Fixes for the Frustration of Fast-Drying Acrylics
I first learned to paint using oils. I started with them in high school and painted with them myself even throughout college. I studied Illustration and had a Materials and Techniques class where I was introduced to acrylics and started to work with them more frequently. There was a learning curve to these paints that dried WAY faster than oils and it took a lot of trial and error before I began to get the hang of them.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from other painters about acrylics is that they dry so quickly. This can be incredibly frustrating if you are trying to blend paint similarly to how you would with oils. I still get frustrated sometimes when I am trying to paint a gradient into a background because the paint dries faster than I can blend.
There are a couple of ways to help combat the frustrations that come with this quick dry time.
Retarder - If you have used acrylics, you have probably heard of Retarder, which is probably the most well known acrylic additive. It can be added to paint to extend the drying time. It “retards” or slows the evaporation of water from the paint, so the paint stays wet longer, allowing for wet on wet blending techniques to be used. Retarder is great, but the one caveat is that you have to maintain a 1:1 retarder to paint ratio. If you add too much retarder, it can mess with the binder in the paint.
Golden OPEN Acrylics - These paints are specially formulated to have a longer “open” or wet workable time than typical acrylics. If Retarder isn’t slowing down the dry time quite enough or you can’t maintain that 1:1 ratio, give Golden OPEN acrylics a try. They won’t stay wet as long as oils, but provide a good middle ground between oils and typical acrylics.
One last little tidbit…I mentioned that painting backgrounds can be frustrating for me when I am trying to create a smooth transition of color or value. I try to set myself up for success by mixing a middle value/base color that I keep in a small container. I use that to mix two other colors, one light and one dark. Having three premixed paint colors allows me to maintain consistency and blend slowly to create that gradient.