Best Acrylic Paints for your Money

Thrifty Thursday

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by remember to leave a comment and follow for more art tips.

Usually on Thursdays I talk about inexpensive art supplies but today is going to be a little different. We are going to talk about acrylic paint and cheaper is not necessarily better when staring out and learning about color and how to paint. So we will review acrylic paints that are the least expensive but have decent quality needed to learn color and how to paint. Everyone is different so I would suggest to buy only a few colors (blue, red, yellow and white) to try out the brand you choose and see if it works for you. The colors you use matter but that is a topic (color theory) for another post, it’s a lot of information.

What to look for when picking out your acrylic paint:
opacity - how well the paint covers the surface and another color
brightness - how much pigment which makes the color (more pigment better color)
colorfastness - how much will the colors fade over time when exposed to light.

Grades of acrylic paint:
Student grade have the lowest pigment and cheaper ingredients.
Artist grade often use the same pigments as professional paints, but use less.
Professional are the best quality grade. With highest quality pigments and best ingredients.

With this in mind my suggestion would be Utrecht Artists’ or Windsor & Newton Professional acrylic paints. They cover well and the pigments are bright, they mix pretty well also.

If you want to spend a little more and get a more professional acrylic paint try Liquitex Professional or Golden Heavy Body Artist acrylic paints. They cost more but I think they are worth it for really learning color and painting. M. Graham Artists' acrylic paints is another professional brand but they cost a bit more and I haven’t noticed much difference from Liquitex or Golden.

This is not a sponsored blog these are just some of the products that I personally use. You can always explore and find other options. Remember it’s how the paint feels to you and if you are comfortable using that particular brand.

Thanks for stopping by and wee you next time.

*This is not a sponsored blog these are just some of the products that I personally use. You can always explore and find other options.

Save Your Money on Paper

Thrift Thursday

Paper cheaper by the ream/bundle

Paper plays an important part of art, whether you are sketching or drawing. Quality paper is important but if you are just sketching or working out ideas, a ream of heavy weight copy paper is a good alternative to buying a sketchbook or art paper. It’s much cheaper per sheet than a sketchbook from an art store and it holds the drawing media just fine. Wet media does not work as well but you could still use markers, ballpoint pens or sharpies.

If you want to keep all of your sketches together or want a handy way to hold all of the paper while you are out and about sketching hole punch the copy paper. Put all of the loose sheets of paper in a cheap binder and you are all set.

Paper Basics:

• Paper weight - how thick the paper is.
  Heavier weight = thicker paper (example: 20lb. thin paper - 80lb. thick paper)\

• Paper brightness - how bright the paper is, brighter paper appears whiter.

• Paper surface - the finish or texture of the paper.
  Hot press = smooth surface
  Cold press = slightly bumpy, textured surface

color pencil on copy paper (two pieces taped together)

Thanks for stopping by, until next time keep drawing.