As someone who was only taught oils in college and is now transitioning to acrylic post-grad, these videos have been SUPER helpful to me. It's amazing how different the two media are! Thank you!
@@yufanghuang2011 Honestly same, I’m sick of oils. They’re so messy and hard to dispose of full tubes. Also the hazard that comes with linseed oil or other polymerising mediums. I really love the softness of them but I know I can create similar stuff with acrylics, with less of a headache and price even.
Thank you! This is perfect and exactly what I wanted and needed. It’s surprisinghow difficult it is to find complete yet concise explanations of qualities and applications. I appreciate the people who take the time to do these videos since I can’t go to art school! Lol!
Here are the TWO videos you (and others with similar comments) inspired! Art Supplies are Expensive! Am I Wasting Them? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kEWruUq6iKQ.html 5 Tips for Saving Money on Art Supplies ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u2yJuDHDQ_M.html
One of my professors advised us to buy professional grade paint, but buy a limited palette only. We still had the cheap student grade paints for big areas, but learning to use a limited palette taught us fast color mixing and an instinct for color theory. I appreciate him so much for that. Thank you for your video, it is very informative!
That's a great strategy! Thanks for sharing it with us. At some point I want to do a video on some different limited palettes I've used. Do you have a favorite?
@@MicheleTheberge I'd be very interested in seeing a video with info comparing different limited color palettes! Mostly I find info about people's specific favorites, not with more than one or maybe 2 represented.
Well done. You’ve got me curious about acrylic ink! I use The heavy bodied paints, but I’m wanting to experiment for a different look! I didn’t know there was such a thing as acrylic ink! Thank you!
Thank you for your insights! (Coming from a non-artist who would've tripped himself up over this kind of outwardly trivial, but notwithstanding crucial, subtely or technicality of the craft of fine art.)
before I was just thinking about soft vs heavy, now you've thrown inks in the mix! I didn't even know they had those and they are super appealing to someone who started with watercolour.
Acrylic ink vs high flow? I might try the Winsor Newton... I've tried the BASICS, and they are OK, although tend to be a bit duller, less vibrant & I've used Plaid's Folk Art (Gold top, matte finish), which has bright colors, is fairly well pigmented (seems better than many "student grade" acrylics & has many of the same color names/colors that are standards for acrylics & oils). I'd recommend these for students. The flat finish is very striking too! Having to paint over & over with student grade paints can be very frustrating (& cost as much trying to get the same effects). I agree that good brushes are a necessity too! I'd add a good rigger/liner brush too. I've had a few natural brushes for 40 years! (although they don't last as long when used for scrumbling, dry brushing. Nice video! I'd like to see a comparison between acrylic high flow & inks. The Window Newton student grade looks intriguing... I may have to try them! Sometimes it helps to have some inexpensive bristle brushes & hardware stores have some great, inexpensive brushes if you know what you're looking for! Q-Tips, sponges, fingers, etc. come in handy as well! certain techniques do rely on good brushes. a good quality angle, filbert, flat or bright, rigger/liner, a couple of rounds, a cheap round stencil or 2 & a couple sizes of fan brushes (good quality) are a great start! You may not need more than this for years. Just be sure that bristles are washed, taken out of the water & shaped ASAP. soaking can make them splay. You can wrap them into a paper towel if you need to transport. I prefer natural brushes, although they say there are newer synthetics that are similar... I have some synthetics, although I haven't used many, perhaps any that are the same quality. You can get really great quality brushes inexpensively, and some expensive brushes are simply not worth it... feeling the brushes in the store can help, especially if they allow you to remove the sizing. Avoid brushes that say they are for "Watercolors, acrylics & oils", until you have some experience, as watercolor brushes are too soft for acrylics or oils. Bristle brushes are great for scrumbling, dry brushing as they are generally less expensive, and these techniques tend to shorten brush life anyhow (although I still have a roughly 30 year old filbert I still use for rough stuff, although it's prolly overdue for retirement.) Making sure you take good care of the brushes you do buy! If you leave one out, even if acrylic paint dries on it, get some 99% IPA (Rubbing alcohol), and you can rescue your brush! Alcohol is pretty harsh, and if a natural brush, I'd condition it with glycerine, but the alcohol will break down the acrylic paint, and yes! you can save a brush's life with it! (I've tried lower % alcohol, and it doesn't seem to work so well, so save yourself some time, money & get the 99% at your local drug store. it cost the same as the 70 or 95% here, but the 99% worked when the 95% didn't when I got distracted, and a brush dropped behind my workspace for a couple of days! Thanks for this video! This is a good start for students! :)
i am learning a LOT from your comment alone, im gonna be starting painting soon in the art school where i am and i do not have any experience in it so im hella nervous. but people like you who share their knowledge make me breathe a little easier when im doing research. thank you for that :)
Thanks for the tips! I really enjoyed that brush cleaning one. Would that also work on a plastic palette and getting dried paint off of it? Because I got lazy and didn't clean my palette off and I've had a lot of trouble cleaning it.
I like using plastic palette knife and usually just I cheap paint brush and the cheap 50 cent paints from Walmart. The most important thing is how you handle the paint and use more paint because it starts to layer on top and more pigmented. It's not so much the name or the price, it's what you can do with it.
Hello Michelle,........FYI: Pouring medium for $13/qt and $37/gallon..........First, I need to thank you a bunch. A while back I can across your channel when I was about to throw in the towel and dump all my art supplies. I had been working with watercolor and getting no where for a very long time. Acrylics had been suggested but I had tried them years ago, in Florida, and let me tell you..........that was rough! So, I quit. About 8 weeks ago I found you and I began to learn one step at a time. This encouraged me to look some more and to try a bit and to buy a starter set................Today, I am a happy, if tentative, camper and having some happy success. I love abstracts. I love color. And I learned to pour from you! Well, here's something I want to give back to all of us subscribers and company! I recently received a hand painted color chart of heavy body acrylics. It is gorgeous. It's from a family company in California called Nova Color. They have been making acrylic paint since 1968 and selling wholesale to the public, on line. David Kessler, another RU-vid abstract artist was using them. He is right, the paint is about 1/2 as much as discount prices for professional quality. AND they make a product called Novaplex #235 which is their version of Pouring Medium. It's $13/qt. and $37/gallon. What a difference from store bought. It's a pleasant surprise for us all. Thank you again. I hope this proves as helpful to you and others as it is to me. I am a devoted fan and I love your meditation download. What a gracious gift! Thank you..
Thanks so so much for sharing this! I know of Nova colors. A lot of mural artists here in the San Francisco Bay region use them. I get my Liquitex pouring medium for about that price. I'm always scouting out the sales! But maybe some day I can try that one out and see how it compares. All my best to you, beautiful one!
And do the things she does,cthen compare the Paint samples with hers? That might tell you at least what kind of acrylic IT is and you only Them need to guess or accept that you wont know if IT s student or artist quality.
Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate this. I want to start painting and acrylic may be the best choice for a beginner so am looking forward to seeing more of your videos for advice. I like your philosophy of doing a lot of painting with cheaper paint if you can't afford enough of the good stuff when getting started. Makes sense to me.
Thank you for the Awsome segment. You are One of the best teacher's around, not leaving a thing out. Sometimes I am thinking of a question, which you answer befor I can think of a good way to phrase it. P.S. Sold. I will buy all of them.
@@MicheleTheberge I'm 43 & have never heard of that ink. (restarted painting after 23yrs- relearning) You opened up some new ideas for me. I appreciate that. Thank you.
@@robbiezeigler4977 You bring up an interesting thing I never thought of. I didn't know about the acrylic inks for a really long time, either. Because usually they are in the ink section of the store with the pens, calligraphy supplies and non acrylic inks. So I think we painters tend to miss them.
Im a professional artist from Chicago. This is a great video, but i still find that Basic as a good tool for me. I use pointalisum. Sure i had a ton of trouble with light on dark, but it really doesn't matter when your adding a crazy amount of detail. In facted, the poor transfer of pigment makes you more willing to mix your colors.
Thanks for your nice comment and so happy to have you as a subscriber. Please let me know if there are any topics you'd like to see covered here in the future.
Brilliant! Thanks so much for making this vid. I stumbled upon it as I've just taken up acrylics (added to my artist repertoire); and am mostly self-taught - so this was a HUGE plus for me. Been using Basics mostly. Just yesterday, I needed an ink-like quality to cover a spot and just watered down some pigment of the color I needed to get said coverage. Wasn't exactly what I wanted but was just good enough. Now I know there are INK acrylics that would do exactly what I needed. So, over two years later your vid is still working its magic! 👏🏽
Thank you! This was so helpful! Almost all of my paint was given to me and the majority of it was bought in the 80’s and 90’s, so I’ve been having trouble trying to figure out how to replace colors that I love but am running out of. This makes trying to find replacements soooo much easier!
Does acrylic paint in plastic last that long?! That makes me very happy if that's the case because I kept going through the 60ml Winsor & Newton tubes so I've started buying the 500ml jars/tubs. I couldn't find anything about shelf-life so I'm just hoping they won't dry up and become useless after a year or whatever.
I have acrylic inks and craft acrylics along with various mediums and additives...I guess I just love paint regardless and my stuff stays in an art journal so, who cares if it's a $2 or a $20 anyways lol!
Apple barrel is considered a craft paint whereas the ones in this video are artist paints. They're more watery with less pigment, and are more likely to turn to mud when you mix them because they're already mixed with white and black. They each have their purpose. I wouldn't use artist paint for, well, crafty stuff like posters or models. You'd end up wasting so much expensive paint.
It's funny. I am just delving back into doing art.. I have only dabbled and never really seriously taken up art. but I remember back in the late 80s and early 90s there really only was one type of acrylic.. the Liquitex in tube.. no different type.. that I remember seeing. .just interesting to see the types.
You’re an awesome teacher! Concise and for a beginner, right to the point. Thanks so much! 😊 One question, what do you think of the Arteza brand paints?
As a proff painter, I might be able to answer as I der you werent abswered. Which makes Senseo with all those comments hihi. Arteza is a kids or student quality. Their expert Line is probably a student quality, the rest is power then student quality. They don t Deen to have any artist quality even through they hint that they do, they Sony. Do use the expert quality Line for student grade paints! Oh and warming!!! Arteza had quality problems at the moment and take good carecthat you buy the real brand and no dupes in accident and that you test all the paints you buy straight away, with quality problems or defecte. Etc. Contact Arteza on their contact phone nummer on their website to het repkacements of the things wrong, bomen, defcts, etc.
@Cinder Block Studios ~ Viscosity means the thickness of the paint. Of course student grade has a certain amount of thickness to it! She was illustrating that it has less pigment than the professional grade paint.
I've been exploring painting a lot more recently since high school and I bought the basic brand in primary colors. I absolutely cannot stand the pigmentation in Basic and im not even a professional. This video was very helpful thank you!
thank you so much for explaining the difference between all the acrylics, very informative and I now feel I've a much better understanding of what's on offer :)
🥰You are amazing!!!! Thank u so much. I'm a novice and looking at painting on clothes and this helped me understand all the writing on the paint bottles. I had no idea what soft body/heavy body meant. Straight forward video and to the point, thank you😃❤❤🙌
When I first discovered acrylic ink I was over the moon because I've always liked using drawing inks in huge varieties of colors and acrylic ink lines tend to have bigger color ranges than other inks varieties.
Thank you so much for the examples and explanations! This was perfect and makes me want to explore the ink paints too. I am new to acrylic and bought a set of Basics to explore 😁
Yeah, I m user to Paint with artist quality acrylics, but beside the others schoen here. I nevervuser the ink variant, mot knowing where IT s user tot.
@@abbyrivers9971 your better off learning how to thin your own with water, I learned this from Jerry marnell, he's a good teacher even though we have different styles.
Each brand has a version of flow improver (water replacement) The flow improver is an actual acrylic medium. These are also available for retarding the paint or making the paint dry slower. Thick viscosity paints can be thinned down using flow improver without sacrificing tint or shade (uo to a point at about 50/50 it depends). And for the most part brands can be interchanged with regard to the mediums (paint / polymer without pigment). You seem to contradict your self on the water thinning point, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EKNpKUK4lMc.html
Thanks heaps Michele, I have been using Liquitex Basics thinking that was one of the more expensive paints, I pay $11.00 Australian. I really do have a lots to learn lol :)
Very informative video. As a professional, I use the Liquitex Heavy Body paints. If Liquitex paints were good enough for Andy Wharhol then they are good enough for me. Thanks a bundle from England.
KIt - I will put that on my list to do a video on the golden fluids at some point and compare them to the Liquitex soft body. Thanks for the suggestion!
THANK YOU MICHELE..FOR THE VIDEO..VERY TRUETH..AND IT HAS TO DO..WITH COST...EVERYONE WOULD LOVE THE BEST QUALITY..BUT WHO CAN AFFORD IT...ONE OF MY WISHES IS TO BUY THE LIQUITEX INKS..TOO EXPENCIVE HERE IN GREECE....BUT THAT WILL NOT CHANGE... I HAVE TO WRITE A LETTER TO SANTA NEXT YEAR....WHO KNOWS...LOL...XRISA
Hi Michelle. I'm not sure you'll see this. It's Sept 2. 2024 and I found your very helpful information. What can I use to think the Heavy Body Liquitex paints. They don't dry but they get sticky quickly. Any help will be welcome And thank you.
Thanks. Great information. I paint a lot and mostly I use Golden Acrylics. One day I ran out of Titanium White. The only white I had was Basic Titanium White (Student Grade). Just like you've said, it has less pigment...it turned into a happy accident for me. I like the cloudy, hazy effect it gives when used with a glaze medium.
Product Question.........I have been playing with various brands of fluid paints, all artist grade, and I have learned that you can add mediums to stretch your paint so that you can create what you wish with much of the same paint. But.........I find there is a difference kind of glow with Golden's High Flow. Am I wrong? I seem to get much more luscious translucency when I use them in a pour. I know they are pricey and need to practice with more modestly priced brands but I don't know which to choose. I have found some great brands out there....... I want to stay with artist quality paint and stay on a budget. Is it true that if I use Golden's airbrush medium, that I can get the same consistence from another fluid paint as I due with the High Flow? I seem to see more depth and less cloudiness with the High Flow........or was that just beginner's luck?(LOL) Tough choices for me. Question #2........Sealing. Do I seal my painting before or after I used pouring medium to get the look of resin that you demoed? I value your opinion and appreciate all you have share with the multitude of "Us'" over these past few months. Thank you, so much, Michelle. I am learning.
This video is great and answers a lot of my questions about acrylics as I am just starting out with this medium and will be checking out your other videos to learn.
Great question. I haven't used it in a long time, but as I recall it's more fluid than heavy body paints so maybe not. Can anyone else who paints with Galeria help Dee Tee?
Student grade is a waste of time and money. Using "less than" will make you feel like you SUCK at painting. Nothing but frustrating. Student grade is for children who don't know the difference, period!!!!!
I normally dont comment or like videos or even subscribe to many channels. You though took so much time energy and resources to clearly explain and teach anyone. Thank you so much 💓 keep doing amazing things.
I started painting with Golden acrylic paint, and a few days ago spent around 80 dollars on 5 small tubes of new colours. Watching you squeeze that much paint onto your canvas made me cringe a little haha. You have gotten me interested in soft body acrylics though. I've only ever used heavy body and for the paintings I do (smooth lines, lots of smooth blending) I sometimes fight the paint to make it do what I need it to. Next time I'm at the art store maybe I'll try some out.
I get it! haha! I can be so expensive getting started and it can make one feel a little cautious and precious with the color and mediums. It took me a LONG time to get over that, but when I finally was able to, it freed me up enormously. I was able to experiment and try new things and it helped me be much more inventive. Maybe I need to make a video on that! Happy painting to you! And I suppose if we split the amount of paint I used her over the 167,000+ viewers who have learned from the video perhaps it's worth it if it helped others. :)
@@MicheleTheberge that's such a good point! I am definitely super conservative with the amount of paint I use - I often put down a small blob, use it all up, put down another, use it up, on and on, which probably adds and extra 20 mins into my painting time just because of how much I need to re-mix colours.
@@john_hunter I want to thank you because I so many of us share this stress and hesitation about using too much color. You inspired me to do a video on it which I'll share next month. You bring up an interesting point which I didn't think of. When we are too sparing with our color, it does slow down our creative process. Perhaps it's not just about the extra time but it can also take us out of the creative flow. I want to do a video about setting up the palette for this reason. All my best to you! So grateful for your participation here.
Thank you for the great information! Can you mix different types of acrylic paint in order to tweak the viscosity to your choosing or is this "breaking the rules"?
Most videos I saw were so simple, badly explained and done in a quick superficial way in which nothing really was showed. Yours was pretty complete and concise, and you actually transmitted knowledge. Thank you.
Hey! You good a good job showing the differences. I do 2 ”types/styles” of paintings. My main NEEDS strokes/texture/structure so for that heavy body is best. BUT the paint in golden hb ”doesn’t get me far enough” it finishes too fast. For example my first Golden acrylics heavy body was gold fine, and i was apperantly very optimistic bc i was gonna have it on my background on a 70x90 painting. But that tiny 59ml (i only bought one bc normally my bottles last me a long time so i thought it was enough lol) But it was not even enough for one painting so i had to mix it with water But Then it got too transparent… I am thinking about trying Golden acrylics fluid gold to see if that is better…. But i wont be able to get those strokes i like with fluid. What should i do? Will it look good or bad if i use both? Like, i want it to have a good coverage But on some parts it would look good with that smooth buttery ”strokery” (lmfao i feel like i just made that Word up But someone in the world prob used it before). Or should I go for a cheaper paint when its comes to the background? I have also considered first doing a underpainting Then doing a layer of gold from a cheaper brand either another acrylic or do a layer of spraypaint in gold to get that smooth and even surface and THEN finish with goldens heavy body gold? Or i just have to buy more tubes of goldens and be fine with using more. Possibly adding a medium, a thinner or something. I have so many options and i would just experiment and see What I prefer But first of all the paint look completely different on paper than canvas second and i guess most important I am REALLY sick. Like REALLY. I spend most of the day, like probably 90% or more in bed, a few days I can go outside or sit somewhere inside the apprtment for a while. There is not a lot of time when i am healthy enough to paint :( its such a shame… i want to paint laying in bed But i dont know How… i’ve googled like crazy and found ONE expensive bed-easle But the website doesn’t look legit … so if om gonna spend all my time experimentens i wont ever finish a painting… and i have 20-30 painting in my head that i CRAAAAVE doing. Like. I want to do them SOOOO much. And i have like a 70-100 more that i want to do But not as much. The 20-30 i wanna do so badly. I really want to be able to finish these paintings. I want them out of my mind and onto my canvases. Also I want to try painting hyper realistic. Lol. (I havent made it easy for myself i know). I want to do so much more than What my body allow me to. It is such a pain… so sad. So, when i saw this video i thought Maybe you can say What you would do Atleast. After writing this i feel like Maybe spraying it Then using heavy body ontop is best But Idk. Last question: If you would add a medium. What would u add? Thinner? Water? Glossy clear gesso? Retarder or another one? Thanks!
Hi! First of all, I am wishing you health. It sounds very challenging to not feel well and not be able to do much. I have so much compassion for your situation. You had a lot to say and I am not really clear what you are trying to do. Best case would be to find someone in person to show your paintings and ask questions. Also, do small samples trying your different ideas. That is the best way to answer your own queries. All artists must accept a certain amount of trial and error as part of the process. All my best to you!
Thanks for this, Michele. Question - if you are happy with the pigmentation and coverage of a student-grade paint, what other concerns are there? The fact that it's not archival-light-fast?
It really depends on the paint brand and the pigment they are using. Which is why I suggested a couple of brands that I am confident will have good quality pigments and polymer. If you are happy with it - stick with it! That’s great.
Your other video said no less than 30% water but this says 50%. Which is better? Sry to sound picky! Just wondering. Your info is always extremely helpful.....thank you!
No prob! Glad you asked. Can you please tell me where in this video I said you could add 50% water because there must have been some qualifier. Thanks! I would try to keep it to 30% except on absorbent surfaces. Thanks!
This is great, thank you! Question: what technique would you recommend if you were trying to cover a very large surface, say 12 ft square while also trying to maintain as much color saturation as possible. I love the color variation and saturation of the acrylic ink but perhaps that is not the most practical. Any advice would be appreciated!
Michael Sharkey that would be the soft body color in Liquitex or possibly the fluid paint in Golden brand which is similar but a little less thick. The soft body color covers three times the surface area as the same amount of heavy body color. You might also want to pay attention to whether you are using a transparent or opaque pigment. opaque pigments will offer better coverage.
Thank you for your kind comment and for subscribing! To mark on the canvas board I used a Sharpie brand fine tip permanent marker. A trick I used to do when I was making lots of these types of canvas board samples for teaching is paint 1 -2 extra gesso layers on the area where I was writing with the sharpie to smooth out the texture of the canvas a bit and make writing easier and more legible.
Hard to say. It varies from brand to brand so without testing them myself I couldn't tell you. You could buy one of each and add 50/50 mixture of the white with something like ultramarine blue and compare them side to side.
I bought acrylic paint from 5 below and after watching this I'm convinced it's a cheap student grade. This paint will not shade or mix well at all that I have. What should I get??
I'm so sorry to hear you are having trouble with the paint you bought! I did link some starter sets in the description box above. These are brands I have used and recommended to my students for years and are good quality. Even the Liquitex Basic and Winsor and Newton Galeria are student grade but will mix well. I even know professional artists who proudly use the Liquitex basics. Good luck and happy painting to you!
Great question! I'm assuming you are asking because you are concerned about longevity of the painting? If so, Winsor and Newton is a reputable brand and while there may be less pigment load than the professional grade, the binder used should be of a high enough quality that you wouldn't see much of a difference in how long the painting would last as compared to one with professional grade paints. But pay attention to lightfastness ratings on colors. This is something that can change years if the colors are not lightfast.
@@MicheleTheberge what is lightfast? I don't know anything about it.all these years I've been doing acrylic painting wrong😅😅also I wanted to ask what is the name isolation coat ?? I don't know how to buy isolation coat before I start varnish.That being said love.light.peace and soul.namaste.
Yes, it's important to understand the difference between a professional and economy or student grade paint. Although, Winsor and Newton makes a student grade called Galleria. Just want to be sure that people understand that all Winsor & Newton acrylics are not the same.
Im having trouble I don't want to mess up my scrapbook. What paint can I use to paint my scrapbook cover? The cover is a hard Kraft paper and I want to paint it without worrying that the paint will make the Kraft paper start oh I forgot the word, but it's when it gets too wet or something and start getting little paper balls. I still want a paint that is pigmented enough to cover the Kraft paper completely and is smooth to where I don't see any brush strokes. Any suggestions? Please and thank you
Ok - so I think what you are saying is you don't want the cover to buckle. The main thing is to not use too much water. I'm guessing The most fool proof way would be to spray varnish it with clear gloss or matte or with acrylic spray paint first. That will seal it without using a brush which may back those little paper balls. And then paint over it with the fluid or tube colors but don't add ANY water. Good luck! Let me know how it goes!
