Want to decorate your walls with your own artwork? Here’s a beginner’s guide on how to paint on canvas
I also painted some flowers with water colour pencils
I turn 22 this year. And as adulthood creeps in — between responsibilities and reluctantly doing laundry — I’ve also started enjoying its quieter perks. One of them? Setting up your first home.
I had a very specific vision: a gallery wall filled with art I’d collected over time. I scrolled, searched, and saved. But as it turns out, collecting art is not a cheap hobby. Cough.
One of my first attempts at colouring was a half-sliced onion
So, I did what any slightly delusional, mildly ambitious 22-year-old would do: I decided to make my own. If you’ve ever wanted to try canvas painting but didn’t know where to begin, here’s everything I learnt as a complete beginner.
Know my medium
After experimenting a bit, I landed on acrylics and canvas. Here’s a quick how to:
Step 1: Get your supplies
A basic set of 12 acrylic colours is more than enough. Buy extra white — it’ll run out fastest. Three round brushes will do: size 0, 6, and 10. A palette with sections helps keep colours clean.
One of the initial paintings I made with just one object to make it easier
Step 2: Pick your subject
Start simple. Fewer objects = easier painting. A flower, your breakfast — mine was quite literally a half-sliced onion. Avoid human portraits unless you enjoy suffering.
Step 3: Use the grid method
Getting proportions right is the hardest part. And hence, I propose you use this life hack: the grid scale method. Print your reference image and draw a grid over it. Then replicate the same grid on your canvas. This lets you focus on one square at a time instead of the whole image, making accuracy much easier.
Step 4: Sketch first
Treat your sketch like the bones of the painting. It may get covered, but it holds everything together.
One of the first paintings I made with so many objects to commemorate my roommate and my favourite hobby of hosting game nights. It’s the one closest to my heart, despite all its flaws
Step 5: Start painting
Remember basic colour theory. Mix as you go, trust your instincts, and don’t overthink it. Painting is mostly just about observing, how colours mix, how shadows form. Observe and replicate.
Step 6: Trust the process
A painting often looks terrible before it looks good. Acrylics dry fast, so mistakes are easy to fix. Be bold — confident strokes always look better.
Know your medium
There are as many painting mediums as you can imagine, but they broadly fall into three categories — solid, liquid, and gas. Solids include colour pencils, charcoal, oil pastels, and crayons. Pair them with a simple drawing pad. Liquids — like acrylics, oils, and watercolours — offer more flexibility but require more control. A happy in-between? Watercolour pencils. You can draw with them like regular pencils and then blend with water for a painted effect. Gas refers to spray paint — not exactly beginner-friendly, unless you’re planning to take up graffiti.
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