can apply paint directly onto the canvas without worrying about accuracy. Once you have a pretty good idea of your composition, then you can apply the tones.

This is an optional underpainting to show the tones on the face. Many will find it helpful to do an underpainting in green for the skin because many skin types contain a green undertone.

As more layers of paints are added on, the painting becomes more solid. A translucent white wash is added to the background to tone down the green.

The next step is to work in the darks. Putting in the extremes help shape the painting in its progression. A few layers of the base tones is added on and the contour between the background and the face is defined.

More layers of paint is added to define the tone of the skin and the shades, especially the darks at this point. Note that the background is being worked at the same time. It is important to work the negative space at the same time as the positive to create unification.

As the face reaches a point of solidity in its skin tones, the background is also worked towards something a little more solid.

The contours are once again redefined to separate the subject from the background. A very light red is drybrushed over the face to bring in the reddish tone. The red is also added to the background in order to repeat the color for eye movement.