Acrylic Color Essentials from Chris Cozen

---

If you are just getting started with acrylic painting, there are some color essentials you’ll want to know to be successful. Acrylic artist and GOLDEN Paints workshop instructor, Chris Cozen, shares the most important things you’ll want to know below.

Using a variety of helpful exercises, Chris demonstrates what acrylic colors are all about so you can mix, mingle, layer, and otherwise manipulate your paints with success in your painting projects. When you follow along with her video workshop Exploring Acrylic: 10 Color Essentials, you’ll discover these topics to improve your color know-how:

It’s All Paint

Craft, student, artist grade, ink-like, fluid, heavy body, slow-drying, shiny, flat. All these words describe paint. Explore how pigments mix with binders to create different consistencies and what that means to your work.

Pigment Personality

There are perky pigments and somber pigments, sharp pigments and dull pigments. Find out how to describe your acrylic paints so you can use them in a meaningful way.

Techniques Influence Color

Full strength or diluted with medium, water, or glazing medium, acrylic color interacts differently depending on how you thick or thin it is applied.

Color Wheeling

Set up a color wheel for your acrylic paints and explore how this will help you understand how they relate to one another.

Black & White

Yes, it is okay to have black and white on your palette; don’t let anyone tell you differently. And, using a warm or cool tone of each will expand your range of color mixing possibilities.

Tints, Tones, & Shades

Learn how adding black or white to your colors might be just what you need to pop a color, neutralize it, or unify passages with the rest of your painting.

Neutrals

Knowing how to coax every possible color out of your basic Red, Blue, and Yellow building blocks is an essential skill. The wonder of it all is that nearly every color you need is waiting for you to tease it out. Creating the perfect black, brown, or gray that pulls your composition together will take you to the next level.

Mixing Greens

Since the world is filled with so many shades of green we should get practiced in the art of mixing green. Chris’ exercise will add value to your art supply budget and will save money on green paint! (HINT: Ratios count with color mixing. Want more of a sharp green, add more yellow.)

Metallic Magic

Did you know that you can mix at least 65 colors when you add just 3 metallic paints to your basic color palette (not including anything you do with black and white). Yes, metallic paints are magic and Chris shows you why.