The medium a painter chooses shapes how a picture looks and feels. This page compares the main painting mediums in plain language and links to the artists on WooArts who work in each one.
Quick answers
What is the main difference between oil and acrylic paint?
Oil paint dries slowly, which allows long blending and reworking. Acrylic is water-based and dries quickly, so artists can layer fast.
Why is watercolor considered difficult?
Watercolor is transparent and flows on wet paper, so there is little room to cover a mistake once the pigment spreads.
What is pastel painting?
Pastel uses sticks of nearly pure pigment pressed onto a surface, giving soft, velvety color that can also be bold.
What is tempera?
Tempera mixes pigment with a natural binder and dries fast, so artists build form through many thin layers. It is one of the oldest painting mediums still in use.
What does palette knife painting look like?
Artists apply thick, textured paint with a flat blade instead of a brush, so the surface texture becomes part of the image.
Browse by medium
- Oil painting
- Watercolor painting
- Acrylic painting
- Pastel painting
- Tempera painting
- Realism painting
- Abstract painting
Related reading
- A guide to the hyperrealistic drybrush technique in watercolor
- Oil painting: history and technique guide
Example artists
- Stan Miller, watercolor
- Michael Klein, oil painting