It is not always easy to find something among all these brands of acrylic paint. Generally when an artist seeks acrylic paint, he wants a particular colour, but also a perfect viscosity.
Heavy Body, Soft Body, Fluid Body, several types of acrylic paint exist on the market but there is no standard type, so the specifics noted on tubes or pots can make the choice easier.
Acrylic paint : Colour and viscosity
The binder or acrylic resin added to the pigment gives more or less body to the acrylic paint. The paint can be made to be more or less pasty (soft or liquid).
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3 types of Viscosity with Acrylic Paint:
1/ Heavy Body:
High viscosity, Heavy density, a firm paste with good hold. The viscosity seems like “peanut butter” or oil paint.
Ideal for painting with a knife or colour shaper in thick layers, or impasto, keeps the marks of the tool with relief. We can use the paint directly out of the tube, without being diluted. You can add water or fluid medium if you need to increase flow of colour.
Some Examples: Lukas Pastos, Old holland, Amsterdam Expert Series, Liquitex, Golden, Sennelier, Abstract
How do you know if it’s heavy body?
The paint can make some spikes, maintain the given shape and does not collapse when pulling the paste with a palette knife.
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2/ Soft Body:
Creamy paste, soft with flabby viscosity like “custard”.
Perfect for details with a brush, glazing and application of undercoats or very pigmented flat areas. Soft Body can be mixed with a medium to increase viscosity or to be even thinner for nice glaze
Some Examples: Lukascryl Studio, Liquitex Soft Body, Flashe Lefranc & Bourgeois
How do I know if it’s soft body?
The paint forms beads and spreads slightly when mixed with a palette knife.
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3/ Fluid body:
High Flow, Fluid and rich paint extremely diluted with good pigmentation. This paint flows and drops like “milk”.
Ideal paint for paintbrush, airbrush, watercolor, textiles and frescoes…
Some Examples: Golden High Flow, Liquitex ink, Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Inks
How do you know if it’s fluid body?
The paint flows in all directions and produces drops when mixed with a palette knife.
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GOOD TO KNOW:
Mediums, modeling pastes and gels allow you to change the viscosity of the acrylic paint, so do not forget to make mixtures if you need more thickness or more fluidity.
All these products can be found at GreatArt.co.uk, shopping online and in Store (London Shoreditch).
Examples with acrylic painting mediums
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DISCLAIMER : cet article est une collaboration sponsorisée. Je fais partie des artistes référents qui utilisent le matériel proposé par Le Géant Des Beaux-Arts – France et GreatArt – United Kingdom. Vous venez de lire mon article issu de cette collaboration. Au risque de me répéter, sachez que j’apprécie les marques distribuées par ce partenaire depuis des années, et que je suis convaincue de la qualité du matériel destiné aux artistes et aux personnes créatives. Même si cela paraît logique, je précise que je suis LIBRE sur la thématique et le choix des produits mis en avant, LIBRE sur le contenu, LIBRE de donner mon VÉRITABLE avis, et c’est également pour cette raison que ce partenariat est important car je peux donner libre cours à mon imagination et ainsi proposer du contenu frais et de qualité.
