Acrylic Paint- Schmincke
Choose from thousands of colors from Golden, Liquitex, Winsor & Newton, and more. Browse and buy professional and student quality paints, including heavy body, soft body, and fluid paint for pouring and staining. You can also modify acrylic paint with the aid of mediums.
Acrylic Paint: Popular Questions from Artists
Acrylic paint, a relatively modern medium, was first developed in the mid-20th century. Unlike oil and watercolor, which have been used for centuries, acrylic offers a unique combination of properties that have made them increasingly popular among artists.
The main differences between acrylic and oil paints are their drying time and working properties.
Acrylic paint is fast-drying and made with pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Traditional oil paint is slow-drying and consists of pigment suspended in a drying oil, such as linseed oil.
Oil paints stay wet for longer, so artists have more flexibility when painting over multiple sessions. Paint will remain wet and workable, and colors on the canvas can still be blended.
Acrylic paint usually dries within twenty to thirty minutes. However, some paints such as Golden Open Acrylic have a prolonged drying time, meaning they can be worked with for longer.
Heavy Body Acrylic paints are the thickest and the most popular. With a texture similar to soft butter, they’re the closest to oil paints in handling and retain brush marks and gestures well. They work well on rougher canvases.
Soft Body Acrylic paints are smoother, resembling yoghurt in consistency. This makes them ideal for mixing with mediums, while retaining enough thickness to paint smoothly on their own.
Acrylic Ink is the most fluid of the acrylic paints. Acrylic Ink is intensely colored and dries with a soft gloss finish. It can be applied using an airbrush, pen, or brush.
For more information on acrylic paint viscosity, refer to our guide on Jackson’s Art Blog: 'The Dairy Scale of Paint Viscosities'
The difference comes from the formulation of the paint, not the amount of pigment in the paint.
The thickness of acrylic paint is referred to as ‘body’. The viscosity is not an indication of color strength or quality. The best acrylic paint for you will be determined by the techniques and painting surfaces you plan on using.
Read Our Guide To Acrylic Paint