Creative Acrylics by Carla Co Chua

Creative Acrylics (Art for Modern Makers)

by Carla Co Chua

Discover how easy, satisfying, and fun it is to create with acrylic paints and mediums in Creative Acrylics.

Acrylics are one of the most versatile, affordable, and accessible art mediums, and you’ll learn all the tips, tricks, and techniques for blending colors and building texture, plus excellent instruction on how to paint a range of different subjects.

Confused about which types of paints to use, and how to use them? Creative Acrylics cuts through the clutter and offers clear fundamentals for working with a variety of paints and mediums to produce beautiful results. Acrylic paint is water-soluble, dries quickly, and is forgiving, making it perfect for those starting out. Begin your acrylic painting journey with an expert who will guide you through enjoyable techniques and projects as you build confidence and ramp up your skills.

Step-by-step techniques, lessons, and projects cover a wide range of styles and genres, including color mixing, brushwork, glazing, and how to paint easy florals, still lifes, landscapes, and animals. Take your new skills even further and paint on different surfaces to create an apron, painted shells, a paintbrush rest, clay pot, and more.

In Creative Acrylics you’ll find:
  • How to set up your workspace to make painting more enjoyable
  • A guide to the different types of acrylic paint
  • Basic techniques such as understanding color and value, and how to add texture and other effects using paint and mediums
  • Lessons and projects that build skills: creating still lifes, florals, landscapes and skies, and painting on fabric, wood, shells, clay, and more
With all these ideas and inspiration, your acrylic painting journey can begin today!

Perfect for all skill levels, the books in the Art for Modern Makers series take a fun, practical approach to learning about and working with paints and other art mediums to create beautiful DIY projects and crafts.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Creative Acrylics is an accessible, beginner friendly acrylic technique and tutorial guide by Carla Co Chua as part of the Art for Modern Makers series. Released 1st Feb 2022 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a very good basic introduction to acrylics and is a part of the Art For Modern Makers series. The book is written in friendly understandable language and the lessons are easy to follow and do-able. The introduction includes a general overview over tools and supplies. The supplies pictured are carefully figleafed to avoid suggesting particular specific brands. It's a neutral overview and the author is careful to give tips on general preferences without "naming names".

The following chapters are grouped thematically and follow a step-by-step progression: getting started, still life, flowers, landscapes, and animals. The last chapter is a collection of specific projects which utilize the techniques in the previous chapters. Specific tips and tricks are scattered throughout the book in highlighted text boxes and are relevant and interesting to the acrylic medium. Step by step tutorial photos are clear and easy to understand and follow. The whole book is exuberantly colorful and unrestrained and the style is primitive/naive and very pretty (see cover art).

Four stars. This is a very basic book aimed at beginning artists and would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, makers groups, classroom type instruction, and the home library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 March, 2022: Finished reading
  • 7 March, 2022: Reviewed