Creative persons are always looking for new ways to express themselves. If this is the case with you, you might have tried other creative hobbies like sculpturing, knitting, or sewing, and now you’re looking for your next adventure that’ll allow you to express yourself. Painting is a preferred hobby by many because it comes in so many forms and doesn’t limit you to what you can and can’t do. You can find paints in various mediums, each with its characteristics that set it apart from the rest. If you were wondering what the difference is between oils and acrylics, keep on reading!
What Are the Major Differences between the Two Mediums?
Both oil and acrylic paints have their pros and cons, and they can be found in a wide variety of packaging solutions, oftentimes very similar, which makes it hard to distinguish between the two. Choosing the medium to start with can be challenging because when you’re inexperienced, it’s hard to know what will and what won’t work for you. It’s best to experiment and see what suits you best but there are several characteristics of oils and acrylics that can be taken as a deciding factor when starting painting for the first time.
Oil paints are made of a colour pigment and oil. When you paint, you can use more oils which will act as a medium to make the paint more fluid so you’ll use less paint. You can also use a solvent or paint thinner that thins the paint and speeds up the drying time. They’re easily accessible and you can find quality professional oil painting supplies in every art supply shop.
Acrylic paints are a newer medium and they consist of a pigment and an acrylic polymer emulsion. The paint can be thinned and modified with water, mediums, gels, and pastes, and depending on this, it can have a unique finished look. They’re readily available and widely used as well.
Drying Time: Choose whether You Prefer to Work Slowly or Quickly
The first difference between these two mediums is their drying time. Painting with oil paints will give you the flexibility to work slowly and for a longer time. They stay wet on the palette and the canvas, which means you can continue working on the painting even after a few days. This is great for certain techniques that require more time and details.
Acrylics are a fast-drying medium, even too fast for some people. A little distraction in your painting time can result in dried paint that you won’t be able to fix. There are solutions to this problem, of course. You can try squeezing out more paint in case you need to stop painting, use a stay-wet palette that keeps the paint wet for a longer time or use a retarder for the same purpose. The fact that acrylics dry fast doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing because it allows you to finish your painting faster.
Blending: Decide on the Type of Painting You'll Do
The longer drying time of oils allows smooth blending and creating delicate blends in realistic painting. There are many instances, like portrait painting, where you need to create subtle blends and shades and go back to repaint and blend some more. There are slow-drying oils that you can add to the paint that’ll allow you to work on your painting for weeks. But this can make it hard to add more layers without messing up the underlayer of paint. You’ll need to wait more time to paint over the existing paint. On that note, you’ll need to make sure that the bottom layer is the thinnest one and completely dry before adding another one. If you add a thick layer of paint first, it may not be dry when you want to add a second one and that can cause the top layer to crack because it will dry before the lower layer.
Acrylics allow you to make sharp edges and easily mix bright colours. But you won’t be able to blend the acrylic colours as much as the oil paint. If you want smooth blends, you’ll need to work quickly so it doesn’t dry before you’re done.
Colour Shift and Fading: Yellow Tinge vs. Variation in Shade
Oil paints won’t change their colour over time. But they can get a yellow tinge from the oil that’s used. This can vary depending on the binder in the paint so you need to consider this when choosing your professional oil painting supplies.
When dry, the acrylic binder turns clear. It’s white when wet, so when it dries the colour gets darker. It’s different with different acrylic polymers but it can make a big difference in paintings where you need an exact shade. But the colour will look the same after many years because acrylics don’t fade.
Space: Confined vs. Open Areas
Although it’s not the first thing that comes to mind, space can play a huge role when choosing your medium. The smell of certain oil solvents is very strong so you won’t be able to work in a confined space. This is especially true for turpentine and white spirit. For this reason, look for odorless oil painting supplies and choose thinners that don’t smell as strong.
Acrylic paints, on the other hand, don’t have any specific strong odors that can affect you when working in a closed space. Although you should always check the ingredients of the acrylic paints that you purchase because some can contain ammonia. This is why it’s good to have ventilation in the room. You can look for online oil paint and acrylics stores that have their ingredients listed so you know what you’re buying and take your time choosing the right paints for you.
Which One to Choose: Oil or Acrylic Paint?
In the end, it all comes down to which medium you prefer to work with. When starting painting, every paint can seem hard to master but everything takes time. Consider whether you would like to work fast or slow, whether you would like to blend or create crisp lines, the space where you’re going to work, and how much time you would like to spend cleaning. Since acrylics are water-soluble they don’t require much and you can easily clean them, whereas oils require more care. Invest in quality oil painting supplies that will make cleaning a breeze.
