which do you like? OILS OR ACRYLICS?

Question

hi,im finding out which do people like better oils or acrylics. it would be much appreciatted to have mostly people have used both to say their opinion. please note: both mediums can be used with no exposure to toxicity. also please give a reason why u like that medium.

Answer 1

I used acrylics for years - I took a painting class and that is what we used, so I ust kept on buying them. A few months ago, a friend gave me a wonderful collection of expensive oils and I will never go back to acrylics now. My art has never looked so alive as it does with oils. I look at the acrylic work now and it looks flat and lifeless.
I love working with oils because you can build up texture with them without using a medium. They take much longer to dry than acrylics, so you have more time to work on the canvas and you can keep the paint alive longer on your palette. Oils add such a beautiful demension to paintings, I absolutely love working with them.

Answer 2

When it comes to creating art it is advisable to try all mediums, Start with Pencil, go to watercolor, then Acrylics, and Oils, use Pastels after you have mastered these, then ink, after that you can go to Color Pencil, which is probably the hardest. I like Acrylics because they dry fast, and you can paint with speed, Oils dry very slow, but have the advantage that you can wipe them off (if you made a miss) or blend at leisure. None can be toxic, and both are fun. So I love them both, the end result is what matters. The beautiful sheen of the Oils, and the spontaneity of Acrylics, But the best for me is The Mighty watercolors. go to my 360, and check some work.

Answer 3

I am an oil painter. I have used acrylics, but they don't work for me. I paint wet into wet & I can't do that with acrylics. The slow drying time of oils allows me to work into them, push the paint, scrape, etc. For me, acrylic feels like plastic, the mixing and the painting. That being said, it's really a matter of personal preference, and your manner of working.

Answer 4

I enjoy acrylics more. It has all the charactoistics of oil but more. The colors are more vivid, you can thin it to get water color effects and do washes, you can cover light over dark, you can build textures to get depth, and it dries quick to rework the areas. You can control the dry time with additives put glazes on it seal it and it doesnt crack over time like oil does. I f your studio is in your home like most of us are used to the smell is eliminated with acrylics too. There is an advantage of using water for the solivant as apposed to turpentine.

Answer 5

Oils. To me they seem to be 'real paint', because of the oil first of all. Acrylics dry and become matt and like somoene said, plastic, but oils dry and become not maybe that shiny, but there is something very pleasant when you touch your painting when it's dry. And the nice thing is that oil doesn't evaporate, it remains on the painting, and that's just so real ! Water evaporates.... Also I love the smell of oil and turpentine together... Mmmm.... It remeinds me of when I first started using oils, those times...........

Answer 6

It mainly is speed versus flexibility. Techniques used and end results are very similar. I personally like acrylics best because of the (lack of) fumes. You mentioned toxicity but My lungs react rather violently to turpentine fumes (even the orderless one) I therefore better use the water soluble acrylic paint.

Answer 7

I like acrylics becasue if a make a mistake or i want to paint something over another thign i dont have to wait a while for it to dry.

Answer 8

I'd rather paint with acrylics....easier cleanup, faster drying time and I am sensitive to strong odors, so turpentine should be avoided at all times! :0

Answer 9

oils, because when you mix the colors the effect comes out stronger and if you make a mistake, when it dries you just have to paint over it again and it would fix it up easily

Answer 10

Acrylics, they dry MUCH faster