Paint like old masters, in acrylic?

[lythron]

I was just wondering if it's fully possible to get the same feeling and depth with acrylics as it is with oil, when it comes to painting portraits and what not.

It doesn't have to be like the old masters, but definitely more on the fine art side. I know that Kris Kuksi has some very smooth acrylic portrait work, blows me away.

I cant stand using oil, and am stuck with acrylics. I just wonder if its possible to pull of works similar to what Shawn Barber, Michael Hussar, Kris Lewis and Lori Earley have.

And if so, how to go about this? What are the needed additions and secrets to this? I cant find books, or tutorials anywhere.

thanks

[dashinvaine]

I would think that as all the old masters since Titian used oils, then oils would be the things to use. It is possible to get the old master look in acrylics. I've copied/adapted a Bellini and parodied a Michaelangelo in acrylics, but there's something more authentic about oils, and I've completely reverted to oil painting now. Acrylic may be similar to fresco painting in that it has the similar drawbacks of quick drying and difficulty of blending, though it at least allows for over-painting.

[Elwell]

Different media are different are different, not better or worse.
Check out John Jude Palencar (http://www.johnjudepalencar.com/), Michael Whelan (http://www.michaelwhelan.com/), Thomas Woodruff (http://www.ppowgallery.com/artists/ThomasWoodruff/), Robert Bateman (http://www.robertbateman.ca/)...

[Shadowwing]

I believe they make an additive you can add to acrylics to make it dry slower, so you can take your time to blend the paint like you would do with oils. Haven't tried it myself.

[dose]

I had a teacher that had us do an old-master style still life using acrylics. We built up a grisaille with black and white gesso on a dark brown gesso base. Then we glazed over it using acrylics watered down very thin, with some matte medium added back in to make the pigment bind to the canvas better.

The effect was less like the artists you listed and more like Titian.

The challenge with acrylics in this case (and most cases) is controlling the edges. It's more difficult to get soft edges with acrylics.

[Elwell]

I believe they make an additive you can add to acrylics to make it dry slower, so you can take your time to blend the paint like you would do with oils. Haven't tried it myself.
Retarders are retarded ;)
If you treat acrylics like second rate oils, you're guaranteed to make second rate paintings.

[pvrhye]

I was just wondering if it's fully possible to get the same feeling and depth with acrylics as it is with oil, when it comes to painting portraits and what not.

It doesn't have to be like the old masters, but definitely more on the fine art side. I know that Kris Kuksi has some very smooth acrylic portrait work, blows me away.

I cant stand using oil, and am stuck with acrylics. I just wonder if its possible to pull of works similar to what Shawn Barber, Michael Hussar, Kris Lewis and Lori Earley have.

And if so, how to go about this? What are the needed additions and secrets to this? I cant find books, or tutorials anywhere.

thanks

Oils have a brightness that acrylics are incapable of. That doesn't invalidate acrylics, but it does mean they'll never look 100% the same unless some great advance is made in acrylic binder or medium.

[wickeddiana]

To slow down drying time you can try the wet-pallet technique I learned in class.
You just take a large cooking pen, put some wet paper towels on top than a single sheet of disposable pallet paper over it. Than wet the surfaces a little. It could keep your paint wet for a while. Than spray it down from time to time to keep it moist.
I usually use acrylic for the under painting and the last layers in oils to give it that extra brightness. The sad truth is that acrylics tend to dry a little duller.

[dose]

Oils have a brightness that acrylics are incapable of. That doesn't invalidate acrylics, but it does mean they'll never look 100% the same unless some great advance is made in acrylic binder or medium.

Also, the acrylic medium shrinks a bit as it dries, which tends to lessen the texture of brushstrokes. So you can't get the same thick impastos with acrylics.

Again, doesn't invalidate acrylics, it's just another area where you can't quite push them to be like oils.