Lesson video

Hello, my name's Ms. Nadia, and today I will be teaching you your art lesson, which is all about exploring art mediums, including acrylics, oils and watercolors and beyond.

I hope you're going to have lots of fun today and learn lots of valuable things about different art mediums and materials.

Now let's begin.

The outcome of your lesson today is to be able to say that I can apply a range of techniques to explore paint types and experiment with mixed media.

And here are your keywords that we'll be referring to throughout the course of our lesson today.

Blending, this is mixing colors or shades together smoothly.

Opacity, this controls how transparent or solid an object appears.

Texture, this is the feel or appearance of a surface.

And our final keyword today is layer or layering, which is materials placed on top of one another.

So your four keywords are: blending, opacity, texture, and layer or layering.

Our lesson title today is "Exploring mediums: acrylics, oils, watercolors, and beyond." Our lesson is separated into two learning cycles.

The first learning cycle is called "Techniques in different paint media." When you create a piece of artwork, the tools, techniques, paint type, and the surface that you choose will all influence the result.

Paint types that you might use include: acrylics.

Acrylic paints are fast-drying, and they're versatile, and they're really good for layering.

Oils are slow-drying, they are rich, they are very smooth to blend, and they are traditional, giving also lots of depth in paintings.

Watercolors are wet on wet fluid, they're transparent, but they are quite unpredictable as well.

And here's an image of watercolor where the wet paint has been applied to a dry surface.

Let's check your understanding of this.

Which of the following correctly matches the paint type with its characteristics? Is it A, acrylics are slow-drying and best for rich blending? Is it B, oils are slow-drying and allow for traditional depth? Is it C, watercolors are opaque and used for solid blocks of color? Or is it D, watercolors are transparent and always unpredictable? And the answer is B, oils, which are slow-drying and they allow for traditional depth.

Let's look at some of the techniques in different paint media.

So we'll start with acrylics, which can be blended quickly before they dry.

And this creates gradients, smooth transitions, and you are able to build tone quite well using acrylic paints.

Let's have a little look then.

So we're going to mix our colors.

You're going to select your brushes.

And we have a hard brush here for mixing and a softer brush here for blending.

Acrylics are often described as versatile because they can be applied in thin washes, which become semi-transparent, or they can also be applied in thick, opaque layers.

So this is how you would use acrylic paints to build tone.

You would pick one color, so for instance, the ultramarine blue or the yellow in the images that you can see here.

And then you would have some white paint ready for lightening the tone.

On your palette, you would mix the darkest version of your color.

You might want to use a bit of water in your paint to dilute it slightly.

And then gradually add small amounts of white to create lighter mixes.

Aim for around five to seven tones.

And we can see this quite well on the examples on the screen.

Do remember this health and safety tip: acrylic is made of plastic, so it's a plastic base.

It should be used sparingly to avoid waste, and do avoid washing down excess amounts into the water system.

Brushes should be thoroughly cleaned.

If the paint hardens, it will become unusable.

So here I have a true or false question.

Acrylic paint is oil-based.

Is this true or is this false? The answer is false.

And the reason for this is that acrylic is plastic-based and it also dries quicker than oil.

Let's have a look at the medium of oil paint.

Oil paints can be blended slowly over longer periods of time, which allows for seamless gradients, soft transitions, and subtle tonal shifts.

Most oil paints are opaque, which makes them good for covering layers underneath.

And this is how you would use oil paints to build tone.

First of all, you would choose a single color.

So for example, that might be ultramarine blue or burnt umber or yellow ochre.

Have titanium white ready for lightening the tone.

On your palette, squeeze out some of your chosen color.

Use it straight from the tube for the darkest tone.

And you can gradually mix small amounts of the white oil paint to create a scale of about five to seven tones.

If the paint feels too thick, you can add a small amount of medium, such as linseed oil, but you cannot add water.

Paint your tonal strip from the darkest to the lightest, just like the examples here on the screen.

Because oil dries very slowly, you can blend the edges between tones for smooth transitions or you can leave them as clean steps.

And your health and safety tip for oil paints is that you should use them sparingly to minimize waste.

Never wash oil paints or solvents down the sink as they can damage the water system.

Brushes should be wiped on a rag or a paper towel before cleaning with solvent.

Used solvent should be collected in a sealed jar and not poured away.

Always work in a well-ventilated area and keep the oily rags flat to prevent a fire risk.

Let's check your understanding of this now.

Always work in a well-ventilated space when using oils and solvents.

Is this true or is this false? And the answer is true.

And the reason for this is that you should always be working in a well-ventilated space, which is important because it reduces exposure to fumes and keeps you safe whilst you are using paints and mediums. Let's have a look at watercolors now.

Watercolors can be blended with water while still wet, creating soft gradients, fluid transitions, and delicate tonal variations.

Unlike acrylics and oils, watercolors are not opaque.

The white of the paper shows through, creating their distinctive light effect.

And we can see this really well in the examples on the screen.

How to use watercolor for building tone.

First, you should choose your surface.

A good quality paper, ideally watercolor paper or cartridge paper, will hold the paint and the water without it buckling.

Use the paper as your lightest tone.

So unlike opaque paints, the white of the paper will show through as your lightest value.

Start with washes.

Wet your paper slightly with a clean brush, or you can use a spray bottle if you want soft edges.

Then apply your chosen watercolor straight from the pan or tube for the darkest tone.

Build a tonal scale.

Gradually dilute your paint with water to create lighter tones.

Each addition of water creates a new step in your tonal range.

Now, ideally, you want to be aiming for five to seven steps from the darkest to the lightest tones.

Block in layers of tone, working from light to dark.

For transparency and lightness, dilute your paint with water.

And then to achieve those darker and richer tones, use less water and more pigment.

So I'm now going to give you the instructions for task A.

What I'd like you to do is to prepare eight pieces of paper.

Now, cartridge paper would work well.

And I'd like you to experiment with building tone using different paint types.

You could record the following in your sketchbook: the drying time, how easy or hard it was to control, and how the surface looks and feels when it is finished.

Okay, so off you go.

And I'm looking forward to you completing this task, and we'll see how you got on a little bit later.

You can pause the video here.

So here are some possible outcomes that you could have achieved in your task today.

For the second part of our lesson today, you are going to experiment with mixed media.

Which paint type and materials do you think the artist used here? You can create a wide range of effects by layering different materials to make a mixed media piece.

You can include paints such as acrylic, watercolor, oils, or gouache.

Inks and markers for bold lines and for those finer details.

Chalks and pastels for soft blending and texture.

Pens and pencils for fine marks or for structure.

By layering and mixing these media, artists can build contrast, depth, and expressive surfaces that just wouldn't be possible with just one material.

Is this true or false? By layering and mixing different media, artists can create contrast, depth, and expressive surfaces that aren't possible with just one material.

And the answer is true.

And the reason for this is that mixing media adds depth, it can add texture and also visual interest that one material alone just cannot achieve.

Mixed media can involve: papers such as colored paper, patterned paper, or you could even tear parts of the paper for contrast.

Fabrics, which would add texture, pattern, and softness.

Found objects, such as everyday items that bring new context and symbolism.

This mixed media approach lets you combine visual elements in new ways, creating depth and expression that go beyond paint alone.

And there's a lot of depth in this piece here and a lot of visual interest.

Here are some examples of mixed media artists.

Devan Shimoyama incorporates unusual materials into his paintings, such as fur, feathers, glitter, rhinestones, and sequins.

Ketna Patel mixes collage with oils and acrylics.

Elle Billing uses collage and found materials, creating layered compositions that explore identity, memory, and figurative forms. Robert Czibi uses mixed media to blend image transfer, watercolor, acrylic, and collage, creating textured, layered works that explore the complexity of identity.

So here I have a question to check your understanding of this.

How can you build depth and interest in mixed media artwork? A, use only one medium; B, layer materials like tissue paper, ink, or markers, experiment with textures, and try unconventional tools; C, focus only on neat drawing; or is it D, work digitally only? And the answer is B, layer materials like tissue paper, ink, or markers, experiment with textures, and try unconventional tools.

One way of creating a mixed media piece is to tear some samples of paint styles and techniques and to combine them in interesting compositions.

When you are happy with the compositions, you can stick them down.

And here on the screen we can see some lovely examples of this.

Next, you could experiment with various textures, with dry materials like oil pastels, chalk, or pencil to build interesting mark-making details.

These go over the top of the torn paper, and again, we can see some lovely examples here on the board and a variety of different ways of how you can achieve this.

You could also use sew machines to stitch into the work.

So here we can see added lines, but also it gives extra texture to the piece.

How does the surface you work on affect the behavior of your medium? Is the answer A, the surface has no impact; all mediums behave the same on any surface? Is it B, rough surfaces add texture; smooth surfaces give even application? Or is it C, smooth surfaces always make mediums look messy? And the answer is B.

Rough surfaces do add texture, and smooth surfaces give even application.

Jacob says, "I am blending watercolor and ink to soften edges, and the texture of paper and tissue paper really shows through." And Jun's reply is, "Nice! I'm using acrylic and fabric.

The layering changes the opacity and makes it more interesting." And Sofia says, "I tried layering with oils on top of my mixed media piece, but it got messy.

I guess I need to work differently with oils." What advice would you give to Sofia? Well, oil does dry a lot slower, so Sofia can work on a section at a time, or use other mediums while she waits, and take the time to layer her painting.

For your second task today, Task B, I would like for you to create a series of studies where you experiment with layering mixed media.

You could do this by mixing mediums, such as acrylic and ink, watercolor and collage, using unconventional tools such as sponges, sticks, or fabric, or exploring texture, layering, and effects.

I'd like you to focus on experimentation and not the finished pieces.

Okay, so off you go on to your task B.

I hope you have lots of fun completing this task.

And do remember it is about experimentation, so don't worry about creating final pieces at this stage.

And here are some examples of some possible outcomes that you could have achieved in task B.

Okay, so to summarize our lesson today, we have explored different mediums such as acrylics, oils, watercolors, and beyond.

Different paints have unique properties and behaviors that influence how they can be used.

How you apply paint through techniques like blending, layering, or washes changes the final effect of the painting.

Different paint types can be blended and layered in different ways to create tone and texture.

Artists can combine and layer different materials and media to create new effects.

And today you've had an opportunity to combine different art medias and to test out different types of art mediums, such as acrylics, watercolors, and oils.

And I hope you've thoroughly enjoyed the lesson today, and I hope that you've learned a lot to inspire you through your art-making going forward.

Thank you for our lesson today and for all the hard work you've put in, and I will see you next time.