I originally posted this review on Jackson’s Art Supplies web site nearly a year ago in March 2014. With Jackson’s currently offering Liquitex acrylics at reduced prices, I think it bears repeating here.

A tale of two Cobalts

I’d never used Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic before, and so was keen to compare their Cobalt Blue Hue with W&N’s pukka Cobalt Blue Artist acrylic.

The viscosity of both seems very similar as does their open time, and I’ve comfortably worked with both makes for around 30 minutes in a warmish room.

One of the reasons I’d been using W&N is their lack of colour shift from wet to dry. I was pleasantly surprised to find Liquitex give them a good run for their money. To my eyes any colour/tonal shift was minimal.

So how does the Liquitex’s Cobalt Blue ‘hue’ compare up to W&N’s real thing? Extremely well. It was maybe very slightly warmer and a tad darker, but really very little in it. Given that this ‘hue’ version is substantially cheaper, a difference so slight is forgivable.

Finally, the plastic tube makes dispensing the paint very easy – a small point maybe, but very welcome.

Verdict? I’m a convert, and after comparable experiences over the past two months with other colours in their range I’m inclined to switch Liquitex.

Update

Over the past year I’ve been using Liquitex almost exclusively and remain very impressed with most of their range. I have to say though that I still find a place for W&N Artist’s acrylics. It’s an extremely fine range with some gorgeous colours and winning colour stability wet to dry. And, on balance, I believe they also have the edge on quality, ‘feel’ and density of colour, but it’s still difficult to argue with the sheer value Liquitex has to offer.