The Beginner Essentials Bundle

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Lightfastness | How long will it resist fading?

• Each pigment is rated on scale by the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM). Liquitex paints are all rated ASTM I (excellent) or II (very good) and considered permanent and lightfast for 50-100+ years in gallery conditions. Our metallic and fluorescent colors are naturally less lightfast.
  

Opacity/Transparency | We communicate opacity/transparency clearly on our packaging based on three categories:

• Opaque: these colors do not allow light to pass through the color layer and offer the best coverage or hiding power.
• Semi-opaque: these allow for some light to pass through the color layer and sit between opaque and transparent colors
• Transparent: these colors offer the least coverage and allow light to pass through the color layer to the surface below.
• Series:
  Pigments come from a variety of sources and have different prices according to their rarity, processing and milling costs. We group our colors into a 'series' pricing structure according to how much each one takes to make. Series 1 colors contain the most inexpensive pigments, while Series 4 and 5 color contain the most expensive pigments.
  
  
  

There’s no more versatile paint system in the world. Back in 1955, Liquitex was the world's first commercially available water-based acrylic made for artists. News of its huge scope, ease of use and reliable performance quickly spread and now acrylic is the globe's most popular art medium.

WHAT IS ACRYLIC PAINT?

Water-based acrylic paint is composed of pigment particles dispersed in an acrylic polymer emulsion. There are three main components in any acrylic paint - pigment, binder and vehicle:

1. Pigment - pigments are granular solids which give paint its color. They are milled to a tiny particle size and do not dissolve, but remain suspended in the paint. Pigments can be organic, inorganic, natural and synthetic. They have little or no affinity for the surface to which they are applied
2. Binder - a binder is the substance that keeps pigment in place after the paint dries. Acrylic paint has acrylic polymer as its binder and this forms a film after the water has evaporated
3. Vehicle - this refers to the part of the paint that carries the pigment and binder. Water is the vehicle for water-based acrylic and when combined with the binder, it creates a polymer emulsion. Once the water leaves the system via evaporation or absorption, the paint dries, creating a stable clear polymer film full of trapped colored pigment particles

THE SCIENCE Acrylic colors dry as a result of water evaporation. Here’s what occurs as pigment, water and acrylic are transformed into a long-lasting paint film: Stage 1. Squeezed from the tube, or scooped from the jar, acrylic paint is a finely balanced dispersion of pigment in an emulsion of acrylic polymer and water. The water serves to keep the emulsion liquid and acts as a kind of chemical ‘chaperone’, preventing the acrylic polymer particles from getting close and personal and locking together before you're ready