Oil vs Acrylic Paints: A Comprehensive Comparison
Oil paints, as many people think, are more for professional artists – in reality, they are not. The main thing is to understand the theory and understand the composition of paints, spend a few days practicing and you will be ready. It is oil paintings that are valued the most, both in terms of art and their cost.
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When working with oil paints, this process takes time and is quite labor-intensive. And the paints themselves are not cheap – they are created from natural pigments. This is all said in terms of difficulties, but the positive aspects also need to be considered. Oil paints use a composition that speeds up the drying process, but at the same time, a film appears when the painting is completely dry. Because of the vegetable oil that is included in the composition, polymerization begins, and this is why a film appears – it is resistant to moisture, but under the influence of alkali it is destroyed.
Acrylic Paints: Modern Paints
Acrylic paints, unlike oil paints, are modern. They appeared in the 20th century. And yet – these paints are popular among young artists. Their main advantage is that, due to their synthetic composition, they have such palettes as metallic, gloss, matte – the presence of such palettes gives room for imagination in their paintings. The base of acrylic paints is water, while that of oils is oil.
Acrylic paints include polyacrylates – these are esters or, in other words, solvents; pigments simply dissolve in water. When the paints dry, they acquire a high degree of resistance to moisture and therefore you will not need to worry about your painting being affected by external factors. It happens that after complete drying, the painting becomes darker, and this is the main disadvantage over oil paints. This type of paints are used not only in painting, but also for decoration facades or furniture panels.
Oil vs Acrylic Painting: Which is better?
To understand which paint dominates and which loses. You need to figure out what the advantages are in both types.
Oil paints dry slowly, which allows you to paint paintings from several days to a week, during which it will be possible to correct problems. Unlike acrylic, which dry quickly and take up to 10 minutes due to its aqueous composition.
When mixing oil paints, you need to take into account the properties of each color and how they will react to each other, and unlike acrylic paints, which are easily mixed with each other.
Oil paints retain color and saturation, and are also not afraid of temperature changes. Acrylic paints, on the contrary, begin to darken after drying and at the same time may have a matte tint, which does not create glare from the sun.
Oil paints have a strong, pronounced odor and allergic reactions in sensitive people, but acrylic has virtually no odor.
Oil paints are removed with a special solvent; it is difficult to wash off if you accidentally spill paint in the house. Acrylic paints are easily washed off with water. For those who like cleanliness, here the choice is obvious.
Oil paints are durable and they are perfectly preserved over a long period of time, unlike acrylic paints, which can change in color and tone.
Acrylic paints, if you follow the right technique, can protect your painting from cracking, unlike oil painting.
Such details and determine what is better oil vs acrylic. Here is the main thing to understand what the composition of paints and what they consist of, and then it will be easy to determine whose side you are on.
Oil Paintings vs Acrylic Paintings: How to Tell The Difference?
There are situations when it is difficult to distinguish what is in front of you, oil or acrylic. And here you need to use such techniques to determine whether this is really an oil or acrylic painting.
First of all, you need to pay attention to the canvas; oil paintings have a primer, unlike acrylic paints (the canvas can be gray if it does not have a primer). Inexperienced artists often paint on unprepared canvas, on which oil circles may appear; acrylic does not form oil stains, because it consists of a water base.
Second – you need to pay attention to the texture and color of the paint. If you hold the painting at an angle, you can remove several layers – this is oil, acrylic in such cases becomes smoother, and the colors are brighter than muddy from oil.
You also need to pay attention to the smell of the painting – the most banal thing is to smell it. Most oil paintings have a distinct smell of linseed oil, which does not completely disappear; acrylic paints have a predominantly weak odor. Using this technique, it is most difficult to determine the mixed technique, for example, an artist who painted an oil painting can tint or tint with acrylic paints.
The most dangerous way, but effective, is to moisten a rag in medical alcohol. If it is acrylic paint, then it will be imprinted on the rag, if it is oil paint, then it will simply remove the paint from the painting, because alcohol dissolves the binding components and simply removes it from the surface. This is the danger of this method – you need to do it very carefully so as not to harm the painting.
You also need to pay attention to the paint film; if it has a glossy surface, it is oil, and acrylic has a matte surface. By paying attention to all these factors, you will be able to understand what is the painting in front of you.
