Want to know how to dry the acrylic paint? Then you are in the right place.
For the most part, keeping an eye on your acrylic paint and continuously checking on it just to see if it is dry is quite exhausting.
Luckily for us, there are some cheat codes that we can use to our advantage to speed up this process by a whole lot.
If you are in a hurry and need to get it done as soon as possible, these tricks on drying acrylic paint will speed your workflow.
HOW TO MAKE ACRYLIC PAINT DRY FAST?
You don’t have to feel so stressed out about your acrylic paint not drying in time. Fortunately, you can speed up this process by a lot.
So, if you are working on a project and left it until the last minute, you simply have to follow a couple of powerful methods to dry your acrylic paint in just a few minutes.
Here are the best ways to dry any acrylic paint and start that project you’ve been putting off for a while:
1. Take It to a Dry Place
You would be surprised by how important it is to keep your working space organized. It gets messy reasonably quickly when you don’t plan out your day.
Keeping your tools around without knowing where they are can also prolong your drying times. If you don’t know where exactly they are, you will spend a lot of time trying to find them. Instead, you could use that time to paint your drawing.
So, before you get started, we strongly recommend planning out everything to keep your tools more organized.
Not only is it helpful for your painting style but your life in general. So, take the time needed to plan out everything.
2. Apply Several Coats
You might want to add several light coats of paint on your drawing in one-go. However, it is way better to just use thinner layers. Using light coats is quite useful if you want to dry your paint a lot faster.
Also, you can apply another coat without having to wait for the first one to dry. This is a great trick if you don’t want to spend several hours waiting for your acrylic paint to dry.
3. Paint a Different Section
Just like before, you don’t have to wait for the first part to dry. You can paint several different areas of your drawing without waiting for all of them to dry before you move onto the other one.
By the time you finish painting one, you might be lucky enough to see that it is already dry. So, paint as many areas as possible to speed up your workflow.
4. Keep a Window Open
This goes without saying, but you should always keep your windows open when you want your acrylic paint to dry faster. Not only is it useful for speeding up the drying times but also for your health.
Let the air come in and out in your room to speed up the drying times. Alternatively, you could run a fan and point it to your drawing.
Doing this every time you’re using acrylic paint is one of the most reliable ways to dry acrylic paint. So, make sure to always keep a window open in your room.
5. Use a Dehumidifier
One of the main things that can increase the drying times for the acrylic paint is humidity. When your paint is in a humid environment, the drying times will increase by a lot.
If you don’t open the doors in your room, or the windows, it will also increase the humidity in your room, which inevitably leads to slow drying times. So, to prevent that, we highly recommend using a dehumidifier.
However, if you don’t want to spend money on one, you can just set the air conditioner to low. And you still get the same results.
6. Use a Hairdryer
One of the best ways to significantly speed up the drying times is to use a hairdryer. It is mind-blowing just how easy it is to manipulate the paint with it.
Before you get started, you should know that you should never block the back of the hairdryer when using it.
These things get hot incredibly quickly, so be careful as it could burn your hands in just a matter of seconds.
Hold the hairdryer 6-7 inches away from the acrylic paint when you start using the hairdryer. From there, you just have to move it from right to left and from top to bottom.
You want to keep doing that until the paint is thoroughly dry.
To make sure the acrylic paint is dry, use the back of your finger on the paint. This way, you can tell if you need to use the hairdryer again.
And that’s just about. This process is pretty straightforward and barely takes any time. However, if you’re a minor, we strongly recommend that you get an adult to help you out!
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, you can find the most common questions that you might still have about drying acrylic paint.
Will a hairdryer dry acrylic paint?
If you want to severely speed up your workflow and don’t feel like waiting several hours for the paint to fully dry, we strongly recommend using a hairdryer to dry your paint. It does not take much time, and it is relatively easy to handle.
Why is my acrylic paint not drying?
There are many reasons why your acrylic paint does not dry or takes too much time to dry. One of the main reasons why it takes too much time is because you’re in a very humid environment. To prevent that, we recommend running a fan.
Why is my paint sticky after drying?
This could be due to many factors, such as applying too many coats of paint or not giving it enough time to thoroughly dry.
Will sticky paint ever dry?
Yes, there are many ways to get around that. If you are in a slightly humid room, we recommend keeping windows open or running a fan to prevent the paint from getting sticky and instead dry right away.
Can you thin acrylic paint with rubbing alcohol?
Yes, rubbing alcohol can be used to thin acrylic paint. It can also be used to remove paint from many different objects.
Final Words
As you can tell by now, learning how to dry acrylic paint is quite simple, and knowing this can get you out of so many stressful situations.
There are many ways to make acrylic paint dry fast on various surface. Some of them are quite effective, and some of them are not so effective.
But now you know how to quickly get around that. Don’t forget that if you ever experience low drying times, this might be due to humidity in the air. But this can be easily fixed by simply adding a humidifier.
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