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Pointillism is probably one of the most difficult painting techniques, because dots of paint are applied individually to the canvas. Are you curious about what pointillism exactly means? Then read on!
Pointillism - The technique that brings colours to the foreground
Each art era produced different techniques. One of them is pointillism. Thistechnique of painting was especially popular during post-impressionism. The French painter Georges Seurat is considered the pioneer and founder of pointillism. It is a very demanding painting technique, which allows you to paint more details on the canvas.
Tip: Also take a look at our Paint by Numbers motifs, where you can choose from pointillist art paintings
The History of Pointillism
Pointillist painting is not primarily about recordingparticularly realistic snapshots on canvas. The purpose of this technique is to pre-compose a painting and its parts, because the composition is decisive.
However, this painting technique is not only known for its detailed pictorial composition. The most striking feature of pointillist painting is the way the paint is applied. The colours are placed in small dots on the canvas. Pointillist painters used only normal colours and are not mixed beforehand.
Colour mixtures are only created on the canvas itself. Pointillism uses so-called simultaneous contrast and the resulting additive colour mixing. When a pointillist painting is viewed from a certain distance, the human eye blends the individual dots of colour into larger areas of colour. This has the advantage that the colours appear much more intense compared to mixed colours.
To this day, pointillism and the approach behind it has a major influence on art and is also present in your daily life. Digital photography, for example, works on the same principle.Images are made up of small dots of colour, called pixels, which together form the actual motif.
Paint yourself pointillistically on a canvas
To create pointillist paintings, you need to take certain things into account. On the one hand, you have to choose the right colours. Colours that are water-based and can be painted first, such as watercolor paint, are unsuitable for pointillism. It is best to work with very impasto colours, such as acrylic paint (not water-based), oil paint or gouache & tempera. With this you will easily succeed in creating individually defined dots of colour. Alsothe choice of brushes is critical. The colour dots should be quite small to create the illusion of colour transitions and colour blends. Round brushes are best suited for this. The brush should be thoroughly cleaned before each new colour to be painted to avoid colour mixing.
Pointillism is very demanding and labor intensive. Trying to paint a big picture right away can quickly become demotivating. It is best to first use smaller canvases for your motifs. This ensures faster visible progress. Cardboard can also be an excellent alternative to canvas.
