Getting Acrylics to Flow? - WetCanvas: Online Living for Artists (2024)

Docpro

I do a lot of portraits and figures.

The only paint I can get to flow (without dripping) is acrylic gesso (black or white) and/or latex paint (jar acrylics)

But even these don’t flow as magically as oils+medium. WMOs + WMO-linseed-oil also fails (in my hands).

Any thoughts (great or small) to improve furious flows of tubed acrylics … or should I make bottles and jars mixed with acrylic medium, etc.

Utmost thanks and blessings!
–Philip:wave:

June 8, 2017 at 7:59 pm#1270198

Attalus

You can use water, though it is fraught with problems and needs constant watching. Works better on panel than on canvas.

June 8, 2017 at 8:39 pm#1270188

BeeCeeEss

By flow, are you talking about getting the paint to flow off the brush for doing fine detail? Or do you want it to spread around more easily?

Acrylics don’t flow off your brushes as easily or smoothly as oil paints do. I found it very frustrating when trying to do fine detail with a small round brush. The acrylic paint just didn’t seem to want to flow nicely off the brush. Here are some things that will help with that.

First, switching to fluid acrylics for this kind of detail is a huge help. The fluid paint is already closer to the consistency I need with the added benefit that I don’t have to thin it down too much by adding way too much water to achieve that flow. The paint has a better pigment load and opacity when I don’t have to add all that water (or medium)

Adding a few drops of flow improver to the mixing water will also help the paint to flow off the brush much better. Be careful not to add too much or you could have problems with the paint getting frothy or making small bubbles when you spread it out.

Using natural hair brushes like red sable small rounds for the detail work also helps the paint to come off the brush more easily. This is a trick I learned at a wildlife art show from one of the exhibiters. I marveled at the fine detail she had in her paintings and asked how on earth she managed to get the paint to flow off her brushes like that. Well, she told me her secret and it really works. At this tiny size the brushes were not too, too expensive and I use synthetics for everything else.

I hope that helps a bit.

Beverly

I love cooking with wines! Sometimes I even put it in the food! -- Julia Child

Ondaderthad

I use Atelier Interactive paint mixed with Atelier Slow Medium (low viscosity) and no water.
and the paint can still be reactivated later (for blending etc..) with a little water.

Docpro

Ondadethad, Beverly, Attalus,

Thank you so much for your excellent suggestions for “flow”, flowing on the canvas and flowing for fine details.

I’ve always worried about ruining sables with acrylics, but will try again with #4s etc.
I use canvas pads (vs. canvas) which I probably should prepare more (for smoothness, etc.)
I will research Atelier Interactive paint as well.

Utmost thanks and blessings!
Philip

BeeCeeEss

[B]Ondadethad, Beverly, Attalus[/B],

…
I’ve always worried about ruining sables with acrylics, but will try again with #4s etc.
I use canvas pads (vs. canvas) which I probably should prepare more (for smoothness, etc.)….

Utmost thanks and blessings!
Philip

A surface that is either a medium canvas weave or simulates that texture can cause some problems with getting the paint to flow off a detailing brush simply because the tip of the brush skips along the raised surface and doesn’t get the paint down into the little “valleys”. If I’m working on canvas, I go for a fine weave and prep the surface with a couple of layers of gesso with some marble dust or very fine pumice gel acrylic medium mixed in to give it a bit of tooth that is still smooth enough to take fine details. There is always enough paint layers already built up before I get to the fine details that wear and tear on sable detail brushes is not an issue.

I never liked working on a really smooth surface because the paint seems to slide along it like grease and doesn’t stick where I want it to.

The cost of real sable brushes makes them a poor choice for acrylics but I only use very small red sable rounds for details and I clean them gently but thoroughly. The key is to never let the paint dry on these brushes before you get a chance to clean them. They’ve been holding up well.

Beverly

I love cooking with wines! Sometimes I even put it in the food! -- Julia Child

June 9, 2017 at 3:05 pm#1270207

Docpro

Thank you Beverly!

Utmost blessings!

June 9, 2017 at 5:02 pm#1270192

Charlies Mum Administrator (Maureen)

It depends what kind of paintings you do – rough texture? smooth blending? but I like to use gessoed mountboard (matboard) to give a relatively smooth surface.

I use mostly water to thin – only occasionally a gloss medium – and regular acrylics, Liquitex heavy-body, W&N etc and can blend OK! ….. for finer stuff, acrylic inks are excellent because they’re already the right consistency without losing saturation … (on paper, for watercolour style I use acrylic inks throughout).

I’m not a fan of the Interactives, though I know others love them!

I don’t use sables, I prefer a brush with more resistance and use mostly cheaper synthetic brushes like Royal Talens or Graduates because acrylics abuse brushes!

The amount of paint a brush will hold will limit the flow too and the inks will allow a greater load, hence a longer line ………. of course, this all depends on how you are wanting to use the paint, the kind of marks you want to make!

June 9, 2017 at 9:21 pm#1270193

janinco

I really like this product:
https://youtu.be/Db5n_w2n948

It’s a bit harder to find in the US, but is readily available in the UK.

I also just bought some of the new Utrecht fluid acrylics and they are very nice pigment load and flow easily. Many wildlife artists who work on very smooth wood surfaces use them.

Jan

Gessoyouknow

You didn’t mention the brand of acrylics You use, but You might wanna look up flow enhancer mediums of the same brands, or there is airbrush medium, which can really thin the paint. However, major paint producing companies have made it so that spending more would give better results, therefore “fluid” or “soft body” are the best choice, they just cost more, if you need a lot of it. Water is a much worse alternative to previously listed mediums, since it doesn’t only thin the binder, but also the pigment.

In conclusion, I would recommend airbrush/flow medium or paints of different viscosity.

Docpro

Maurine, Jan, Gessoyouknow:

Utmost thanks and blessings for your excellent thoughts.
Sounds like some “flow medium” should help.

Remember I’m a ‘live’ portrait artist and require canvas pads for sketches (rarely panels or stretched).

Brand names are ‘everybrand-under-the-sun-and-then-some’.

Ah Jan, I just ordered some Liquitex pouring medium from Utrecht (another topic).

I also ordered the Atelier Interactives due to acrylic staining/drying issues (just 3 colors, blue, orange, white) for the critical 1st layer (underpainting).

Again, utmost thanks and blessings!
Philip

BeeCeeEss

Philip, if you are a portrait artist then I have a product to recommend that is a big help when it comes to blending and softening edges, etc. It’s Golden’s Open Gel Medium. I have found it to be tremendously helpful in extending the drying time and allowing more time for smooth blending when working with regular acrylics (heavy body or fluid). I never cared much for their Open Acrylics line of paints but the Open Gel Medium is just super. You can use it with any brand of regular acrylics but I wouldn’t recommend trying it with the Atelier line (they are a special class of acrylics).

I sometimes use a little of the Golden Open Gel Medium to mix with my regular acrylics before I apply them to the painting surface. Sometimes I apply a thin layer of this medium to the surface first and then paint into it. It all depends on your working preferences.

Another plus of working with the Golden Open Gel Medium (or the thinner, fluid Open Medium) is that if you moisten your brush with water and then a little of this Open medium before you begin your painting, then blot most of it off the brush before you dip into any paints, it will help keep your brush from drying out when it’s not in use at the moment.

I, too, was a portrait artist for many years but I worked with oils. The change to acrylics was long and difficult, to put it mildly. I know of many acrylic artists who do portrait work and do very well. The techniques from oils to acrylics are just very different. On those rare occasions when I paint with oils now I find myself applying a lot of my acrylic techniques to the oil work. I find that a little humorous.

Regards, Beverly

I love cooking with wines! Sometimes I even put it in the food! -- Julia Child

Kikkfall

hello, since this topic calls for acrylics to flow, I thought to add my own question:
having golden heavy body acrylics (and some w/n) what are the best gels/mediums to add to reach a quality similar to fluid golden acrylics preserving as much pigment as possible?
the art shop only has heavy body, also the fluid ones have half the quantity for same price so i was wondering if I could manage myself the mixing and store them in plastic container.

fedetony

This may help.

members

Golden and other brands make acrylic gels and mediums now that have all sorts of properties. Self leveling gel, tar gel, string gel, and any of the fluid mediums like GAC 100 may all help you get the flow you want. Also start with liquid acrylics, not tube, like fluid acrylics or the new acrylic formulas for air brush that are more like ink. I use acrylics in numerous ways, like watercolor, like oils (glazing included), on up to thick palette knife work and everything in between. They seem to have a formula for everything.

For brushes, I like synthetic fibers. Some art stores let you test them out with water so you can better judge how snappy or soft they are. I have some brushes that are synthetic but like natural boar bristle, but I don’t use them a lot. The ones I use most are for acrylics, some for watercolors, and are similar to sable in ‘feel.’ Most of the paint I use with brushes is fairly fluid so that type of brush works for me.