If you're using acrylic paints, you've made a fantastic choice! In so many ways, you have made the right decision. Overall, acrylic paints are less expensive than oil paints, but they still allow you to achieve the rich colors and buttery, thick look of paints. Additionally, you can work quickly and remain mobile as an artist using acrylics because they dry quickly and are both water-soluble and water-resistant when dry. This is especially helpful for landscape and plein air painters. There is a lot to learn about acrylics, and this page will teach you how to choose the best acrylic paint for you, which includes what should go on your palette and whether you should use it at all.  

Key Considerations When Choosing Acrylic Paints  

When using acrylic paints, look for a high pigment richness. This means less filler and more color.  

• Pigment Richness Seek for paints with a high pigment richness level.  
• Durability and Fast Drying: Make sure the paints have a flexible resin binder to stop cracking, harden without breaking, and dry rapidly.  
• Regular Drying Rate: Acrylic colors have to dry uniformly, in contrast to oils.  
• Permanence: Select acrylics with the labels "permanent" or "extremely permanent," which denotes that they will not deteriorate, turn yellow, or change over time.  
• Pricing and Quality: Recognize the differences in paint quality between student and professional brands. Artist-grade paints are more expensive but have more bright colors and less filler than student-grade acrylics, but also excellent for experimentation.  
• Consistency and Color Range: Note that names and hues of colors can differ. 

Choosing Your Ideal Acrylic Paint: Tube or Jar?  

Acrylic Tube Colors  

• Consistency: Tube colors have an oil paint-like substance and consistent thickness. 
• Best For: Palette knife painting and impasto techniques. 

Acrylic Jar Colors  

• Consistency: Thinner and more refined compared to pigment tubes. 
• Best For: Watercolor techniques and large-scale projects. 
• Finish: Typically dry more matte than tube colors. 

Liquid Acrylics  

• Consistency: The thinnest type of acrylic, with viscosity and fluidity similar to drawing inks. 
• Best For: Calligraphy, wash methods, and pen and ink drawing. 

Learn How to Paint with Acrylics by Understanding Your Medium  

• Surface media are used to prime and prepare surfaces such as boards, canvases, and paper for painting.  
• Fluid media frequently thin paint, slow down the acrylics' quick drying, and alter the look of pigments.  
• Gel media changes the opacity and thickness of paint.  
• To keep fast-drying acrylics wetter for longer, add retarding medium.  
• A flat appearance is achieved using matte medium, but the color intensity is reduced. 

Acrylic Painting for Beginners  

You don't need to purchase a ton of paint when you first start painting with acrylics to produce vibrant artwork that covers the gamut. This is a suggested acrylic painting palette that has a small number of colors that you can combine to create a large variety of shades: 

Red Cadmium   

• Properties: A very bright, warm pigment that is opaque.  
• Uses: Excellent for producing warm mixtures and vivid reds.  

Everlasting Rose   

• Features: This translucent hue is perfect for blending purple hues.  
• Uses: Excellent for producing deep purples and pinks.  

Yellow Ocher   

• Properties: Not very tintable; semi-opaque.  
• Uses: Because of its earthy tones, it's essential for landscapes and portraiture.  

Cadmium Pale yellow   

• Qualities: Excellent tinting power.  
• Uses: Great for producing warm, vivid yellows and enhancing mixes. 

Blue Phthalocyanine  

• Properties: Strong, icy blue tone; transparent. 
• Uses: Adaptable for producing vivid greens and rich blues. 

Blue Ultramarine  

• Properties: Strong tinting properties, transparent, warm blue tone. 
• Applications: Good for warm blue mixtures, water, and skies. 

Burned Umber  

• Properties: Rich, intensely saturated hue that is semi-opaque. 
• Uses: Ideal for giving shadows and mixtures more warmth and depth. 

White Titanium  

• Properties: Luminous and opaque. 
• Uses: It is crucial for highlighting and lightening colors. Before zinc white became more widely available, this was the main acrylic white offered. 

You may create a wide range of tones and tints with these eight colors, making painting a flexible and exciting experience. 

Extras for Acrylic Painting   

Remember that acrylics come in all of the following colors if you want to go beyond the "normal" hues you will find with them.   

• Metalized  
• iridescent  
• Luminous  
• Brilliant pearl 

In Summary

Considerations for selecting the ideal acrylic paint include consistency, drying time, pigmentation, and personal tastes. Affordably priced paints should be chosen while taking your artistic vision and style into account. To find the paints that work best for you, don't be afraid to try new kinds of experiment, and learn different painting styles. Take pleasure in the acrylic painting process and allow your imagination to run wild.