I'm 46 and have been printing and drawing since I was a child. When I got serious into art in my 20s, I quickly learned just how acrylic can darken when drying, especially when adding water, mediums, or using craft/ student/ cheaper paint. I've also never bought into the idea of professional paint being better than less costly paint. All paint has a place in art, and can be useful to achieve many desired outcomes. For example... cheaper paint works great for shadows, muted colors, washes, etc. Grab a canvas board, canvas paper, or even scrap paper and create swatches. This was you can and adjust as needed.

@MicheleTheberge

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your experience!

A little suggestion for those of us strictly limited to our student quality budget- I like to swatch my paints on different surfaces (heavy card stock in white, black, wood panel) in various strengths / mixed with mediums and label them so I know in advance what the dried output will be! That way I’ve got a whole colour chart at my fingertips and it makes for really easy palette creation & mood boarding too. :) 🤍

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

That's a fantastic suggestion, Bree! Thanks so much for sharing your idea here. I think it will be very helpful for others.

I definitely have this problem! I always keep a small canvas or canvas pad next to my palette and a hairdryer close to hand. Before painting anything on my canvas, I put it in the test canvas and use the hairdryer to dry it as quickly as possible and see what it looks like.

@MicheleTheberge

2 жыл бұрын

Great tip! So smart!

@yvonnehillis2461

9 ай бұрын

Great idea…… and then maybe you just develop a sense of what the real colour is going to be when it dries.. You can already predict in your mind how much darker it would be. I’m going to try your blow dryer trick; great idea.

Hello, I just watched your video about acrylics drying darker and, I was really impressed to hear you say that you didn’t notice it being a problem. To me, it’s the only problem I have with acrylic paint and, it’s such a problem, I am switching to oils...hoping I won’t have to deal with the problem ever again. And, this is after spending years trying to work out the issue. I use professional quality paints and, I’m careful using mediums, water, etc. I paint a lot of landscapes which inherently have skies. This is where I run into the crux of the problem. I can work for hours getting a look I want, only to see it look completely different, unrecognizable, an hour later...and, never for the better. Usually, the important elements that were included to give contrast just disappeared. It happens whenever I rely on white to change values...which, is kinda necessary when painting clouds. So, when you say, you don’t notice it being a problem, I want to live in whatever parallel universe you exist in.

@glennsweet9957

3 жыл бұрын

JoyceHAnderson17 Hi Joyce, thanks for commenting on my comment. The people who say they don’t notice the paint darkening or, it’s not a problem, are not painting so much as they are illustrating. And, I get that. There’s a difference...which, has a lot to do with a painting requiring wet on wet and blending on the fly...or more appropriately, on the canvas. I understand the explanation about the acrylic emulsion being milky and turning clear when cured. That would explain the problem...as well as rule out any hope for a resolve. That said, I just spent the past month painting with oils and liquin. This method eliminated the problem of the paints drying darker but, there is a down side to using oils...breathing solvents, using solvents, etc. And, Liquin has a quite noxious and powerful off-gas itself. After a few hours working in this atmosphere, I usually end up with a pretty good headache and a slightly disoriented sense. So, I’m back to using acrylics bc I don’t think breathing solvent fumes is good for me. I did however really enjoy working in oils. Good luck.

@glennsweet9957

3 жыл бұрын

JoyceHAnderson17 -yes, I agree with this pursuit being something of an addiction...the not so attractive side of humanity is its predisposition to addiction. But, I’ll take painting to crystal meth any day. The obvious resolve to solvent fumes is paint with plenty of ventilation but, as you say, that is not an option when running air conditioning in the summer. Do not be fooled into thinking a little solvent fume inhalation is not dangerous. It’s accumulative affect. It gets you slowly. Not trying to scare you but, you might research the potential threat...that way I don’t have to sound like the alarmist it is so easy to sound like. Before retiring and taking up painting avidly, I was a furniture maker and cabinetmaker...exposed to solvent fumes all the time. I was careful to be careful but, I am sure I reached my threshold. Threshold is key. And, threshold is different for everybody. Someone I know personally who worked in the same field, is now suffering from motor skill damage...from breathing solvent based fumes. Granted, this person sucked a lot of fume over many years but, the takeaway, is threshold. Some people are more susceptible than others. I’d do a little research before closing myself up in a room with products that off-gas solvent fumes. For me, I’m so affected by them that I decided to go back to the torture of trying to manage the darkening aspect of acrylics. Good luck on your adventures.

Thanks Michele, that explanation makes perfect sense.

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

So glad! You're welcome, Kathy!

IT IS SUCH A JOY WHEN I SEE A NEW VIDEO FROM YOU..ALWAYS PERFECT WITH THIS BIG SMILE..ON YOUR FACE..EXPLAINING SO INTERESTING QUESTIONS......THANK YOU SO MUCH...xoxoxo from Greece.....Xrisa

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Always so nice to hear from you, Xrisa! You are so welcome! Sending all my best to you!

I just found your channel (and subscribed), and holy cow, your content is phenomenal!! I have literally been binging on your vids! I say “last one, then I gotta go to bed” and then I see another one I HAVE to watch! Thank you SO much for this literal treasure trove of information you put into your channel👍🤗

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind word! I appreciate it so much!

Thank you for the info

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Abichan You are welcome! Thanks for watching!

This happened to me recently for the first time. I was very disappointed that it happened. The original piece looked great that day and the next morning, everything was dark, even the pinks and mauve. Changed the entire mood of the painting. But thanks for the tips. I will try and to sample and mix lighter hues.

@MicheleTheberge

5 ай бұрын

Hi Karen! That sounds frustrating. I’d love to know how it’s going now. Were you able to solve the problem by sampling and mixing lighter hues. Also, may I ask if you are mixing water and/or acrylic medium into your paints? And if so what percentage approximately? Also do you use many different brands of paint? Or just one? I’d love to better understand and to be able to help more people with this issue. Happy painting to you!

@karenvpenn

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for acknowledging my frustration. I've started mixing lighter hues and it has worked out better. I sometimes mix with water and an acrylic medium with a 2:1 part ratio (less paint more medium).@@MicheleTheberge

@MicheleTheberge

5 ай бұрын

@karenvpenn Thanks for responding. I’m interested in this ratio of 2:1 medium and water to acrylic paint ratio. I have heard other painters describe difficulties with the paint drying much darker than the original mix when adding a significant amount of medium or water to the paint. I’m going to put this on my list of a possible video topic to address. All best to you!

My problem is that I want to paint in acrylics in a hyper/realism portrait style. So any wet to dry even slight color shift can change a likeness and/or the sculpting of the face due to wrong values. However acrylics work perfectly for my seascapes whos's color values can be very slightly off with no consequences. I love your honesty in this video. ... Conclusion: I may should do portraits in oils and seascapes in acrylics? The problem is my portrait customers are impatient and always want their commissions done a fast as possible. So it appears the only solution for portraits is that I must mix fast dry mediums with my oils. Thanks for helping me sort all this out. :) Hugs!

@MicheleTheberge

2 ай бұрын

I love the alkyd mediums for oil for their quick drying! They were a game changer for me back in my oil painting days. I used to do so many layers of glaze, and I would have sometimes 16 paintings going at once because it took so long for each glaze layer to dry.

I did my First Plein air painting in acrylic on a bright cold sunny and windy day. I worked on it at home and was shocked to see how dark it appeared. That is not brightness ,level that I had painted, so now to go back and make corrections as I work at completion. Will be getting into oils eventually, and planning to use acrylics in the under painting.

@MicheleTheberge

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. You bring up some important things to consider in plain air painting. So when you got it home after working outdoors it sounds like you are saying it appeared darker. I’m wondering if it was not just the paint drying darker but the big difference in light from indoors to outdoors.

How you prepare your canvas makes a huge difference too, I like to use gesso first to prime my canvases.

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, exactly. I am assuming everyone is gessoing the canvas wood or paper or using preprimed canvas or panel but good of you to bring that up for the beginners watching!

Thanks so much👍🎨

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

You're welcome, Angela! Thanks for watching!

@angelamaxwell59

4 жыл бұрын

@@MicheleTheberge your so welcomed 👍

Can the difference in sheen be part of the issue? Colors that dry matte may be seen as 'darker' than a color that dries with a gloss finish? Your videos are very helpful - thanks, Michele!

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Could be. Most people tend to perceive colors that are glossy as darker. I have a sample I used to show my students with gloss varnish over black and with glazing gel on top of an underpainting that made to the colors look deeper. But we are all perceive things so uniquely. So glad the videos are helpful to you. Thanks so much for for watching, Nan!

Thanks as always, Michele. I'd like to know what people's experience is with various brands and the degree to which they darken when dry. When I went from student grade paint to artist's grade it was to M. Graham acrylics. I found they hardly darken at all. But maybe I would have done just as well with Liquitex, Golden or W&N. I just can't buy sets of each in order to test this.

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Charles Reidy Charles - that’s a really excellent question. Thank you for posing in here and I hope we will get responses from other viewers. And thanks for letting us know that your M.Graham acrylics have had very little wet to dry color shift. Good information to know! I may be only had one tube of that brand ever.

@psterud

5 ай бұрын

I paint en plein air with Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics, and those seem to darken. It's either that or because I paint under a bright sky the paintings seem dark when inside under less light. Hard to tell for sure. Edit: I also use a lot of water when painting with acrylic, as I enjoy the glazing effect of multiple thin layers.

Hey Michele! Great video, really made my day. Do you have any tips regarding cracking? I've d been experimenting with different mediums and temperature but I can't seem to find the culprit.

@MicheleTheberge

2 жыл бұрын

It can be so many things. It can be your substrate as well as the mediums and the climate. My best advice is to contact the company who makes the paints. Liquitex, Golden and Windsor & newton all have technical support teams who can help. Probably other brands as well. Good luck!

@pappapaps

2 жыл бұрын

@@MicheleTheberge Thank you :) I found out it was the medium causing the cracks, and the low temperature in my shed increased the effect.

I have been painting for along time but just the past couple years I've been buying more professional paints (liquitex, Lucas, golden) but I still have hundreds of bottles of "craft paint" (folkart, decoart, Martha stewart ext..) I am wondering if I paint with the cheap paint and varnish with liquitex or golden will it last as long as the more expensive paints?

@MicheleTheberge

Жыл бұрын

Great question. Longevity of paint has to do with many factors - quality of pigments, quality of binders, how much water was added, etc. So varnish alone won't solve those factors.

it might help to put some paint on the lid - mine have white lids - , so you know next time what color the paint will be when is dry. You're awesome!

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Great idea! Thanks for sharing that, Karin!

Never been a problem. Probably because I'm not using much water, only a little to clean my brushes and my tubes aren't the cheapest either. Also, my paints dry super quickly. I apply a very thin line of paint to a piece of cardboard, wait a few seconds for it to dry, and put it next to my subject. So I'm comparing the end result, not the wet paint. and I mix it into bottles. So it won't dry out for months without hydration. Adding water or medium also changes the pigment/ml ratio. which leads to inconsistencies.

@MicheleTheberge

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for that excellent tip on how you pre-test your paints using them on a piece of cardboard and comparing the wet to dry. I hope this idea helps some people who are struggling with this issue.

My very first paint pour I used black as the base and a shiny raspberry and teal. It is so dark can I just pain over it?? I really hate looking at it

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely! You can paint right over it.

I use the Windsor and Newton artist quality acrylics and the colour shift is barely noticeable or non existent. Also while they don’t stay open like Golden Open, they do stay workable for longer than student paints. They are thicker when they come out of the tube.

@MicheleTheberge

2 жыл бұрын

Wonderfully helpful, Roger! Winsor & Newton makes that claim that the color shift from wet to dry is hardly discernible and I appreciate your confirming it. Thanks for weighing in on your personal experience!

What brand of professional paint do you use?

@MicheleTheberge

Жыл бұрын

Hi Lori! The brands I use most frequently are Golden and Liquitex. I also use Winsor & Newton and have some Sennelier. I love Lascaux for their high pigment load but they are harder to find these days.

Um is there any way to get back acrylic paint once it is dried and stuffed like a clay .... please share my paint is totally dried and I can't find way to rehydrate it!!!

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

I'm so sorry to let you know that acrylic paint does not rehydrate. I know it is frustrating to lose paint like that! I have a video on how to save paints for reuse. kzread.info/dash/bejne/iJOWz7Btp8bFfco.html

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

I think that may have been the entire playlist I shared but you might want to check it out because there are videos for better blending and slowing the drying time. kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZIqbw86rYca2fqg.html

@MicheleTheberge

3 жыл бұрын

Also, if you haven't seen my video on better blending with acrylics you might gain some helpful information there. kzread.info/dash/bejne/Y5xlqtJwY6epqc4.html Best of luck Riya!

I use professional too and have that problem.

@MicheleTheberge

Жыл бұрын

I’m sorry you were having this problem with the paint drying darker. How much water do you mix into your paint?

Water actually brightens the medium more.

@MicheleTheberge

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your experience. Water is one of the ingredients in acrylic mediums. There are so many different mediums and adding water will have a different affect on each one. It also varies around the ratio of water to medium.

This is a nightmare for miniature painting, when you need to restore missing paint or touch up mistakes. That colour you've mixed which is a perfect match for the model? Guess what? In a couple of hours it's going to stand out as being the wrong shade compared to the surrounding area. The amount of time you end up wasting having to 'guess' how darker the paint you've mixed will be and whether it will be correct, it's very frustrating. It's often easier just to repaint the whole model from scratch. I've sometimes wondered whether it would be an idea to put a lightly shaded bit of perspex above the mixing tray for acrylics, just to mimic the dried result. I've never got round to experimenting with that though.

@MicheleTheberge

2 жыл бұрын

That does indeed sound very frustrating.

Wow. I’m a little smarter!

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

MICHELE WHY DONT YOU DO VIDEOS ABOUT PROPERTIES OF OILS. IF YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT 0IL PLEASE DO

@MicheleTheberge

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Thiloka! I painted with oils for 15 years and used to teach workshops on them but because I know longer use them, I don't have the paints or mediums on hand to demonstrate with. But, do you have any specific questions I can answer?

@PLSassociates

3 жыл бұрын

Go to Dianne Mize on KZread. She’s phenomenal with oil instruction. In fact someone in one of her videos asked about acrylics and Dianne referred them here.

No help!

Dark colours can make a painting real interesting