When you’re just starting out, choosing which acrylic paints to buy can be a difficult task.
This is because there are so many different elements to consider and endless amounts of options to pick from. However, you’re now in luck!
I’ve created this quick and simple list of best acrylic paint sets for beginners, to hopefully help make your decision a lot easier.
It’s important you understand which paints are most ideal for your needs.
You should consider:
- Color selections and saturation
- Consistency
- Drying time
- Price
Now you know what to look for, let’s jump straight in and introduce you to the top acrylic paint sets below!
The Best Acrylic Paint For Beginners
Although they’re not sold as a set, these Sennelier paints offer good coverage and versatility for an affordable price.
The heavy body acrylic paints are conveniently packaged in innovative squeezable pouches, making them perfect for new artists who are looking to gradually build their collection over time.
So if you want to customise your own range based on your budget and preferences, these are ideal!
- Color selections: 34 single pigment colors plus additional satin finish, high gloss, iridescent & fluorescent colors.
- Saturation: Rich and intense
- Consistency: Creamy-to-thick consistency
- Drying time: Fast, within 30 minutes
- Price: $14 each
This Modern Theory Set by Golden Open was made for budding artists who are all about sharpening their mixing skills!
The tube set consists of 8 vibrant colors capable of producing a wide variety of shades. Not only that, it also comes with a handy color theory chart for guidance.
Blending, shading and glazing is easy due to it’s relaxed working properties.
Like to experiment with your colors? You must check this set out because it is remarkably impressive at what it intends to do!
- Color selections: 8 colors including two shades of yellow, two shades of red, two greens and one blue shade.
- Saturation: Vivid
- Consistency: Creamy-to-thick consistency
- Drying time: Used with a wet palette, they stay open for 24+hours. Once on the paper, they dry after 60 minutes.
- Price: $36
If you’re looking for versatile acrylic paints that are great to paint, pour, glaze or print on almost any surface, this is the one!
This Liquitex Set of 12 provides maximum clarity and vibrancy, with minimal wet-to-dry shift.
Although it doesn’t work well for impasto or highly textured pieces, it’s perfect to use when you need to cover a wide area because of it’s low viscosity.
This paint set is the ultimate go-to for layering and masking.
- Color selections: This set comes with 12 essential colors. Single tubes are available with 100 colors to choose from
- Saturation: Highly pigmented, excellent strength
- Consistency: Fluid, smooth and creamy
- Drying time: Fast, 30 minutes
- Price: $52
Due to it’s thinner consistency, the Golden Fluid Acrylics set is great for artists that are more familiar with using watercolors.
This set consists of 8 jars (1/2 ounce each) of assorted colors, perfect for artists working on smaller projects.
I particularly like the fact that you don’t need to layer in order for the colors to show up bold and the paint adheres well to many surfaces.
With this set, you can have both saturation and flexibility. It’s ideal for fine brush work, color mixing, tinting and shading.
- Color selections: 8 colors including two shades of white, two yellow, two reds, two greens and one blue
- Saturation: Intense, good opacity
- Consistency: Fluid
- Drying time: Up to 60 minutes
- Price: $32
Made for artists of all levels, Liquitex BASICS is a top all-rounder, offering both high quality and affordability.
The brilliant set of heavy body acrylic paint guarantees to maintain its shape as you paint, keeping brushstrokes visible.
DIY beginners who love creating crafts will appreciate the fact that this paint can be used on canvas, paper, board, wood, metal, styrofoam, stone, ceramics and textiles.
Looking for a set is amazing for almost all types of painting including traditional, impasto and mixed media!
- Color selections: 6 tubes including the primary colors, green white and black. The full range has 72 colors available.
- Saturation: Very strong although a lower concentration of pigment used compared to their professional paints
- Consistency: Buttery, easy to blend
- Drying time: Fast 30-60 minutes
- Price: $24
And here we have it, in my opinion, the best acrylic paint set for beginners in 2020.
This Professional introductory set by Winsor & Newton, includes 12 tubes of super clean and vibrant colors made by only the purest pigments.
It’s also formulated to have a longer working time on the palette without compromising it’s quick drying time.
With almost no color shift from wet to dry, easy blending, ability to retain brushstrokes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Overall, if you’re a beginner, you can’t want much for your first professional acrylic paint set! It has quality, variety & affordability.
- Color selections: 12 essential colors.
- Saturation: Highly pigmented, excellent strength
- Consistency: Thick, smooth and creamy
- Drying time: Up to 60 minutes
- Price: $50
If you are a beginner or intermediate artist in acrylic painting then you must check out this course: The Acrylic Painting Academy.
“The Acrylic Painting Academy” is a comprehensive painting course designed to guide absolute beginners to a level of producing professional quality acrylic paintings through concise and “easy to digest” modules that include HD videos and Ebooks.
Designed for beginners, this course lays the foundation required for success with acrylics and painting in general.
Well there you have it, my top 6 acrylic painting sets for beginners in 2020!
Please let me know if you purchase a set from my suggestions, I’m sure you’re going to make incredible art with whichever one you choose.
Also, if you need a little inspiration, check out 8 Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners. It’s a must-read!
