Diagnose / Acrylic
Acrylic mistakes
Fast drying and water-resistant when dry; dries darker. Layers dry within minutes; slow-drying medium or retarder helps blending.
23 faults, most common first
- Blending fails: hard streaks and brush marksTransitions that should be smooth gradients appear as segmented bands of colour with visible ridges. Rescue
- Bottles and vases lopsided: no centre axisA symmetrical object has mismatched left and right contours. Rescue
- Colour shifts darker as acrylic driesFreshly applied passages dry to a visibly darker and less saturated value than when mixed on the palette. Rescue
- Colours muddy from over-brushing on a tacky layerThe paint film looks torn, dull, and lumpy rather than smooth. Rescue
- Copying every detail of a reference without simplifyingThe drawing is filled with high-contrast, tiny marks spread uniformly across every square centimetre. Rescue
- Highlights painted as pure white spotsHighlights appear as harsh white chalk marks plastered across fruit, vases, or forms. Rescue
- Not checking work in a mirror or at a distanceA portrait or figure exhibits an unintended tilt, an eye sitting higher than its partner, or an overall drift to one side. Rescue
- Paint drying on the palette before you use itPiles of paint develop a rubbery outer surface and gummy clumps that drag across the support. Rescue
- Subject has no focal pointThe canvas contains equal amounts of detail, contrast, and sharp edges everywhere. Rescue
- Background painted last, covering edges messyForeground subjects have thick, awkward painted halos where the background was cut in late. Rescue
- Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromasThe painting features high-intensity, pure pigment across every corner without a clear dominant hue. Rescue
- Composition cut off at awkward placesLimbs, joints, or primary objects hit the boundary of the page in an awkward manner. Partly
- Flat skin with no temperature changeThe face appears as a uniform, plastic surface with no living variation. Rescue
- Local colour only: ignoring reflected light and temperatureThe object is painted using only its local hue mixed with black for shadow and white for highlight. Rescue
- Opaque pigments chalking with whiteColours mixed with titanium white appear chalky, dull, and cold. Rescue
- Plastic-looking, thick, skinned paint layersThe paint surface has a slick, rubbery gloss and bulbous edges where paint was applied too heavily. Partly
- Stopping too early because it looks fine in the phone photoThe physical artwork appears faint, lacking rich darks and crisp details, despite reading clearly when photographed. Rescue
- Tangents: edges kissing awkwardlyTwo distinct edges in the picture touch exactly at their borders without clear overlap. Rescue
- Uneven gloss after varnishingThe surface exhibits an irregular sheen when viewed from an angle. Rescue
- Canvas texture coming through glazes unevenlyGlazes or thin fluid washes look speckled and uneven across the picture. Rescue
- Framing wrongly: cropped or overmattedThe outer border of the frame or mat cuts directly into the subject matter, leaving no margin for the composition to breathe. Rescue
- Shapes all similar in sizeThe masses, light patches, or negative spaces across the work are all roughly the same dimensions. Rescue
- Cracking or peeling from thick paint on a slick surfaceHeavy acrylic paint films are pulling away from the support or lifting at the corners. Partly
Faults that apply to every medium are collected on the any medium page. Measuring problems may also be worth checking with the proportion grid, and paint drying questions with the drying time guide.
Checklist: check your work against these
Each line is the quick test from the matching page. Print this page for a studio checklist.
- Blending fails: hard streaks and brush marks. Drag a dry brush lightly across the boundary; if it catches or drags sticky flakes, the paint is halfway through curing and will not blend.
- Bottles and vases lopsided: no centre axis. Hold your drawing vertically in front of a mirror or invert the sheet upside down; the asymmetry will jump out instantly.
- Colour shifts darker as acrylic dries. Paint a small swatch next to the dry area and let it sit for two minutes; if the fresh stroke looks noticeably lighter than the dry paint beside it, colour shift is occurring.
- Colours muddy from over-brushing on a tacky layer. Touch the edge of the troubled paint area lightly with a dry fingertip; if it feels rubbery and tacky, it was overworked during drying.
- Copying every detail of a reference without simplifying. Squint heavily at your source photo; if half the tiny details disappear in your blur, but they are clearly rendered on your paper, you have over-copied.
- Highlights painted as pure white spots. Take a photo of your still life in black-and-white on your phone and compare the value of the highlight against the actual values around it.
- Not checking work in a mirror or at a distance. Hold the work up to a flat mirror or invert the canvas upside down right now; any lean will jump out immediately.
- Paint drying on the palette before you use it. Touch the edge of a paint pile on your palette with the brush tip; if it lifts like a sticky skin rather than soft cream, it has started curing.
- Subject has no focal point. Look away for five seconds, then glance quickly at your artwork: if your eyes dart around frantically rather than settling on one clear spot, you have no focal point.
- Background painted last, covering edges messy. Look closely at the edge where background meets foreground foliage; check if there is an awkward gap or a thick raised lip of background paint.
- Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromas. Take a photo of your painting and desaturate it halfway; if the composition suddenly becomes calmer and easier to read, your saturation is unmanaged.
- Composition cut off at awkward places. Hold your hands or two sheets of paper over the margins to test shifting the crop inward or outward by two centimetres.
- Flat skin with no temperature change. Hold your painting next to a colour portrait photo and check whether the forehead, nose, and jaw show distinct warm and cool zone variations.
- Local colour only: ignoring reflected light and temperature. Examine the shadow edge of the object; if it is merely a darker, duller version of the light side, you have missed ambient bounce.
- Opaque pigments chalking with white. Swatch your base colour, then mix one tint with pure white and another tint using white plus a touch of warm yellow. Compare their vibrancy side by side.
- Plastic-looking, thick, skinned paint layers. View the canvas at an angle against a window; if the painted passage shines like vinyl wrapping and conceals all canvas texture, it is over-applied.
- Stopping too early because it looks fine in the phone photo. Step back three metres from the easel in normal room light without your device and see if the darkest darks still hold authority.
- Tangents: edges kissing awkwardly. Trace the silhouette outlines with your finger to spot any places where two different objects share an identical boundary line.
- Uneven gloss after varnishing. View the varnished painting under raking light from the side and scan for irregular dull patches breaking the gloss reflection.
- Canvas texture coming through glazes unevenly. Tilt your canvas under raking light; if the colour shows a grid-like pattern of dots rather than a flat veil, the texture is catching your wash.
- Framing wrongly: cropped or overmatted. Place four scraps of white paper along the edges of your painting to simulate a mount window and see if any focal points get crowded.
- Shapes all similar in size. Squint at the artwork and group the elements into basic shapes to see if they all take up roughly equal area.
- Cracking or peeling from thick paint on a slick surface. Gently press a fingernail against the edge of a thick stroke; if it lifts off the substrate like plastic tape, the bond has failed.