Easy Step-by-Step Sunset Acrylic Painting for Beginners

Gather all of your tools, and let’s start the sunset acrylic painting!

First, I stick a masking tape around the corners, it helps to get the clean borders at the end. I am a messy person, and I sometimes even mix the colors on the tape so it is important to get some help and keep things neat and clean!

I started with a thin layer of white paint, not sure why I did it (as the canvas is already prepared) or if it going to make any difference, but I just felt like doing it. It made the background a bit smoother, though and helped with blending. Then, I used a blue color on the top right side. I added more to the right because I wanted to capture the colors of the sunset rather than the sun part.

You can also darken the blue on the corners to give it more depth and a darker appearance, but I wanted it more vibrant, so I didn’t. I proceeded to add a bit of red along the blue and blended them, which created a bit of a purplish hue on the border. As you move to the left, add a bit of orange color (by mixing red and yellow).

And then, I proceeded with yellow on the left to give it a sunny appearance. Blending these colors gives a smoother transition.

To paint the river, I’ll repeat the same process in the reverse direction. So, starting with yellow and leading it to red. I didn’t add blue in the reflection to make it appear dark and vibrant.

After blending the base shades, we now need to add some drama! So, I started adding a bit of yellow and red color for clouds. They don’t have to cover the entire sky, and could be on one side for an asymmetrical look and don’t need any details as they are pretty far away. So, any random strokes of color will do the job.

Using a smaller brush with black and grey paint, create a thin line of tiny mountains along the division between the sky and the river. These mountains are small to give an impression of distance and stretched from one side of the canvas to the other. Add some grey areas to these mountains for depth and texture.

To give the sky a more dramatic effect, use a small brush to layer more red on top of the blue area on the right side (clouds again). Try to maintain a natural transition of colors to intensify your sky and add more depth.

Repeating the same process for the river, except I am using more maroon here to give more darker appearance. Add random strokes of yellow, red and maroon, yellow for the brightest area and vice versa. If you want to create a sense of depth, add a few darker (you could mix a tiny bit of black or blue with your red) and lighter (add a little white or yellow) clouds as well. I have also added some more clouds on the sky, which I don’t really like, honestly, but they turned out to be okay at the end.

And, for the finishing effect, I am using my smallest detail brush and black paint to paint a tiny silhouette of a boat on the river. You can choose to place it anywhere, but preferably, it should be on the area where the color of the water is brightest. This will help the silhouette stand out. For an added effect, use the yellow or white paint to add a small dot on the boat to represent a light.

And, our sunset acrylic painting is ready! Just wait for it to dry and remove the masking tape to reveal the crisp border, which makes it look so much better!