1. Drying time
Oil paints are known to take a long time to dry, many months in fact. Ari Glass shares that it is for this reason that oils are better for artists who prefer to spend more time on their work - with oils, artists have much more opportunity to experiment with different techniques, such as mixing and blending colors. On the other hand, watercolors dry much faster, so they are better for someone who likes to work fast.
It also helps that the watercolors can cover a large part of the painting with a little paint. If your workspace is hot and dry, your watercolor paints are going to dry really fast. You can reduce drying time by working in a more humid location.
2. Mix
Ari Glass shares that oil colors can be much easier to mix than watercolors simply because of their really slow drying time. However, mixing watercolors can be quite a bit more difficult due to the fact that they dry more quickly and the fact that water doesn't always behave the way you want it to.
Mastering watercolors may seem easy enough, but in practice it can be difficult. When mixing watercolors, take extra care because it only takes one drop to ruin something you've been working on for a while.
3. Colors
Oil painting offers a wide variety of colors for you to use. According to Ari Glass, this is due to the really slow drying time of oils and the fact that oils contain a lot of pigments. Watercolor paints give a more translucent effect and dry a lighter color than the one that originally appeared on the support.
4. Cost
Watercolors are usually cheaper than oil paints. The great thing about watercolors is that you can use a little paint to cover a large part of your work. A tube of watercolor paint can, in fact, last many paints, while oils cannot.
With watercolors, you only need a little water to mix them, but with oils, you also have to invest in other materials.
In Ari Glass’ opinion, oils can be worth a lot more than watercolors. This doesn't necessarily mean that an oil painting is automatically worth more than a watercolor, but oil paintings tend to have higher prices.
5. Bug fixes
If you make a mistake when painting with oil, you will find that it is not that difficult to correct the mistake. All you have to do is use turpentine or mineral spirits. One of the great things about oil paintings that take so long to dry is that this gives you the opportunity to correct mistakes or even repaint areas of your painting.
Ari Glass shares that with watercolors, it can be very difficult to correct mistakes due to their quick drying and watery nature; watercolors are self-propagating and cannot be controlled as effectively as oils. Mastering watercolor can take a lot of practice and correcting mistakes can take a lot of skill and dexterity.
6. Security
Watercolor paints are much safer than oil paints. They are odorless and non-toxic, so they can be used in even the smallest rooms without affecting you in any way.
According to Ari Glass, oil colors contain some substances that can cause problems if ingested; working in smaller spaces with oils for a long time can cause dizziness and other mild effects in some people.
