If you've ever wondered what's actually in those little numbered pots, the answer is almost always the same: acrylic.
Here's why, and what the practical difference is when you're painting.
Why Acrylic Won
Acrylic paint is water-based, dries fast, has minimal odour, and cleans up with soap and water. For a kit-based product sold to beginners and used on dining room tables, those properties are unbeatable.
Oil paints — beautiful as they are — require solvents, ventilation, and weeks to dry. Not realistic for a kit.
What Acrylic Does Well
Acrylic gives bright, opaque colour in two thin coats. It dries to a slightly matte finish, doesn't yellow over time, and is colourfast under indoor light.
It also bonds well to primed linen and cotton canvases — the standard in good kits, including the custom kits we make from your own photo.
Where Acrylic Asks for Care
Acrylic dries fast — which is a feature, except when you've left a pot open and it's half-dry by lesson's end. Always reseal pots between sessions.
Brushes also need rinsing immediately. Dried acrylic ruins bristles permanently.
Premium Acrylic vs Cheap Acrylic
Cheap kits use thin, watery acrylic that needs three or four coats to cover the printed numbers. Premium kits use thicker, higher-pigment acrylic that covers in one or two.
This is the single biggest quality differentiator between kits, and worth checking when you're comparing kit companies.
When Oil Still Makes Sense
For experienced painters who want to push a finished canvas further, replacing a few key acrylic colours with artist-grade oils after the kit is finished can take a piece up several quality levels.
Most people don't need to bother — but it's an option.
Acrylic is the right answer for almost every paint-by-numbers kit. Choose a paint-it-yourself kit with high-pigment acrylic and you'll see the difference on the very first stroke.
— Be Artistic Club