Art Q&A - Oil vs Acrylic painting - artist tips w/ Lachri

Today I'm answering one of your questions about oil vs acrylic paints. What are the major differences? Which is easier for a beginner?

New painting videos Wednesdays at 3pm CST

Time lapse and speed painting tutorials and demonstrations by award winning artist Lachri. Learn how to paint portraits, surreal landscapes, pets, lions, tigers, and birds...pretty sure a Wizard of OZ reference should be made right about now. Get tips and watch techniques for working in acrylic and oil paint, carbon pencil, graphite and colored pencil.

This video was shot using the Canon VIXIA HF G20 HD camcorder.

[RyanORourkeArtist]

This was both quick and incredibly informative. Well done!

[wildlifepainter]

I'm a full time, professional artist and use acrylics 99% of the time, because they are non-toxic and dry much faster. No one would ever guess my work is in acrylic if I didn't tell them. However, on occasion I use water soluble oils and absolutely love them. They blend smoothly and beautifully just like regular oils but without the toxicity. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but not everyone would agree that you don't get professional results with water soluble oils. They are amazing in my opinion. I know that the dry brush technique is also on your "bad" list. While I don't use dry brush, I have seen some beautifully blended amazing photorealism paintings done by artists using the dry brush technique. Just thought I'd throw that in there too:)

Thanks for your inspirational videos to promote the world of art!

[angievasquez]

Lisa, I think you don't realize how inspirational you are! Someone asked me advice about color pencils on pmp and I totally sent them to your channel and guess what - they already knew about you and your work. Your influence in the art community is sooo huge and I just wanted to thank you for being so awesome!

[gregmeissner]

4:02 yes, my parrots are the reason I switched from oil to acrylic decades ago. I still use oils outdoors, but never indoors around my birds.

[verily]

This was I'm glad I found this before I bought my first batch of supplies!

[gabbyvelasquez]

i've been working with acrylics for so long now and im confident with them its just im soooo ready to move onto oil...i absolutely love the way colours blend and the vibrancy of them...you just dont get that intense gorgeous glossy colour that you get with oil with acrylic.

[anm-zqmy]

Thinks for this video i that about working with oils but i have two birds and would not want them to get sick.So, I am sticking with acrylic paint.Beautiful artwork by the way!

[acaciarogersart]

Awesome video. Very helpful. I'm literally just starting to try out oils now and have noooo clue what to do. The mediums and solvents and remembering the safety practices confuses me

[brandonringstad]

I really like working with acrylic because that is what I have used for so long. plus it is quick and easy to clean. however, I am getting into colored pencil and watercolor again and I love those medium as well

[dianehoweart]

Great video, I don't know how I missed this one the first time round. I am going through your videos again to re inspire myself as I am in a bit of a slump atm. The advice you give here is really good. I also don't like the water soluable oils, how many times do we hear the saying 'Oil and Water don't mix 'lol. I tested them when they first came out and didn't really like them. I did the same painting in real oils and WS oils and 5yrs later when I looked at both paintings the WS oils had faded a lot and they were both kept together in a closed portfolio so it wasn't the light that affected them.

[nightlock.]

Great video, I usually use Acrylic paint and want to try painting with Oil paints

[katiestorer]

I find it fascinating and informative the reactions people have to the various art mediums. I am very sensitive to oil paints physically. They close my lungs and I cannot breathe, which makes me sad because of their blendability. Acrylics are fun to use, but blending is hard for me. Learning that mist your canvases to help with this is eye opening! I have to give this a try. My new favorite medium is Watercolors. I can understand why you don't like working with them. They are like a foreign language when compared to oils and acrylics. Thank you for the valuable information and education. Regardless of the medium being used, I learn at least one new thing with every video you release.

[emmie]

I was just seeing if I wanted to consider oil paints but after you said they are toxic to birds and killed that lady’s dachshunds there’s no way I would have them in the set up o have right now. I have both as pets and had no idea how toxic they were. Thanks for the info! I’ve been flowing a few of your tutorials with acrylic and have been having a blast.

[susirose]

I actually had to use oils for the first time last year as I had enrolled in a certificate 4 in visual arts course. New nothing about them as I've only used acrylics before. In class we had to use a turpinode cleaner which made me feel so sick and nauseous resulting in my getting a migraine after each class. I actually hated to attend class because it would take a whole week for the migraine to go away again.

I also remember when I had to work on my painting at home and my little kitty, Lilly walked over my palette! Oh the stress we went through trying to bath her in soapy water to get the oils off her little white tootsies!

I haven't used oils since but I did buy some of the water oils recently. They seem to have less smell and the brushes can be washed in water which is a big plus for me... and my cheeky cat! lol

[robyn]

Youre amazing...I love your videos and you inspire me.

[StarriSprinkles]

I actually first started in oils, and I seriously get the hang of them. I may be a beginner in oils, but I'm a free-style experienced artist since the age 3. I kinda knew the basics in light 'n shadow, but I would agree with the recommendation. (In my preteens.)

[scots]

Lisa thanks so much for posting this - your work is stunning - and with regards to the final result being the same, I assume that due to the advances of the acrylic blending mediums and glazing mediums that this has helped acrylics be comparible to oils? When you are painting in acrylics, do you use glazing and / or blending mediums ?

[alisonbeaton]

Love your videos, Lisa. I get my inspiration from many sources, but I do often trawl through the internet for images that tend to be clearer than the photos I take. Can you tell me where you find the images you use?

[saramakesartx]

I'm getting ready to register for an art class called "creative painting in oil or acrylics", so I might be working with oils soon. I've been working on acrylics for sixteen years. I find the fact that they're water soluble and I can work with them indoors super convenient. The fact that they dry so fast is both good and bad. It's good because I have a very lightweight easel that gets knocked down easily, thus knocking my painting right onto the carpet. Obviously, if I had wet oil paint, I would have a huge mess. The fast dry time is bad because it obviously doesn't give me a lot of time to smooth out the paint, so I often find when I go back for another session, that my paint has dried bumpy in parts.

[marioneymour]

Hey Lisa love your work a lot I also draw and paint.