How can I improve my painting?

Question

My painting looks messy or dull, and even ugly at times. How can I make my paintings better?

Answer 1

Dull coloration can also be part of which paint you are using. Student grade paints are typically more dull than professional grade paints, and most lines of paint have a distinction between student grade and professional grade. The real difference being professional grade paints take more premium ingredients to make, and tend to come out more saturated.

Another thing that might help is cleaning or rinsing your brush before you start to mix more colors. Pigment residue builds up on the brushes over time and can muddy your other pigments.

Dullness (reading in this context as blandness) can also be part of not planning values out ahead of time. Doing a thumbnail of your piece in greyscale can be most helpful in this case!

Messy can also be a stylistic choice! Embrace your messyness, or if making crisp forms is something you want to improve upon, practice! Be kind to yourself and give yourself permission to make something messy, and let it happen. As long as you make an effort to practice, you'll improve!

Answer 2

Sometimes we get in a hurry to paint, so we don't quite think about what we are trying to show the viewer before we start. It's best to pick, mix, and organize your paint colors before starting. Look at the colors you mixed. Are there warm and cool colors? Are there light and dark colors? Are there saturated and neutral colors? We need both sides of what I just mentioned to make a painting with a range of color.