{"title":"How to Glaze With Acrylics - Grisaille Underpainting and Color Glazes","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/painting/how-to-glaze-with-acrylics","category":{"slug":"painting","name":"Painting"},"creator":{"name":"Drawing & Painting - The Virtual Instructor","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCULpiAa8nIl_e68y59VYjHQ","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huescUFe3aI"},"tldr":"How to glaze with acrylics: paint a grey underpainting, mix see-through glazes with medium, layer the colour and finish with bright highlights.","quickAnswer":"How to glaze with acrylics: paint a grey underpainting, mix see-through glazes with medium, layer the colour and finish with bright highlights. A medium project: about 4 hours, plus 1 hour to dry or set. You need 10 things, including canvas or canvas panel, acrylic paints and acrylic glazing medium. The 10 steps start with start the Grey Underpainting for an Acrylic Glaze, block In the Darkest Values of the Underpainting and build Lighter Greys to Model the Underpainting.","totalDurationSeconds":843,"videoDurationSeconds":843,"difficulty":"medium","project":{"difficulty":"medium","projectMinutes":240,"waitMinutes":60,"totalMinutes":300,"estimatedCost":null,"yield":null},"tools":["soft synthetic flat brush","small round brushes","palette","water cup","pencil"],"materials":["canvas or canvas panel","acrylic paints","carbon black and titanium white acrylic","acrylic glazing medium","paper towels"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Start the Grey Underpainting for an Acrylic Glaze","text":"Begin with a light pencil contour drawing on the canvas. Then mix carbon black and titanium white into a few greys and start painting. This black and white stage is the underpainting. It sits under all the colour, so focus only on value, meaning how light or dark each area is. Squint at your reference if the shapes of light and shadow are hard to see."},{"number":2,"title":"Block In the Darkest Values of the Underpainting","text":"Work one section at a time. Cover the whole shape with the base tone that fills most of it. The cherry topping here is mostly dark, so it gets a flat dark grey first. For areas that are mostly dark, start dark and work up to the lights. For areas that are mostly light, do the opposite and add the darks last."},{"number":3,"title":"Build Lighter Greys to Model the Underpainting","text":"Over the dark base, add lighter and lighter greys to bring out the form and texture. Compare each new value with the ones beside it. A grey can look darker next to white and lighter next to black, so you will often go back and adjust. Aim for a close match to your reference, not a photograph. Your own way of seeing is part of your style."},{"number":4,"title":"Add Bright Highlights to the Grey Underpainting","text":"Finish the underpainting with the strong highlights. Shiny surfaces like the cherry and the wet topping catch the light wherever their form changes. Use less water so the white sits thick and bright. Work the stem the same way: a base tone, then darker and lighter values. The light here comes from the right, so the stem is lighter on that side."},{"number":5,"title":"Mix an Acrylic Glaze With Glazing Medium and Water","text":"Now for the colour. Mix a small amount of paint with a generous amount of glazing medium and a bit of water. The glaze should be very translucent, so you can see the palette through it. Matt uses cerulean blue with a touch of Viridian for the tablecloth. You are not aiming for full colour in one coat. Each layer adds a little more."},{"number":6,"title":"Brush a Thin Yellow Acrylic Glaze Over the Plate","text":"Glaze the background areas first. Several blue glazes go on the tablecloth, then a yellow glaze of Indian yellow and cadmium yellow light goes over the plate. Brush it out thin with a soft flat brush so no strokes show. The yellow may look too strong now. That is fine, because later layers will quiet it down. A little raw umber warms the shadows."},{"number":7,"title":"Mute an Acrylic Glaze With a Thin White Glaze","text":"Glazing does more than add colour. It can tone a colour down or change its value. Here a thin glaze of titanium white goes over the plate to soften the yellow and lighten it slightly. Use a soft nylon brush so the white goes on evenly. Keep adjusting the plate with glazes until the highlights, shadows and colour feel right to you."},{"number":8,"title":"Glaze the Cherry With Layers of Red Acrylic","text":"Move on to the cherry. Mix a glaze of cadmium red light with a touch of alizarin crimson. Brush several thin layers over the whole cherry and the stem, letting each one dry first. With every layer the red grows stronger, while the highlights and shadows from the underpainting keep showing through. That is where the glow comes from."},{"number":9,"title":"Build Up Crimson Acrylic Glazes on the Topping","text":"The cheesecake itself gets several glazes of Indian yellow, titanium white and a touch of raw umber, with a browner mix on the crust. For the cherry topping, mix alizarin crimson with a little cadmium red light. Layer it on again and again. Each glaze deepens the red and makes the topping look more glossy and see-through."},{"number":10,"title":"Restore the Highlights Over the Acrylic Glazes","text":"The glazes will have dulled your brightest spots. Go back with thick titanium white and a fine brush and put the strong highlights back on the topping and the cherry. This is direct painting, not glazing, so do not thin it much. Those crisp white marks are what make the topping look wet and shiny, and they finish the painting."}],"commonProblems":[],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-10-19T13:55:04.470Z","published":"2026-10-19T13:55:04.292Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}