In this article, we explore some of the best acrylic paint ranges for all skill levels and applications. Our Blog Editor, Jolyne Lauriault, an artist and illustrator who frequently works in acrylics, breaks down some of our top picks, selected for the specific requirements of a variety of practices – from those just getting started, to the particular requirements of professional artists.
Contents
The Best Acrylics for Beginners
The Best Acrylics for Students
The Best Quality for Value Acrylics
The Best Acrylics for Professional Artists
The Best Acrylics for Illustrators
The Best Acrylics for Fine Details
The Best Acrylics for Flat, Matt Works
The Best Acrylic for Textural Works
The Best Acrylics for Airbrushing
The Best Acrylics for Mural Painting
The best acrylics for beginners:
If you are new to painting, acrylic is widely regarded as a great medium to begin your painting journey. Clean-up is easy, and acrylics are solvent-free – allowing you to work in an impromptu studio space. Acrylics are also extremely versatile, making it possible to explore a wide range of techniques and applications. Arta Acrylics offer a budget-friendly option that gives beginners the freedom to experiment with acrylic paints without compromising on vibrancy.
Colour range: Available in a set of 36 colours
Origin: Made in China
Quality: Economy quality
Lightfastness: Lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: N/A
Another top pick: Royal Talens Amsterdam Standard acrylic paints are non-fading, colour-rich, and affordable. Made by the reliable Dutch brand, Royal Talens.
The best acrylics for students:
Daler-Rowney System3 Acrylics are a long-standing, reliable choice for students. These paints are formulated to deliver an impactful colour payoff and include a popular fluorescent range of colours. The System3 Acrylic range includes Heavy Body and Fluid paints, as well as acrylic inks and screenprinting paints.
Colour range: 55 colours
Origin: Made in the UK
Quality: Mid-range quality
Lightfastness: Generally lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Vegan with the exception of Raw Sienna, which contains pigment PBk 9 (a carbon-based pigment derived from charred animal bones)
Another top pick: Lukas Cryl Studio Acrylic Paint is lightfast, offers great coverage, and is available in large quantities – making it an economical choice for students who need large quantities of paint.
The best quality for value:
Our own range of Jackson’s Professional Acrylics is an excellent all-rounder. A high number of paints in the range are crafted with single pigments, simplifying colour mixing, and each colour’s formula is adjusted accordingly based on the pigments used, maintaining consistently smooth, pleasant-to-use paints. These professional-quality paints are made to the highest standards while remaining affordable.
Colour range: 46 colours
Origin: Made in Spain
Quality: Professional
Lightfastness: Highly Lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Fully vegan
Another top pick: Holbein Heavy Body Acrylic Paint has a thick, oil paint consistency, which is highly effective for holding peaks and ridges. Because of the value, it’s an economical choice for heavy applications.
The best acrylics for professional artists:
Often cited as the creme-de-la-creme of acrylics, Golden Heavy Body Acrylics are rich, buttery paints crafted with the discerning needs of professional artists in mind. Each colour in their range is individually formulated according to the specific qualities of the pigments used. Golden acrylics are available in a variety of different viscosities – covering the needs of every type of acrylic artist, along with a comprehensive range of mediums.
Colour range: 157 Colours
Origin: Made in the US
Quality: Professional quality
Lightfastness: Highly lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Vegan except Bone Black, Jenkins Green, Neutral Gray 2, Neutral Gray 3, Neutral Gray 4, Neutral Gray 5, Neutral Gray 6, Neutral Gray 7, Neutral Gray 8, Prussian Blue Hue, and Terre Verte Hue, which contain pigment PBk 9
Another top pick: Swiss-made Lascaux Artist Acrylics have highly concentrated, excellent pigmentation and a full-bodied, creamy consistency. Along with Golden, this range is a top choice for professionals needing steadfast, exceptional quality.
The best acrylics for illustrators:
Available in an assortment of vibrant colours, Holbein Acrylic Gouache has the appearance of a traditional gouache, with the added acrylic benefit of drying in water-resistant layers. This makes them excellent for graphic work. The finish is super opaque and velvety-matt – ideal for scanning and reproducing finished artworks.
Colour range: 116 colours
Origin: Made in Japan
Quality: Professional quality
Lightfastness: Generally lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Fully vegan
Another top pick: Jo Sonja Matte Flow Acrylics are versatile, richly pigmented paints that combine the opacity of gouache with the durability of acrylics. Their smooth texture makes them ideal for fine detail work, while their low-lustre finish is excellent for reproduction.
The best acrylics for fine details:
Inks, fluid acrylics, and soft body acrylics tend to work best for painting fine lines and details, as they can create flowing strokes without clogging the brush, while still maintaining a high pigment load. They are more self-levelling than their heavy body counterparts, which helps to minimise visible brushstrokes and create smoother linework. There are many soft body and fluid acrylics to choose from in our range that would make an excellent choice for detailed work. Vallejo Fluid Artist Acrylic Paints, for example, have an ink-like consistency similar to heavy cream, and vibrant pigmentation.
Colour range: 42 colours
Origin: Made in Spain
Quality: Professional quality
Lightfastness: Highly lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Vegan except Bone Black, which contains pigment PBk 9
Another top pick: Acrylic markers are often the preferred choice for adding fine detail to acrylic artwork, offering control over precise linework. The Posca PC-1MR is an acrylic marker with a very fine pin tip – combining the qualities of a paint marker with the precision of an ultra-fine pen. These markers provide opaque coverage and can be used on a variety of surfaces.
The best acrylics for flat, matt works:
Golden SoFlat Acrylic Paints are designed with excellent levelling properties and colour coverage and dry to an extremely flat, matt surface, perfect for large planes of colour and graphic colour blocking.
Colour range: 61 Colours
Origin: Made in the US
Quality: Professional quality
Lightfastness: Highly lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Vegan except N8 Neutral Grey, which contains PBk9
Another top pick: Lefranc Bourgeois Flashe is a vinyl emulsion paint that dries to a matt, levelled surface. First developed in the 1950s, this paint is popular with abstract artists and muralists, among others.
The best acrylic for textural works:
Derivan Matisse Structure Acrylic Paint is ideal for thick, gooey impasto techniques, holding peaks, and retaining visible brushstrokes for defined textural effects. Highly pigmented and fade-resistant, these paints can also be diluted or mixed with mediums to create a wide range of textures from a single paint range.
Colour range: 97 colours
Origin: Made in Australia
Quality: Professional quality
Lightfastness: Lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Vegan except Ivory Black, which contains PBk9
Another top pick: The Cryla Acrylic Paint Range by Daler-Rowney are extremely heavy-bodied, perfect for impasto applications using a palette knife.
The best acrylics for airbrushing:
Schmincke Aero Color Fluid Acrylic Inks are specially designed for airbrushing. Featuring an extremely fluid consistency and a highly pigmented formulation, these inks are ready to use straight from the bottle in an airbrush spray gun. They deliver strong, vivid colour on a wide range of surfaces. Besides their intended use for airbrushing, they are also excellent for creating vibrant watercolour-like washes on paper, and fine details when applied with a small brush or dip pen.
Colour range: 69 colours
Origin: Made in Germany
Quality: Professional
Lightfastness: Lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Fully vegan
Another top pick: Golden’s most fluid consistency of acrylics are High Flow.
The best acrylics for mural painting:
Lascaux Studio Acrylic Paints are available in large bottles and have a weather-resistant finish, making them both practical and economical for outdoor and indoor murals.
Colour range: 63 colours available
Origin: Made in Switzerland
Quality: Professional Quality
Lightfastness: Highly lightfast
Animal-derived ingredients: Fully vegan
Another top pick: Jackson’s Studio Acrylic Paints are available in large bottles of highly-pigmented paint – making them ideal for muralists who go through large quantities of paint.
The above is an overview of some of our top picks, but we recognise that the needs of every artist are very different, and individual preference plays a big part in what works for you and your practice.
One of the elements of acrylic paint that makes it such a popular medium is its inherent versatility – you can thin acrylics with water to your required consistency, as well as add some of the countless mediums and additives available to create a plethora of different textures, effects, and finishes.
To help guide you in finding the right paint for your needs, you can read more in-depth articles and product reviews about Acrylic Paints on the blog here, or refer to our Guide to Acrylic Painting.
Further Reading
The Variation in Acrylic Paint Viscosity
Acrylic Painting, Microplastics, and the Environment
The Splattering Technique for Painting
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