Acrylic paints are a versatile medium capable of producing a variety of different textures and effects. They are a fast-drying opaque paint that lends itself well to layering. They tend to work well on a wide variety of surfaces, including most heavyweight papers, canvases and painting panels. The best acrylic paints should have strong pigmentation, and good coverage when used.
In this list, we’ve mostly focused on heavy body acrylics, which have a thick consistency and can make textured effects. Acrylic paints can also come as soft body paint, which is runnier. Different brands offer a variety of different formulations, including acrylic inks, matte acrylics, open (slow drying) acrylics, and acrylic mediums, which are additives that change the behaviour of the paint when mixed in.
To select the best acrylic paints for different needs, we’ve looked at the consistency of the paint, coverage and how strongly pigmented it is, alongside other considerations such as colour selection and value for money. This guide includes a mixture of professional and student grade paints, with professional quality paints being better suited to finished projects, and student grade being a better option for sketching or for beginners.
If you need help with finding the more equipment for painting with acrylics, check out our guides to the best acrylic paintbrushes and the best artist canvases. If you are setting up your studio space, our guide to the best easels is also a great place to start.
The best acrylic paints available now
Quality: professional
Size: 60ml – 3.78l
+ High pigment content
+ Smooth application
+ Large containers
- Expensive
This range has lots of body, strong pigmentation and lots of colours (130+). Especially thick, it holds brushstrokes well, but I find it easy to mix and dilute. I've found no significant shift in colour on drying, though sheens may vary as they have few additives. This can be fixed with your own medium. It's available in large quantities so good for large pieces.
Quality: professional
Size: 59ml – 946ml
+ Good for texture
+ Excellent coverage
- Expensive
Liquitex’s professional acrylics offer bright colours in a fairly thick and versatile paint. Offering a buttery texture that spreads smoothly on different surfaces and covers well, leaving no streakiness. They're relatively expensive, but I've found these to be fast drying – excellent for anyone opting for a more layered painting approach. These paints tend to hold texture well too.
Quality: professional
Size: 20ml – 237ml
+ Smooth consistency
+ Strong colours
- Less body
Predictable with an even, smooth consistency, these paints readily mix without clumping. I've found very little colour shift, which makes them easy to work with. They're highly pigmented, much brighter than any student range and the colours stay vivid when thinned. Combined with how water-soluble they are, this puts them among the best acrylics for thinner washes.
Quality: student
Size: 29.5ml – 2.25l
+ Good value
+ Decent body
- Less opaque
- Weaker pigmentation
If you're after the best acrylic paints for students, these have a reasonably thick, smooth consistency which holds brushstrokes surprisingly well, though not always the best opacity. With the exception of the fluorescents, these paints are fairly light-fast and they're available in larger containers, which makes them affordable for big projects.
Quality: student / intermediate
Size: 20ml – 250ml
+ Good colour intensity
+ Mixes well
- Some pigments not light-fast
These have richer colour and better opacity than most student ranges with less change when it dries. As a more soft bodied paint, these are a little runny, and less able to hold brushstrokes, but they mix and dilute better than student paints. I'd recommend these as the best acrylic paint for those looking to upgrade who can't afford professional ranges. The biggest weakness is that some aren't light-fast.
Quality: student
Size: 60ml – 500ml
+ Fairly thick paint
+ Vibrant colour
- Trickier to mix
- Weaker opacity
These are on the thicker side for cheaper paints, with good consistency. They're reasonably good at retaining brushstrokes and have a fairly consistent surface finish when dry. As student paints go, the colours are bright and vibrant, but they tend to need more layers as opacity is rather weak. The paint tends towards clumping when diluted.
FAQs
What are acrylic paints?
Most acrylic paints are water-based, comprising pigment particles in an acrylic polymer emulsion as a binder, which keeps the pigment in place after the paint dries. The best acrylic paints have several benefits: they're fast-drying, they flex, you can clean them with water when wet and they're permanent when dry.
They're particularly versatile because they stick to almost any surface and come in various consistencies and presentations to suit different types of work. For even more flexibility, you can change the character of acrylic paints using different mediums.
The most common forms of acrylic paint are heavy body, soft body (runner), and acrylic ink. In the guide above, we've focused on heavy-body acrylic paints because these thicker paints suit most use cases. You can learn more about the differences between those and acrylics in our comparison of acrylics vs oils, and we also have a guide to the best oil paints.
Why should I use acrylic paints?
Water-based acrylic paints have a number of advantages. As we've noted above, they're quick and easy to set up and learn to use, and they don't require the addition of solvents. They're also very versatile, serving a range of different uses. Acrylics can also be combined with other water-based media – I find it's often useful to use watercolour pencils for initial drawings as they won’t muddy the colours.
Is there a difference between cheap and expensive acrylic paint?
In short, yes. And it can make a big difference. Cheaper acrylic paint contains more filler in the form of acrylic polymer, and less pigment. This means it will be less vibrant and the colour will look flat. You may also need more layers of paint to get the desired look. Though there are some good options for those on a budget (such as Winsor & Newton Galleria Acrylics), spending a bit more will give you a much better finish and consistency.
Add what is the best brand of acrylic paint?
Golden and Liquitex are the two leading brands of acrylic paint, both with wide ranges of colour and a reputation for quality. When comparing their heavy body paints, we found both had excellent coverage and pigmentation. The chief difference came in texture, as the Liquitex tended to hold textures more readily, and the Golden paint would apply more smoothly.
Which acrylic paint set is best?
The wide range of acrylic paints available can be overwhelming. For professional quality paints, Golden's heavy body performs well in a variety of different applications, with strong pigment and high opacity. Of the student paints, the Pebeo range tends to have the strongest colour and handles better than most similarly priced paints.
How to choose the best acrylic paints
To choose the best acrylic paints for you, first decide whether you're looking for professional or student paints. The latter contain less pigment and have a more plastic-looking surface when dry. They're useful for sketching and more affordable for big projects that require lots of paint, and they're also great if you're just trying out the medium and don't want to commit to spending more on better acrylics.
Professional paints contain more pigment and tend to have extra ingredients to improve consistency and surface quality. Better quality paints usually cover a surface more thoroughly, while poorer quality paints may be too see-through, which can be an issue depending on what you're looking for.
Another important quality to look out for is colour shift – that is how much the paint changes colour as it dries. Minimising this removes the need to compensate for changes in colour and the best acrylic paints dry much like the colour you get initially.
Meanwhile, some acrylic paints have a longer working time – how long it takes for the paint to dry – than others, making blending and mixing colours easier, but slowing down layered approaches. Consider what you need your paint for, what kind of look you are going for, and choose what is best for your needs.
How we test the best acrylic paints
Our reviewers, who are all artists themselves, test paints by putting them to working and assessing their various properties in the process. These typically include pigment quality and colour, consistency and texture, drying time and finish, lightfastness (the resistance of the paint to fading over time) and archival quality (the paint's ability to withstand cracking and peeling over time).
