Hello! What is your favorite acrylic paint, and why? My favorite is Lascaux. I can use it right out of the tube with no mediums, and it’s in general more opaque than other artist quality acrylics I’ve tried, which I prefer for my style of painting. It’s so expensive though, I’m interested in hearing others’ favorites to experiment with! I also really like Golden and use some to supplement colors not available in Lascaux (e.g. sap green, and I love Golden’s Pthalo blues!). Thanks for your input!
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I have not used Lascaux, Gina, so I don’t know what that is like as a comparison, but, I am pretty happy with Windsor and Newton Pro and Golden Heavy Body and I have lately been having a little dabble into Golden “open” Acrylics. Why? Well, I have been using Windsor and Newton Acrylics since I was 16!! I have to say, the quality of their Galeria series went seriously downhill when they started being made in China and were way better in the beginning when they were made in the UK. The W & N pro series are nice though, not so much colour shift and made in France. I started using the Golden Heavy Body partly because I wanted to experiment with Impasto and partly because I was doing an online class with Will Kemp (Will Kemp Artschool) and he uses a lot of Golden paints. I do use blending fluid (W & N) and sometimes retarder, but the Golden paints are dense enough to work well with impasto without any additional mediums and the Titanium White in both is pretty opaque. I also like that Golden paints demonstrate each colours’ opacity on the tube (and rate for other qualities such as matte/gloss, thin/thick and lightfastness) and list the exact pigments each is made from.
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I use Golden Heavy Body and have tried several mediums with my favorite being Golden Matte Medium. It allows for blending and layering which I find result in a very rich surface and keeps an even reflective quality to my paintings. I use Gambling Gamvar to varnish for a gloss finish. If I want a matte finish I rub their cold wax Medium on top. And I blend the two into a slurry for a satin finish.
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Thanks for your input! I have just gotten totally sucked into Will Kemp’s youtube videos this last week, I’m going to have to look into his online class! I noticed he uses a lot of Golden paints.
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Will Kemp is awesome, isn’t he?! He responds to EVERY single comment on that website of his snd gives out really comprehensive technical advice. In the past I have purchased and completed both his Colour Mixing class and his Intermediate portraiture class (for acrylics, but to be honest it could also be done in oils just as easily, this is a guy who loves both mediums and has huge knowledge on both) He does use a lot of Golden heavy body acrylics, it was him that got me hooked into them! Enjoy, Gina!
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I use Liquitex soft bodied acrylics mostly, because I like the way I can move the paint around for my portraits. I’ve used Golden, Maimeri, Utrecht, and Amsterdam acrylics. But Liquitex colors and viscosity work for me.
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Thanks Roberta, I have also used some Liquitex and would probably be using them more if I hadn’t become so fixed on Golden! One thing I will say is that I have had a tube of Liquitex “Pewter” that I swear is STILL viable after 20+ years!!! That’s insane!!
My favorite is also Golden. I have some of their heavy body, Open Slow Drying, and fluid paints. I also have used Liquitex, Master’s Touch. All of my paints are verified by the manufacturer as exceptional in color strength and permanence. Look on the tubes for #1 in lightfastness and to see if the paint is opaque or transparent.
I use only Liquitex, I do not combine with anything else.
Chroma Atelier. Buttery- wonderful consistency and serves my style nicely. Plus I like the hue selection better than the others. I’ve used them all.
For me, My favorite is ZEYAR acrylic pen. I preciously used paint markers that were a bit bigger tipped and had trouble with fine and intricate painting on terra cotta pots. I have trouble with fine brushes and started using the foam brushes both large for big area painting and small blotter type foam brushes for smaller paint areas on terra cottag pots.
I have settled upon Lukas Cryl Studio Artist Acrylic Paints (Jerrysartarama) after trying several. The pigments are intense. Uniform consistency, paint doesn’t separate. Lasts forever. Wonderful stuff. They are med-heavy bodied and I have also made/mixed them up with medium and water in a squeeze bottle to create my own liquid acrylics which are beautiful. Reasonable price.
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I use Golden Heavy Body Acrylics because I took a class with Patti Mollica and that’s what she uses. I love their buttery consistency and their Green Gold, Diaxozine Purple and Quinadcrone Magenta are some of the most beautiful colors.
Has anyone advice on using the fluid acrylics? I got some and not sure what to do. Saw them being used in a demo at the Florida Watercolor Society convention.
I love Golden heavy body acrylics. They are like playing with butter and they mix well together. They cover over layers nicely and can be manipulated in a lot of ways. And the line of Golden acrylic mediums makes them even more versatile. I find Liquitex to be clumpy and often need a bit extra water to spread smoothly. And SoHo are a bit more liquidy. They come out of the tube fast if your not expecting it. I want to try Azteca and some other brands, but I have so many paints right now it isn’t feasible.
Azteca is student grade acrylic.
My personal fav is golden heavy body 
I like Winsor & Newton professional artist acrylics.
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I use Liquitex Heavy Body. I like the caps; easy to open.
My favorite is the Chalkola Acrylic Paint pen. These are water-based paint but unlike the other water-based paints I have tried before, these have a very runny consistency. The vividness of these paint markers is what’s best about them.
For most of my work I use System 3 Medium Body Acrylic paint. It’s a nice paint and seems to be well pigmented. I also use Golden Heavy Body for canvas paintings, but at times I do find it bothersome how thick and unwieldy it can be compared to System 3 paint. Because of this I also sometimes use Golden Fluid Acrylics… but it’s just going from one extreme to another. Golden needs to release some paints that are in between Heavy and Fluid 