Why Your Water Color Is Cracking
Paints have been in existence since long ago only that nowadays, there are different types. As an artist, you are likely to find yourself in a dilemma when looking for the best paint to use for your artwork. It’s essential to to choose the right color for your work wisely to attract more clients. Some paints last longer than others, and some make a painting more appealing.
As an artist, you need to choose the right paint to use, depending on your target audience as well as the project. What do you want your audience to feel or see? Once you consider that, you will never go wrong with the one you choose. There are five types of paints used by artists when doing artwork, but in this particular article, our primary focus is on three types of paints; acrylic, oil-based and watercolor paint.
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is a type of painting where the base of the pigments used is acrylic. This makes them more durable since when they dry, water cannot destroy them. It is not only smooth but also light. The best part is that it can be used on canvas as well as watercolor paper.
Differences between watercolors and acrylic paint
- When you take a good look at paintings painted using acrylic, you’ll notice that they appear brighter than those depicted in watercolors.
- When it comes to watercolor, you can put two colors together, but that’s not the case in acrylic. In acrylic, once you’ve applied a brighter color, it’s impossible to use a darker color. This is because the colors don’t mix entirely; hence the darker color will be visible.
- Water is a base in both types of paints; the only difference is the amount used. While acrylic paints can be used with less to no water at all, watercolors require a lot of water such that water is more than the color.
- While watercolors need to be handled with a lot of care, acrylic will still shine no matter where it’s placed since it is both dust and waterproof.
- Acrylic paints are more expensive compared to watercolors.
- Watercolors are naturally made with the main ingredient being a binder that is synthetic such as gum Arabic, while acrylics are human-made.
- Watercolors tend to be hard to use compared to acrylic paints. This is because you can correct a mistake with acrylic but not with watercolors.
Oil-based paint
It is a type of paint where its pigments are put in an oil base. Would you believe that the most famous paintings in the world are made of oil-based paints? The Mona Lisa painting is an example of such an art. If you are an artist and want an art that is bright and speaks for itself, choose an oil-based paint. When compared to acrylic paints, oil-based paints can easily be mixed, and the best thing is that after mixing, you get different color palettes.
The main thing that differentiates oil-based paints from acrylic and watercolor paints is the fact that it takes a long time for it to dry. And by long, I don’t mean hours; it could take days or weeks for it to fully dry. This happens when the painter uses a thick layer of paint hence taking longer for each layer to fully dry.vIf you are a beginner and feel like your oil-based painting is losing its shine, expose it to light, and you’ll see a big difference.
Watercolor paint
For those in the painting industry, you might have come across the word watercolor since it’s a term that is commonly used. Watercolor is a kind of painting where paints used in a particular art are put in a solution that consists of water. There is also the material where the color goes, and it’s known as watercolor paper. Often the name watercolor carries another meaning; once the art is completed, the final result is, in most cases, transparent, therefore consider using a paper of high quality to make your painting more visible.
What makes watercolors crack?
You might be asking yourself how watercolors can crack. Did you know that it’s not the painted paper that breaks? Watercolors come in tubes and later on poured into a palette, and it’s common for them to dry out. What is the one thing that can make a watercolor crack?
Lack of moisture
Since water is the base of the paint, if it lacks moisture, it is evident that it will shrink and later on dry out and start cracking. By moisture, I mean water. Therefore once the water evaporates, it dries out. Less expensive paints are prone to cracking, it’s recommended that you go for quality over quantity. There are times you find them not only cracking but also breaking.
Steps to follow to recover watercolors that have dried out
Let’s say you have a project to work on, and your watercolor paint dries out, do you throw it away? The answer is no; you should first ask yourself whether you can revive it, and the truth is that you actually can. Below are what you need to do to refresh your paint in less than an hour.
- Separate the paint that has dried out from the pan.
- Fill the pan halfway with water.
- Replace the dried out paint in the pan to ensure that all the paint softens
- Leave it to sit for not more than 30 minutes
- Lastly, after 30 minutes, press the top of the cake gently towards the pan.
Recommendation
To prevent disappointments whenever you are using watercolors, below are the things you should do to avoid them from drying out.
- Professional artists with experience advice that once you know a color that cracks, add either one or two drops of warm honey or glycerin, but you can use each.
- Ask around for a company that produces tubes that dry without a hustle.
- In your pan, only pour in what you need and avoid mixing colors.
Conclusion
Truth be told, as a beginner in the industry, you might be overwhelmed by the different types of paints that are in the market. Even if you talk to your artist friends, you’ll notice that they all use various colours for their art. The problem comes in when you try using one recommended to you, and it turns out to be a total fail. To save yourself the agony, take time to try out all types of paints; after that, you’ll be able to know which paint goes where and the one to use on specific paintings.
Above I have looked at three types of paints since they are the most common. Out of all the paints, watercolor has stood out. Watercolors are less expensive compared to acrylic and oil-based paints. The fact that you can get water at home is a plus, but for oil, for example, you have to buy.
Professional artists prefer watercolor and acrylic paint over oil-based paints because of one reason. Oil-based paint does not dry fast. Unlike watercolor and acrylic, where a painting dries within hours, oil can go for weeks. Therefore professionals cannot earn a decent living using oil-based paints. Imagine a situation where you forget to work on a project that demands the use of oil-based paint, and by the time you remember, it’s due in a day? You’ll lose the client and money too. But if the same project requires a watercolor, then you have nothing to worry about.