home › Forums › Website Suggestions and Wish List › acrylic paints?
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December 7, 2019 at 10:43 am #331059
Hi, I jus joined NMA yesteray and love all the content. Some questions though… I am mainly interested in portrait- and figure drawing and painting. Until now I’ve only painted with acrylics. All the painting courses on NMA are using oils. What is the reason for this? is it your opinion that oils are better then acrylic? And can I still do the painting lessons but use acrylic instead of oils? And will there ever be lessons using acrylic paints?
I am a bit ‘scared’ of oils because of the fumes and the long drying time as I work in a room that doubles as my bedroom…
December 9, 2019 at 2:37 am #332142I would be quite interested to know if there are plans to add an acrylic course on here, as a complete beginner I think they are a lot more accessible than oils.
December 9, 2019 at 3:43 am #332187Exactly Liza…plus, even with a little more or a lot of experience, many people choose acrylics over oils. So I am really wondering why all the painting courses on NMA are in oils. Would be nice if someone from the NMA staff could react.
December 11, 2019 at 3:20 pm #333560I am interested in courses on acrylics too!
However, I am also starting to paint with oils in the new year because I want to move the paint around longer than the acrylic medium lets me.I didn’t start with it, because I had the same concerns, having two cats walking about. But, with proper ventilation and good handling practice, using oil paints is actually pretty safe. Never eat where you’re painting, avoid cadmium paints if you can and use as little solvents as possible. I’m planning on thinning my paints with a 50/50 mix of linseed oil/gamsol (which is a odorless mineral spirit that has been refined to remove all aromatic components – the actual toxic parts of the molecular structure) Instead of using solvents that are more aggressive.
The oil paint itself is just pigment + oil, so apart from some pigments being toxic, you should be fine.
And when it’s time to varnish, use gloves and again, make sure there is enough ventilation throughout the whole drying process.That being said, please know that your acrylic paints are not entirely risk free either. There are toxic pigments, like cadmium, so eating/consuming food or drinking while painting is not the best idea. And be aware of the products you’re using. From gesso to paint to varnish, read the labels and be aware of any health hazards. If there are any, make sure to take the right safety precautions and you should be ok!
December 12, 2019 at 12:39 pm #334139We have a course that uses acrylics with Gary Meyer but it’s true that we are primarily oil based.
This is simply because it’s the painting medium of choice with most of the artists that we seek to work with at nma.
While there are differences between oil and acrylics, the painting principles are the same and since we focus on fundamentals and not techniques most of our content could be translated to your painting medium of choice. Many of our students actually do all of the traditional courses using digital tablets for painting and drawing.
We certainly don’t have anything against acrylics though and if there is enough interest we could create a course specifically for acrylics. Perhaps one that also helps students understand how they can study along with oil painting courses and translate that information to acrylics more easily. We do have a lot of watercolor and some egg tempura content in the pipeline that will be appearing soon.
So it would be good to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. Should we produce an acrylics painting course?
December 12, 2019 at 12:53 pm #334140Glenn and Eleanor Vilppu are in the studio recording today and I brought this question to them.
They said that if you are working in an apartment or in situation where fumes are a concern that water based oil paints are a good option.
Glenn himself has switched to walnut oil based oil paints and is able to get the same results.
We may have time to produce a short video about this: oils vs. acrylics vs some of these alternatives if there is interest?
December 13, 2019 at 1:56 am #334447Hi Joshua, thanks for your reaction! Yes, I would love a short video on oils vs acrylics and on the water soluble oilpaints. But also i would love a (short) explanation on how to translate the oil painting courses to working with acrylics, as I might try the water soluble oil paints in the future, but as for now, I am still painting with acrylics.
A course specifically about acrylics would be nice to, but i can understand that you only would want to do that if there is enough interest in such a course.
December 13, 2019 at 9:51 pm #335122@Joshua: That would actually be a really interesting video! I love this idea of a short video about oil vs acrylics and some alternatives. It would be interesting to hear how to study along with acrylics (even though I’ve decided to transfer to oils.) Thank you for considering this 🙂
January 1, 2020 at 4:42 am #346486I’m also an acrylic painter, and I would very much like any kind of course about acrylic painting.
Also, perhaps Hashim Akib might be interested in doing a course for you. He has a book on techniques, one on portraits, and one on cityscapes.
https://www.amazon.com/Hashim-Akib/e/B00B5HFORQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
June 3, 2023 at 9:10 am #2807269Coming here to also express interest in getting a translation of oil to acrylic techniques
February 22, 2024 at 1:46 pm #2844328A video on how to translate techniques in the oil painting courses for students working with acrylics would be great.
February 25, 2024 at 2:39 pm #2844832Ditto. I would prefer to use the acrylics I already have over oils. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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