How to Use Acrylic Paint for Watercolor

You may not realize it, but it’s easy to turn your acrylic paints into a watercolor-like material – there’s no need to buy expensive traditional watercolors if you already have acrylics on hand.

To use your acrylics as watercolors, you’ll need to select high-quality paints and high-quality brushes and palettes. Then, you’ll have to use water and a flow aid to keep the paint’s integrity. Finally, you’ll have to use watercolor techniques to apply the newly thinned acrylics.

Turning acrylics into a whole new medium is as easy as stirring in a bit of water and thinner and using different painting techniques. If you want to find out How to Use Acrylic Paint for Watercolor, read on.

Select Your Style of Acrylic Paints

The first step to using acrylics as watercolors is to select your style of acrylic paint. You have a couple of different options. While it’s totally possible to use whatever you have on hand already, it’s also important to know what kind of acrylic paint to use in the future, and to remember the distinctiveness of the materials and the techniques.

While you can use almost any variety of acrylic paints like watercolor, certain styles work better than others when it comes to achieving that signature thin, light watercolor look. Here, I’m going to talk about the two main varieties of acrylic paints.

Both varieties are widely available in hobby and craft stores, artist’s supply shops, and big-box stores. One variety is designed with more traditional acrylic painting in mind. It can be used for thicker applications, while the other variety is ideal for use in the same fashion as watercolors.

Traditional Tube Acrylic Paint (Heavy Body)

Heavy body acrylic paints, which most often come in plastic or metal tubes, are the most common options people opt for when they purchase acrylic paints. These acrylics paints are thick in texture, almost like slightly softened butter. 

Heavy body acrylic paints are unique from fluid acrylics because they have high viscosity, meaning that they are so thick that they stay in place when applied. Heavy body acrylics can be used for several techniques. They can be applied in layers with brushes and can also be used for a style of painting called impasto, in which the artists lay down acrylic paint in thick layers.

Pros of Heavy Body Acrylic Paint

One of the best advantages of using heavy body acrylic paints for watercolor style painting is the wide variety of colors and shades they’re available. The Blick Art Supply website displays 24 categories of heavy body paints and paint sets – and this number doesn’t even account for every color available within those individual categories.

Heavy body acrylics are also a great option if you’re unsure what viscosity you’re looking to use for your art projects. While it’s easy to turn a thick paint into a thin one and keep most of the pigment integrity, it’s nearly impossible to turn a thin paint into a thick one without drastically altering the chemical makeup.

Cons of Heavy Body Acrylic Paint

Unfortunately, tube-based acrylic paints don’t work for every project. First, heavy-body paints don’t spread easily. If you’re looking to give your acrylic paintings a watercolor look, you’re going to have to do some serious thinning to get your heavy body acrylics to have that lightweight, wispy, liquid look.

In addition to being inconvenient for thinning, when you do try to thin heavy body acrylics, you need to make sure that you don’t over-thin your paints. If you over-thin your heavy body acrylics, you’re likely to experience polymer breakdown as the polymers hold the paint together separate, creating a clumpy-looking paint. Artist Lezley Davidson talks about this at length on her website.

Fluid Acrylics (Medium Viscosity)

Fluid acrylics, or “medium viscosity” paints, are made of the same water-soluble compounds that heavy body acrylics are. The only difference is that the texture of fluid acrylics is far thinner, allowing them to flow more like water (hence the name “fluid acrylics”). These paints are closer to the watercolor texture that many people look to get out of their acrylic paints.

Pros of Fluid Acrylics

Fluid acrylics are the perfect product to use when using acrylics in the watercolor style and achieving a bright look. As Lezley Davidson writes about in her article, they are thinner than traditional heavy body acrylics but still have the same saturation of color.

In simpler terms, this means that if you mixed a bright pink heavy body acrylic paint with water, you would have a paint that’s less bright than a fluid acrylic of the same shade.

Fluid acrylics also have more leeway for the mixture with water. A few drops of fluid acrylic will go a long way on a big paper or canvas, while heavy body acrylics are a bit less forgiving. You don’t have to worry about polymer breakdown when using fluid acrylics because it’s unlikely that you’ll oversaturate them with water.

Cons of Fluid Acrylics

Fluid acrylics are slightly harder to obtain than heavy body acrylics. Heavy body acrylics are the standard in the art world, while fluid acrylics are a bit less popular. While it’s easy to get tube acrylics at any craft supply store (or even big box stores like Walmart or Target), it’s less easy to find fluid acrylics. You won’t find as many shades of fluid acrylics as you would when looking for heavy body tubes of paint.

Another reason that fluid acrylics may not work for you, in general, is that they’re not great for layering. If you’re buying acrylics paints only to use them like watercolors, you’ll probably be pleased with these paints. Still, if you’re hoping to buy something that can also be used for traditional acrylic painting, you should opt for heavy body paint.

Choose Your Materials

The second step to using acrylic paints as watercolors is to get your materials in order. If you already have acrylic paints in your supply drawer or paint box, you’re good to go. However, for those of us who don’t already have fresh acrylics on hand, it’s important to make informed decisions about what brands of paint we’re using as well as the palettes, brushes, and paper.

Acrylic Paints

When selecting a brand of acrylic paints, it’s important to know what you want out of them. Consider what sort of projects you’re looking to do with your acrylics. For this particular style of acrylic painting, where we’re looking to thin them out and only use a small amount of the paint, you don’t have to break the bank to get premium paints if you’re just a beginner.

However, if you want professional-grade goods, we’ll show you those options, as well.

Heavy Body For Beginners

For those who are just starting to experiment with heavy body acrylic paints, especially when looking to use them like watercolors, it’s a good idea to start with a reliable yet inexpensive brand. One of the best options if you’re just starting with acrylics is to purchase a big art kit that has a bunch of tiny tubes of paint in a wide array of colors.

One of the best-reviewed art kits on the market right now is the ARTEZA Acrylic Paint Set, which includes sixty different colors of heavy body acrylics so you can experiment with colors that are new to you and decide which ones you want to invest in large bottles or tubes of for the future.

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Heavy Body For Art Students/Home Artists

If you aren’t looking to buy the most expensive option for your acrylic paints but still want a higher quality than a beginner’s brand, then you should take a look at buying a few tubes of mid-grade heavy body paint. The best way to find a great mid-grade heavy body paint is to buy from a reputable brand’s beginner’s line.

One of the most popular brands of acrylic paint on the market right now is Liquitex. They’re known for their effective and reliable paints, and they have a basic line that comes highly reviewed. Check out the Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint Tubes for a great middle-of-the-road option for your next acrylic-to-watercolor project. They’re made by a great brand but are still affordable for artists on a budget.

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Heavy Body For Professional Artists

If you’re looking to get the best of the best when it comes to heavy body acrylics, you’re going to want to look for some of the more professional brands. Liquitex has some great options, including their professional line. Take a peek at the Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic Paint, which gets excellent reviews on Amazon from artists all over.

Another option for professional artists is to buy from Golden, another one of the world’s best-selling, most-loved art supply brands. Check out the Golden Heavy Body Acrylic Paint line – they’re well-known in the art world for being reliable, vibrant paints that suit all kinds of needs, from heavy-handed painting to lighter watercolor style paintings like you’ll be doing.

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Fluid Acrylics For Beginners

The best place to start as a beginner looking for fluid acrylics is a basics brand, especially one that’s designed with crafters in mind. What’s great about picking a craft paint is that you get a lot for your money, and you can use it for other projects if it turns out that you don’t want to use it for watercolor-style work. Check out these Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints for some inspiration.

Fluid Acrylics For Art Students/Home Artists

For those of us who toe the line between beginners and people who call ourselves “artists,” when looking for a high-quality variety of fluid acrylics, you should consider buying a multi-pack. This will save you a bit of money when you’re thinking of trying out a whole array of colors but will still provide you with the high-quality paints you’re looking for.

For a great deal on some good-quality fluid acrylics, you should take a look at this Golden High Flow Acrylic Assorted 10 Color Set. By buying a prepackaged set of paints like this, you can sample all the major colors that Golden has to offer without feeling like you have to buy giant bottles of paints. These paints are perfect for art students looking to save but still hoping to get some good-quality paints.

Fluid Acrylics For Professional Artists

If you’re a professional artist, it’s likely that you already know the exact colors you need for your next project with fluid acrylics. Though buying a multi-pack is helpful for people who aren’t professional artists, if you’re a career painter, you’ll be able to buy a big bottle of paint at a discount without worrying about it going to waste. 

If you’re looking to buy larger, individual shades of fluid acrylic, check out Liquitex’s Professional Soft Body Acrylic Paint, which comes in all sizes from two ounces to gallon jugs.

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Watercolor Palette

If you’re planning on regularly using your acrylic paints in a watercolor-like style, then you should invest in a watercolor palette. A painter’s palette is one of the most important parts of their painting toolkit and needs to be chosen mindfully. Depending on your level of expertise, you have a couple of different options for selecting a palette.

Watercolor Palette For Beginners

If you’re beginning to experiment with acrylic paints in a watercolor style, you shouldn’t feel like you have to buy the most expensive palette on the market. Something as simple as a small plastic travel palette will be enough for what you want to do.

A great option for a small, beginner-friendly watercolor palette is the ATWORTH 18-Well Travel Portable Palette. This palette is airtight and leakproof, which means that you can seal it up without worrying about your paints drying out. It also includes a few different mixing wells as well as several wells to hold your individual paints.

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Watercolor Palette For Art Students/Home Artists

If you’re interested in something that’s more professional-looking than the travel kit mentioned above but still don’t want to shell out all your money, then you should look into purchasing a larger plastic palette. The larger size gives you more room for blending and mixing, while the plastic material keeps the palette at an affordable price.

A nice option for people looking for a middle-of-the-road palette is the Darice Skil Art 20 Well Palette. This palette is made of plastic, which keeps the price low, but it also offers more room to work with than the previously mentioned travel kit. It’s a great option for someone who wants to get great results without spending too much money.

Watercolor Palette For Professional Artists

If you’re someone who finds themselves wanting the best of the best and knowing that you’ll use it properly, then you should invest in a palette that will last you a long time. Plastic palettes are great for when you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, but plastic also isn’t a sustainable option for the long term.

A great palette for the painting professional would be made out of porcelain, which offers a smooth texture for blending and a bright base to work with so you can get an accurate idea of the shade and color of your “watercolor” (acrylic) paints. The MEEDEN Studio Porcelain Watercolor Paint Palette is an awesome option for your acrylic “watercolor” work. Amazon reviewers also love how heavy it is because it doesn’t move around.

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Watercolor Brushes

You won’t be able to create a beautiful painting if you’re using poor-quality brushes. Brushes are important because they’re the tool used to apply the paint – if you’re using a bad tool, you’re going to get a bad result. If you use good tools, you get a greater result.

Watercolor Brushes For Beginners

Beginners don’t have to worry about buying the nicest brushes on the market. You can generally purchase whatever suits your fancy, as long as it doesn’t break the bank. There are just a couple of basics you should remember when you’re getting new brushes, though. Avoid hard plastic bristle brushes that come with craft paint sets, and make sure you have brushes that are small or large enough for your ideal painting.

Much like the other suggestions I’ve given here if you’re new to watercolor-style painting, you should purchase an inexpensive multi-pack to get a general idea of what you’re looking for. One of the best watercolor brushes on the market for beginners is the Soucolor Acrylic Paint Brushes Set. This set includes 20 different multi-use brushes that suit all your painting needs.

Watercolor Brushes For Art Students/Home Artists

For those looking for the midway option between budget and luxury, you’ll want to look for a smaller set of brushes that are made of higher-quality materials. For people like art students and hobby painters that want affordable brushes, they can rely on them.

For a great deal on some great watercolor paintbrushes, you’ll want to purchase a kit like the Transon Round Watercolor Goat Hair Paint Brushes kit. This brush set is made out of high-quality goat hair, which holds liquid paint easily and effectively. They are also a good price for a set of eight brushes.

Watercolor Brushes For Professional Artists

If you’re a professional artist, it’s likely that you already have watercolor brushes that you can help turn your acrylics into watercolors. Still, if you’re looking for a new set of brushes, especially if you’re not used to working with watercolors, I’ve got your back. When it comes to watercolor brushes, if you have the budget and know you’ll use them, go for a really high-quality, well-manufactured set that will last you as long as possible.

A set of brushes that will last you a long time and that will help you create gorgeous pieces is this ZenART Watercolor Paint Brush set. These are made out of a faux squirrel hair material that imitates real squirrel hair’s absorbent properties without having to use animal products. These are also made of sturdy but smooth birch wood, which will fit comfortably in your hand while you’re painting.

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Thin the Acrylic Paint With Flow Aid and Water

Once you’ve determined which materials you want to use when you turn your acrylic paints into watercolors, then it’s time to thin out your paints. The paint-thinning process is the key to being able to use your acrylic paints like watercolors. The thinness of true watercolor paints is what gives them their signature wispy, lightweight look. This is because the water within the paints helps distribute the pigment.

Why You Need Flow Aid

To make your acrylics work like watercolors, you need to thin them out to a similar viscosity as true watercolors. This means mixing them with water to get them to flow freely. However, when you try to thin out heavy body acrylics, they often lose consistency and turn runny and chunky-looking.

To keep your heavy body watercolors from thinning out too much and separating, you’ll want to use something called a flow aid. Flow aids help thin out acrylic paints because they help to suspend the acrylic pigments in water without them breaking down, which means that you won’t get that chunky, separated look from your acrylics use this product.

Options for Flow Aid/Thinner

There are a couple of different options of flow aid on the market right now that are the most highly reviewed and best-selling. These flow aids work the same way – they both allow acrylic paints to thin out without breaking down. With these flow aids, you can easily thin out your heavy body acrylics and your fluid acrylics and get the watercolor look you’re hoping for.

The first major flow aid product you can use to turn your acrylic paints into watercolors is the Golden Acrylic Wetting Agent. Using this product is as easy as mixing it with water and your acrylic paints and setting forth on your painting project.

The second major flow agent that you can use is the Liquitex Professional Flow Aid. This product is very similar to the Golden wetting agent. You can use it in the same manner that you use the Golden flow agent. What’s good about using this product is that you can also use it to help blend watercolor paints and acrylic paints.

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Use As You Would Traditional Watercolors

Once you’ve thinned out your acrylic paints to a watercolor-like consistency, then it’s time to get cracking on your newest project. If you’re a professional artist, then you likely already know what you’re getting yourself into. However, if you’re new to the world of watercolor painting, then you should brush up on a few new techniques.

Wash

A watercolor wash is essentially one big layer of watercolor. This method is often used as a way to form a cohesive background for your watercolor painting. Washes are generally applied inlined strokes with a big brush, often using a thin, flat design. Washes are some of the most basic watercolor painting techniques and are among the first techniques you should learn.

Blending

Another important technique to know when you’re learning how to paint with good watercolors is blending. Blending on paper is important to understand because it creates a cohesive look that is distinct from watercolor paintings. It is usually done on already-wet paper so the watercolors can melt together. This creates a softly-feathered design on the paper.

Mixing Thinned Acrylics With Traditional Watercolors

If you have a couple of different colors that you’re looking to use in your art piece, but some are both acrylics and watercolors, it’s easy to blend the two. 

Since acrylics and watercolors are water-based, mixing watercolors and acrylics are as easy as thinning your acrylics and blending with the watercolors of your choice. Make sure to stabilize the acrylics with a thinner one if necessary.

Final Words

Turning your acrylic paints is as easy as blending them with water and a bit of flow aid. Since acrylic paints are water-soluble, they are easily thinned out and can be turned into water, soft paint that mimics watercolors almost exactly.

To turn your acrylics into watercolors, you’ll need to make sure that you have the appropriate materials. You can use either a heavy body or fluid acrylics to make a watercolor effect. I’ve given you a couple of options for brands and pricing on both styles of paint so you can make the most informed decision on your paints.

It’s easy to turn acrylics into watercolors. With the help of a bit of flow aid, you can even blend acrylics with traditional watercolors. This is an easy way to expand your painting techniques. Enjoy your watercolor painting!

Sources

• Felt Magnet: 6 Acrylic Painting Techniques for Beginners
• Blick: Acrylic Paint
• Amazon: Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint Tubes
• Amazon: Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
• Amazon: Golden Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
• Amazon: Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints
• Amazon: Golden High Flow Acrylic Assorted 10 Color Set
• Amazon: Liquitex Professional Soft Body Acrylic Paint
• Amazon: 18-Well Premium Watercolor Paint Palette, Travel Portable Folding Paint Palette Box
• Amazon: Darice, Skil Art 20 Wells, 13” x 10” – Plastic Palette for Oil, Watercolors & Acrylic Paints
• Amazon: MEEDEN Studio Porcelain Watercolor Paint Palette
• Amazon: Soucolor Acrylic Paint Brushes Set
• Amazon: Transon Round Watercolor Detail Paint Brushes Goat Hair 8pcs for Watercolors
• Amazon: ZenART Watercolor Paint Brushes
• Liquitex: Flow Aid Additive
• Amazon: Golden Acrylic Wetting Agent
• Amazon: Liquitex Professional Flow Aid
• Bluprint: 16 Watercolor Techniques You Have to Try
• Liquitex: How to Achieve Watercolor Effects with Acrylics