Acrylic vs Oil - which is better and why

In this video I discuss the differences between oil and acrylic artist color.

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How to draw/pencil:

How to mix and match colors:

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FULL COURSE in text form:

[TheNortheastAl]

Mark you are one of the few entrepreneurs who actually informs someone how they can make your products at home. Most everyone else has a “secret” formula for their products. Besides being a great teacher, and artist, you share so much for free with your audience. I've always admired that. BTW, I have used both oils and acrylics and I have a preference for oils. You can’t rush a painting, and I feel that acrylics force you to do so, even with using retarders.

[damienkearns]

The thing I've always loved about Mark Carder and his website is he'll tell you what you need to know AND then tell you what you need to do that doesn't benefit him. His generosity with his knowledge is without comparison. I wish I could visit him for in person classes but I have spinal injuries from a car crash and regrettably I can't do it. But I appreciate his website and YouTube videos so much. I want you to understand... He's not a gatekeeper...he wants everyone to learn what he knows as an accomplished artist. He's one in a million, and in the vast range of YouTube I'm so glad I found him.

[bunbwre]

This man is the perfect example of how to be a kind human being. Mark, you are so in touch with your soul. Thank you for your kindness.

[donnieptymcio]

mixing the both of them is great, using acrylic for underpainting and then swiching to oil paint to add more realism to layers of paint

[KaustavMukherjeeFineArt]

I've shifted to oil since 2016 after seeing Mark's videos. Changed my game completely since then.

[MyLifeInTheDesert]

I started using water mixable oils and also use natural walnut oil as a way to thin the paint. I have asthma and it’s nice now to be able to paint and not worry about any bad smells.

[PatriciaPowell-lx]

I painted for several years using acrylic paints and found that beautiful results could be achieved using a "layering" process and mediums. I have literally drawers full of bottles and tubes of acrylic paint. Over the past couple of years I have switched to using oil and I enjoy using it so much more than acrylic! One of the things I like most about it is that I can more easily judge how a color will appear when it dries. Acrylic will dry darker and water color will dry lighter. I always thought the oil paint was very expensive and it's clean up process was harmful to your health, so I was afraid to use it. After watching some of Mark's YouTubes, I decided to give it a try. Just a quick thank you to Mark. I enjoy painting again. Love your paints too!

[mark-dietz]

I quit acrylics and went to oil because I was frustrated with trying to accomplish soft or lost edges. Oils are more luxurious also imo. But, to each their own.
Edit. I also found acrylics frustrating because they often dont cover in the first pass, and I had to do multiple coats which took away from the freshness of the original stroke.

[louielouie]

I have Geneva oils and the brush dip. And I absolutely love them❤

[Ash_Aszhari]

One of the things that makes me prefer Oils over acrylic is just the buttery feel of oil paints, and how the paint just kind of melts. It's just gorgeous to use.

[RemyDAgostino]

I think these are good points, but it's worth remembering that there have been plenty of great artists painting realistic detailed styles who use and prefer acrylic paints. I doubt anyone would guess that artists like Wolfgang Grasse were using acrylic when their style and presentation is so similar to Bosch. Sometimes there's a little bit of elitism from the art community saying oil is always better, and I think that probably just comes from the fact that all of the old masters used oils (they had no choice). Everyone should try both and see what they prefer! While you're at it also try water colors, heavy body mediums, digital painting, pastels and don't stop exploring. :)

[Chron_Dawg]

I use poppy oil as a non toxic medium w oil paint, it’s more watery and less yellow than linseed oil. And I use a tub of that “old masters” brush soap to clean the brushes. So non toxic all the way

[garthok]

Golden open acrylics are great, slow drying acrylics, they are great, you can blend them good and you don't have to wait six month to dry. They dry in a couple of hours, and stay wet for weeks in a container.
Regular acrylics is great for the first layers and you can go over them with oils to make details and blending. And there are retarded and techniques that allow you to do all the blending you want. Colors vary between brands golden is the best i use, liquitex is also good. And you can blend regulars acrylics well if you know how to do it.
Oils are great too of course.
It is not one or the other, you can use all of them in combination, but oils must be used always at the end.

[damienkearns]

Thank you so much for your generosity with your knowledge Mark. You've made everything available to all of us on your website and YouTube. NOBODY else has done that. I'm very grateful. Thank you so much 🇮🇪🤝🏻🇺🇲🎉

[ArtFlowersBeeze]

Excellent points. I've been using oil paints in plein air painting. Because they do not dry right away, oils are excellent to use in hot and cold weather. Transporting can be a bit tricky, but you can plan for that by using either a homemade cardboard box with dividers or one of these Raymar type panel carriers. An interesting thing I've noticed when mixing my oils with cold wax is that it does dry within an hour in warm weather. I like the cold wax because it creates impasto texture, especially when painting water. An edit on the end: Stay wet pallets are great for acrylics in plein air. Other ways to get around that dry time is to put out only small amounts at a time, using open body acrylics . Interesting textures and volume can be created in both mediums by adding sand or marble dust (use a mask!) to the paint.

[triggerfish]

Interesting…the famous British art forger turned tv artist John Myatt uses acrylics and says you can't tell whether his paintings are oil or acrylic. Acrylic are best used if you lean into their quality..fast drying. Use a staywet palette and a lot of water to keep the canvas wet and you can blend like oil paint. Also a stay wet palette keeps the paint useable for longer than oil paint on a palette. Having said all of that, you can, t really push acrylic around on a canvas like you can oil paint (though if you do push oil around you end up with mud). As for the colour shift…Winsor and Newton artist quality acrylic doesn’t really shift, and neither does Golden, so the shift has something to do with the level of pigment. Although i agree that oil paint gives a slightly richer depth of colour ….and there is something sort of lustrous about oil paint that you don't get with acrylics.

[vladimirkraynyk]

Good points. Also, If you need blackest black in acrylic that is just as black as oil black, use carbon black by Golden brand (especially fluid version).

[redangrybird]

I usually paint portraits with oils but at the moment I'm painting a Geisha portrait with acrylics and the blending of colours is very difficult as you said.
Acrylics are nice because are easy to clean and dry quickly but for portraits is a drawback.
Thanks Mark for uploading videos.
😎👍

[kentjensen]

Always great to see a new upload from you, Mark. Hope you're having a great summer.

[sacoyle]

I started painting seriously back in the 90s with Bob Ross & Helen VanWyk as my teachers. A few years later I switched over to acrylics and was determined to get them to act like oils. I was eventually successful with blending and able to manage the drying time of the acrylics to my advantage. When I discovered Mark, his method took me to a whole new level using acrylics. My 1st painting I did using his method won a 2nd, & 2 3rds in 3 shows. I recently started using water mixable oils. They seem to take forever to dry.