Acrylic Paint- Tips for Beginners

Acrylic paint, when compared with other mediums like oil paint, is a fairly new addition to the world of painting. Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints are an extremely versatile paint medium. Acrylics paints can be thinned with water, or can be used straight from the tubes like oil paints. Acrylic paint does not yellow or harden with age like oils. Some other benefits of acrylic paints are their permanence and ease of use.

Since acrylic paint dries so quickly, colors can be applied and layered quicker than oil paints. But with this fast drying time comes a few disadvantages:

1) The paint will not remain workable for very long, so you have to work fast.

2) Brushes can be ruined if you do not clean them right away.

3) If you plan to paint outdoors, then acrylic paint is probably not the best medium to use, especially on a hot sunny day. When you lay out your colors on a palette or other surface, they will begin to dry quickly forming skins on the surface, making them quite difficult to work with. In this case you should work with acrylic slow drying medium.

4)Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water resistant when dry.

Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolour or an oil painting, or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media.