How to create texture in acrylic painting: six methods explained
One of the most exciting qualities of acrylic paint is its ability to create genuine physical texture — not just the appearance of texture, but raised, three-dimensional surfaces that you can see and feel. This is something watercolour and most other mediums simply cannot do, and it is one of the key reasons that many painters are drawn to acrylics in the first place.
Texture in acrylic painting can be as subtle as a lightly brushed dry brush stroke or as bold as thick impasto ridges that cast their own shadows. It can be created with the paint itself, with mediums mixed into the paint, or with entirely separate materials added to the surface. This guide covers six of the most accessible and effective methods, from the simplest techniques that require nothing more than a stiff brush through to more adventurous approaches using modelling paste and found materials.
Why texture matters in painting
Before getting into the methods, it is worth understanding why texture is such a valuable tool — not just a decorative effect.
Texture creates visual interest by giving light somewhere to catch and shadow somewhere to fall. A smooth, flat surface reflects light evenly and uniformly. A textured surface reflects light differently across its peaks and valleys, creating subtle variation in tone and luminosity that makes the eye travel across the painting more naturally.
Texture also creates contrast. A smooth, detailed area surrounded by rough, textured paint immediately reads as a focal point. A heavily textured background can make a more controlled foreground element appear to advance toward the viewer. Used deliberately, texture is a powerful compositional tool as well as a surface effect.
Finally, texture gives paintings a physical presence that reproductions simply cannot capture. A textured painting looks different depending on where you stand, how the light falls, and what angle you view it from — and that quality is one of the things that makes original paintings irreplaceable.
Method 1: Impasto with a palette knife
This is the most direct and dramatic way to create texture in acrylic painting, and the one most associated with painters like Van Gogh whose swirling, dimensional brushwork is immediately recognisable from across a room.
Impasto simply means applying paint thickly enough that the marks remain raised and three-dimensional on the surface. Use heavy body acrylic paint straight from the tube — do not add water — and apply it with a palette knife rather than a brush. The flat blade of the knife allows you to spread, scrape, press, and lift paint in ways a brush cannot. Drag the knife across the canvas to create long, flat ridges. Press and lift to create peaks. Overlap layers to build up complex textures over time.
To extend the paint further and increase the body without the cost of using enormous quantities of paint, mix in a small amount of impasto gel or modelling paste. These mediums add volume and thickness, dry to a solid surface, and do not significantly change the colour. Wallace Seymour produce both gloss and matt impasto gels that we stock alongside their acrylic paints at Craft and Canvas.
Best for: expressive landscapes, abstract work, seascapes, any subject where bold, energetic marks suit the subject matter.
Method 2: Dry brushing for surface texture
Dry brushing is a subtler approach than impasto but produces highly convincing textural effects with very little paint and minimal preparation. It is one of the most useful techniques in the acrylic painter's repertoire and particularly effective in landscapes.
Load a small amount of paint onto a stiff-bristled brush, then wipe most of it off on a piece of kitchen roll until the brush is almost dry. Drag the brush lightly and quickly across a dry painted surface. Because the brush is nearly dry, it deposits paint only on the raised points of the canvas texture, leaving the hollows untouched. The result is a broken, irregular mark that suggests rough surfaces — bark, stone, grass, sparkle on water — with remarkable economy.
Dry brushing is at its most effective when used over a dried darker layer. The lighter dry brush catches the raised texture and sits on top of the darker colour below, immediately creating the impression of light falling across a three-dimensional surface.
Best for: foliage, stone, water highlights, fur, aged or weathered surfaces, adding surface interest to backgrounds.
Method 3: Modelling paste and texture mediums
Modelling paste is one of the most versatile texture tools available to acrylic painters. It is a thick, white, paste-like medium that can be applied to canvas or board before or during painting to build up three-dimensional forms. It dries hard and solid, holds impressed textures and marks, and can be painted over once dry with any acrylic colour.
Apply modelling paste with a palette knife, a brush, or any other tool, and work it into whatever texture or form you want while it is still wet. You can press objects into it — fabric, mesh, leaves, crumpled paper — to leave their impression. You can drag a comb, a fork, or a credit card through it to create linear patterns. You can build it up in layers to create relief elements. Once completely dry, it accepts paint in exactly the same way as a primed canvas.
Light modelling paste is a more workable version that dries slightly lighter in weight — useful for large areas. Heavy modelling paste is denser and better for building pronounced relief forms. Both are available in the Wallace Seymour range.
Best for: creating specific surface effects before painting begins — bark texture, stonework, architectural elements, abstract relief work, mixed media pieces.
Method 4: Sgraffito — scratching into wet paint
Sgraffito (from the Italian word for scratched) is the technique of scratching or scraping into wet paint to reveal the layer beneath. It creates linear marks, patterns, and textures that are impossible to achieve with a brush alone, and gives the surface a raw, energetic quality.
Apply a layer of paint over a dried contrasting layer beneath — for example, a dark colour over a light gessoed surface, or a warm colour over a cool one. While the upper layer is still wet, use any sharp or pointed tool — the end of a brush handle, a palette knife edge, a comb, a cocktail stick, or a purpose-made sgraffito tool — to scratch lines and marks into the wet paint. The upper layer is displaced and the lower layer is revealed in those scratched areas.
The effect varies enormously depending on how wet the paint is, how deeply you scratch, and what tool you use. Fine lines scratched with the tip of a brush handle look very different from broad scrapes made with a palette knife edge. Experiment with pressure, angle, and timing to explore the range of marks available.
Best for: suggesting grass, hair, fur, wood grain, foliage detail, architectural texture, and any subject where fine linear marks add character. Also very effective in abstract work where the visible history of mark-making adds depth and interest.
Method 5: Adding materials to the paint
Acrylics are uniquely well suited to mixed media work because they will adhere to almost anything and serve as both a paint and an adhesive. Adding dry materials to wet acrylic — or mixing them directly into the paint — is a simple and effective way to create genuine tactile texture.
Sand mixed into acrylic paint produces a gritty, granular surface ideal for suggesting beaches, stone, earth, or any rough outdoor surface. Fine sand gives a subtle grain; coarser sand creates a more pronounced texture. Mix it directly into the paint on your palette before applying, or sprinkle it onto a wet painted surface and press it in.
Sawdust, rice, or fine gravel can be mixed in similarly for different textures — each material creates its own characteristic surface quality. Fine rice mixed into a dark impasto application produces a surface that is remarkably convincing as weathered stone or bark once painted over.
Fabric and collage materials — lace, hessian, string, tissue paper, torn paper — can be pressed into wet modelling paste or gel medium to embed their texture into the surface permanently. Once dry and painted over, these materials become invisible except for the texture they leave behind.
The key practical point is that all added materials must be mixed with or embedded in an acrylic medium rather than simply glued, as some adhesives do not bond permanently to a flexible painted surface.
Best for: heavily textured landscapes, abstract work, mixed media pieces, subjects where you want a genuinely physical surface quality that cannot be achieved with paint alone.
Method 6: Gesso texturing before you paint
Many painters overlook the surface preparation stage as an opportunity to build texture, but applying gesso in a deliberately textured way before any paint goes on is one of the most effective approaches available — and it costs almost nothing extra.
Apply a coat of gesso to your canvas or board using a stiff brush and work the gesso into varied, directional marks rather than smoothing it out evenly. Allow this to dry, then apply a second coat in a different direction. The layers of textured gesso create a surface with genuine character — different from the uniform grid of a manufactured canvas — that responds beautifully to the paint applied on top.
You can also add materials to the gesso itself. Sand mixed into gesso creates an immediately gritty ground. Tissue paper torn and embedded in wet gesso creates a surface with irregular ridges and hollows that catches paint unpredictably and attractively.
Once the gessoed surface is dry, paint directly on top in the normal way. The texture beneath will show through thin washes and catch dry brush strokes in ways a flat primed canvas cannot.
Best for: painters who want a more interesting ground to work on without committing to heavy texture across the whole painting. Particularly effective for portraits and still life where the background is textured but the main subject is painted more smoothly.
Combining methods
These six methods are not mutually exclusive — in fact, combining them is where the most interesting results emerge. A painting might start with a textured gesso ground, use modelling paste to build specific relief areas, develop with impasto palette knife work in the main forms, and then use dry brushing and sgraffito for surface detail. Each method creates a different kind of texture and a different scale of mark, and the interplay between them gives a painting a richness and complexity that any single method alone cannot achieve.
The guiding principle is contrast — smooth areas read as smooth only when set against rough ones, and vice versa. The most effective textured paintings tend to use texture deliberately and selectively rather than covering the entire surface uniformly.
Frequently asked questions about texture in acrylic painting
Do I need special paint to create texture? Not necessarily. Heavy body acrylic paint straight from the tube contains enough body to hold impasto marks and dry brush effects without any additions. However, for more pronounced or durable texture, mixing in an impasto gel or modelling paste extends the paint, increases body, and produces a more solid dried surface.
Can you create texture on canvas board as well as stretched canvas? Yes. Canvas board handles texture mediums very well and is actually a more stable surface than stretched canvas for heavy texture, as there is less flex in the support. The texture will not crack as the support moves, which can occasionally be an issue with very thick impasto on a stretched canvas.
How long does modelling paste take to dry? This depends on how thickly it is applied. Thin applications dry within an hour or two; thick applications can take 24 hours or more. It is important to allow modelling paste to dry fully before painting over it — painting on partially dry paste can cause cracking.
Will thick texture crack over time? Properly applied acrylic texture — using appropriate acrylic mediums rather than adding excessive water — is very durable and flexible. The acrylic polymer binder remains flexible when dry, which means the surface can flex slightly without cracking. Very thick applications (over about 5mm) can sometimes crack if the support moves, which is why rigid supports like canvas board or wooden panel are preferable for extreme impasto.
Can you varnish a textured acrylic painting? Yes, and it is recommended for finished work. Texture surfaces collect dust more readily than flat surfaces, and a coat of varnish protects the painting and makes it easier to clean. Use a soft brush or a spray varnish to ensure the varnish reaches into all the hollows of the texture. A satin varnish is a good general choice as it neither deadens the surface with too much matte nor makes it uncomfortably shiny.
Is texture suitable for all subjects? No — this is an important point. Heavy texture in the wrong context can work against the painting. Very fine botanical illustration or portrait work in the realist tradition is undermined by a rough, distracting surface. Texture works best where the subject and the treatment are matched — expressive landscapes, abstract work, seascapes, and subjects that benefit from energy and physicality all suit texture well. Subjects that require smooth, controlled surfaces are better served by a well-primed, flat ground.
Shop acrylic texture supplies at Craft and Canvas
We stock a full range of acrylic texture mediums at Craft and Canvas in Hebden Bridge and online at craftandcanvas.co.uk — including Wallace Seymour impasto gel (gloss and matt), modelling paste, gesso, and acrylic primer, alongside the full range of Wallace Seymour, Winsor & Newton, and Daler-Rowney acrylic paints and palette knives. If you have questions about which mediums to use for a specific effect, come in and ask — we are happy to help.
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