How to choose the right brand of Acrylic Paint!

     You know , we get into this nit pick about ,what brand  and type of Acrylic paints should we use on our paintings.

 And some artist suggest a real expensive brand while other artist will paint with very inexpensive brands.


  We'll not all of us are sure what to use. But this is what I know and this is how I figure the brand I will paint with  my paintings. 


 The facts are these:

       1. Some acrylic paints will dry fast and  some will dry slower.
 Many Acrylic brands come in what they call, soft body, medium body and heavy body. This is some of the reasons why the acrylic paints will dry faster than others.

This means  if the paint is soft bodied it is more likely to be  thin paint ,translucent or near translucent. It is basically used to glaze or create a shadow effect over your paintings ,where you need shading. It will not be thick enough to cover another color .  And it will not leave a texture that you might want to create with a brush or  a painting knife.  This type paint will have  a pretty light fast drying time. Some artist like that and some don't.

The acrylic paint that is ,medium body paint is a little bit thicker . It can be used to mix with other  colors and it dries fast but not lightfast.  It can be used in different techniques but will not have very much texture and not recommended for knife painting. And it will be able to be mixed with another color to create a different .

The  heavy body acrylic paints are very thick. They are usually used to paint knife paintings and used  in  specific painting .most artist that  want to create a texture to their painting will use the heavy body paints.  Some artist that do not paint with paint knives or do not  want a texture , will use this type of paint for coverage. I mean they will use this thick paint to cover over existing paint in the picture because that is their style .However, if they are not trying to cover another color they will use an acrylic liquid mix called a medium with this paint to thin it  and make it more flowing.  Some of  these heavy acrylic paints will set up fast, but still take a long time to permanently dry.  So the style of painting that you  do  ,will depend on whether you will like using the heavy body paints.

A lot of artist will use heavy  bodies acrylics , thinking  they will thin them with water or an acrylic medium and last longer . Economically  this is a good idea, but  they some times do not use them up and sitting for a long time will dry them out.





2  Another thing we know about acrylic is that  sometimes the colors will yellow over time.




Acrylic brands of paint will  tell you they have a longer lasting use and will not yellow.

These are the paints to buy. The brand that grantees the non yellowing paint are sympathetic to professional artist needs.


Artist don't want their names tarnished with  customers complaining about yellowed paintings after a couple months.

3.    Acrylic paint is sometimes inter- mixable or sometimes not.


Whether its the intense color or whether it is to translucent . Always look at the description of the brand to see if it is capable of mixing  or not, with other colors.  And sometimes once again this will depend on if it is a soft body, medium body, or heavy body.


What is most important  is to  choose the type of body of  paint  that is perfect for your style, technique and for your needs to create your paintings.

Do you need a soft body paint?

Do you need a medium body paint?

Do you need a hard body paint?

Remember soft body is for glazes or painting acrylic like a watercolor.

Medium is for a traditional artist that wants to cover other colors on their canvas ,but have no texture or very little texture on the canvas

 Heavy body paint is for artist who like texture in their art work and  or  create with paint knives.

 Always consider your intensity and hue of the brands paint. If you love rich and bright intensity in your paintings , go for the brand that grantees this and grantees no yellowing after time.

If you are the artist that likes the painting to mellow out after painted then you will not use the high intensity brand. Go with the flow.

I have my own personal that meets most of these requirements.

I will not disclose this brand because I would like to get your feedback on your favorite brand and why.

Go ahead tell us.