Painting is the oldest form of artistic expression, dating all the way back to the paleolithic era when cavemen added shapes and pictures to cave walls. As history went on, painting continued to grow in popularity, and in our modern day it is easily accessible to everyone. However, when you first start painting you have to make a decision that will make or break your ability to learn; what kind of paint do you use? There are hundreds of brands, prices ranging from five dollar Crayola packs to eighty dollar seventeen ounce bottles, and even different types of paint to choose from. Today, I’ll tell you the advantages and disadvantages of the main three kinds of paint, and if the cheap versions work well enough for a beginner.
Water Colors
The oldest type of paint is water colors, which was used by the cavemen in my previous example. Water colors are pigments suspended in water, and when applied it is an opaque, thin layer of color. You can easily control the opacity by adding or removing water and the paint dries quickly. The other main advantage is how forgiving water colors are. If you mess up all you have to do is add water, and when you spill or splatter paint on your clothes it’ll come out in the wash. The main disadvantages with watercolors are the unvibrant colors and the additional cost of watercolor paper. Despite this, water color is great for beginner painters, and you can easily find high quality products that include the paint, paper, and brushes for around twenty dollars on Amazon.
Oil Paint
Most of the famous works of art you think of when you hear painting were made with oil paints. Oil paint is pigment suspended in drying oil, and can be applied to a canvas with either a brush or a paint pallet. When using oil paint you have the ability to change your painting while it’s on the canvas and focus in on the shapes of your piece. Oil paint has vibrant colors, a wide range from light to dark, and is more flexible than the other paints. However, oil paint can take up to three weeks to dry, limiting painters who focus on layering their subjects, background, and foregrounds. Additionally, you have to add more oil to the paint for every layer meaning you have to buy painting oil. Oil paints also yellow over time, taking away from its vivid colors. Worst of all, if you spill any oil paint on your clothes it takes a lot of work to get them out. I personally do not like oil paints, but I tend to paint by layering. I think that oil paints would be best for an intermediate artist because you have the ability to focus on shading, shadows, and composition of your artwork. Beginner artists who don’t want to spend a ton of money should not start with oil paint. Cheap oil paints have an imbalanced ratio between the pigment and the oil causing the colors to be unvibrant, overly runny, or chalky. Your best bet is to try other paints before committing to buying expensive, high quality oil paints.
Acrylic paint
The last kind of paint is acrylic, pigments suspended in an acrylic polymer and plasticizers. Acrylic paint has the widest variety of vibrant colors including neon, glitter, metallic, and glow in the dark paints. It is also the fastest drying type of paint, and, because of its drying speed and plastic base, it is the only paint that can constantly get you a 3-D texture on your paintings. Acrylic paint is also not opaque allowing for easy and quick layering in paintings. The paint is still water based though, so when you water it down you can apply watercolor techniques. The main drawback of acrylic paints is that when you spill it on your clothes, even just a drop, you are absolutely screwed. As someone who mainly paints with acrylics, I have lost many clothes to the stains of acrylic paints. However, acrylic paint is typically cheap, easy to find, and you can get good quality acrylics that include the eight basic colors for around twenty dollars at Michaels.
Overall, I would recommend water colors to people who are truly just starting, acrylics to people with a little experience, and oil paints to the more intermediate artists. However, if you decide to start out with the other two paint types you can still learn valuable painting skills. I personally started with acrylic paints and am now learning water colors. There are no wrong choices when it comes to painting, but it is important to know how to properly use the advantages of each type of paint. Even Picasso had to start out somewhere, so have fun and experiment!