Hawaiian Graphics brings you the art materials great debate: oil vs. acrylic.

In this corner...OIL.

A favorite of artists for centuries, oil paint is famed for its luminosity and durability. Oil can stay "wet" for a longer time, allowing an artist the opportunity to blend paint, closely match their colors, and rework areas hours or even days later.  Because of its long history, oil paint carries a certain amount of prestige compared to acrylics, which affects both the price of the paints and the value of the finished product. 

The number one concern about oil paints has to do with the fear of toxicity associated with the noxious fumes of turpentine or mineral spirits, both toxic solvents often used for clean up.  However, modern day oil paint is just as safe as most acrylic paint when handled correctly, and less toxic solvents are now readily available at any good fine art supply store.

And in this corner...ACRYLIC.

The more versatile and less toxic alternative, acrylic paint needs only soap and water for clean up until dried. They can be thinned with plain water or any one of dozens of mediums, gels or pastes for effects like watercolor to thick oil paints. This may come in handy as acrylic paint tends to darken slightly as it dries - which is extremely fast!  

While an oil painting may stay workable for days, an acrylic painting may be dry within an hour. You may buy retarders at a fine arts supply store to slow down acrylic's drying speed, but only by a few hours. A plus for some needing to produce artwork quickly, however some find acrylic more difficult to deal with, having to constantly paint over fast-drying mistakes or immediately clean their brushes before paint dries on the bristles.  Difficulties facing those using oils are often over proper techniques and mediums with oil painting to prevent issues such as cracking or adhesion later.

So in this battle for art materials supremacy, who wins?

Picking just the right media for any project or needing help to get started trying something new, we have that expert advice to give you from our trained and knowledgeable staff.  When in Honolulu, you can find both types of quality art supplies at Hawaiian Graphics at 1923 S. Beretania St. and choose a winner yourself.