When starting out painting, a common source of confusion for most people is whether to use acrylic or oil paints. Many advise beginners to start out with acrylics, while art schools often prefer students to begin with oil paints. But before answering this question, I’d like to quickly review what these two paints are.

Acrylic paint is a fast drying, water soluble paint. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water, the finished product can either resemble a watercolor, gouache, or oil painting. On the other hand, oil paint is a slow drying paint which uses turpentine as a solvent.

Often, there is a certain prestige associated with oil paintings, and acrylics are often marketed as “beginner-friendly,” but these reasons alone should not determine which medium you decide to start with.

One of the first categories to review in regards to the pros and cons of oil paint and acrylics is the drying time. Oil paints are extremely slow to dry, and can take up to weeks depending on the humidity levels and temperature of your location. Acrylics, however, can dry within the hour. For slow painters, acrylics might be frustrating. Once paint dries, it becomes hard to blend and adjust without painting on a fresh layer. However, if you like to paint fast and get frustrated when your painting doesn’t dry immediately after it’s finished, you should probably avoid oil paints.

The second category to take into account is how well these paints mix. When painting, mixing your paints is vital to achieve depth and create unique colors. While both mix relatively well, depending on which brand of paint you buy, for me, mixing oils is easier, simply because acrylics dry so quickly. When you mix oils, you can use one mixture for hours on end, and even if you decide to put the painting away and start on it again a week later, the mixture you already made will still be wet. On the other hand, you will most likely have to mix the same colors over and over when using acrylics because they’ll dry within the hour.

Clean up is another important factor to consider. Acrylics are the obvious winner here, simply because they are easily cleaned with water. The only possible downside is that cleanup would need to happen relatively fast to prevent the paint from drying on your brushes. With oil paints, cleaning up is a real hassle. Water won’t cut it, so you need to use turpentine instead. It can be harsh on your skin and contain fumes. When using turpentine, you’ll definitely need to paint outside or with a window open. Not to mention that to use turpentine, I often pour a small amount into a cup to swirl my brushes around in, dampen a paper towel so that I can clean off my palette, etc. When I’m done with the turpentine, it cannot be thrown into the trash or poured down the sink. Instead, it needs to be disposed of at a toxic waste center, which is incredibly inconvenient. And if you get oil paint on your clothes, it will only be removed by using turpentine, whereas with acrylics, you can just throw whatever got dirty in the wash.

For color and longevity, however, oil paints are the best choice. Oil paintings have survived hundreds of years, however they can discolor with age. If you do encounter this problem, remember that most discoloration can be fixed with a layer of varnish, a gel-like substance that is poured over oil paintings to restore them to their original color. We’re not sure if acrylics do this as well, because they haven’t been around long enough for us to know. Regarding color, usually oil paints have more pigment than acrylics (although this does vary depending on the brand and quality of paint you buy). More pigment allows for more vivid, richer colors. Another disadvantage to using acrylics is that they tend to darken as they dry, so the end product might be different than what you thought you were putting on the canvas.

And lastly– and perhaps most important of all– cost. Oil paints ten to be very expensive compared to acrylics, so if you’re booking for a budget friendly option, I’d go with the latter. While you can find relatively cheap paint for either, the more inexpensive paint is, the lower quality it tends to be. No matter how you try to spin it, painting is an expensive hobby. But if you’re looking to lessen costs marginally, acrylics would be the better choice. The paint is cheaper, and you can use synthetic hair brushes rather than natural hair brushes (which are used for oil painting), which are a lot cheaper. Not to mention that you would need to purchase turpentine as well to work with oil paints.

All in all, both paints have their pros and cons, and there isn’t really a clear winner. Which one you choose will definitely depend on the pace at which you paint, your budget, and how much you’re willing to be inconvenienced. After reading this, if you’re still not sure which one to choose, I would recommend ranking these categories listed above by how important they are to you and make your decision depending on that. Don’t forget to keep in mind that you can always try out the other option if the one you choose isn’t working for you. I hope this helped you with your artistic journey and happy painting!