Acrylic paints.
Acrylic paint is a relatively new medium in the art world, beginning in the 1950s. Some of its biggest advantages over oil paint is drying speed, uses in pale washes or glazes and lack of chemical changes over time. Many of the same oil paint brush techniques translate over to painting in acrylic. It is easier, however, to scrape, throw or spray acrylic onto a canvas, and to squeeze out of tubes.
Drying Speed
Paint tools desk.
What can take a few days for an oil painting to dry takes a mere 15 minutes for acrylic. In some cases, this can also be a disadvantage for painters who prefer to paint slowly. Adding in a retarder will slow down the drying time but may add toxins. Add only small amounts of paint when you are mixing on a palette and reactivate with a drop or two of water. Add a sheet of plastic wrap or a lid to cover the palette when you take breaks to reduce drying out times. Try small glass pots with lids which keep the air out between uses and cuts down wind drafts. Keep your paint tubes closed to prevent drying.
Acrylic Techniques
Many of the same kind of brush strokes in oil painting will translate just fine in acrylics. If you like to mix colors, do it on the palette rather than the canvas. Oil paint will mix on the canvas but not acrylic, unless you blur edges with additional water, similar to watercolor painting. Acrylic painting requires you to add layers, such as creating a background, then adding on other parts of the subject matter on top. Then you can layer over that as well. You can also wet down a color in a small cup and, using a fan brush, just slightly layer over the base color with a new color and have the base showing through, giving a translucent effect.
Acrylic Mediums
You can add acrylic mediums to achieve different effects such as gloss medium, matte medium, gel medium, flow improver and retarder. Get small bottles of each and experiment with their uses. Gel medium, for instance, when added to an acrylic color, will extend it and make it more transparent without losing structure. Flow improver is better than water to thin a paint without losing the color strength of the paint. When using mediums, pour out a bit into a bowl and add the color to it, not the other way around.
Acrylic Spray Paint
Spray gun at work.
Acrylic, mixed with water, is easy to use with a spray gun or airbrush. You just need to make sure the paint is fully mixed with the water and that there are no lumps left to get stuck in the mechanism. Also be sure to wash the airbrush or spray gun immediately after use so the paint does not permanently dry inside and clog the mechanism. Masking tape and stencils can also be used when applying paint in specific areas. You can also combine techniques by spraying an area and then directly painting over parts of it, thus achieving two different effects.
