The 10 Best Acrylic Paint Sets

For serious painters, the Golden Heavy Body Mixing Set pairs a warm and a cool version of each primary with earth tones, black and white. That layout teaches mixing instead of handing you every shade. In an art teacher's side-by-side brand comparison, Golden came out on top for coverage and blending. The paint is thick, keeps brush and knife marks, and is made in the United States. The tubes are small, so the white runs out first.

If you're learning, Liquitex Basics is a safe place to start, and this box of 24 colors covers nearly any first project. Liquitex says it uses the same fade-resistant pigments as its professional range, just less of them, and the paint carries the AP non-toxic seal. It has a medium body that spreads smoothly on canvas or paper, and it's easy to find more tubes later. Pale colors can look thin over dark ones, so plan on a second coat.

Big tubes at a student price make the Winsor & Newton Galeria set a smart buy for painting on canvas. Ten large tubes cover the primaries, earth tones, black and white, so you mix everything else yourself. The maker says Galeria uses pigments like its professional paint at a lower strength. It dries to a satin finish and flows more than a stiff paint, so it won't hold sharp ridges. The yellow and red are cheaper stand-ins for real cadmium.

Painters who like thick, textured strokes should look at the Liquitex Heavy Body Classic set. This is the brand's professional paint, stiff enough to hold palette-knife ridges, and it mixes with Liquitex's other paints and mediums. The box includes two tubes of titanium white, the color most painters use up first. Strong blues, greens, a magenta and a purple give clean, bright mixes. The set costs a lot, and the paint can stiffen in the tube once opened.

The Grumbacher Academy set is about volume: twelve big metal tubes hold more than a liter of paint. Grumbacher gives every Academy color its top rating for resisting fading, so finished work should keep its color, and the paint carries the AP non-toxic seal. It's soft and creamy, which suits large canvases and blending. One brand comparison found it carries less pigment than pricier artist lines, and it's a big outlay for one box.

Budget painters still get useful labels with the Arteza Acrylic Set: each tube lists its pigment code and a fading rating, which helps when you later shop for single colors. The 24 colors are thick and glossy and come in screw-cap tubes packed in plastic trays. A popular beginner painting blog uses Arteza for much of its own work. No lab has rated how much pigment it holds, and the glossy finish can glare under bright lights.

Everything a new painter needs to start tonight comes in the Shuttle Art 36-Color Set: squeeze bottles of paint, a dozen brushes and a palette. The colors include metallic gold and silver, and the bottles hold plenty for rock painting, crafts or practice canvases. The maker says it's non-toxic and labeled to the U.S. art-materials standard, so it suits supervised kids. This is craft-level paint, though, so it dries flatter than tube paint, and the brushes are basic.

For practice canvases without counting every squeeze, the Mont Marte Signature set gives you 24 colors in mid-size tubes. The paint is creamy with a low-shine finish that photographs without much glare, and it's labeled non-toxic. Mont Marte is an Australian art supply brand. Its strength is paint for the money; the weak spot is that nobody has published a careful look at its pigment strength, so use it for studies.

If you'd rather squeeze a shade than mix it, Castle Art Supplies 48 puts a huge palette in one case. The company reworked its formula for this set, which dries to a satin finish and is vegan. Castle Art describes the pigments as lightfast, and the range runs from pastels to deep earth tones. The tubes are small, so favorite colors go fast, and the newer formula hasn't built much of a track record yet.

Kids' crafts, signs and painted pots call for cheap, cheerful paint, and the Apple Barrel Essentials set fits. Its 12 bright colors come in squeeze bottles, are made in the United States, and Plaid says the line carries the AP non-toxic seal. The paint covers wood, paper and terra cotta well enough for decorations. It's craft paint, with more filler and less pigment, so it looks chalkier than artist paint and needs sealing for outdoor pieces.