7 Beginner Painting Mistakes and How to Conquer them
Soma Mandal Datta 
Uncover the top 7 mistakes to avoid when getting started with painting.
When we start our creative journeys it’s natural to make mistakes and yet many beginners give up without realizing that mistakes are critical for learning what works and what doesn’t. Did you do that? That’s ok. Since you are reading this, it means you are ready to have another go!
Welcome to my blog! My name is Soma Mandal Datta (Dr) and I am a mixed media artist. Find out more about me and my expertise at: How I came to be a mixed media artist.
To enable you to start looking at mistakes as ‘happy accidents’ and continue creating unfazed by mistakes, I have here 7 most common mistakes made by beginners when they embark on their creative journey along with tips to conquer them.
These are not to address the specific techniques or idiosyncrasies of any particular media but more on attitudes to think creatively when things don’t go as planned.
This means that regardless of which medium you pursue some or most of the following tips will help you turn ‘mistakes’ to ‘happy accidents’.
Are you new to my blog? Also check out my top 10 tips on painting with acrylics and mixed media for beginners
Let’s uncover the top 7 mistakes when getting started with painting and ways to conquer them.
1. Fear of Failure
Self defeating thoughts of what if this doesn’t work or doesn’t look right can be impeding your creativity. Switch your thinking to looking at mistakes as triggers for new ideas. Also some mediums like acrylic and oils are forgiving and allow re-working. So if you don’t like something – paint over. If painting over is not possible then observe for sections that you like. Then explore possibilities where you cut it up into smaller artworks such as smaller paintings, book covers, greeting cards and book marks. Remember that mistakes are a great way to discover what doesn’t work! So go ahead and be fearless in your painting journey.
2. Buying more than necessary
Guilty? Me too! And this is a problem that causes hole in the wallet for beginners and experts alike. But unlike beginners, experts use or can figure out a way to use and prevent excess supplies from going to waste. My tip would be to gather basic supplies for chosen medium. Second, buy the best you can afford and only what’s relevant. Last, test your purchases against what you like to learn or paint and then build your stash of materials gradually from there.
3. Over-complicating a painting
When starting out, I often see beginners want to apply all the techniques, mediums and ideas into one painting. The result is a painting that is often unsatisfactory to the creator. My tip is to first explore your ideas in a sketchbook right from positioning the subject to tonal values. Keep it simple for starters. Having tried different concepts, you need to explore on best way to paint it. Last, choose the best concept and painting approach to create your final painting.
4. Excessive use of paints
Commonly seen challenge where many use excessive paint. This mistake is seen among new painters in all mediums. OF course it’s not mistake if the style you are aiming for requires creation of textures. But for most cases you need to be mindful of using just about enough paint to create layers that can be deepened with more pigment if necessary. For watercolor paintings, start light and build up color intensity by adding layer upon layer of thin paint. Acrylics follow the same process except that mistakes can also be painted over. Similarly for chalk pastels, excessive pressure using pastels during initial layers will saturate paper quickly leaving not much opportunity to create depth and tonal values (3 dimensional effects using color tones and contrasts)
5. Incorrect choice of surface
For all medias, it is best to research that surface chosen is relevant to the medium you plan to use. Commonly used surfaces are canvases for oils and acrylics including stretched canvas and canvas sheets available in pads and papers specially designed for various mediums such as watercolors, pastels, markers, and mixed media. This is most common cause of frustration when chosen surfaces such as papers fall apart as it was not meant to be used with a particular medium such as acrylics. When buying papers opt for tougher/thicker papers or surfaces designed to withstand wet mediums (acrylics, watercolors) and heavy-handed techniques (example: dripping paint, scratching). I recommend 300 GSM thickness of watercolor or mixed media paper for watercolors and mixed media when just starting to paint as it allows for little bit of mistake when using excessive paints or water. Another example is where I often see paint marker pens getting damaged when used on rough surfaces of canvas. The solution is prepping the surface to be smooth and receptive for use with paint-markers. For mixed media on canvas, I prep the canvas with gloss medium which adds requisite smoothness for using variety of paint markers. For oil paints, opt for canvases designed for use with oil and acrylic paints. For pastels, use papers meant for use with pastel chalks and pencils. There is a wide assortment of papers available. Hence I highly recommend trial and error to determine what quality and type suits your style.
6. Incorrect choice of brushes
Similar to choosing incorrect surface to paint, choosing the wrong brush can cause damage to surface and prevents success while painting in conventional styles such as still life and portraits. Example: Typical Oil painting brushes will prevent achieving soft blending effects with acrylics and destroy watercolor paper if used for watercolor paintings. Likewise watercolor brushes which are soft and meant to load water for watercolor painting effects will get deformed and damaged if used for oil paintings. There are some specially designed brushes for use across multiple mediums. However you need to check before purchase if the brushes have been designed for use across multiple mediums.
7. Obsessing with perfection
Aiming for perfection is good practice. However, as a beginner, I often see learners obsessing so much over the final outcome that it starts impeding creativity and takes the fun out of the creative process. Don’t get me wrong. For those of you who are professionals, perfection matters and you should aim for it. But remember that perfection results out of practice. Perfection requires practice and that comes later. Create first. Then perfect your creation.
So those are top 7 mistakes and ways to avoid them.
However, remember that to be a creator and not lose steam in your creative journey, you’d need to be comfortable with the idea of making mistakes. Expect to make them and learn from them. Mistakes and failures are a part of growth.
If you want to ease yourself into painting and also want to change your approach to be more trusting of the creative process then check out our beginners course: PAINT YOUR HAPPY
I’ll love you and leave you with this quote:
In art, as in life, the best way to remedy mistakes is to take advantage of them.
~ Darby Bannard
Stay Creative.
Warm regards
Soma M Datta
Founder of www.tranquilcanvas.com.au
