Acrylic Paint
What is Acrylic Paint?
From the scientific point of view, acrylic paint is a water-dispersed paint based on polyacrylate. Simply said, it is made of pigment, water, and, finally, acrylic resin. So, due to the resin, the paint is called acrylic. Besides, thanks to it, acrylic color acquires all its wonderful properties. Let us consider them.
Oil paints, made of high-quality pigments, have some useful characteristics:
- Water-based, non-toxic, does not give a pungent smell.
- Quick-drying, forms a waterproof film on the surface.
- Wear-resistant. Acrylic paint does not crack or crumble.
- It could be applied to wood, paper, fabric, glass, plaster.
- Dissolves in water. Suitable for children's creativity.
- Universal. Combines with other materials, moisture-resistant.
Acrylic paints are universal. One can draw with them on a variety of surfaces, even on wood or plastic. You need brushes for drawing, preferably special ones, for working with acrylic paints. Besides, painting knife is also a good option. Also, choose a special canvas designed for this type of paint.
Acrylic paints are distinguished according to the coloring pigments.
- Matte. It does not shine, forms a uniform opaque surface after application.
- Glossy. Depending on the degree of glossiness, the painted surface can be either silky or brightly shiny.
- Metallic. Such an effect achieves thanks to the pigment of aluminum powder. This acrylic paint is used to create an additional effect.
- Fluorescent. The composition includes a luminous pigment that glows when exposed to ultraviolet.
- Mother of pearl. Such acrylic painting contains a pigment that refracts light
The color palette is very bright, which is a little unnatural. However, such brightness, especially in decorative art, allows creating the super pictures that we can look at for hours. Therefore, if you like bright painting as well as vivid, neon colors, then acrylic will give you such a palette which makes it possible to create very stunning works.
Acrylic paint and crafting
Acrylic paints can be used for quite non-standard purposes, which will be discussed below.
Drawing and painting
This is the most common sphere of use, unlike the next two. Acrylic paints are great for drawing. First, it is odorless. Second, acrylic color is convenient to work with and easy to clean. For drawing, you need to choose acrylic with a dense consistency as well as color shades mixing perfectly with each other.
Decoupage
It is a technique of cutting ornaments, pictures, etc., and applying them on different surfaces. In addition to creating the background and effects, you will need to mask the edges of the decoupage. And if you initially take paint that is similar to it, then it will be much easier for you to mask the edges.
Scrapbooking
It is a technique for designing photo albums, where various ribbons, bows, stickers are taken to decorate pictures. As a rule, one does not need so much paint in such a case. However, you can achieve the desired effect by applying different types of acrylic paint.
Does acrylic paint have flaws?
Once dried, acrylic paints are not washable, that is, it is not possible to wash it off with water and make a continuous tone. Thus, you have to constantly mix color shades. On the one hand, some people like the fact that acrylic fully dries out. On the other hand, someone does not like that it dries quickly and no corrections are possible.
Besides, acrylic paints become darker when dried. This is probably one of the most important disadvantages that interfere with the work. Consequently, you need to take this into account and always draw a picture a little lighter so that when it is dried you see exactly what you wanted to portray.
For that matter, acrylic paint glisters a little. And this is because of the acrylic resin, to be more precise, its composition. Thus, if you want your picture to be matte, consider before buying this paint.
Nevertheless, all the minuses that were listed could be called pluses. It depends on the person`s wishes.