How to best build up an acrylic painting?

I am painting a painting with acrylic paint for my wife's birthday. I have so far laid down a good base layer with foam rollers, using the paint at an opacity of about 80% (so there is still canvas showing through).


That has now dried well, and I am ready to add shadows and highlights.


Would it be best to put those on at full coverage, or should I leave some transparency?


Also, I'm toying with the idea of putting black lines on things to create a slightly comicbook type look in the end. What would I best use for that?How to best build up an acrylic painting?
Unlike oils, acrylic paints are unlikely to separate or crack with thicker layers (unless you get carried away with impasto strokes of more than 1/2 inch thickness). Since you are thinking of making a comic book look to the painting, you may want to resist trying to blend a lot (which is hard with acrylics anyway because they dry so fast and don't re-dissolve in water). As for the lines, you might try a good artist-grade marker often used by illustrators and commercial artists. It would be much easier to control than using a brush, and the thickness of the line would be consistent as they are in comics. One good brand, I've found, is Berol Prismacolor. They are relatively lightfast and have two different sized tips on each marker. Generally, acrylics are not as suitable for transparent effects--they are by nature plastic. Watercolor is more of a transparent medium. One interesting effect you might try with acrylics, though, is to paint one opaque layer of color over another, and when dry, use a little rubbing alcohol on a rag to dissolve some of the top layer so that the underlying layer of color shows through.


Good luck!How to best build up an acrylic painting?
Acrylics sometimes dry so fast, you don't have time to think. To get any real effect I would suggest that you work with thinner layers, this way you can let a layer dry and decide how you want to proceed. You can leave some transparency and see how much opacity you want.





Drawing pens are best for outlining or, do it with a brush and a VERY steady hand.





Good luck and happy birthday to her.
I like Uni oil paint pens by Stafford. This is the company that makes sharpies and these fine line pens go over dried acrylic paint easily and are water proof if you want to add more layers or paint or glazes. You might like to try some of the gloss heavy gels by Golden. Get a small jar and mix with your paint. You can get a nice acrylic translucent look with the gels by not adding so much paint, yet have the effect of texture or go for full textured opacity. You can brush or put on with a pallet knife. If you vary the texture and height of the art you will have a more interesting painting. Finally finish the dried painting with a Palomar medium gloss Varnish by Liquetex which will pop the colors. The trick is to paint the varnish on and follow the brush strokes of the art so you don't get streaks. Do two coats dried 3 hours apart.

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