Acrylic Paint – What Should I Buy?

You know you want to buy Acrylic paint but there are so many options out there. Read this article before heading out to the store. It’ll really help and you’ll feel greater confidence when you make your selection.

First of all, Steer clear of these 2 types of paint if you want to actually make Art.

• House Paint – You’ve heard that this is acrylic paint. Is it the right paint choice for making art? That’s easy. No, it’s not. It’s suitable for painting the exterior wooden surfaces of your house. While it’s nice and thick, it’s got all sorts of additives that are unsuitable for artwork. It’s expensive and comes in huge quantities. You, as a beginner, simply do not need this much of any single color of paint. Sure, you’ve probably got leftovers in the basement but please forget about using it for artwork. Move on.

• Craft Paint – These come in small quantities and seem affordable yet actually aren’t. Why? They typically have more liquid than color.  In addition, the color comes from dyes. Dyes are chemical colorants that dissolve in liquid.  In order to save money, the manufacturers use a weak concentration of the dyes thus; the colors of the paint are weak and thin. They do not mix well or make new colors that are pretty. The colors fade quickly in the light. Steer clear of these.  You’re actually paying a high price for low quality, watered down paint.  These paints are easily found in craft stores. Some brand names are: Apple Barrel, Reeves, Sets sold on Amazon with odd names you don’t recognize that are very low in price, Dollar type store brands, Artist Loft, Craft Smart, Craft Essentials, etc. My advice is to pass these by and keep walking.

Student Grade paint is an OK option if you want to make Art.

• Student Grade Paint – I get it, you don’t have a ton of spare money yet you want to use paint that’s worth your time and effort so you can get good results. You want to learn and succeed instead of wonder if you did something wrong because the paint won’t cooperate.  I’ve been in this position too.  Please know that student grade paints are certainly OK to buy, especially when you’re starting out.  The color in them is generally from pigments, not dyes. Pigments are colors that are insoluble in water and are suspended in an acrylic medium which binds it together so you don’t see chunks of pigment and chunks of acrylic; you see well mixed paint!  Student grade paints tend to have less pigment than professional grade paints. In my experience, however, the good brands have “enough” pigment so that you can create a painting that’s highly satisfactory when you’re a beginner.  If you choose an off brand, the paint might be all binder and not much pigment. If so, it’ll be weak, not combine well with other colors, and probably fade quickly.

• Which Student Grade Paints to Buy? – When buying Student Grade paints, stick with the good name brands. They’re your best bet.  Excellent brands that I’ve had personal experience with are Liquitex Basics and Blick Student Acrylics. Other brands I’ve heard of but not used are US Art Supply, Sax Art, Daler Rowney System 3, Winsor Newton Galeria. Be sure to go online and read the reviews before investing money in paints! Buy the best you can afford. Find sales, use coupons, dig around Facebook Marketplace and find used tubes that somebody just wants to get rid of. Ask around in your local Facebook groups.  There’s often somebody who gave painting a try, gave up and just wants to unload these items.

Professional Grade Paint is a Fabulous Option

• What’s so great about Professional Grade Paint? – Lots of high quality pigment and high quality binder are what make Professional grade acrylic paint worth the money.  Because of this, colors are rich and light fast. They don’t fade easily.  Colors can easily be mixed and that alone makes it economical to buy. There’s no need to buy 100 colors. You can buy a set of basic colors and mix all the other colors you can think of from those.  Since the pigment load is so strong, you use less paint. 

• Which Professional Grade Paints are OK to buy? – I’ve always bought Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics and they’ve served me well.  Other brands that I know people like are Golden, Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, Holbein, etc. Again, read the reviews, compare prices, look online to find sales and used items.

All that said, the next step is to learn more about the several variations of Professional Acrylic Paints that are on the market! I’ll tell you more about it in the next blog post!