What Acrylic Paint Is Best?

Deciding what paint to use can be a hard decision. Many factors come into play such as quality, cost, purpose, etc. In this review/video, I will be comparing twelve different types of acrylic paint hoping that what you see will help you choose what paint you would like to purchase.

This is by no means a complete list of the different kinds of acrylic paints out there. I used what I had readily available to me through the art shops I had near me. For some of you, you might not have these brands near you, and you will probably have different ones that I don’t even know about.

All of the paint was purchased at Michaels except for Stevenson and the Craft Paint. Stevenson was purchased at a local college bookstore. The craft paint was purchased at a local dollar store.

Check out my newest paint comparison article/video where I compare 50 different acrylic paints: What Acrylic Paint Is Best? – Comparing 50 Acrylic Paints – The Ultimate Paint Guide

In the comparisons, I will do the following:

-talk about how it is out of the tube

-brush strokes on black canvas to test the transparency

-tinting power by mixing with Pthalo Blue

Here is a price list for each of the paints also showing the different sizes available. One important note to make is that as the size of the paint increases, the number of colours available decreases.

Above you can see the final photo I took after testing each of them. I make reference to it throughout my comments if you want to make reference to it.

Craft Paint

The craft paint is pretty much what you would expect. It is very thin coming out of the tube. It isn’t a really nice thin either. It feels very watery when on the brush.

Its transparency was actually better than I expected it to be. This might have been caused by the amount that I put onto the canvas, but it still surprised me.

The tinting power of this paint is also the lowest of the group. It takes a lot of white to make a real difference in tinting.

We did just use white for this experiment, but I do have experience using other colours of craft paint as well. Many of them are not as vibrant as artist paint brands. You can see in the example below a comparison of these two paintings.

On the left is Craft Paint and on the right is Liquitex Basics.

Also, craft paint can crack much more easily when dry compared to higher-level paint.

Overall, it is by far the cheapest in terms of price, but you lose a lot of quality as a result. 

Artist’s Loft Level 1

Artist’s Loft Level 1 is the lowest tier in the art supplies section at Michaels. It is classified as “Student” grade paint and is the next cheapest paint that we reviewed in this video.

Coming out of the tube the paint felt ok. It isn’t liquid-like as the craft paint is, but it is thinner than the professional-grade heavy body paints. 

You could definitely see the black canvas through the paint when applied. It would take a few layers to get a solid white.

The tinting power of Artist’s Loft Level 1 was actually quite impressive. It beat many of the higher grade paints.

With my other experience with Artist’s Loft Level 1, I would say the same thing as I said with the craft paint. It is not as vibrant as I believe it should be. Though it is more vibrant than the craft paint, it is still not up to par with its main competitor Liquitex Basics.

If you are wanting cheaper paint, I would choose Liquitex Basics over the Artist’s Loft Level 1.

Winsor and Newton Galeria

Winsor and Newton paints are also among the lower-priced paints. It is considered “Level 2” or “Artist” level at Michaels. For being level 2, I did expect better results. I have used Winsor and Newton in the past. Winsor and Newton acrylic paint was actually the first set of paints that I bought myself after I stepped up from the lowest-end paint.

They are actually quite liquid-like coming out of the tube. They flow down the palette slowly if you tilt it which many other paints don’t do. The transparency test average. However, on the brush, you can feel that is it much thinner than other paints. It definitely isn’t as thin as craft paint, but even compared to Artist’s Loft Level 1 it seems thinner.

Its mixing power was quite weak compared to the others of its level and even of the level below it.

There are a lot of downsides it seems to this type of Winsor and Newton. However, I do like to use some of their colours, such as the cadmium yellow medium hue, when I need a lot of a certain green because it takes so much of that green to really mix into another colour. Hopefully, that makes sense! I can add just a little of the Liquitex heavy body hooker’s green and a good amount of the Winsor and Newton cadmium yellow medium hue and it gives me a lot of dark green without using a ton of the expensive heavy body paint. I understand this does bring down the quality of the Liquitex paint slightly but I believe it is still a good strategy.

If you like a more fluid feel to your paint, this is a great price point for that type of consistency. 

Pébéo Studio

This was my first time painting with Pébéo Studio. Coming out of the tube, it held its shape fairly well. It was definitely thicker than Winsor and Newton. It says it has a satin finish and can be used for creating texture.

It is very similar in price point to Winsor and Newton, Liquitex Basics, and Artist’s Loft Level 1. 

The transparency test was about what I expected. A little better than Winsor and Newton, and definitely better than Artist’s Loft Level 1.

Its mixing power was similar to that of Artist’s Loft Level 1 and Liquitex Basics.

I don’t have experience with other colours of this brand, so if you do, please comment below for everyone’s benefit.

Grumbacher Academy

Grumbacher Academy paints are also in the “Level 2: Artist” area in Michaels. The price point between this paint and the level ones is noticeable.

I have to disclose the info that I mentioned in my video. The titanium white that I have of Grumbacher’s is quite old. Probably 5-10 years old as it was given to me a couple of years ago by a friend. I haven’t used it much so I don’t know if this age skewed the results at all.

Coming out of the tube it seemed very thin compared to what I expected. It wasn’t separated at all (I have seen that happen with some paints), but it was thin. The paint could have run down the canvas if I had turned it sideways.

Its transparency was still fairly good seeming thin.

The tinting power was just slightly better than the craft paint.

I have used a few other Grumbacher Academy paints before and they didn’t seem quite as thin as this one did. They felt very similar to the Pébéo Studio Acrylics in terms of viscosity.

For the price point, they really are the middle of the road for quality vs price.

Liquitex Basics

I have used Liquitex Basics quite a bit in my designing and creating the Paint By Number Kits I offer.

Coming out of the tube they have a great feel for being “Level 1” at Michaels. They hold their shape on the palette very well.

The transparency test showed it similar to Grumbacher which is better than all of the other Level 1 paint and even better than some of the Level 2 paint. 

It feels great on the brush and doesn’t feel cheap. 

Liquitex Basics Titanium White had a similar tinting power to Artist’s Loft Level 1.

As mentioned before, I have used a lot of Liquitex Basics. I find them very vibrant and of great quality for the price.

If you are looking for a paint with decent texture to practice with, I would recommend Liquitex Basics for you.

Stevenson

This was my first experience with Stevenson acrylic paint. It is classified as professional paint so that is how I was rating it.

Coming out of the tube, it was very thick. It held its shape better than all the others and was similar to Liquitex Heavy Body in that aspect.

After the transparency test, I was not disappointed. After just one layer, you couldn’t see the black underneath.

Its tinting power was similar to Golden, Artist’s Loft Level 3, and Grumbacher. Not bad but I expected slightly better.

For the price of the larger bottles, it is an amazing deal. The smaller bottles make it almost comparable to Golden and Liquitex Heavy Body. The only downside is that they are getting hard to find. Not many chains carry them and from what I read, the main producer may have closed down a couple of years ago. If you can find these paints for a decent price, I would highly recommend them!

Artist’s Loft Level 2

Artist’s Loft Level 2 is just that, a “Level 2” paint. It says medium viscosity on the bottle. 

Putting it onto the canvas, I wasn’t surprised that it was a little thinner than some other paints. It was thicker than Winsor and Newton Galleria paint. Being “medium viscosity” means that it isn’t super thick.

In my tests, the transparency and tinting power of the Artist’s Loft Level 2 paint seemed to be not as good as the Artist’s Loft Level 1. The brush strokes did remain more in this one than the level 1.

If you look at the price points, it really isn’t that much more expensive than Level 1. For the little extra texture, maybe that is worth it.

I don’t have any other experience with other colours of Artist’s Loft Level 2 so I don’t know if they are more vibrant than the Level 1’s or not. I would assume they are though.

Artist’s Loft Level 3

Artist’s Loft Level 3 is meant to be the professional-grade version of Michael’s acrylic paint. It has a high viscosity, which means it is meant to be heavy body.

Coming out of the tube, it is definitely thicker than Artist’s Loft Levels 1 and 2. However, it isn’t as thick as Stevenson or Liquitex Heavy Body. It seemed similar to Golden Heavy Body.

In terms of transparency, it beat its precursors and came close to Golden.

The tinting power was similar to Golden, Stevenson, and others.

The price of Artist’s Loft Level 3 is about two times the price of the Artist’s Loft Level 2, but still cheaper than other professional brands like Golden and Liquitex Heavy Body. I have used a few colours of Artist’s Loft Level 3 and wasn’t disappointed with the quality at all. Definitely one to consider if you are trying to save some money but stay with the professional quality paint.

Golden Heavy Body

The infamous Golden brand of acrylic paint. I have used Golden paint for many years now and do like the feel and quality.

Coming out of the tube it is thick but not as heavy body as Stevenson or Liquitex. On the brush, you can feel the heavy body texture.

The transparency test resulted in 3rd place after Stevenson and Liquitex Heavy Body.

The tinting power was similar to Artist’s Loft Level 3 and Stevenson but not as good as Liquitex Heavy Body.

As you can see, some of the results show that it really isn’t that much better than some of the other “professional” paints. Long-term results may show something different, however, this is also a pat on the back to Artist’s Loft Level 3 and others like Stevenson. It almost comes down to reliability and community respect. Golden has been a respected producer of high-quality acrylic paint for a very long time and this is why it is so trusted and used by many artists.

It isn’t cheap, being tied with Liquitex Heavy Body for the price of most colours. So I think a lot of it comes to personal preference. If you like a more fluid heavy body paint, Golden is the way to go. If you want more texture, Liquitex Heavy Body is the way to go in my opinion. 

Liquitex Heavy Body

Liquitex Heavy Body is my go-to paint. You can hear my reactions in the video to the results that we saw comparing it to the other paints.

Out of the tube, it is very thick. Stevenson was the only other that really compared to it. 

The feeling on the brush was great. You could feel the quality with each stroke.

It came in a very close 2nd in the transparency test to Stevenson.

And out of the professional paints for the tinting test, it came in first. Surprisingly, Artist’s Loft Level 1 seemed to have the highest tinting power.

I have also been using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint for a number of years. Many of my paintings need texture. Instead of having to use gel mediums, which is a great way to get texture from more fluid paint, Liquitex Heavy Body gives all the texture I need. I also enjoy how strong the white is at tinting. I don’t need a lot for it to go a long way.

Price-wise, it is very expensive being at the top of the list along with Golden. However, I have found it to be worth it.

Liquitex Soft Body

This was my first experience with Liquitex Soft Body paint. I have always seen it on the shelves but have never picked it up. I thought this would be a great opportunity to do that.

Coming out of the jar is what you would expect from soft body paint, quite thin.

On the brush, it felt thin but not watery like I expected.

It covered the canvas quite well but would have needed another layer or two to really make it look solid white.

The tinting power of Liquitex Soft Body was similar to that of Liquitex Basics and Stevenson. 

Depending on what you are doing, it could be very useful for the artwork you are creating. For me, I prefer the heavy body texture. I could see it being useful to tint or mix with other colours whether they be soft or heavy body paint.

The price point makes it almost as expensive as Liquitex Heavy Body. 

If you use Liquitex Soft Body paint, I would love to hear more about your experience. 

My Final Thoughts

Below you can see my ranks from 1-12. Again, this is my opinion from my experience and my style of art. You may like certain brands better for reasons that I haven’t even considered. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments so that we all can benefit from them.

Thank you for reading this article and/or watching the video above. I would love to hear your thoughts about what acrylic paint is your favourite and why! Please comment below!

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