Liquitex Art Supplies Deals: Compare Sale Prices & Find the Best Discount UK

There aren’t many brands that can say they invented the product they’re famous for. Liquitex can. In 1955, a colour chemist called Henry Levison, who ran a small Cincinnati company called Permanent Pigments that had been milling artists’ oil colours since the 1930s, developed a water-based acrylic that actually worked commercially. The first product was an acrylic gesso, and he called it Liquitex, a blend of liquid and texture. In 1956 came what Liquitex describes as the world’s first water-based acrylic artist colour, the paint we now know as Soft Body, and in 1963 the first heavy-bodied acrylic, now Heavy Body. Artists noticed quickly. Andy Warhol and Helen Frankenthaler were among the early adopters, and David Hockney moved from oils to acrylics in the 1960s. Every acrylic paint you’ve ever used owes something to that small Ohio company.

Today Liquitex is owned by Colart, the same group behind Winsor & Newton, and the range has grown into one of the most complete acrylic systems you can buy. Understanding it is the first step to buying well, because the different lines suit very different ways of painting.

Heavy Body is the flagship professional range: thick, buttery paint that holds brush and palette knife marks, ideal for impasto, texture and expressive brushwork. If you paint with confidence and like to see the mark of the brush, this is the one. Soft Body is the original Liquitex acrylic, smooth and fluid with a consistancy closer to single cream. It’s brilliant for blending, glazing, pouring and covering larger areas, and it’s the one I’d point most painters towards if they work in thinner layers. Liquitex Basics is the student range, launched in 1993 and still one of the most popular starter acrylics in the UK. It’s affordable, reliable and perfect for learning, classes, practice and big projects where using professional paint would be painful on the wallet. With two kids in the house who go through acrylic paint at an alarming rate, I have a lot of time for Basics.

Beyond the paint itself, Liquitex makes some of the most useful products in acrylic painting. Acrylic Ink, launched in 2008, is ultra-fluid and intensely pigmented, great for fine lines, drips, staining, calligraphy-style work and airbrushing. Liquitex Professional Spray Paint, launched in 2012, uses artist pigments in an aerosol and is popular with street artists and anyone wanting smooth backgrounds or stencil work. The acrylic markers, originally launched as Paint Markers in 2013, put the same colour in pen form for drawing, lettering and outlining. And then there are the mediums, which are where Liquitex really stands apart. Gesso, gloss and matte mediums, gel mediums, Pouring Medium, retarders, flow aids and the removable Soluvar varnish give you almost complete control over how your acrylic behaves. If you’ve ever wondered how other painters get those glassy pours or thick sculptural textures, the answer is usually a Liquitex medium.

The brand has kept moving with the times too. Liquitex became a certified B Corp in 2023 and launched Bio-Based Heavy Acrylic and mediums in 2024, so for painters who care about the environmental impact of their materials, there’s now a more sustainable option within the range.

In sixteen years in the art supplies industry, including nearly a decade running digital marketing at ARTdiscount, I’ve seen acrylic painters come back to Liquitex again and again. It’s rarely the cheapest brand on the shelf, but it’s consistent, it’s widely available, and the range covers everything from a first painting to gallery work. Within our community of 36,000 UK artists at Discount Art Supplies, Liquitex comes up constantly, especially Basics for beginners and Heavy Body for painters who’ve moved up a level.

Getting the best deal on Liquitex comes down to three things. First, compare prices before you buy, because the same tube or set can vary noticeably between retailers, and the difference grows quickly when you’re buying several colours or large sizes. Our comparison above checks Cass Art, Jackson’s, Crafty Arts, Amazon and others in real time, so you can see who’s cheapest today. Second, think about size. Liquitex paints and mediums come in several sizes, and larger tubes and pots are often much better value per millilitre if you use a colour a lot. Titanium white is the obvious example, since most painters use far more of it than anything else. Third, watch for sales. UK retailers regularly run promotions on Liquitex, especially around Black Friday, back-to-school and seasonal sales, and Basics sets in particular are frequently discounted. Whether a deal is worth it is dependant on what you actually need, so don’t be tempted into a big set full of colours you’ll never use.

A few questions come up again and again. Is Liquitex Basics good enough for serious painting? It’s a student-grade paint, so it has less pigment than Heavy Body or Soft Body, but it’s perfectly good for practice, studies, classes and larger works. Many painters use Basics for underpainting and professional colours for the final layers. What’s the difference between Heavy Body and Soft Body? Heavy Body is thick and holds texture, while Soft Body is smooth and fluid, but both are professional quality and can be mixed together. Can you mix Liquitex with other acrylic brands? Generally yes, as most artist acrylics are compatible, though it’s always worth testing first. And is Liquitex good for acrylic pouring? Yes. Soft Body paint and Basics Acrylic Fluid mixed with Liquitex Pouring Medium is one of the most popular pouring combinations around.

Liquitex isn’t the cheapest acrylic brand, but it’s the one that started it all, and it’s still one of the best. Looking for a Liquitex sale, discount or discount code? Check the price comparisons above, updated in real time, and you’ll always know you’re getting the best current UK price.