Liquitex Acrylic Paint Markers vs Mediums: A No-Regrets Guide (And How to Fix Wood Mistakes)

Start With the Right Question

If you've typed "liquitex acrylic paint markers" into a search bar, you're probably trying to solve a specific problem. Same for "liquitex acrylic mediums." But here's the thing I learned after six years of stocking and selling this stuff: there's no universal answer. It depends on what you're painting, where you're painting it, and how much you're willing to lose if a mistake happens.

That last part is personal. In 2019, I made a mistake that cost our store about $300 in wasted product. In 2023, I made another that cost a $40 maple board. I'm not telling you this to scare you. I'm telling you because the right choice in art supplies is a calculation—like running your numbers through an SAT score calculator or a coast fire calculator. You don't guess. You do the math.

Three Scenarios, Three Different Answers

Over the years, I've sorted most Liquitex questions into three buckets:

1. The student or hobbyist who needs reliable paint without a huge upfront cost.
2. The professional or educator who needs consistent, lightfast materials and specific finishes.
3. The wood-project person who wants to use markers on wood and maybe already messed up.

Each bucket has a different answer. Here's my advice for each, based on mistakes I've personally documented.

Scenario A: The Budget-Conscious Student or Casual Painter

If you're an art student or someone who paints on weekends, the best route is not to buy a full set of professional acrylics. Buy Liquitex Basics acrylic paint and one or two Liquitex acrylic paint markers for detail work.

Wait—is that a downgrade? Honestly, no. Basics is a lower-viscosity paint with less pigment load than the professional line. But for color studies, quick sketches, or classroom projects, it does the job. I once watched a student paint a portfolio piece with Basics and get into a competitive MFA program. The paint didn't hold her back. Her concepts did the work.

What about Liquitex acrylic mediums? Skip them for now. I know the display looks cool. I know reviewers say you need a glazing medium. But if you're just starting, mediums add cost and complexity without a clear payoff. When you first catch yourself thinking, "I wish this paint dried slower" or "I wish this was more transparent," that's the moment to buy one medium—not before.

If you want to be methodical, do what you'd do with an SAT score calculator: estimate your output. How many pieces will you paint this month? Six? Then buy six tubes. Don't buy a 24-color set and let half of them harden in the tubes. And if you're buying markers for line work, start with black and white. They'll cover 90 percent of your needs.

Scenario B: The Working Artist or Art Educator

This is where I made my most expensive mistake.

In early 2019, I ordered 40 bottles of Liquitex Professional mediums—Gloss, Matte, and a bottle of Flow Aid I thought we needed. I didn't test any of them. When they arrived, I showed customers how to mix them. One customer followed my advice and mixed Flow Aid with heavy body acrylic, then tried to use it as a pouring medium. It cracked. A $340 piece of artwork, ruined.

Here's what I should have told them: Flow Aid is a flow improver, not a pouring medium. It reduces surface tension so paint flows out of brushstrokes. It doesn't create a self-leveling pour. The lesson: read the label, and test on scrap paper before telling anyone else what to do.

A simpler example: a customer once returned a bottle of Gloss Medium, angry because her painting dried glossy. She wanted matte. That's not a product failure—that's a spec failure. Gloss and matte are different finishes, not interchangeable versions of the same thing.

If you're buying for yourself or a classroom, here's my practical list of Liquitex acrylic mediums:

• Gloss Medium – extends paint without changing consistency, adds a glossy finish.
• Matte Medium – same idea, but a non-reflective finish.
• Slow-Dry Fluid Retarder – useful for blending wet-on-wet, especially in dry climates.

That's honestly it. You don't need eleven specialized mediums. Three will handle 95 percent of what a professional studio needs. And if you're ordering for a school, look for refill sizes and classroom sets. The per-bottle price drops significantly, and the AP Seal from ACMI means the products meet ASTM D4236 labeling standards for non-toxicity. Just remember: "non-toxic" doesn't mean "edible" or "skin-safe." Set rules if you teach kids.

Scenario C: The Wood-Marker Project

Liquitex acrylic paint markers are permanent. That's great when you're marking a wooden panel or a piece of furniture. It's not great when you accidentally draw a line where you didn't want one.

In September 2023, I was using a white Liquitex acrylic paint marker to sketch a design on a maple board. The board cost $40. I sketched a line across the middle, hated it, and tried to wipe it off with a wet paper towel. It didn't move.

That's when I started researching how to remove permanent marker from wood. Here's what actually works, in order of least damage:

1. Isopropyl alcohol (70% or higher). Dab it on a cotton cloth or swab, then blot—don't scrub hard. Alcohol dissolves acrylic marker ink on wood better than most things.
2. Baking soda with a little water. Make a paste and gently rub with an old toothbrush. It's mildly abrasive, so start slow.
3. Fine sandpaper (220 grit or higher). This will remove the ink, but it also removes the wood's surface. Use it only if the board is going to be finished or painted anyway.
4. Wood bleach (oxalic acid) for stubborn stains. This is a last resort because it lightens the wood itself.

What didn't work for me: nail polish remover with acetone. It left a cloudy mark on the maple and took longer to clean than alcohol did.

Here's the preventive version of that mistake: test your marker on the same wood you're planning to use. Scrap wood is not optional. It's a two-minute check that saves you from the 40-minute cleanup I had to do.

Which Scenario Are You In?

Still not sure? Ask yourself three quick questions:

1. How many finished pieces do you actually produce in a month? If it's one or two, Basics plus a marker is fine. If it's more, or if you sell pieces, professional paints earn their price.
2. Does your work need to survive sunlight, handling, and time? Professional grades use pigments with stronger lightfastness ratings. Basics are less predictable in that area.
3. What surface are you working on? Wood, canvas, paper, and walls all have different requirements. Markers work on wood, but removal is a different story.

This is the same logic you'd use with a coast fire calculator. You feed in your numbers—your spending, your timeline, your target—and the calculator tells you how far you are from the goal. Art supplies work the same way. Your "goal" is a finished piece that doesn't crack, fade, or look cheap. The variables are your budget, skill level, and surface.

Run those numbers before you add to cart.

Final Thought: Mistakes Are More Expensive Than Materials

In the last 18 months, using this pre-purchase checklist, we've caught 27 potential errors before they became wasted money. Most were simple: someone almost bought the wrong medium, someone almost used a marker on a surface without testing, someone nearly ignored the label on Flow Aid.

I still kick myself about that $340 artwork. If I'd spent ten minutes testing, the piece would have been fine. But I didn't. So now I'm the person who writes the checklist instead of the person who skips it.

Choose by scenario. Test before you trust. And if you mess up a wood surface, grab the alcohol—not the sandpaper.

You'll thank yourself later.