Acrylic portrait samples below: Click on images to
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Acrylic paint is fast-drying paint
containing pigment suspended in an acrylic
polymer emulsion.
Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry.
Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water), the finished acrylic
painting can resemble a watercolor
or an oil
painting.
Acrylics were first available commercially in the 1950s. The first
commercially available acrylic paints were actually oil compatible.
Acrylics are sometimes used in place of watercolors because acrylics dry
closer to the desired color (slightly darker, usually) while watercolors dry
lighter (and often unpredictably, especially for beginning artists).
Acrylics are often used as an alternative to oil
paints because acrylics dry much faster (usually within an hour or even as
little as less than a minute, depending on brand and thickness of application).
On the otherhand, oil paints, which consist of pigment suspended in an oil
(usually linseed,
or other natural oil) base, can take a very long time to dry: a few weeks or as
long as several months. By use of certain products, such as those made by many
of the large art companies (often termed extenders or retarders) an artist can
combine the best qualities of acrylic; low toxicity, longevity and cost, with
the drying time associated with oils or enamels, which makes it easier to blend
two or more colours into each other. The naturally short drying time of most
acrylic does not allow this to occur, but certain solvent-based acrylics as used
for airbrush work, may allow the paint to remain fluid enough to permit blending
via airbrush. Such mixtures of retarded acrylic or solvent-based acrylic are
commonly used by those who paint model figures and by some artists who favor
acrylics over oils for normal, canvas or paper painting because of their
characteristics.
Acrylic paint - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
