How expensive would it be to start experimenting with painting- acrylic being the medium?

I would like to purchase canvases, acrylic paints, and supplies (brushes, sealer, etc.). In your experience, about how much would ';the basics'; cost?





Any tips for an acrylics newbie (I usually work with water colors or pastels) would be greatly appreciated!! :)How expensive would it be to start experimenting with painting- acrylic being the medium?
First of all, since you are an artist who has work with water colors and pastels, do you really want your acrylic painting comes out much less in quality than your water colors or pastel work.


Because acrylics dry fast, so there is no way to conserve it. Be prepare to to waste a lot of it.


The price of paints vary from student-grade to artist-grade,


regular to heavy-body, and series. Then you have to have your primary and secondary colors. You also need your mixing colors like burn sienna, raw umber and white.


You must have at least nine tubes of paint. That is minimum forty dollars right there.


You also need retarder to slow down the drying time of the paints unless you paint really fast. That is eight dollars.


As for the brushes, if you have any synthetic water color brushes that you dont use it any more, try to use them for the acrylic. If you feel that they are too soft and unable to push the paints across your canvas, then you should go buy some.


Buy the cheapest flat brushes. As for the round brushes, I recommmend that you invest in quality round brushes which the tips actually come to a point. The least expensive way to get your brushes is to buy them in a set (a cheap set), then get some good brushed for details. That is about and around thirty dollars ( six to ten dollars for a set of brushes).


The prices of canvas vary from styles (how it was stapled), quality (regular or heavy duty bars) and sizes.


And you dont need any sealer for your canvas, because acrylic paints is the ';sealer';. Unless, if you need to reuse or start over your canvas and like to have them in white again, then you need to get some white gesso.


A bottle of gesso is around eight dollars.


Prepare to spend about one hundred dollars for your supplies. And as for tips about how to use acrylic paints, dont do it. Why paints with acrylics when you can work with oil paints. Since you are starting a new set, might as well be oils. You will love it.How expensive would it be to start experimenting with painting- acrylic being the medium?
You can get a basic set of acrylics for somewhere around $15 (+ or -), and some cheap brushes for around $5. Your basic set will have about five colors and will be in small quantities, but for just starting out it might do the trick.





I'd check out the crafts section at Wal-Mart to begin with. They'll have acrylics, brushes AND canvases. After you get a little more experience, you'll want to buy better products at your local art supply shop.





Acrylic is easy to work with. Don't drown your paint with water, but use just a bit on your brush to spread the color around. You can achieve really crisp lines with a good brush as well.
I'm 15, and I at least manage this hobbie on my 30 dollar a month thing. I just clip coupons, wacth sales, and buy really nice brushes one at a time. I think my first set of paints were between 15 and 20 dollars, for 6 tubs. You'll find them much easier to mix than water colors. I found a set of really cheap brushes for about 7 dollars, but the nice ones are more like 7 dollars and up each. So worth it though. I actually find that I almost like working on flat canvas better, and it's cheaper [usually like 6 dollars for three medium sized ones]. Hope that was helpful :)
My mother wanted to get back into painting and I found a $40 set of paints, brushes, and pencels at Sam's. She loved it and it really had everything to get her started.