Acrylic Paint - Other Varieties

Other Varieties

• Craft Acrylics can be used on surfaces besides canvas, such as wood, metal, fabrics, and ceramics. They are used in decorative painting techniques and faux finishes, often to decorate objects of ordinary life. Although colors can be mixed, pigments are often not specified. Each color line is formulated instead to achieve a wide range of pre-mixed colors.
• Heavy Body Acrylics are typically found in the Artist and Student Grade paints, they are the best choice for impasto or heavier paint applications. Heavy Body refers to the viscosity or thickness of the paint. They will hold a brush or knife stroke and even a medium stiff peak. Gel Mediums are also available in Heavy and Super Heavy Body to help stiffen thinner viscosity paints.
• Interactive and Open Acrylics were created to address the one major difference between oil and acrylic paints, the shortened open time of acrylic paints. Designed with a retarder, slow drying medium, or other proprietary mediums that allow the paints to be reopened, these paints can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, or even a few weeks to dry completely.
• Fluid Acrylics, or flow, soft body acrylics, have a lower viscosity but generally have the same heavy pigmentation of the heavy body acrylics. Available in either Artist quality or Craft quality, there is a fluid acrylic for every level of art and budget. These paints are good for watercolor techniques, airbrush application, or when smooth coverage is desired. Mix the fluid acrylics with any of the mediums to thicken them for impasto work or thin them for glazing applications.
• Iridescent, Pearl, and Interference Acrylic Colors combine conventional pigments with powdered mica (aluminum silicate) or powdered bronze to achieve complex effects. Colors have shimmering or reflective characteristics, depending on the coarseness or fineness of the powder. Iridescent colors are used in both fine arts and crafts.
• Acrylic Gouache is like traditional gouache in that dries to a matte finish and is opaque. However, unlike traditional gouache, the acrylic binder in the acrylic gouache makes it water resistant once dry. Like craft acrylics, it will still to a variety of surfaces other than canvas and paper. This paint is typically used by watercolorists, cartoonists, illustrators, and for decorative or folk art applications.
• Exterior Acrylics are paints that can withstand outdoor conditions. Like craft acrylics, they adhere to many surfaces. They are more resistant to both water and ultraviolet light. This makes them the acrylic of choice for architectural murals, outdoor signs, and many faux finishing techniques.