When acrylics dries, its colors usually become darker, giving it a dull and unfinished look. To prevent this outcome, artists typically cover their paintings with a coat of sealant or varnish. With so many low-quality sealants around, you may want to ask: what’s a good sealant for acrylic paints?
The best sealants for acrylics tend to be water-based and glossy, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best for your design. There is no single acrylic sealant that’s perfect for all purposes (perhaps oil paint is more your material, or even watercolor). Before choosing a sealant for your artwork, try envisioning what you want your final pallet, design and composition to look like.
If you’re still undecided about what sealant 
to use for your acrylic paint , I can help. Here, I’ll explain the different kinds of sealants available for acrylic paint ings , which ones to choose from, and how to use them in sealing your painting. Let’s dive in to answer the question What Is a Good Sealant for Acrylic Paint?
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What Is a Sealant for Acrylic Paint?
A sealant or varnish is a type of protective seal that you add over your painting to protect it from changes in pigment, dust, ultraviolet rays, and other things that would otherwise damage an acrylic paint .
There are many kinds of sealants usable on an acrylic painting. There are temporary varnishes that you can remove after some time and permanent varnishes that can keep your painting around forever.
Also, different sealants may give different looks and feels to your design. While some may give the painting a matte finish, others make your painting look glossier.
Sealants usually enrich the colors in your design. Gloss sealants are especially good for deepening the dark colors in your acrylics, bringing them to life.
As an amateur or as an artist, you don’t have to varnish all your acrylic paintings. It’s perfectly fine to leave your paintings unsealed and unvarnished; however, it helps if you seal most of your paintings, especially the ones you’re planning to give out or keep for a long time.
Why Should You Seal an Acrylic Painting?
Many new artists worry about the possible effects of sealing an acrylic painting, and they question the decision to seal or varnish them. If you’re not so sure about varnishing your next acrylic painting , here are some reasons why others do it.
If you want any of your artworks to take any of the properties below, using a sealant is the best way to achieve it.
To create an even look and feel across your entire painting.
Your painting may have variations in looks across the entire canvas, especially when you look at it from up close. Depending on how many different types of paint you used across a painting, your work may have different sheens, which is usually unappealing to the untrained eye. Maybe the canvas has more of a fabric quality in this case, which material is the best? Was gesso applied?
However, adding a sealant coat over the design will even out these irregularities, giving your artwork a consistent finish. There are many types of sealants; some give your paintings a satin or gloss finish, while others give them a more matte surface, which could make the acrylic color vary.
The type of sealant you should choose depends on what you’re trying to depict with your artwork. While a glossy finish works for most paintings, it may be better to simply go with a satin or matte finish.
To intensify the colors
As I hinted above, acrylic paintings don’t look their best when they dry (if we are used to oil painting, we might think on how long it takes the wet paint to completely dry). The colors that pop and look lively when wet may become completely dull and lifeless after drying. It is also possible only some colors faded and others remained the same, and now the palette is not the same.
While there are a couple of ways to deal with this issue, none of them comes close to using a sealant. Most sealants will pop out your colors, giving them the saturated look that always appeals to most observers of artistic designs.
While a glossy or satin sealant may give you the colour pop you always wanted, the results won’t be as drastic with a matte sealant. Just as matte surfaces should be moderately dull and somewhat uninteresting, using a matter sealant or varnish won’t saturate the colors as well.
To keep them clean
In addition to intensifying your colors and creating an even design, some sealants also protect your artworks from dirt or other unwanted materials from impacting artists’ color. If you notice any traces of dirt on your artwork, you can simply wipe over it to remove all the irregularities.
Good sealants can also make your artwork more splash-resistant, so you don’t have to worry about a drop of water damaging your entire design.
However, splash resistance doesn’t make your painting immune to damage from water. Under heavy water pressure, your treasured artwork will break down quickly before your eyes.
How to Choose the Best Sealant for Acrylic Paint
There is no designated “best sealant” for all types of acrylic paints. Your final choice depends on how you want your painting to turn out and how much you’re willing to pay. If this is a work for which you used a lot of acrylic gels and acrylic emulsion, you would like for that artwork to be as protected as possible.
It goes without saying that you get better sealants for more money. If you’re willing to pay a premium for your acrylic varnish, you also get a premium experience.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing a sealant for your acrylic paint, assuming budget isn’t an issue.
It should be water-based
There are many water-based acrylic paints, and all of them work best with water-based sealants and varnishes. Buying oil-based sealants may not only mess up your painting but will also make your work area especially hard to clean up, even when using paint film.
If you want your brushes to be cleaned with soap and water, you should always go for a water-based sealant. Otherwise, you’ll have to invest more in chemicals to clean up the oils after managing to seal the painting.
Don’t forget to clean everything you can in your paint set! And try to use latex gloves.
Choose your preferred finish
In essence, a gloss finish isn’t necessarily better than a satin or matte finish and vice versa. Whatever kind of sheen you’re after with your painting, it should be possible with a sealant.
Test for brush strokes
If you prefer a smooth finish to your design, you should consider using a glossy sealant. However, a glossy sealant will be useless if it causes too many brush strokes all over the place.
Before using the sealant over your entire painting, consider testing it on a similar surface beforehand. This way, you will detect anything that may go wrong before the fact, giving you time to decide if you should use the sealant.
How to Use a Sealant for Acrylic Paint
A sealer is usually the last coat on your painting. However, this isn’t always the case. Depending on what kind of sealer you decide to use, you may paint on your sealer.
However, since most people use “sealers” and “varnishes” interchangeably, it’s only logical to make this section focused on varnishes. Most people trying to learn how to use other kinds of sealers will simply read the instructions.
If you’re already done with your painting, you should go over the preceding section to see what you should consider before buying a sealant. After getting the sealant ready, you can follow the steps below to correctly seal your painting for protection against dust, dirt, or ultraviolet rays.
Before using a sealant on an acrylic painting, you should always test it on a sample painting on a separate surface to simulate what could happen with your larger painting. If anything seems to go wrong, you should avoid using the sealant on your artwork.
Let the painting dry
Before applying any sealant to your painting, you should let it dry completely. One of the easiest ways to mess up your painting is by applying a sealant on it when it’s wet, as it can mix with the acrylic paint, causing a terrible scene.
If you’re using a gloss varnish, you should consider taking a photograph of your painting before applying the sealant. Photographing a glossy surface can be somewhat tasking, as the glare from the surface will always interfere with the painting.
Apply the acrylic sealer to your painting
This is where most of the work lies. Before applying the sealer to your painting, you should estimate just how much you’ll need for the artwork and pour this proportion into a container.
Then, you can use a brush to apply the sealant from the container onto your painting in a specific stroke direction. It is recommended to use a brush with soft bristles to avoid disturbing the painting in the background.
Also, once you choose a brush for applying a sealer to your paintings, you should refrain from using the brush for other purposes. This should be true for most of the brushes you use for specific activities when painting.
When applying the sealant to your painting, run it in straight vertical or horizontal strokes that run through the canvas. If you paint around carelessly, the sealant may end up destroying the painting instead of offering the protection that you wanted.
The goal is to make the whole painting look natural even. You can’t achieve this goal by going back to repaint a specific stroke without painting others similarly.
Applying the sealer in a bright room with a lot of light will let you see your strokes better, helping you create evener designs more easily.
Wait for the sealant to dry
After applying the sealant evenly across your entire painting, your work is almost done. The next step is to wait for the sealant or varnish to dry naturally.
Depending on what kind of sealer you use, this might take a while. A good estimate is anywhere between two and four hours, but a more specific figure should be on the bottle in the instructions.
While waiting for the sealant to dry, you can cover it to avoid the accumulation of dirt, but you should keep it away from the sun.
Apply another coat (optional)
To get a painting with a very smooth surface, adding a single coating of acrylic sealant may be insufficient. In cases like these, you should consider adding an extra layer of the sealant to reinforce the effect you were after.
There are no specific rules that apply to the second coat that don’t apply to the first. Some artists paint the second sealant coat in an opposite direction from the first one. While this may give an evener look than applying it in the same direction, you can’t tell when it dries.
After applying the second coat, you should also wait for it to dry to see if you have your desired look and consistency. While two coats are usually sufficient, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t add a third coat.
After adding two or three layers of acrylic paint and letting them dry, your painting should look better with more defined colors and a stronger coating.
It’s important to note that you should never apply a coat of acrylic sealant unless the paint or the sealant beneath is completely dry. You don’t want to mess up a painting you spent hours, or possibly days making.
Can You Use a Spray Sealant for an Acrylic Painting?
If you see the regular sealant as time-consuming, you may have considered getting a spray sealant for your designs.
While there are many spray sealants out there, we don’t recommend any of them as you don’t get the evenness that you get by applying the spray with a brush.
Of course, you can use a spray sealant if you need to complete the varnishing quickly without waiting for hours for a layer to dry, but you should try avoiding it at all costs due to the imperfect finish it creates for artworks.
What’s a Good Sealant for Acrylic Paint?
As hinted in the introduction, there is no acrylic sealant that ticks the boxes for all artists using acrylic paints to make their paintings.
However, everyone certainly wants extra protection for their artwork, so you should ensure that extra protection for your artwork is part of the advertising copy.
Also, you should read reviews about the ones you’re considering. If it’s unpleasant to use or causes any brushstrokes, you should start shopping for alternatives within your budget.
Other than the criteria listed above, the other qualities of a good sealant for your acrylic painting depend on you, and how you want your designs to look.