Last Updated on March 21, 2024 by Masha Eretnova
Pebeo Studio acrylics are widely known and popular for both acrylic painting and acrylic pouring. One of my favorite pouring artists – Olga Soby – uses Pebeo acrylic paints!
Are Pebeo paints any good value compared to Golden or Liquitex? Let’s find out in my first-hand experience test I will describe in this review.
As a professional artist, I’ve been painting with acrylics and tested dozens of brands so I can help you decide on your next paint set.
is Pebeo acrylic paint good?
Pebeo acrylic paint is a great choice for beginners because it offers a high-quality and creamy texture for a very affordable price. They have an amazing choice of paints for a variety of uses and surfaces from porcelain to glass.
The simple set of 10 colors has all the colors you may need and they perform great on paper or canvas.
To me Pebeo acrylics (studio series) and Amsterdam acrylics are on the same level – I like both of these affordable yet highly performant paints.
In general, Pebeo is one of the oldest, most reliable, and best acrylic paint brands on the market.
What I Like About Pebeo Studio Acrylics
- Even satin finish and smooth application
- Primary colors in warm and cool temperature
- Good metal tubes, professional labeling, no leaks, no lumps in the paint.
- Richly pigmented colors, single pigmented pure colors which makes them very opaque no matter what is the surface.
- Versatile – I used it on paper, canvas, and on a T-shirt – stable consistent results.
- Some sets come with a free brush, size 6 (rather cheap quality)
- affordable price and big tubes up to 100 ml available you can ultimately save money.
What I didn’t like about Pebeo’s paints:
- if you are looking to paint glass, plastic, metal, clay or ceramics opt for art supplies designed for these surfaces specifically (Pebeo has them), Studio won’t work well on these surfaces
- Ultramarine blue in my set had a very strong odor, I have no idea why.
- if you are already a professional painter these paints won’t exceed expectations.
- if you are counting on using that free bonus brush (it’s not good) simply don’t. It is of a horrible quality.
Video Review and my Painting Test with PEBEO Paints
If you don’t like reading, watch my video review.
If you are a reader – keep scrolling 🙂
Great Color Range
Pebeo Studio series has a wide color range – 60 colors, including 48 regular colors, 4 phospho- and fluorescent, 4 metallics, and 7 iridescent colors.
When buying a set, you will get 5 to 24 colors. In my set of 10, I have all the primaries and basic palette:
- Titanium white,
- Opaque primary yellow,
- Cadmium yellow medium hue,
- Cadmium red hue,
- Primary Magenta,
- Dark ultramarine blue,
- Opaque primary cyan,
- Phthalocyanine green,
- Yellow ochre,
- Mars black
Pigments
Pebeo uses high-quality pigments for all acrylic or oil paints.
Each tube has letters and numbers of the pigments.
Letter P stands for Pigment, and the next letter is usually the first letter of the pigment color used to make the paint color in the tube you’re holding.
For ex.,
- PW6 – white pigment for Titanium white
- PV + PR violet and red pigment for primary magenta, etc.
In general, professional paints are of higher quality when they use single-pigmented colors. The more codes used to produce one color, the lower its quality is.
However, using 1 or 2 pigments is a good ratio and standard in paint production which is why Pebeo is good paint.
Professional Tubes
Pebeo Studio being a student-grade paint has amazing tubes with tight lids like many pro paints do.
Tubes are very sturdy, metal, and not flimsy plastic. It will make it easier to get as much paint out of them as possible for you.
Each tube is filled completely and there is no separated binder floating around.
Total coverage
Pebeo Studio acrylic paint covers paper amazingly and these little tubes will serve you well for many paintings.
One layer is enough but if you want deeper opacity or to cover up the underlying layer you will need a second coat.
Pebeo paint dries to a rather matt finish, almost non-reflective.
With good brush – almost no visible brushstrokes and smooth application. Great for beginner-friendly paints.
Watercolor effects
Pebeo Studio acrylic paint can imitate watercolor if you dilute it generously with water.
Thinning Pebeo acrylics is easy – I used water and tested GAC100 – both methods work great.
For glaze effects, I’d prefer GAC100 or Glazing medium over water.
Lightfast pigments
Pebeo adapted ASTM D 5067 classification of lightfast colors:
- I or ***: very lightfast
- II or **: lightfast (good lightfastness)
- III or *: low lightfast
In general, the lightfastness label shows that the brand has used some methods to choose how durable and fade-resistant acrylic paint is.
Most Pebeo acrylics are very lightfast meaning they can withstand daylight coming through glass and fluorescent light with little color change over time.
Typically, experts say that this “over time” is around 100 years for indoor use and proper care for the painting.
Pebeo Studio acrylic paint colors lightfastness:
- Titanium white, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Opaque primary yellow, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Cadmium yellow medium hue, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Cadmium red hue, great lightfastness, grade II
- Primary Magenta, great lightfastness, grade II
- Dark ultramarine blue, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Opaque primary cyan, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Phthalocyanine green, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Yellow ochre, excellent lightfastness, grade I
- Mars black, excellent lightfastness, grade I
Thick Consistency
Pebeo acrylic is creamy and thick but less heavy than professional heavy body paints like Winsor & Newton Pro series for example.
It is an optimal consistency for beginners.
Such thick honey-like consistency allows easy application both for dry or wet brushing techniques.
In general, Pebeo acrylics are suitable for pouring, impasto techniques, rock painting, and regular paintings!
Excellent Opacity
Pebeo labels all have opacity and transparency.
In Pebeo Studio Set that I got the opacity is as follows:
- Titanium white, opaque
- Opaque primary yellow, opaque
- Cadmium yellow medium hue, opaque
- Cadmium red hue, opaque
- Primary Magenta, transparent
- Dark ultramarine blue, transparent
- Opaque primary cyan, opaque
- Phthalocyanine green, transparent
- Yellow ochre, opaque
- Mars black, opaque
Here is the actual swatch of Pebeo opacity I made:
As you can see, the labels are correct and there are a few transparent colors.
You can increase opacity by adding a few layers or mixing the color with a bit of white.
Drying qualities
As all of the acrylics, Pebeo dries very fast.
In my tests, Pebeo acrylic paint dried in under 5 minutes to touch if the layer was thin.
Which makes it dry very quickly on the palette as well. I recommend squeezzing only the color you work with or using GAC100 to extend the drying time a little bit.
To varnish a painting made with Pebeo acrylics, the brand recommends waiting 8 days max.
Effortless Mixing and blending
As my Pebeo set has all primaries in warm and cool temperatures – mixing is so easy!
Colors also mix in a matter of seconds, you don’t have to go over and over to get a proper mix – can be mixed even with a brush.
Blending is also possible, the trick is to work very quickly with a slightly wet brush.
Otherwise blending with Pebeo may be a challenge.
Reasonable Price
Pebeo studio acrylics come at a very affordable price – a set of 10 acrylic colors costs around $17-23 on Amazon.
Even their professional line is not that expensive compared to Golden.
Pebeo Pro acrylics cost just under $10 per tube while other artist-grade paints can cost up to $20 per tube.
Free Brush Disappointment
Even though it is great to have a free bonus in your painting set, sometimes it is not worth it.
In this case, the free brush that Pebeo set comes with is simply bad.
It is synthetic but made very cheap, it doesn’t hold its shape even being completely new.
It has streaky coverage, leaves brush marks, and is very stiff.
The wooden handle wasn’t sanded well enough to be nice to hold in hand.
Overall, bad brush for a beginner, you won’t use this brush unless for some scumbling or dry brush effects.
Verdict
I highly recommend Pebeo Studio acrylics for complete beginners and confident beginners who want to learn how to properly use, mix, and blend colors and want to paint on canvas directly.
Whether you choose to go with Pebeo or with an alternative, I’m sure now you know more about these paints.
Next time you see them in the store, and if you need to try something new or simply cannot find a color you need, you can count on Pebeo!
Masha Eretnova, born in 1991, is a Buenos Aires-based certified teacher, artist, and member of the Professional Artist Association with 20+ years of personal painting journey.
She started painting and drawing very early and is now an international abstract artist and educator passionate about acrylic painting, gouache, and crafts.
Her works are part of international exhibitions and contests, including ArtlyMix (Brazil), Al-Tiba 9 (Spain), Exhibizone (Canada), Italy, and many more.
Besides her artistic pursuits, Masha holds a post-grad diploma in Teaching Film Photography and 2 music school diplomas: piano and opera singing.