In acrylic paints, the pigment is suspended in a plastic polymer. Acrylic paint is a more modern choice-it only recently became commercially available for artists in the 1950s.The characteristics of watercolor-its convenience, portability, and easy cleanup-make it a very popular medium for both finished works as well as sketchbooks and visual journals.
Watercolor paint can be reactivated with water when dry and reworked, even years after you finish your painting. It is water-soluble, transparent, and comes in a tube, pan, and liquid form. Watercolor paint is another traditional medium and uses pigment mixed with a binder made of gum arabic and additives to improve solubility and flow.Water-soluble oils have been introduced in recent years, requiring only water to thin the paints and clean the brushes. Cleanup requires solvents such as turpentine or mineral spirits. Oil paint is slow-drying, so the paint can stay wet on the palette and workable on the painting for many days, making it easy to blend. It should be used on supports that have been primed with gesso to protect the surface-which can even include paper-from the acid in the oil. It is pigment mixed with such oils as linseed, safflower, or poppy, and thinned with turpentine. Oil paint is a traditional artist's medium.It is a very personal choice: If one type of paint doesn't suit you, be sure to try another. The four main choices are oils (traditional or water-soluble), watercolors, acrylics, and pastels. The first step is deciding what paint you are going to use.