With one of Australia’s largest collections of paint supplies online, we have everything you need to fuel for your painting passion. From watercolour, oil, and acrylic paints, to inks, easels, and brushes, you’ll never be without the tools you need to explore the wonderful world of paint.
With evidence showing that humans have been painting for at least the past 40,000 years, the desire to paint is as natural to us as breathing. These days, artists have a huge range of options when it comes to painting, with each type of paint producing its own unique results. Deciding what type of paint works best for you will be a very personal journey that requires a lot of experimentation.
Here are some things you should know to help get you started.
As you begin experimenting with different media, you’ll find that different types of paint will require very different techniques and tools. Below, we’ve included a list of some of the most popular types of paint, along with their typical properties. Please be aware that there may be some variation between paint brands and series.
Relatively easy to work with, and requiring fewer supplies than other types of paint, acrylic paint is a highly versatile medium that can be used on a wide variety of surfaces. Due to its low odour, ease of cleaning, and ability to adhere to most surfaces, acrylic paint is a popular choice for professionals and beginners alike, and is also suited to children’s activities.
Here are some of the most common properties of acrylic paint:
Oil paint has been a popular medium for many years, and this is the most common type of paint used by the Old Masters. Composed of pigments suspended in oil, oil paints can be a little harder to work with than other media, and, due to the need for harsh chemicals during cleaning, may not be the best option for children.
Here are some of the properties that oil paints are known for:
A highly expressive paint that allows for a great deal of play and experimentation, watercolour is a fun medium to play with, but can be a difficult paint to master.
Watercolour paints usually come in two formats. You can either purchase watercolour pans, or tubes of watercolour paint, which allows for a great concentration of colours and more freedom to mix.
Here are some other things to consider about watercolour paint:
At first look, gouache and watercolour paint may seem very similar. However, there are some notable differences between the two media:
Adhering to a range of surfaces, including wood, fabric, and canvas, airbrushing paint is a highly versatile medium with a diverse range of applications. The most popular paints for airbrushing are typically referred to as high flow acrylic paint, though you can also use acrylic ink instead. Here are some of their most defining properties:
A durable acrylic paint that can be used on a number of different surfaces, gloss enamels are an excellent option for outdoor applications and objects that will experience heavy wear and tear.
A unique paint that’s known for its matte and chalky appearance, chalk paint is a particularly popular option for DIY home decorators wanting to achieve a more vintage style in their home. Chalk paint is usually applied to furniture to add a bit of rustic charm, but it can also be applied to walls for a shabby-chic look.
Not to be confused with chalk paint, chalkboard paint is a unique type of paint that allows you to turn virtually any surface into a chalkboard! That means you can turn walls, tables, and doors into a board where your kids can explore their creativity. All you need is some chalk!
Chalkboard walls can be a great statement piece in any home, but also make a fabulous addition to classrooms. You can even apply chalkboard paint to the walls of a store or café for advertisements, announcements, or to simply personalise your space by encouraging staff (and patrons) to participate in decorating the walls.
What’s more fun than drawing all over your face and body? A great activity for the kids, and an excellent option for dress-up parties, it’s important to remember that you can’t just put any old paint on your skin.
Face and body paints are typically water-based (which makes them easy to remove and resistant to melting), though there are also powder based paints available. When buying a paint, it’s essential that you check that the packaging says it’s non-toxic and safe for use on the skin.
Another good one for the kids (though fun for adults as well), there are a range of fabric paints and dyes available that allow you to customise your clothing. Design Line’s range of 3d fabric paints, for example, allow you to create a raised line of paint that not only looks fabulous, but offers a tactile experience for kids. You can even apply glow in the dark paints to make a stylish fashion statement, no matter the time of day!
Alternatively, you can use specially designed, non-toxic dyes to give a boring white shirt a gorgeous pop of colour, or a faded old top a new lease on life. Fabric dyes can be used for a range of exciting customisation projects, including dip-dying and tie-dying.
Paint is often divided into two main categories: artist quality and student quality. Artist quality paints are typically highly pigmented, meaning a little will go a long way. Artist quality paints also offer a broader range of colours, greater vibrancy, better coverage, and reduced fading over time. In the case of acrylic paints, this higher quality paint also tends to display less colour shift when drying, meaning that what you first paint on the canvas will more closely match the dried results.
However, it’s important to note that this higher grade of paint will reflect in the price tag.
Student quality paint, on the other hand, is significantly cheaper, though that reduced cost often comes at the expense of colour saturation and lightfastness. Often more transparent than higher quality paints, student quality usually requires a lot more paint to achieve the same level of coverage. You may also notice that your paints dry a lot darker.
To save money while painting, many artists choose to purchase both student and artist quality paints. They can then use the lower-grade paints for their underpainting, while the professional quality paint can be used on the visible top layers.
Depending on the medium you choose to use and the effects that you wish to achieve, the painting supplies you’ll need to get started will vary. Here are some of the most common supplies for beginners:
We love seeing the incredible work our customers are able to achieve with our range of art supplies. When sharing your work on Instagram, don’t forget to tag @riotartandcraft so that we can appreciate your incredible achievements as well!
