Is there anything more beautiful than a sunset? Isn’t it only natural as artists that we would want to capture something as beautiful and precious as the setting sun in our artwork? I think so, that is why one of the first things many beginners want to learn is how to paint a sunset with acrylics.
Today I am featuring the work of the very talented artist Chuck Black with a handful of beautiful step by step acrylic painting demonstrations of sunsets from his YouTube Channel which you can visit here. Chuck has a really great channel filled with lots of free tips, techniques and demonstrations. Show him your support and subscribe to his channel today! Be sure to check out his website as well!
Painting a Realistic Sunset in Acrylics
In “Painting a Realistic Sunset in Acrylics,” Chuck Black guides viewers through creating a sunset painting using acrylic paints on a 12 by 16-inch canvas panel. Initially, he decides to paint over a pre-existing sketch on the canvas, emphasizing the clean slate approach for his audience. In the description section of the video on YouTube, Chuck lists all materials, including the brushes and acrylic paint colors used in the tutorial. He selects titanium white, carbon black, quinacridone magenta, phthalo blue (green shade), cadmium yellow, and cadmium orange.
He begins by segmenting the painting process into major color sections of the sky, focusing on the sun, the area immediately around the sun, and the shadows higher up in the sky. For the area around the sun, Black mixes phthalo blue and yellow with a touch of white, using a paper towel and water jars to adjust the paint consistency. As he moves towards painting the sun, he simplifies the palette to just yellow and white. He introduces quinacridone magenta for the shadows and further parts of the sky, emphasizing that any magenta can work. However, he prefers quinacridone for its vibrancy and how it interacts with other colors to create a realistic sunset glow.
Acrylic Painting Lesson | Sunset and water landscape
In this tutorial, “Acrylic Painting Lesson | Sunset and water landscape,” Chuck Black demonstrates how to paint a sunset reflecting off lake water using Golden fluid acrylics on a 16×20 inch stretched canvas. He starts by establishing the horizon just above the center of the canvas, using a blend of titanium white, primary yellow, cerulean blue, carbon black, quinacridone red, and cad red. Black emphasizes the importance of starting with the sun’s placement, using white and a touch of yellow to create a rich yet subtly blended circle representing the sun off-center on the canvas.
He then washes the brush and mixes white, primary yellow, and a little cad red to create an orange hue for the horizon above the line, blending it into the yellow to glaze the canvas with a thin layer of paint for colorization. As he progresses, Chuck considers the placement of clouds, creating a gray mix with white and a touch of black. This foundational work sets the stage for the detailed painting of the sunset and its reflection on the water, focusing on achieving realism through careful blending and color choice.
Painting One of the BEST Sunsets I’ve Seen!
In the tutorial “Painting One of the BEST Sunsets I’ve Seen!” Chuck Black shares a step-by-step process for painting a vivid sunset scene with acrylic paints. He begins by setting the scene based on a reference photo taken near the Yellowstone River, aiming to capture the stunning sky and its reflection in the river. The colors used in this painting include cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, phthalo blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium red, quinacridone magenta, carbon black, and titanium white. He emphasizes the importance of having a variety of colors to depict the sunset’s gradient and glow accurately.
Chuck starts the painting process with the sky, using a mix of ultramarine blue, a bit of black, and magenta to create a deep, rich top layer. To achieve consistency and transparency, he incorporates a glazing medium and water into his paints. Chuck uses an angular brush to blend colors, allowing precise control over the painting’s details. As he moves from the top of the canvas, he transitions the colors to lighter shades, ensuring a smooth gradient that mimics the natural blending of colors in a sunset. The goal is to create a luminous effect where the yellows, oranges, and reds seamlessly merge into the darker blues without becoming muddy, capturing the sunset’s breathtaking beauty.
Acrylic Seascape Painting Techniques | Sunset at the beach
In “Acrylic Seascape Painting Techniques | Sunset at the Beach,” Chuck Black delivers a comprehensive tutorial on painting a beach scene at sunset using Golden fluid acrylics. Chuck executes the painting on a 16×20-inch stretched canvas, aiming to capture the essence of the ocean, waves, and a captivating sunset. He begins by outlining the necessary colors for this painting: titanium white, carbon black, cerulean blue, primary yellow, cadmium orange, and cadmium red.
To start, Chuck sketches the scene using a mix of black, white, and a bit of blue with a round brush, focusing on placing the sun in the middle of the canvas. He emphasizes creating a variation in cloud sizes to enhance the painting’s depth, with larger clouds positioned higher to appear closer and smaller clouds lower in the scene to convey distance. Following the sketch, Chuck initiates the painting process around the sun, using white and gradually incorporating yellow to blend outward softly. He uses a circle motion technique to blend the colors seamlessly, creating a glowing effect around the sun. As he moves further from the sun, Chuck introduces orange mixed with white, carefully layering around the yellow to enrich the sunset’s vibrant hues. This meticulous blending of colors and thoughtful placement of elements brings the seascape to life, capturing a beach sunset’s serene yet dynamic nature.
How to Paint a Gorgeous Sunset | Acrylic Painting
In “How to Paint a Gorgeous Sunset | Acrylic Painting,” Chuck Black shares his process for creating a sunset mountain landscape using acrylic paints. He starts a new painting, expressing excitement about its potential and noting that it will be a two-part series, with the current video focusing on painting the sky, sun, and clouds above the horizon line. The painting is on a 16×20 inch stretched canvas, which Chuck prepares beforehand, as detailed in another video.
Chuck decides on a low horizon line for the sunset scene, a subject he loves and frequently paints. Using a three-quarter-inch flat brush, he begins by covering the foreground to minimize the white canvas exposure, explaining that reducing white space helps when painting sunsets. This initial step sets the stage for adding layers of color and detail to create the vibrant sky and cloud effects characteristic of a beautiful sunset. Throughout the video, Chuck demonstrates techniques for blending acrylics in the clouds, making the sunset glow, and layering the paints to achieve a realistic acrylic landscape.
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