Home > Learning Center > What is the difference between acrylic paints and oil paints?
What is the difference between acrylic paints and oil paints? Q: What is the difference between acrylic paints and oil paints? A: The difference between acrylic paints and oil paints is greatly in the blending. Oil paints take a very long time to dry (it can take up to a week for an oil painting to feel dry to the touch and up to 2 years for it to be fully dry). Therefore, it can be easy to blend paints – you can blend a new paint with a painted area that is already on the canvas. Acrylic paints, on the other hand, dry much faster. It is therefore much more difficult to blend paints on the canvas. Also, acrylic paints dry more transparent than oil paints do. Therefore, it is harder to layer acrylic paints without allowing the original layer to show through. Acrylic paints are water-based, and they are therefore quite easy to clean up. Oil paints, on the other hand, are oil based, and simply washing your paintbrushes with water is not going to clean the bristles! You must use a solution
