Comparing Oil Paint with Acrylic Paint

As an artist I am faced with many choices of tools with which express myself. New mediums become available frequently, each with their own set of unique qualities. I love experimenting with new mediums and incorporating what I have learned into my work. In order to grow as an artist, I think that it is part of my job to study techniques and mediums to see what works best for me. While I get some information from “how-to” books and by speaking to other artists, I find that nothing compares to good old fashioned hands on experimentation. Two of my favorite mediums are oil and acrylic; oil, being known in the art world as “The medium of the Masters” has been around for centuries, whereas acrylic is fairly new in comparison having only been around since the late 1940s. Oil paint is often the preferred medium among professionals, because it has a long history to back up its quality and many of the famed artists such as Claude Monet and Leonardo Da Vinci once painted their masterpieces in oil. Oil is also more expensive than acrylic, which makes many artists feel that their art will also have a higher value if done in oil. Because of acrylic’s late start, many traditional artists deem Acrylic paint as a lesser medium to oil, but acrylic and oil have a lot more in common than is given credit. Like any other medium, what works best really comes down to the personal preference of the artist. Here is what I have learned about oil and acrylic paint through my personal experimentation and the work that I have done with each paint.

               

         Oil paint is desired for its beautiful life like colors. A very key aspect in oil paint is that it dries to look the same as it does when it is wet, giving it a highly saturated look. This is comforting because when I am painting with oil, I know that what I see is what I get. Oil paint has a strong covering power because of its thick buttery texture that can be both smoothed or built up in layers. When I am working in oil, I delight in the fact that I can use a thick brush stroke that leaves marks that stand out from the canvas and feel almost sculpture like in nature. This texture is an advantage when it comes to technique, but it has its disadvantages, one being that it has to be layered in a very specific way to ensure the longevity of the painting.

Oil by nature is a permanent medium, but it is important to know that some colors are less light-fast and are prone to fading over time and if administered incorrectly, oil paint will also crack over time. This is where I employ the “fat over lean” technique which, in simple terms, means layering thick over thin, or layering more oil content over less oil content if adding oil mediums to the paint. The bottom layers should always have less oil than the top layers. The reason this technique is so important is because oil paint “dries” differently than other mediums, in fact it does not technically dry at all; it oxidizes. This process takes a long time, and even longer when a lot of layers of paint are involved. It can take up to six months for an oil painting to dry completely and if the paint is not layered properly, the layer on the top will finish oxidizing before the bottom layers. Once the top layer is dry, it becomes less flexible and is prone to cracking as the layers below it begin to oxidize.

Issues with cracking aside, the time it takes for oil paint to dry can be quite a desirable quality because there is more time to work with it. It is a leisurely medium, where I never have to worry that it is going to dry on me before I am finished blending; the disadvantage is that if I over blend the paint, my colors will become muddy and less vibrant. If, and when that happens however, I am able to just scrape the paint off the canvas and rework the area. There is one more disadvantage to the oxidization process and that is storing the wet canvas without fear of damage. I find it very difficult to find the space and a safe, dust free place to store drying oil paintings.

                 

           As explained, oil has a lot of great qualities and some not so great qualities. Its high saturation and predictability when selecting color makes this medium a joy to work with. When done right, oil paint can stand the test of time but acrylic paint has its attributes too, some of them similar to oil paint.

                 

          Unlike oil paint, acrylic paint is a water based medium which originally gained popularity in the graphic design business because of its quick clean up, cheaper cost, and rapid drying time. Acrylic dries within minutes of use which contrasts to oil paint greatly. The advantage to this quick drying time is that if I mess up, I can paint right over it almost immediately, which means no “muddy” colors! The disadvantage to acrylic drying so quickly is that often times I have to spritz water on the paint that is on my pallet to keep it from drying before I get to use it.

Acrylic paintings are much easier to store than oil paintings, and as a whole acrylic is an extremely durable and light fast medium. This means it can be stored in direct light without fear of certain colors fading.  I enjoy being able to store my acrylic paintings with ease the same day that they are finished.  The durability of acrylic is certainly notable in the fact that it is permanent when it dries and since it is water based I can layer and re-layer without worrying about cracking. Since I am able to layer with ease, I am also able to create textures similar to those that I create in oil.  

Acrylic is also like oil in the fact that it is a highly saturated medium. I love the bold colors I can get while mixing. One advantage that acrylic has over oil is the ability to adjust the saturation by using water. Creamy and smooth in texture, I can add water to acrylic to get watercolor like effects which makes this medium a highly adaptable one. The issue I encounter with acrylic that differs from oil is that depending on the brand the pigment can dry darker than it looks when it is wet, so this needs to be taken into account when I am choosing my color scheme.

After working with each paint for a number of years, I have grown to love the unique qualities each medium brings. I alternate between each medium often depending on the kind of piece I am creating.  When I am planning an extensive piece, I am more apt to choose oil because I know it will give me the time that I need to work out all of the details. When I am looking to do a fun spontaneous piece, I will often use acrylic. I find that each medium can yield equally professional results when used accordingly, and that I will always have a place for each of these paints in my studio.