Here is a summary of the most well known and widely distributed acrylic paint brands for fine art painters. Most can be purchased by from online art retailers, a few are offered only by one specific store or retailer. For specific information regarding pigment product lines and accompanying gels and mediums, please see the individuals brand pages.
Craft, student, classroom, and house paint are not included here.
Acrylic Paint Brands widely available throughout the USA.
Golden Artist Paints, Inc. One of the best known acrylic artist paint brands. Golden offers the most comprehensive line of pigments, gels, mediums, etc. Their website contains detailed information about use for each product. Golden does not make a student grade line, all pigments are professional artist grade. Made in USA.
Golden Acrylic Reviews:
Golden Fluid Acrylics
Liquitex Artist Acrylic Typically considered the first manufacturer of water-based acrylic artist paint, Liquitex is found in almost every brick and mortar store that sells art supplies. Liquitex is also sold on most art websites. Liquitex offers a complete product line, with a many gels and mediums. Both a professional and student grade paint lines are offered for sale by Liquitex. Made in USA.
Liquitex Paint Reviews:
How good are Liqutiex Heavy Body Artists Colors Paint?
Winsor & Newton One of the oldest oil paint manufacturers on planet earth, the U.K. company Winsor & Newton has a full line of acrylic paint. Readily available in most art supply stores in the USA, this paint is a popular brand. Winsor & Newton recently (2009) revamped their entire acrylic line, with new paint formula claimed to be the brightest pigment available with no color shift upon drying.
Winsor & Newton Reviews:
Galeria Black Lava Texture Gel
Other Fine Art Acrylic Paint Brands
Holbein A Japanese manufacturer of acrylic artist paint, Holbein is still considered a speciality paint for professional artists. Not widely available in hobby stores, this brand is available in some art supply stores.
Matisse Aussie manufacturer offers two main lines of professional artist grade acrylic paint called Structure and Flow.
Lascaux Swiss manufacturer of professional grade artist’s paint (tubes) , gels, & mediums. Also offer a student grade line of acrylic paint as well as a watercolor / acrylic hybrid paint called Aquacryl.
Maimeri Brera Italian manufacturer offering acrylic paint in both professional fine art grade and student grade. Available throughout the online art retailer websites.
Da Vinci Acrylic Produced in California, these paints are best known for their fluid acrylic line. Da Vinchi also produced a heavy body professional artist paint too.
LUKAS CRYL acrylic paint, both impasto and fluid, manufactured in Germany.
While this information is interesting, when I read the title “Acrylic Paint Brands Review” I was expecting to hear a review of the products and how they measure up to one another.
Quick Example: I find that Golden Heavy Body Acrylic has a similar body and viscosity to Matisse Structure. Whereas Liquitex Heavy Body (in my opinion) has a thicker, more gluey consistency, etc., etc.
I would find this type of review helpful.
Hope this feedback is helpful.
Hi Latifah,
Thanks so much for the feedback!!
Although I am indeed reviewing actual individual acrylic paint products, it is a slow process. We have only been online for about a month now.
So far we have about 7 product reviews. I try to add 2-3 new products per week.
I hope you will stick with me a bit, the site is new and growing fast.
Thanks again for the feedback, it is encouraging for me to know that folks are beginning to read and respond to the articles.
Cindy / editor
Acrylic Paint Review
Hi Cindy,
I appreciate your comments. I will definitely stick with the blog. It has such potential – and to find out that it is only 1 month old, wow. It seems pretty evolved for being so young. And I appreciate your welcome response to my feedback.
Take care,
Latifah