Free Drawing & Painting Lessons | Watercolor, Acrylic, Mixed Media

Loose experimental watercolor trees with green washes, brown trunks, lime green crayon marks, and graphite lines on cold press paper.

Mixed Media

Experimental Watercolor Trees: Mixed Media Ideas to Explore

Stop painting watercolor trees to get them right. Explore instead with watercolor mixed with crayon, collage, acrylic, and graphite to find your own style.

Watercolor

Watercolor Circle Exercise: A Brush Control Challenge

Try this watercolor circle exercise to build brush control. Paint concentric circles with a dagger brush, no breaks, no touching. I got 19 circles and 5 touches.

Watercolor

Watercolor Line Exercise: A Brush Control Challenge

Try this watercolor line exercise to build brush control. Paint continuous lines with a sword brush, no sketch, no guides. I got 26 lines and 7 mistakes. Can you beat it?

Side-by-side pencil drawings of a tea kettle, a careful construct drawing taking 3:30 minutes and a loose deconstruct drawing taking 45 seconds.

Process

Why You Need to Draw It First Before Painting Loose

Loose painting isn’t about speed. Learn why a slow construct drawing comes first, how it makes a 45-second loose drawing work, using a tea kettle exercise.

Side-by-side pencil drawings of a cup and saucer, a careful contour drawing on the left and a loose, fast gesture drawing on the right.

Process

How to Draw Loose: A 2-Step Construct & Deconstruct Exercise

Learn how to draw loose with a simple two-step exercise. Draw the same cup tight in 2.5 minutes, then loose in 30 seconds, and see why it changes your painting.

Collage of tomatoes, pea pods, mushrooms, and green vegetables cut from handmade paper on a light gray painted background.

Mixed Media

Easy Collage Project for Beginners: Fruits & Veggies

Try this easy collage project for beginners. Cut fruit and veggie shapes from textured paper, glue them down, and paint the background around them.

Mixed Media

How to Make Handmade Collage Paper From Leftover Paint

Learn how to make handmade collage paper from leftover paint, then use it in a loose mixed media still life with Bristol paper, glue, and gesture drawing.

Watercolor

Why Your Watercolors Look Stiff (and How to Stop Overworking Them)

Is your watercolor stiff and overworked? Learn why tight drawings cause it, how to paint without pencil lines, and when to stop, with a loose coastal landscape demo.

Acrylic

How to Layer Acrylic Paint: 3 Layers to a Better Loose Still Life

Learn how to layer acrylic paint in three steps. Start desaturated, build color, then add brushwork, with a loose still life demo using a fan brush.

Watercolor

Intuitive Watercolor Painting: Let the Wash Lead (Loose City Street)

Learn intuitive watercolor painting by letting the wash decide what comes next. Watch a loose city street come together in 9 minutes, no value study needed.

Loose abstract figure painting of a seated person using expressive blue, brown, gray, and pink brushstrokes on white paper.

Mixed Media

Loose Figure Painting Demo (Stop Overthinking Your Art)

Learn loose figure painting with watercolor, acrylics, gesture drawing, and expressive brushwork. Discover how structure creates artistic freedom.

Mixed Media

Sometimes a Lemon Painting Is Actually Great (Mixed Media Still Life)

Explore mixed media still life painting with lemons, using acrylic ink, watercolor, charcoal, collage paper, and expressive acrylic brushwork.