When it comes to acrylic paints only two brands are worth comparing in my opinion. In Liquitex vs Golden I will go deep and cover everything you need to know.
In this post I will explain:
- My personal choice – Liquitex (and why)
- Liquitex overview
- Golden overview
- Color range and pigments for both brands
- Consistency and texture for both brands
- Drying times and finish
- Pricing comparisons
- Environmental and health factors
- and General Comparison with Pros and Cons of Liquitex vs Golden
So if that all sounds cool then keep reading!
When it comes to choosing the right acrylic paint for your art projects, two popular brands often come to mind: Liquitex vs Golden.
Both offer a wide range of colors, high quality products, and have varying consistencies and finishes that cater to different artistic preferences.
Comparing these two brands can help artists determine which paint best suits their needs and creative intent.
Liquitex vs Golden TLDR;
Golden heavy body acrylic paints are a little more fluid than Liquitex but Liquitex heavy body offers more texture and opaqueness. My personal pick is Liquitex as I love the coverage, range of colors, quality pigments and smoother texture.
Liquitex vs Golden Acrylic Paint – Summary
Golden Heavy Body paint is known for its rich and vibrant pigments, and is often used by professionals due to its excellent lightfastness.
On the other hand, Liquitex is favored for its variety of consistencies and versatile coverage options.
Both brands also offer additional mediums and additives, which can help create unique textures, glazes, and other effects while working with acrylic paint.
When deciding between Liquitex vs Golden, it’s important to consider factors such as your artistic style, desired paint consistency, and budget.
By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each brand, you can make an informed choice and ensure that you have the right paint for your projects.
Liquitex: Overview
Liquitex is a well-known and highly regarded brand in the world of acrylic paints. Established in 1955, it has a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality, professional-grade materials that cater to artists of all skill levels.
One of the key factors that sets Liquitex apart is its extensive range of colors and mediums. With hundreds of shades to choose from and various combinations of properties, such as lightfastness, opacity, and viscosity.
Liquitex offers artists the tools they need to achieve their desired effects.
Notable product lines include their Heavy Body paints, Soft Body paints, and their more affordable Basics line, providing options for artists with varying budgets and preferences.
While artist experiences may vary, many find the consistency and coverage of Liquitex acrylic paints to be exceptional.
Liquitex paints are a favorite choice of many artists, offering both smooth application and vibrant colors. I am a huge fan of Liquitex paints and I have made it quite clear across many of my blog posts.
Despite being perceived as a professional-grade option, Liquitex is known to be accessible and compatible with a wide range of users, from novice artists to professionals.
The brand provides additional resources and support, such as informative tutorials and product guides, making it an appealing choice for those looking to improve their craft.
Golden: Overview
Golden is a reputable acrylic paint brand known for its high-quality, rich, and vibrant pigments. Their ultra-high quality paints cater to professional artists and provide excellent lightfastness, which makes them a top choice among acrylic paint users in craft groups.
Golden’s acrylic paints offer excellent consistency and coverage for the price, rivaling leading brands like Liquitex. Many artists prefer Golden’s acrylics for their remarkable performance and pigment loading.
Golden’s product line includes a wide variety of colors and mediums, allowing artists to achieve diverse effects and finishes. They also offer various specialty paints to cater to different artistic needs and styles.
Golden offers a high ratio of pigment to medium
In comparison to other brands, Golden’s paint tubes provide a higher ratio of pigment to vehicle, delivering more saturated and vivid color for each application.
Many artists believe that using a single tube of Golden’s paint is worth multiple tubes of other brands like Liquitex, thanks to its pigment-rich formulation.
Personally, I still prefer Liquitex as from my experience it seems to be loaded with better quality and more opaque pigments.
Color Range and Pigments
When comparing Liquitex vs Golden acrylic paints, it is essential to consider the color range and pigments they offer. Liquitex boasts a vast spectrum of colors, providing artists with a diverse palette for their creations.
On the other hand, Golden has a reputation for producing highly pigmented and vibrant colors that retain their brightness when mixed with other hues, especially in their oranges and yellows (source).
Both offer high quality pigments
Both brands offer high-quality pigments in their professional lines, but some artists argue that Golden’s paints contain a higher pigment concentration, making them more vibrant and higher value when compared to Liquitex.
Liquitex has the edge
However, Liquitex has a competitive edge regarding transparency, often beating out other professional brands in terms of pigment clarity.
It is worth noting that while high pigment concentration is an essential factor for professional artists, it may not be the primary consideration for beginners or hobbyists.
Beginners might prefer to start with a more affordable, lower-pigment-based acrylic paint like Liquitex Basics or Artist’s Loft, focusing on mastering techniques and application rather than pigment quality.
In terms of color consistency across different hues, both Liquitex and Golden perform quite similarly, as both their Cobalt Blues are indistinguishable during a blind test, except for a slight hue variation.
Thus, it boils down to individual preferences, budget, and specific project requirements when choosing between Liquitex and Golden acrylics for color range and pigmentation.
Consistency and Texture
Liquitex vs Golden acrylic paints offer different viscosities and textures that cater to artists’ preferences and painting styles.
Liquitex provides choices among four main paint consistencies: heavy body, fluid, ultra-fluid, and a misted fluid (Spray Paint).
Furthermore, they offer professional mediums that allow users to create custom viscosities by adjusting, thickening, and thinning the paint (Liquitex).
Golden, on the other hand, is known for its creamy paint consistency. One of their popular products, Golden Open Acrylics, is classified as a soft body paint with a slightly higher viscosity compared to most soft body acrylics.
These paints have a self-leveling quality, making them more uniform on canvas when applied.
When it comes to texture, both Liquitex and Golden have their unique characteristics. I prefer Liquitex mainly for its consistency, which suits my painting style better than Golden.
Comparing the two brands’ Titanium White paints, Artist’s Loft Level 1 and Liquitex Basics have similar tinting power, while both brands provide good paint quality and a smooth application experience.
I probably say this too many times but artists should experiment when comparing anything and when it comes to acrylic paints I will continue to say it. Experiment with both Liquitex and Golden acrylics to determine which brand and consistency best suits your individual painting style and preferences.
Both brands offer a variety of options to cater to different artistic requirements.
Drying Time and Finish
When comparing Liquitex vs Golden acrylic paints, it’s essential to consider the differences in drying time and finish.
Applying golden additives, like retarder, open thinner and wetting agent can have a critical influence on the drying process of paint.
These components reduce surface tension while controlling or lengthening drying times. On the other hand, Liquitex offers several Slow-dri mediums that can extend the drying time of their paints (Liquitex).
Liquitex acrylics have a higher amount of medium compared to Golden, which results in a more diluted paint straight out of the tube. Conversely, Golden acrylics have a higher pigment concentration, resulting in stronger paint coverage and the ability to be diluted more.
In terms of finish, Golden’s matte medium provides a soft matte finish upon drying. It also helps in extending the drying time of the paint, making it easier to blend colors.
Liquitex Slow-dri mediums also aid in extending the drying time, but the key difference is the presence of acrylic resins in Liquitex mediums, which allows for more significant additions without weakening the paint structure (Liquitex).
Price Comparison
When comparing Liquitex vs Golden acrylic paint brands, it’s important to consider the difference in price as a factor to help you decide which one is the right fit for you. Both brands offer high quality, artist-grade acrylic paints, but their prices may vary depending on the seller and stock availability.
Golden, a well-respected professional acrylic paint brand, is known for its highly pigmented and vibrant paints, but it tends to be marginally cheaper than Liquitex (depending on the package you purchase).
On the other hand, Liquitex, which is also a professional-grade brand, offers a slightly more expensive option for artists without compromising on quality and pigmentation.
Another factor to consider is the price difference between introductory and professional paints within each brand. Both Liquitex and Golden also offer student-grade paints that are slightly cheaper and lower in pigment load than their artist-grade counterparts.
However, the price difference between the two brands may still be significant, so it pays to shop around and see if any of their sets are on sale or discounted. Even with the examples I have posted around this article, you can see that both paint brands can be had for varying price points.
It’s important to note that when shopping for acrylic paint, the price is not the only factor to consider. Other factors like pigment load, texture, and lightfastness should also be taken into account to make an informed decision.
Environmental and Health Factors
When it comes to acrylic paints, it’s essential to consider the environmental and health factors of both Liquitex and Golden brands. Both companies take their responsibility towards users and the environment seriously and focus on high-quality, safe products.
Liquitex paints are all rated ASTM I (excellent) or II (very good) and considered permanent and lightfast for 50-100+ years in gallery conditions. This indicates a commitment to durability and longevity of the artworks created using Liquitex acrylic paints.
On the other hand, Golden Paints ensures that their products are properly labeled with health and safety information.
They provide clear guidelines and recommendations for proper use and disposal of their acrylic paint products. This assists artists in maintaining a safe working environment and reduces the potential impact on the environment.
Both Liquitex vs Golden offer ranges of paints with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), making them safer for the user and the environment.
Additionally, they are water-based and can be easily cleaned up with soap and water, reducing the use of harmful chemicals for cleaning.
In conclusion, both Liquitex and Golden acrylic paint brands prioritize environmental and health factors by providing high-quality and safe products.
Their commitment to user safety and environmentally responsible practices are crucial aspects to consider when choosing the right acrylic paint for your artistic needs.
Popular Products Comparison
When comparing popular products from Liquitex and Golden, it’s essential to look into the different characteristics such as color range, consistency, and price. Both brands offer reliable and high-quality products for artists of varying skill levels from hobbyist and students to professionals, but there are some key differences to keep in mind.
Liquitex is well-known for their BASICS 12 Tube Acrylic Paint Set, which offers a mix of vibrant and versatile colors. This set is commonly recommended for beginners and hobbyists who want to explore acrylic painting without investing a lot of money.
Liquitex offers a wide range of colors, good consistency, and decent coverage for their price point.
Like Golden, Liquitex also offers a Heavy Body Acrylic range that target professional artists who are looking for a high pigment load, quality medium and color lightfastness.
Pros:
- Affordable options for beginners.
- Wide range of colors.
- Good consistency and coverage.
Golden, on the other hand, is known for their Heavy Body Acrylic Introductory Set, which contains professional-quality, highly pigmented paints. Golden’s products are also highly favored by professional artists for their rich and vibrant colors, excellent coverage, and lightfastness.
Pros:
- High-quality pigments and professional-grade paints.
- Strong covering power and excellent lightfastness.
- Great for custom formulas with added mediums.
liquitex vs golden – Wrap up!
In summary, both Liquitex and Golden offer unique advantages for artists. Liquitex is known for its medium-rich formula, providing a more fluid consistency for artists who prefer smoother, more blendable paint.
On the other hand, Golden is renowned for its high pigment concentration, allowing for stronger colors and increased covering power.
These characteristics also enables artists to create their own custom formulas by adding different mediums.
Price-wise, professional acrylic paint brands such as Golden and Liquitex Heavy Body tend to be more expensive than hobbyist options like Artist’s Loft.
However, the quality, longevity, and versatility of these paints may be worth the investment for serious artists or those looking to experiment with customized mixing processes.
Ultimately, the choice between Liquitex vs Golden comes down to personal preference and artistic goals.
Artists who value smooth blending and a medium-rich formula may be more drawn to Liquitex, while those who prioritize intense colors and customizable options might prefer Golden.
It’s worth trying both brands to determine which one best suits your individual needs and creative style.
