How to Splatter Paint: Easy Techniques & Tutorial (2024)

Co-authored byAntoine de Villiersand Annie Johnston

Last Updated: July 18, 2024Fact Checked

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Paint Splatter Techniques

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   Protect your clothing and workspace. When preparing to splatter paint, wear clothes that you wouldn’t mind getting paint on like an old t-shirt, work pants, raggedy shoes, etc. Paint splattering can get messy, so it’s important to find a work area that is open and contains very few objects that could get ruined by splattered paint. de Villiers advises that once you have the focal point of where the paint is going to be splattered, protect the area around your canvas from getting splattered with paint.

   • Consider wearing an apron if you want to protect your clothing even more.
   • You may want to wear protective gloves when splatting paint since the paint gets everywhere.
   • Plastic tarp and drop cloths work well for covering large areas behind your canvas such as walls and the floor.^[1]
   • If you are working on a smaller canvas, consider laying out newspaper behind your canvas.
   • If your canvas is positioned upright, rather than lying on the floor, protect the area behind the canvas, as well as below it. Paint will surely get on the floor when you’re splattering, and with gravity, paint may even drip down off the canvas onto the floor.
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   Set up your canvas. There are many options for situating your canvas. As noted by de Villiers, you can lay your canvas on a table or on the floor, mount the canvas to a wall, position the canvas on an easel, or even prop the canvas on a chair. However you position your canvas, be sure that it is secure and won’t move.

   • If you are painting an object rather than a canvas, make sure that the object is secure where you position it and won’t move out of place.

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   Set up your paints and palette. Keep in mind that thicker paints, like acrylics and oils, work best for splattering paint. However, most of the time, splatter patterns turn out better when the paints are watered down a little bit.^[2] Acrylic paint can be diluted with water, while oil will need to be thinned out with mineral spirits. de Villiers notes that when splattered onto the canvas, looser paint, such as watercolor or gouache will have more of a splatter effect, as opposed to gloopy blob patterns made with thicker paint.

   • To loosen your paints, simply pour out your paints and keep them separated using a paint plate or plastic cups. Be generous with the amount of paint you use, splattering tends to use up more paint quickly. Then add a small amount of water to acrylic paint or mineral spirits to oil paint (approximately 1 teaspoon) and mix the paint and thinning agent together.^[3] Test the consistency of the paint. You can always add more paint to make the paint thicker, or add more water to make the paint looser.
   • Make sure that every color you plan to use has its own paintbrush. This will ensure that the paints stay separate, vibrant, and true to color.

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   Tape off areas you don't want to splatter. If you want your splatters to only be on a certain portion of the canvas, use painter's tape to surround that section, and cover up the surrounding canvas.^[4] For example, if you want to make a painting where one side is splattered with reds and oranges, and one side is splattered with blues and purples, use tape to split the canvas in half, and then cover the portion you don’t want to work on just yet. That will leave the section of the canvas you do want to focus on as the available canvas space to splatter.

   • Taping off your canvas is optional since you might not want to section off any parts, and just want to splatter all over the canvas.
   • However, if you do want to focus on splatter a specific portion of the canvas, you first must restrict that space before you start painting.
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   Dip your paintbrush into the paint. All the bristles of the brush should be saturated with paint. If the paint drips off the brush before you move toward the canvas, you may want to thicken the paint.

   • Stand back from your canvas, once you get started painting, you can experiment with the distance you stand from the canvas.
   • If you want thicker splatters, try standing closer to the canvas.
   • If you want smaller splatters, stand further back.
   • When you’re ready to splatter paint onto the canvas, pull your arm back near your head.
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   Splatter paint using a variety of techniques. With a quick whipping motion, bring your arm down toward the canvas, and flick your wrist.^[5] The quick movement will throw the paint from the brush onto the canvas, creating the splattered effect. Since splattering paint is free form, experiment with various ways of splattering. Stand at different distances from your canvas, use bigger and smaller brushes, move your arm at various speeds and directions, etc.^[6] de Villiers says using your arm and wrist is a general way to create paint splatters, but splatters can be made in various other ways:

   • Scooping: Scoop up a small amount of paint with a plastic spoon (don't use a spoon you'll eat with afterward, as even traces of the paint could be bad to ingest). Turn the spoon away from you, so the paint is facing the canvas. Hold the handle of the spoon with one hand, and pull back the top of the spoon with your other hand. Then let go of the top of the spoon to sling shot paint onto the canvas.
   • Wrist flicking: Load an ample amount of paint onto the brush and simply use your wrist to flick the brush toward the canvas. This will create harsh, concentrated splatters rather than the spread out, looser splatters made by using your entire arm to splatter the paint.
   • Straw blowing: Dip one end of a straw into the paint. Bring the straw over to your canvas, and place your mouth on the other (clean) side of the straw. Hover the straw about an inch above the canvas, and forcefully blow through the straw to transfer the paint from the straw onto the canvas. This method to splattering paint makes small, concentrated splatter marks, spreading outward from a focal point.
   • Dripping: Start by pouring different colored paints into small containers. Use a paintbrush or an eyedropper to pick up the paint. Hold the brush or dropper vertically over the paper and allow the paint to drip down, creating splatters as it falls. Experiment with varying the height and angle to control the size and direction of the splatters.
   • Toothbrush splattering: Dip the bristles of an old, discarded toothbrush into the paint. Hold the paint-loaded toothbrush over the paper or canvas. Gently run your finger along the bristles to create a splattering effect, adjusting the pressure and angle to control the intensity and direction of the paint splatters. Experiment with different techniques to achieve the desired splatter pattern on your artwork.
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   Continue painting by adding more and more splatters to the canvas. Use various brushes, paints, and techniques to give your splatter painting the most unique outcome. de Villiers explains that you may want to consider allowing each layer of splattered paint to dry before adding on more paint, and possibly blending the colors.

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1. Display your work proudly. Splatter painting is a fun project that can be made by people of all ages, so it's perfect to try out if you have kids. There are many things you can do with you or your kids' paintings when they're complete. Some ideas to try include:

   • Hang the splatter art painting on the wall, you can even frame it if you'd like.
   • Create your own unique greeting cards by cutting out small squares or rectangles from the splatter art and gluing them onto blank cards or folded cardstock.
   • Use the splatter art to make personalized book covers.
   • Utilize the splatter art as a vibrant backdrop for a DIY photo booth.
   • Transform the splatter art into unique, handmade wrapping paper.

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