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  • Writer's pictureKOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH

Suitable Mediums for Painting



All artistic people can definitely tell the difference between painting and drawing. However, as nothing is black and white, it's impossible to say whether this or that technique is suitable only for painting or drawing.

In this article, we'll deal with media more suitable for the painting technique, i.e., paints of all kinds.





WATER AND ANILINE COLORS


At first glance, water and aniline colors are impossible to distinguish. We've already compared these two media for you and wrote a brief article about their different properties and possibilities of use.


You can use both kinds of these water-dissolving paints for sketches of nature or painting on paper with higher GSM. Furthermore, aniline colors are suitable for coloring photos, painting decorative items, or decorating Easter eggs.





In addition to the article about the differences between these two media, we've made many tutorials where we work with water colors. We even created some of these tutorials in collaboration with famous Czech illustrators Jana Svobodová, Daniela Roule Plocková, and Cleo. You can also draw inspiration from the works of artists whose illustrations we've shared on social networks. One of them is Judit Orosz and Carol Midori.



WATERCOLOR PAINTS

Other water-soluble paints are watercolor paints. The name of this technique arose based on the composition of these paints. The primary component of the unique emulsion is water, which also contains, among other things, high-quality pigment, honey, and gum arabic.


They are available in many variations of state and packaging. At our online store, you can purchase them in solid form in plastic cuvettes wrapped in aluminum foil. You can choose either from pre-prepared sets or put together the individual colors into a tin palette.



We've also dedicated many articles to this medium on our blog. In one of them, for example, you learn all the necessary information for beginners, and in the second, on the other hand, many interesting things that also engage the attention of experienced watercolor artists. In addition to articles about watercolor paints, we've also written a few lines about creating with luxurious Wax Aquarell pastels, dissolving drawing with Progresso Aqaurell, and so on. But let's go back to painting!





Similar to water and aniline colors, also in this case, we collaborated on the tutorials with top artists such as Jitka Zajíčková and Jana Svobodová mentioned above. We also had an interesting interview with talented illustrators Adrian Macho and Magdalena Konečná, who performs under the pseudonym Divoká tužka, and whose work you definitely shouldn't miss.



TEMPERA PAINTS


It's clear to us that we don't have to introduce this art medium in more detail. But did you know that tempera paints are one of the oldest art techniques of painting ever and currently one of the favorites? If you want to learn more about tempera paints, don't hesitate and visit our blog!


Children and grown-ups worldwide love specific properties of tempera paints, and there's no wonder! You can paint with them on various surfaces, where they leave rich and solid traces. Besides, contrary to water and aniline colors, they are more suitable for the creation of larger pictures. You can apply many layers and use impasto techniques. Contrary to acrylic paints, tempera paints are matte after drying and water-soluble, which comes in handy in case of some picture corrections.






In our stores, they undoubtedly get your attention. They shine in all colors and are available in three sizes. Besides, they can be purchased individually or in practical sets that please not only school children.






OIL PAINTINGS


Oil painting is a master painting technique that has been popular for centuries, even though its realization requires certain technological knowledge, experience, and a lot of time.


Oil paints are slow-drying paints composed of high-quality pigments mixed with drying oil such as safflower, linseed, poppy, or walnut.



A solvent, such as turpentine, is also added to the color pigments, affecting the viscosity of the colors. Finally, you can enrich the paints with so-called media with specific properties, such as higher gloss, matt, better smoothness of strokes, or faster or slower drying of the paints.






As with tempera paints, we won't go on at length about oil paints because we've already done so in a two-part blog post. We dedicated the first part to the history of this master technique and all supplies necessary for oil painting. The second part is a kind of tutorial on how to create the first painting with oil paints and deals with the types of oil painting and so on.





One of the masters in oil painting on the Czech scene is, without any doubt, Michal Janovský, with whom we had the honor to collaborate on the development of several products. Another one is Eliška Kulíková, with whom we had the chance to have an inspirational interview.



In our assortment, you also find, among oil paints as such, the majority of other supplies for oil painting, such as oil primer, quality brushes, linseed oil, turpentine oil, wooden palette, and so on.



ACRYLIC PAINTS


Acrylic paints are popular for their high-covering properties, color retention, and glossy surface, and they're easy to spread. Together with tempera paints, they're at the top ranks in the popularity of media suitable for painting. It's also interesting that this youngest painting technique of all the mentioned even surpassed the royal one, i.e., oil painting, in popularity.


Acrylic paints are based on polyacrylic resin and are water-soluble when fresh, as already described. However, after drying, they become unchangeable and water-resistant.


Flexible film resistant to aging and external influences is then created on the surface. Perhaps these properties are the reason why even the top artists still use them for their paintings.






You can find the inspiration for your creation on the social networks of artists we've collaborated with in the past and among whom belong Klaudie Švrčková, Eliška Havlová, and Kamil Zajíček. And if you want to learn more about this technique, the simplest way is to read our article dedicated to acrylic paints. All the necessary equipment, including the acrylic paints themselves, can be found in our e-shop or in brick-and-mortar stores.





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