Acrylic Vs Oils

I have oil paints in my teaching studios precisely for those times when I feel that a student is aiming for effects in their paintings which would more easily be achieved with oil paints rather than acrylics. (this is not so common now as in previous times, as great quality vibrant acrylics are available, along with techniques for prolonging their drying time for softer blending .)

These aforementioned times often revolve around a project in still life or the figure, as the smooth seamless modelling desired sometimes in these genres can certainly be achieved with acrylics, but the brush skills need to be sooooo much more advanced than they do to achieve the results that oils can achieve easily (however the patience required due to longer drying times with oils is a drawback for some).

Q. What are the differences between acrylics and oils?

Acrylic paints use the same pigments but instead of being mixed with slow-drying oils (traditionally Linseed oil, now we have many oil-based carrier mediums), the pigments in acrylics are suspended in a water-washable polymer emulsion. Traditional oils need cleaning up with solvents, acrylics need water wash up. There are now very good quality water-miscible oils(water soluble), and also ways of using traditional oils without strong solvents, so I tend to promote these methods.

Q. What is the difference in actual practice?

Oils - You will need to clean brushes with a spirit such as turpentine which smells and is noxious to some people (although there are 'low odour' solvents available now.) It is more tedious, but cooking oil can also be used to gradually work the paint out of the brushes. You will also need to learn about the science of oil paint application, not rocket science but essentially that layers must be 'fat over lean' to prevent tension between layers and cracking. 

Acrylics - Dry quickly and form a sealed flexible film when dry. They can take the appearance of watercolours or oils so are very much more flexible in their applications. With acrylics, if you don’t like something you just did, wait a few minutes and paint over it. In oils, you would get a palette knife and rag and clean it off, then start over. 

Q. What about student quality vs artist quality?

Even in both of those categories, there are many levels of quality.

Poor quality acrylics and oils can tend to have lots of extenders and fillers which can mean low levels of pigment per ml, lower quality 'alternative' pigments, fading, high tonal shift when drying (acrylics), plus a less permanent life-span.

RATHER THAN BUYING STUDENT QUALITY OR CHEAP ACRYLICS OR OILS, if budget is a major concern, buy 6 of the best quality artist pigments rather than a full range of nasty inferior pigments. If you receive a gift of cheap stuff, say thankyou politely (hey, someone cared about your creative pursuits, they were not to know the difference). Keep them for application technique practice, experimentation, and small preparatory studies. (Even for priming or underpainting.) If your budget is very low, buy just the best quality you can of just white, burnt umber and ultramarine. You will be able to develop great skills in building tonal values, light and shade and working monochromatically, or almost monochromatically and later on you can add to your kit as you can (traditionally, many years ago, students were working in graphite and charcoal for a long time, honing the foundations (the principles, elements and techniques) of drawing and painting before leaping into colour).

Q ? Which 6 colours if only 6?

I usually recommend to all students first starting with painting (in any medium) not to buy any more than 6-10 pigments, BUT not primarily because of the cost. The main reason is to facilitate colour theory comprehension and clever colour mixing. i.e.. it is easier to conjure up harmonious relationships if you know what the colours actually are and how to mix them, as well as the complementary partners for each of your colours.

Those 6 minimum are titanium white (buy double size for this), burnt umber, ultramarine blue (a warm violet-blue), phthalo blue -green shade (a dark transparent cool blue), primary red (eg. quinacridone magenta or Alizarine Crimson), a cadmium yellow light (not too cool or lemon, not too warm or orange-yellow).

I have heard of some teachers saying the only blue you need to start is Ultramarine. I cannot live without cool blues and turquoise, so a cool primary is even more important to me than ultramarine in a spartan compromise.(and anyway Ultramarine blue is pretty much a violet-blue, it makes nice violets but the greens it makes are very drab compared to those made with a cool blue.)

It depends on what your colour preferences are to start with, and your budget. A great 7th pigment to seek out is a transparent yellow oxide (your magenta red and cool blue are inherently transparent so with this yellow addition you could then make a version of any colour/ hue for a transparent glaze, which is a great skill to develop).

If you want to learn oil painting in the contemporary two-part approach, get the same 6-8 pigments in both high-quality acrylics and oils. Windsor & Newton make a range of oils called Artisan, their water-miscible oil paint range. Soap wash up instead of toxic solvents. Highly recommended if you want to learn in oils but avoid masty solvents

You will learn in the Colour Made Easy Module (which has a great Workbook to accompany it)  how to make all of the secondaries, tertiaries, neutrals and rich greys just using your 3 primaries. White is needed for tinting and burnt umber with Ultramarine blue makes a Payne’s Grey-like hue (a natural dark grey/ blackish hue). A pure black pigment is not needed to start in either medium. You will learn how to make chromatic blacks.