How to choose your acrylic paint ?
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACRYLIC PAINT ?
It appeared in the 30s and was marketed in the 50s and 60s in the United States, then in Europe.
Today, it is used as much as oil paint.
The secret of its success? Acrylic paint is very easy to use.
What are the characteristics that make artists choose acrylic paint over other types of paint?
- It is simply diluted with water
- It dries very quickly, so you can paint quickly and layer upon layer
- Color mixes are easy to prepare
- It is very easy to apply on canvas
- It can cover many different types of surfaces
- It is odorless and not very toxic, compared to oil
- Fresh, it is easily cleaned with water
How is acrylic paint made?
More precisely, acrylic is composed of two essential elements: pigments and binder.
- The pigments: they are similar to those used for oil paint; they are of organic, mineral, natural or synthetic origin.
- The binder: it is an emulsion composed of water and an acrylic resin; the acrylic-vinyl binder is a variant; the texture and fluidity vary from one manufacturer to another.
- The first acrylic paints were made for the automotive and construction industries.
Different types of acrylics appeared and the compositions evolved rapidly (previously, acrylics were diluted with turpentine), until they became the acrylic paints we use today, which are diluted with water.
The 3 types of acrylic paints
The acrylic paint study
There are 3 types of acrylic paint.
The entry-level paint is called "study".
It is recognizable by its low price and its plastic tubes of paint. The prices are the same for a whole range of paints.
What is the advantage of the acrylic study paint? Its price!
To get started smoothly, without breaking the bank, it may be wise to start with an acrylic study painting.
Of course, being the cheapest on the market, the study paint is of lower quality than other types of paint.
It has a light pigmentation, the pigments are of low quality, and the resistance of the paint over the long term is not assured (aging, yellowing, alteration by light, etc.)
Fine acrylic paint
The fine acrylic paint is of medium range.
It is well suited to beginners or professionals who do not want to buy too expensive paint.
There are many brands that offer fine acrylic paint.
Why choose this range of paint?
Because it has a very good quality-price ratio, because it is present in all art shops and because there is a lot of choice!
The tubes are often made of plastic and the prices are the same for the whole range of paint.
What are the disadvantages of acrylic thin paint?
It is less pigmented and of lower quality than extra-fine, and paintings can be altered by weather, light and suffer minor deterioration due to the aging of the work.
Extra-fine acrylic paint
Extra-fine acrylic paint is the best type of paint available.
It is the top of the line acrylic paint, specially designed for professionals.
Extra-fine paint differs from the other two in that it offers "series", often numbered from 1 to 6, with different prices.
The advantages of extra-fine acrylic paint are obvious: excellent quality, very concentrated pigmentation, easy to find in the market, offers very nice results on a canvas and the tubes are made of aluminum.
Its disadvantages? It is expensive, series 5 and 6 can be very expensive depending on the pigments used, and hindsight is not yet fully assured (the paint can be altered in tens or hundreds of years).
Our advice? This is not a recommended paint for beginners: to do a lot of testing, don't spend your entire art budget on tubes of extra-fine acrylic paint and focus on the study or fine range, depending on your preferences.
Which acrylic to choose for a beginner?
Acrylics are ideal for painting your first pictures and for practicing on paper or cardboard. If you are a beginner, the goal is not to spend a large budget on supplies and paint. Remember that wasting paint is a must! It is advisable to choose a study or fine paint to start with acrylics. The study range is designed for small budgets and students. The fine range offers better quality paint tubes at a slightly higher price. You can reserve the study paint for your sketches and use fine acrylic for your canvases, for example.
Why use acrylic mediums?
Do you like to experiment and innovate? Then acrylic mediums are for you! For a few years now, the market has been booming.
New products appear every year on the shelves.These mediums are perfect for making mixed media paintings, for example, or for playing with the material and viscosity of the paint. There are almost no texture mediums for oil paint.
Acrylic has the advantage of being able to vary the effects with these products! For an acrylic painting, you can add impasto, have a very fluid paint, add a matte or glossy effect, have sandy effects, cracks, relief, creamy textures, delay the drying, make glazes, etc.
If you like mixed media painting, don't hesitate to combine acrylic mediums and collages.
What is the price of acrylic paint?
Acrylic prices vary depending on the brand, quality and size of the paint. Some brands specialize in high-end acrylic paint and offer extra-fine paint. Others, on the other hand, have entered the field of study acrylic paint and make paint at low prices.
You will find tubes of paint at 1 € and others that are around 10 €, for the same size!
But you can't go wrong, in painting, the more expensive the tube, the more quality pigments are used.
Before you embark on a painting acrylic, it is important to define your needs, your desires and your budget.
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