Switching towards acrylics can be challenging as they behave differently than oil paints. Now I will share a secret of mine with you on how to make acrylic paints behave like oil paints.
Oil paints need more time to dry than acrylic paints do. This is why many like more acrylic paints than oil paints. But oil paints are more flexible than oil paints. Painters prefer to use acrylic paints most as they dissolve.
How can acrylics be made to look like oil?
As the oil paint dries too slow, you can make it smoother. To combine acrylic paints as oil paints, apply gently powder of acrylics to your collected brand of acrylic paints. You can also prepare the acrylic paints thick and glittering like oil paints by adding acrylic gel.
How to Blend Acrylic Paints like Oil Paints
The blending of oil paints is too easy for anyone. As oil paints dry gently, you can mix the paints for a long time. If you blend two different colors, it will create a soft gradient which is very useful for flat painting work.
During blending, you should be able to create soft edges which is the second aspect of oil paint. This soft edge looks like pictures.
Hence, to create acrylic that behaves like oil paint you will be capable of creating plain blends and gentle edges. Luckily, both two effects can be made by gradually drying acrylics.
You will find many variables that can affect the drying rate of acrylic paint. My recent article on ‘How Long Does Acrylic Paint Take to Dry?’ describes, how you can rule these variables to create acrylic fast or slow.
How to Create Oily Effects using Slow Drying Acrylic?
Golden Open is a lazy-drying acrylic paint that retains most of the characteristics of oil paint. This type of paint dries much slower. It is estimated that it takes about 10 times longer than conventional acrylic.
Golden Open acrylics are made with a good comparison of pigment and acrylic polymer. It protects skin from defects.
OPEN acrylics perform best when painted in a little bit thin manner. Golden Open doesn’t prefer to paint a damp thicker layer.
Painting any thicker may cause very high times to dry and the painting may remain sticky after drying. You must apply the next layer when the first layer dries properly.
The deep layer of paint takes a long time to dry, therefore you should apply the paint on the thicker portion. This will let you mix the colors for a long time. You can also check: How To Dry Paint Fast? to reduce drying time.
There is no doubt that the use of slowly dried acrylic is a completely different experience than regular acrylic use. With this special type of acrylic, you can create smooth gradients and also blur the edges which were only possible with oil paint. Provided that you are a regular follower of our articles, you possibly know how to make a good blend of acrylic paints. When using this acrylic for slow drying you need to keep in mind that your canvas will stay wet for a long time. This tells you to complete the whole part of the day prior to the rest. Because after resting for some time, you will find the canvas wet.
How you should Make Drying Acrylics Yourself?
Since you will mix acrylic with the retarder, you can choose any well brand of acrylic if you want. This is not a big deal. In the market, you will find slow-drying acrylics of different brands.
Though working with slow-drying acrylic is totally different than oil paints, the final outcome will be the same. I have already applied Golden Open Acrylic and added retarders on conventional acrylic. I’m acquainted with the Golden OPEN acrylic only.
The advantage of mixing retarder in regular acrylics is that you only need to buy 1 line of paint and this gives you the opportunity to use both quick-drying acrylics and slow-drying acrylics.
It takes some more time to mix the retarder with the paint, although you have complete control over how much you mix.
Make sure you’ve gone through the directions exactly before you mix. You must know how many retarders you should mix into the paint. But the problem is, if you add more retarder than necessary, the paint might take a long time to dry. It may remain sticky when it gets dried.
Apply proper Color Blend to Create Acrylic Look like Oil Paints
When painting, you must pay attention to the fact that the correct combination of colors. Professional painters do not have to face this problem. But if you are an amateur painter then you must handle this issue very carefully. It is a highly significant piece of your job. Although you are a good painter, you will fail if the color is not right. You can’t make the compassion of depth of an image without creating the accurate matched color.
First Make the matching color and keep it in the right place. The compassion of your subject will be found on the canvas if you can able to match the colors exactly. You cannot make any realistic illusion without a perfect blending of your paint.
Only the honest drawing and the right combination of colors can make any realistic emergence stand out.
As regular acrylics dry fast, hence your direction for any painting will be to blend the color and use it where it should be. Don’t try to blend the area too much.
Notice carefully that the areas where two colors join create a strong edge. If the colors are nearly the same, then the edge will be less clear.
If you want to veil the hard edges, blend a 3rd color which is an average of both colors, apply the third color between them. This works well for little things, but it won’t work well if you are painting a big plain background.
