Acrylic paint, it comes in a relatively small quantity but it is pricey. Why is that? Why should you not just purchase a regular watercolor for more quantity but half the price? What essentially is the difference?
While most highschool students in Malaysia are exposed to watercolor paint in art classes growing up, people who are interested in arts tend to expand their art arsenal. This would mean they would use other types of paint such as oil paint, spray paint, acrylic paint and even acrylic emulsion malaysia.
What is the difference? (Acrylic VS Watercolor)
Acrylic paint needs very little water to use while we need more water to be added with watercolor paint in order to use it. Another obvious difference is that acrylic dries significantly faster than watercolor paint. This means that watercolor is easier to correct or fix while the acrylic paint would dry up after. The fundamental way to fix both of these paints is that watercolor just needs water to be added in order to be wiped off or even corrected while acrylic paint could only be fixed by adding more layers of acrylic on top of it. This can also affect the texture of the surface if done poorly.
Another core difference between these two is that Acrylic is made from a polymer which makes it water resistant when dried despite being water based. Watercolor on the other hand is made from finely grounded pigments.
Versatility
When looking into the different types of paint, many would agree that acrylic paint is very versatile. They could be used when doing fine brushwork, glazing, straining and water media techniques just to name a few.
They are durable, making acrylic paint resistant to abrasions even without the use of additives like acrylic emulsion.
Painting Styles with Acrylic
Every type of paint would have multiple styles of painting that they could be used in. Acrylic has a few of their own. Some of the more common styles are;
- Blending
- The process of having two different colors mashed together in order for them to blend and create a new color. The results are vibrant which are used in backgrounds or skies.
- Dabbing or Stamping
- A process of dabbing pain onto a surface using a paper towel or sponge. Dabbing adds movement, as an example, creating trees that would appear as if they were moving in the breeze.
- Stippling
- A technique that involves the drawing, painting or etching dots onto a surface using an art medium of your choice.
Popularity
Acrylic paint is used by a lot of famous artists such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney to name a few. The popularity of this paint is also due to its capability to be used in multiple types of techniques. Acrylic is also a lot easier to wash off the brushes and any painting equipment.
Acrylic paint is also a lot more cost effective making it a lot more appealing compared to oil paint for example. Acrylic paint also is very long lasting, it could last even up to five years. They are also less toxic in comparison to other paints. Therefore making it safer than other paints like oil paints.
Summary
Acrylic paint is a good medium for artists of any range to test out their range of creativity due to its versatile nature. Good paintings or usage of these acrylic paints would also last years in durability and usability due to its greater coverage than other paints with the use of less water.
