Top 5 Watercolor and Acrylic Painting Tutorials

Here are five free watercolor and acrylic painting tutorials you can follow along with to build your skills as an artist. I am sharing the ones I have found most helpful along with the paintings I have made while watching them. I hope this post helps you create some beautiful art pieces and build new skills.

1) Watercolor Painting: Let’s Make Art (Skill Level – Easy)

Sarah Clay is my favorite watercolor Youtube trainer. I used her videos to learn how to create my first giraffe painting for one of my coworkers. Having worked minimally with watercolor paints before, I didn’t understand the basics. However, she really helped me understand the difference between watercolor and acrylics and how to use them. Since then, I have used the skills I learned to create other watercolor animals. Above, you will find a link to her giraffe video and below, a picture of how mine came out. I didn’t use the same reference image as her, so it doesn’t match, but I was still very happy with the result.

2) Acrylic Painting: Paint with Shiba (Skill Level – Easy)

If you are just starting out with acrylics and don’t want to invest in lots of canvases or paints, you will like this artist. He uses flat, page sized boards (which you can purchase at the dollar store) and will teach you some useful techniques. I tried one of his tutorials and it was easy and simple to follow along with. 

3) Acrylic Painting: ColorbyFelix (Skill Level – Medium/Advanced)

Felix is an amazing artist and teacher. I had previous experience using acrylics when I started following him, so his training in mixing colors, and creating depth in paintings didn’t seem boring or redundant. In fact, I have used a couple of his tutorials to create several 16 inch by 20 inch canvas paintings. I definitely had to pause the videos to follow along, but it was totally worth it. Below you will see a fall landscape tutorial he made and the version that I was able to create following along with him. 

4) Acrylic Painting: Palette Knife Painting Tutorials (Skill Level – Medium/Advanced)

This channel is wonderful if you have some basic knowledge of acrylics and some palette knives lying around. I had to purchase some and wait before I could start doing this one. Once they arrived, I used this tutorial to create the rainbow forest painting for a friend and I loved how it came out. I was surprised that it was easier than I was expecting. I think you will be surprised too!

5) Watercolor Painting: MarenaArt Tutorials (Skill level – Medium/Advanced)

I love the tutorials on ocean paintings from this channel. The artist who teaches has a great skill for sharing new techniques and ideas for those that have some skill but want to learn more. I’ve been using her techniques to teach my friends how to make new paintings. I highly recommend her and think you would really enjoy her work.

If you read all the way to the end, I hope you found this list of free watercolor and acrylic painting tutorials helpful! If you have any tutorials you would recommend, please leave them in the comments below, I would love to learn about more. Also, if you have any friends that may be interested in this article, please feel free to share.

Best,

Arpita