You might have seen Pebeo acrylic paints at the art store. It comes from a France-based Art company. Pebeo Studio acrylic paint is a student-grade acrylic paint brand and I thought of reviewing it. So, is Pebeo Studio Acrylic paint good?
Pebeo acrylic paint is a good choice as an affordable, archival quality, and paint with good coverage. It is a thick high viscosity paint that has a nice application. It can be thinned with water, sticks to almost any surface from canvas to plastic to metal, and dry fast like most other acrylic paint.
I have done an experiment to review Pebeo studio acrylic paint with cadmium red hue color, which is opaque. I have done several different tests on the paint. In this article, you can determine if Pebeo acrylic paint is a good choice for you.
Pros
- Have good coverage
- Reasonable price
- Thick high viscosity paint
- Good concentration of pigments
- Lightfast/ permanent pigment in almost every color
- Vibrant and saturated colors with even finishing without streaks
Cons
- Less coverage compared to artist-grade acrylic paint
- Less single pigmented colors and more mixture of pigment colors
- Fewer choices for sizes of paint
- Harder to preserve the texture of paint after drying (dries flat)
Key takeaways:
- Pebeo studio acrylic paint is a student-grade acrylic paint
- It is a good choice for beginners as well as mature artists
- It has good coverage compared to other student-grade acrylic paint
- However, you can get the best value for money if bought in larger sizes (250 ml)
- The paint is thick and has a high viscosity
- Pebeo acrylic paint is a good choice for a beginner who cannot afford artists grade acrylic paint yet
Who should buy Pebeo Studio Acrylic paint:
- Beginners
- Amature artists
- Students
- Artists who are looking for archival quality paint for an affordable price
- Those who want to get a feel of acrylic paint
Student-grade or artist-grade acrylic paint?
Pebeo studio acrylic paint is a student-grade acrylic paint. Student-grade acrylic paints are affordable acrylic paints that have less pigment concentration and less coverage. Artist-grade acrylic paints are high-end acrylic paint that you need to use shortly if you decided to become an artist.
Artist-grade acrylic paints have high pigment concentration and the best coverage. They are also expensive compared to student-grade acrylic paints. Pebeo studio acrylic paint is best if you are just starting. It is also good for artists who look for archival quality paints for an affordable price.
I have also written a whole article comparing affordable 5-student grade acrylic paint brands. You will find what is the best acrylic paint that is the least expensive and offer the best quality.
Consistency
Pebeo acrylic paint is not flowy. It is a thick high viscosity paint. But it does not hold the texture or brush strokes after drying. It dries flat even though it is a very thick paint. So Pebeo acrylic paint is not a good choice to create texture or for impasto techniques.
Application
Pebeo acrylic paint application is very smooth. Paint can be applied in even layers. You can apply paint with water and straight out of the tube. For smooth paint application, wet the brush or use a little water to apply paint. The following image will show you the look of Pebeo acrylic paint after applying it to water.
In the image, the first paint swatch is painted straight out of the tube. The consecutive swatches are painted by increasing the amount of water. There is quite a nice high concentration of pigment in the paint. The last swatch is made with more than 80 percent of water.
Pigment
Student-grade acrylic paints usually have a lower concentration of pigments when compared to artist-grade acrylic paint. However, Pebeo acrylic paint has a good concentration of pigments. The colors are well saturated, opaque, and cover well.
The pigments in Pebeo acrylic paints are bright and vibrant. They are made from quality archival pigments. The studio acrylic colors from Pebeo have 52 different colors. Although there are so many different colors, choose only primary colors and mix other colors by yourself.
Choose a simple color palette with yellow, red, blue, brown, and white. You will not need black as you can make black by mixing the darker colors. To be more specific the actual colors you need to search for are, cadmium yellow medium, ultramarine blue, permanent alizarine crimson, titanium white, and burnt umber.
You can read the following article to know everything you need to know to get started with acrylic painting. Link to the article: You can easily learn painting on your own: here is how. In this article, you will find how to buy the things you need and save money.
Get single pigmented colors for the best color saturation
Another important thing is buying single pigmented colors. Single pigment colors give the best value for your money. After buying single pigmented colors you can mix any color you want with the best color saturation and vibrancy.
The cadmium red hue color I have used for this experiment is a combination of 3 pigments. It has 2 red pigments and titanium white.
However, with most student-grade acrylic paints, Pebeo acrylics also have less amount of single pigmented colors. The single pigmented colors that are worth buying in the Pebeo studio acrylic line are Titanium white, Venice red, Red ochre, Venice yellow, Yellow ochre, and Phthalocyanine green.
Coverage
The coverage of Pebeo studio acrylic paints is very satisfactory. Coverage refers to how much you can cover the paint layer underneath. Coverage can be looked at in two different ways. They are total coverage and detailed coverage.
Total coverage
Total coverage is the paint’s ability to cover a whole area with acrylic paint. To test this, I have painted a square with black paint and painted over it with a cadmium red hue.
As you can see Pebeo studio acrylic paints have satisfactory coverage for 1 paint coat. With two more paint coats, full coverage can be achieved.
Detailed coverage
Detailed coverage refers to how well paint can cover details underneath. To check detailed coverage, I have painted 3 thin black stripes on the canvas and painted with Pebeo acrylic paint over it.
The detailed coverage is satisfactory for a student-grade acrylic paint brand. Adding a few more coats on top will cover what is underneath well.
Coverage is important when building up layers. Most of the time you will need colors to cover the paint layer underneath. If the colors are not covering well, you can mix them with an opaque color like titanium white. Titanium white might be the reason why the cadmium red hue has good coverage.
Opacity
Opacity is a very similar measurement to coverage. Opacity is measured in three levels. They are opaque, semi-opaque, and transparent. Following are the signs on the paint label that indicate opacity.
The opacity of Pebeo cadmium red hue acrylic paint is indicated as opaque on the label. However, the color is not opaque. But, it has excellent opacity for student-grade acrylic paint. Little paint can be used to paint more with better coverage.
Just like for coverage opaque colors make it easier to build paint layers on top of each other. Transparent acrylic paints can be used as a glaze and to blend colors. Semi-opaque colors are in the middle and can be helpful when building layers.
Drying qualities
Acrylic paints dry quickly. It is one of the distinct features of acrylic paint. Pebeo acrylic paints dry within 30 minutes to 1 hour. If the paint layers are thick, it can take from 1 to 8 days to dry.
Quick-drying time limits the ability to mix colors or blend. It will be too late to blend colors as the paint already started to dry. The solution is to increase the drying time by mixing with slow-drying acrylic mediums.
As Pebeo does not have a slow dry medium you can use Liquitex slow dry medium to increase the open time of acrylic by 40%. Following is the link to view it on Blick Art Materials: Liquitex Fluids Slow-Dri Medium
Finishing
Pebeo acrylic paints have a matte finish. The colors are vibrant and saturated. It has an even finishing and flat look. I like the finishing of Pebeo acrylic paint. The colors are not transparent or streaky.
If you do not like the matte finishing of Pebeo acrylic paint, you can mix paint with a gloss medium. You can also be finishing the artwork with a varnish. It can add a sheen, statin look, and protection to the painting. You might also wonder if Pebeo acrylic paint is waterproof.
As with all other acrylic paints, Pebeo acrylic paints are waterproof after drying. The paint film dries into a thin plastic layer that resists water. Surface preparation is important to stick the paint to the surface. Otherwise, the paint peels off when in contact with water.
Usage
Acrylic paint can be used on many different surfaces. Likewise, Pebeo acrylic paint can be used on canvas, cardboard, wood, metal, etc. I have written many articles about sticking acrylic paint on different surfaces. You can find the step-by-step process that is important when sticking acrylic paint on unusual surfaces.
As Pebeo acrylic paints have a thick consistency they can be used to create texture, but not the best option as it does not hold textures very well. Pebeo acrylic paint given at an affordable price can be used to cover a large area inexpensively. This acrylic paint can be used for opaque paint layers as well as for glazing.
Lightfastness/ permanence
Pebeo acrylic paints are made from lightfast pigments and they have excellent or very good lightfastness. Lightfastness refers to how well a paint can resist fading or changing when exposed to sunlight. There are 3 categories of lightfastness in Pebeo acrylic paint as follows.
- Lightfastness I/ ***- Excellent lightfastness
- Lightfastness II/ **- Very good lightfastness
- Lightfastness III/ *- Nonpermanent
So the best lightfastness is lightfastness I and the worst is lightfastness III. You can find this information on the paint tube label. Using lightfast paint helps to create archival quality paintings that last for decades. It is especially important if you are selling artwork or making art that needs to last longer.
Azo pink of Pebeo studio acrylic paint is the only color with a lightfastness rating of III/* meaning the color is non permanent. The cadmium red hue I have used has a lightfastness rating of II/** meaning it has a very good lightfastness.
Accessibility
Pebeo acrylic paint has a small range of choices in terms of sizes and they are only available in tubes. Single tubes of Pebeo studio paints can be purchased in different sizes 100ml, 250ml, and 500ml. Smaller ones can be bought in sets.
However, Pebeo studio acrylic paints have a large range of colors with 52 different colors. Also with Pebeo acrylic paints, there is a wide range of acrylic mediums available. Acrylic mediums help to thin the paint and create different effects. Using acrylic mediums and paint of the same brand is safer to mix them.
Following is the link to view Pebeo acrylic mediums on Blick Art: Pebeo acrylic mediums.
Price
The price of Pebeo studio acrylic paints changes with the size of the tube. In the below table, I have shown the price for 1 oz of paint for different sizes of paint tubes. All the prices mentioned below are current prices at Blick Art Materials.
| Type of Pebeo acrylic paint | Quantity | Price (USD) per 1 oz of paint |
| High Viscosity Acrylics, Set of 6 (iridescent colors) | 20 ml (0.68 oz) | 3.77 |
| High Viscosity Acrylics, Single tube | 100 ml (3.38 oz) | 2.29 |
| High Viscosity Acrylics, Single tube | 250 ml (8.45 oz) | 1.50 |
| High Viscosity Acrylics, Single tube | 500 ml (16.9 oz) | 1.41 |
As you can see, to save more you need to buy the largest size of the paint tube. If you are planning on continuing painting in the future, getting 250 ml tubes of Pebeo acrylics will be the best choice. Getting 100 ml of acrylic paint is a bit expensive.
Final thoughts
Pebeo studio acrylic paint is a student-grade acrylic paint. Like most other student-grade acrylic paints, it has less concentration of pigments, thus less coverage and opacity. However, the coverage of Pebeo acrylic paint is very good compared to other student-grade acrylic paint, making it one of the best choices as an affordable, archival, good-quality acrylic paint