And as with all Liquitex products, the pigments in Heavy Body have passed extensive tests for lightfastness. Each pigment is rated according to the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), and we only use pigments rated ASTM I or II*. This means your work will have the greatest archival permanence possible – at least 50 years+ in gallery conditions – with no color shifting or fading, to stay vibrant and true. What can Heavy Body be used for? We're delighted to bring you the world's first cadmium-free acrylic paint from Liquitex. This new range delivers the same performance as their existing cadmium paint - they're just safer for you and the environment.

They make highly pigmented, expertly mixed colours that give you everything you’d want from an acrylic: they’re easy to handle, vibrant, long-lasting, mix well and dry fast. Meanwhile, some acrylic paints have a longer working time – how long it takes for the paint to dry – than others, making blending and mixing colours easier, but slowing down layered approaches. Consider what you need your paint for, what kind of look you are going for, and choose what is best for your needs. Is there a difference between cheap and expensive acrylic paint? Many acrylic artists like to work with stay wet palettes that keep their paints fresher for longer. These types of palettes have an airtight seal, which prevents your colours from drying out. Usually they will come with a sponge layer which when wet increases the humidity in the palette. Liquitex Palette Wetting Spray can be used if you don’t have one of these palettes but need something to keep your paints fresh. If a more economical paint is called for we are more than happy to recommend our new STUDIO Heavy Body Acrylic 200ml Tubes. They can act as a perfect starting place for someone looking to experiment with heavy bodied paints or, for artists searching to add bulk colour to their palette at a reasonable price. Not only that, they come in a robust range of 31 highly pigmented colours.If they were good enough for Andy Warhol… Liquitex Professional Acrylic Artist Colour Heavy Body has the consistency of butter at room temperature, and is particularly good for impasto work and heavy application, retaining brushstrokes and even peaks without gels. Professional grade acrylics on the other hand, are designed for professional artists and advanced students. They are made with higher quality pigments and binders and have a greater color intensity, lightfastness, and permanence than student grade acrylics. They handle better than student grade acrylics due to a smoother consistency. You'll also find that they have a higher price tag than student grade acrylics. This makes it an ideal medium to use with stiff bristle brushes like hog hair or palette knives, to get big fat marks of colour or wispy curling peaks on brush strokes. If you're looking to buy artists' quality paints, you'll notice that some colors are much more expensive than others (although still cheaper than oil paints). This is because some pigments are very hard to obtain. Some manufacturers will group their paints according to " series" with " 1" being the cheapest and " 7" the most expensive. Typically the earth colors are the cheapest, while the colors derived from cadmium can cost up to four times as much! Some brands offer cheaper options by substituting with synthetic pigments, but they will likely have a lower permanence rating and less color intensity. You can spot this on the product by looking for the word "hue" after the pigment name. With that said, I use some of the "hue" colors in my art and I'm quite satisfied with the quality.

Stretched Canvas is perhaps the most common painting surface. It has a long history of use, and offers a good support to ensure your painting will stand the test of time. Today’s artists have much more choice in the surfaces they paint on. Short handled brushes are suitable for fine detail or small scale work. Their short handle means you can work much closer to your canvas, making adding those fine finishing touches easy. They are the preferred choice for artists who favour a precise, detailed technique. Synthetic and Natural Hair Brushes When you’ve finished your painting session it is important to clean your workspace. Waste water can be left to evaporate, leaving behind acrylic solids that can be processed at your local waste disposal. Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Golden offer some great advice for disposing of your paint waste in a way that will create the least environmental impact. Not only is following this advice better for the environment – it also means you waste less material! Get Creative! Newbies, beware: there are many so-called ‘beginner’s sets’ that contain as many as 24 different colours. While this range of colour might look enticing, the choice is likely to be a little bit overwhelming. Far better you rely on a limited range and develop your colour-mixing skills. How much should I expect to spend on acrylic paint?

The pigment load will affect the vibrancy of the colors,” Clare says. For the best pigment load, Clare recommends choosing professional quality paints—like many of the brands listed above, including Golden, Liquitex, and Windsor & Newton—to achieve optimum vibrancy. The chief characteristic that sets pricer acrylics from cheaper ones is their ‘lightfastness’, or durability under light. You might not notice in your paintings until weeks, months or even years after their completion, but certain patches of colour can bleach and fade in the daylight. Not ideal. Liquitex: Liquitex is one of the most well-known brands in the acrylic paint industry. Their heavy body, soft body, and fluid acrylics are widely considered to be some of the best quality. When it comes to starting your painting it’s important to set up in an area with enough open space and good lighting. The scale you work on will mostly be down to personal preference. If you’re a beginner a large, empty canvas can be daunting, so starting on a small scale may be better. Conversely working on a large scale can feel freeing if you have the space available. We’d all love a big studio space with high vaulted ceilings but many of us can only work as large as our spare rooms will allow! Choosing Your Painting Surface