The best acrylic paint sets balance useful color variety, workable tube sizes, and the surfaces you plan to paint. These picks range from compact starter palettes to specialty metallic and outdoor sets, so choose by project and preferred finish.
Quick Top Products
U.S. Art Supply 72 Color Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 72 colors in 12ml tubes.
- Water-based paint has a smooth consistency and covering strength.
- Includes a double-sided color mixing wheel.
Best For: Artists and students who want many ready-to-use colors for varied projects.
U.S. Art Supply Professional 24 Color Outdoor Acrylic Paint Set
- Has 24 colors in 2oz bottles.
- Made for indoor and outdoor painting on canvas, rocks, and wood.
- Includes seven flat and round nylon brushes.
Best For: Crafters who want acrylic colors and brushes for painting outdoor objects and common art surfaces.
U.S. Art Supply 36 Color Professional Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 36 colors in 12ml tubes.
- The set covers canvas, wood, fabric, and paper.
- Includes a double-sided color mixing wheel.
Best For: Beginners, students, and artists seeking many colors in small tubes for mixed art surfaces.
U.S. Art Supply 24 Color Professional Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 24 colors in 12ml tubes.
- Suitable for canvas, wood, fabric, and paper.
- Includes a double-sided color mixing wheel.
Best For: Beginners and hobby painters who want a core selection of colors in small tubes.
U.S. Art Supply 12 Color Set of Acrylic Paint
- Includes 12 colors in 75ml tubes.
- Suitable for canvas, wood, fabric, and paper.
- The set is water-based and acid-free.
Best For: Painters who prefer larger tubes of core colors for canvas and mixed-media work.
U.S. Art Supply 12 Color Iridescent Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 12 iridescent colors in 75ml tubes.
- The paints have color-shifting properties.
- Can be used on canvas, wood, fabric, paper, and rocks.
Best For: Artists who want shimmering, color-shifting effects for canvas, crafts, and mixed media.
U.S. Art Supply Professional Metallic Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 12 metallic colors in 75ml tubes.
- The paints have a high-shine finish.
- The set is suited to canvas, wood, pottery, and rock.
Best For: Painters who want larger metallic shades for canvas, wood, pottery, rock, or model projects.
U.S. Art Supply 36 Color Metallic Acrylic Paint Set
- Includes 36 metallic colors in 18ml tubes.
- Creates high-shine, pearlescent, and iridescent finishes.
- Includes silver, gold, and copper tones.
Best For: Artists who want many metallic and pearlescent shades in smaller tubes.
Broadest Color Range
U.S. Art Supply 72 Color Professional Acrylic Paint Set in 12ml Tubes - Art Painting Supplies for Adults, Artists, Students, Beginners - Canvas Portrait Paintings
This 72-color set gives artists a broad palette in 12ml tubes, suited to canvas work, portraits, landscapes, and crafts. The water-based paint has a highly pigmented formula, smooth consistency, and covering strength.
A double-sided color mixing wheel adds a learning aid for exploring color relationships. It is aimed at beginners through professionals, including students and teachers.
The compact tubes make this a color-variety pick rather than a choice for buyers who prioritize larger amounts of each paint. Its range can help reduce the need to mix every shade from a small starter palette.
Best For: Artists and students who want many ready-to-use colors for varied projects.
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Choose this set if ready-made color variety matters more than larger tubes. Its 72 colors cover a broad palette, while the 12ml tubes keep the individual portions compact.
The color mixing wheel is useful for learning, but check the included palette and whether you need brushes or other tools before buying.
For Outdoor Craft Projects
U.S. Art Supply Professional 24 Color Outdoor Acrylic Paint Set, 2oz Bottles, with 7 Brush Kit - Vivid Colors for Painting Canvas, Rocks, Wood Crafts, Toys
This 24-color set is positioned for indoor and outdoor craft painting, with 2oz bottles and a seven-brush kit. The paints are described as weather-resistant and water-based, with high-pigment coverage for canvas, rocks, wood, and toys.
That combination suits projects where brush variety and larger bottles are more useful than a very broad palette of small tubes. It also includes a color mixing wheel for learning basic color relationships.
Consider this option for mixed craft surfaces; buyers focused on studio painting alone may prefer a standard acrylic set with a different format or color range.
Best For: Crafters who want acrylic colors and brushes for painting outdoor objects and common art surfaces.
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Pick this when outdoor crafts and included brushes are central to the project. The 2oz bottles provide a different format from the smaller tubes in several other picks, and the set includes both a mixing wheel and seven brushes.
Its stated use spans common surfaces such as canvas, rocks, and wood. Check the color selection and whether the finish you need suits your particular outdoor object before choosing.
Compact 36-Color Palette
U.S. Art Supply 36 Color Professional Acrylic Paint Set in 12ml Tubes - Art Painting Supplies for Adults, Artists, Students, Beginners - Canvas Portrait Paintings
The 36-color palette comes in 12ml tubes and is designed for canvas, wood, fabric, paper, and other art media. The water-based paint is described as highly pigmented, with a smooth consistency and covering strength.
A double-sided color mixing wheel adds a color theory aid, and the set is aimed at beginners, students, artists, and teachers. Its many shades make it a flexible choice for portraits, landscapes, and crafts.
The compact tube size is the main tradeoff for artists who expect to use a few colors heavily or paint on a large scale.
Best For: Beginners, students, and artists seeking many colors in small tubes for mixed art surfaces.
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Choose this 36-color set for palette variety across school, craft, and canvas projects. It provides a broad selection of ready-to-use shades in compact tubes, with an included mixing wheel.
If you need larger amounts per color, check the tube size before buying. Check the exact shade selection, especially if a particular pigment is important to your work.
Compact 24-Color Starter Set
U.S. Art Supply 24 Color Professional Acrylic Paint Set in 12ml Tubes - Art Painting Supplies for Adults, Artists, Students, Beginners - Canvas Portrait Paintings
This 24-color set uses 12ml tubes and is aimed at adults, artists, students, beginners, professionals, and teachers. Its water-based paint is highly pigmented, with a smooth consistency and covering strength.
Canvas, wood, fabric, and paper are among the surfaces it supports, making it a practical option for learning and general craft painting. A double-sided color mixing wheel is included.
Its palette gives you a manageable selection of ready-made shades for projects that need less color variety.
Best For: Beginners and hobby painters who want a core selection of colors in small tubes.
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This is a sensible fit if you want a starter palette with a manageable selection of colors. Its compact tubes and mixing wheel suit learning and smaller projects across several common surfaces.
The tubes provide less paint per color than larger tube options, so consider how often you use core shades. Check whether you already have brushes and whether the exact color lineup fits your planned work.
Large Tubes for Core Colors
U.S. Art Supply 12 Color Set of Acrylic Oil Paint 75ml Tubes - High Opacity, Strong Tinting Strength, Oil Paints for Canvas Painting, Wood & Media
This set focuses on 12 core colors in 75ml tubes, including blues, reds, yellows, green shades, white, black, and earth tones. The water-based acrylic is described as highly pigmented, with a smooth consistency and covering strength.
Canvas, wood, fabric, paper, and other art media are listed as suitable surfaces. The larger tubes make it a better fit for painters who use a smaller palette repeatedly than for those who want many ready-mixed shades.
It is also described as acid-free and conforming to ASTM D4236 and EN71. Check that the named colors match your working palette.
Best For: Painters who prefer larger tubes of core colors for canvas and mixed-media work.
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Choose this set if you prefer larger amounts of a core palette and are comfortable mixing colors. Its 75ml tubes hold more paint per color than the compact 12ml options, but the 12-shade lineup gives fewer ready-made choices.
The named colors include useful neutrals and earth tones alongside blues, reds, yellows, and greens. Review the specific palette before buying to make sure it covers the colors you use most.
Color-Shifting Iridescent Effects
U.S. Art Supply 12-Color Iridescent Acrylic Paint Set Large 75ml Tubes - Luminescent, Chameleon, Color-Shifting Pearl Colors, Crafting Paints - Iridescent Paint Acrylics for Canvas, Wood, Rock, Paper
This specialty set contains 12 iridescent colors in large 75ml tubes. The water-based acrylics create shimmering, luminescent effects with color-shifting properties, and the formula is described as highly pigmented with smooth consistency and covering strength.
The stated surfaces include canvas, wood, fabric, paper, and rocks. A double-sided color mixing wheel is included, though the main appeal is its interference, pearl, and shifting shades rather than a conventional everyday palette.
Choose it for accents or projects built around reflective color; check whether you also need standard opaque colors for the rest of the work.
Best For: Artists who want shimmering, color-shifting effects for canvas, crafts, and mixed media.
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Pick this set for iridescent finishes and color-shifting effects, rather than as your only general-purpose palette. It pairs 12 specialty shades with 75ml tubes and an included mixing wheel.
The listed surfaces cover common art and craft materials, but the set's defining feature is the reflective effect. Check whether the opacity of the individual shades suits your project and whether you need standard colors alongside them.
Large Metallic Color Tubes
U.S. Art Supply Professional Metallic Acrylic Paint Set - 12 Rich Metallic Colors, 75ml Tubes - Craft Paint for Canvas, Wood, Rock, Model Painting
This metallic set includes 12 colors in 75ml tubes, with a high-shine finish and a smooth, heavy-body formula. It is intended for canvas, wood, pottery, and rock surfaces, and the description also mentions layering, mixing, crafts, and detailed model projects.
That makes it a specialty choice for reflective accents or metallic-forward artwork rather than a standard palette. The larger tube format can suit projects that use these finishes repeatedly.
Consider whether metallic color is central to your work, and check the included shades and application feel for the surfaces you plan to paint.
Best For: Painters who want larger metallic shades for canvas, wood, pottery, rock, or model projects.
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Choose this set when metallic finishes are part of the brief and you want 75ml tubes. It has a selection of rich metallic colors in larger tubes, which may be more useful when you use each color regularly.
The listed surfaces include canvas and craft materials as well as pottery and rocks. Check the shade lineup and decide whether you need a separate standard-color set for nonmetallic areas.
Broad Metallic Shade Selection
U.S. Art Supply 36-Color Metallic Acrylic Paint Set - 18ml Tubes - Acrylic Paint for Canvas Painting, Wood Crafts & Rock Painting - Color Mixing Wheel
This metallic acrylic set offers 36 colors in 18ml tubes, with high-shine, pearlescent, and iridescent finishes. The colors include silver, gold, and copper tones, and the heavy-body paint is richly pigmented with smooth blending and coverage.
Canvas, wood, pottery, rocks, outdoor crafts, and model projects are among its uses. It is a color-rich specialty set for metallic effects, with compact tubes for each shade.
Choose it when shade variety matters and you want several metallic finishes in one set.
Best For: Artists who want many metallic and pearlescent shades in smaller tubes.
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This fits artists who need a wide range of metallic effects and are willing to work with compact tubes. Its 36-color selection spans high-shine, pearlescent, and iridescent finishes, while the 18ml format provides a set amount of paint per shade.
It can cover crafts and model details as well as canvas. Check the actual shade range and whether the tube size fits your needs.
How to Choose Acrylic Paint Sets
How We Picked Best Acrylic Paint Sets
We chose sets that supply acrylic colors for painting, crafts, or both, then separated them by palette size, paint format, and finish. The selection includes compact 12ml tubes for learning and varied projects, larger 75ml tubes for core or specialty colors, and 2oz bottles with brushes for outdoor crafts.
Metallic and iridescent sets earn a place for artists seeking effects that a standard palette does not provide.
We left out the airbrush primer because it is made to prepare surfaces, not to serve as a set of artwork colors. This distinction matters when shopping for acrylic paints: primers can be water-based acrylic products, but their role and intended use differ from ordinary painting colors.
Comparing Best Acrylic Paint Sets
Start with the amount and range of paint you need. The 72-color and 36-color sets offer many ready-to-use shades in 12ml tubes, while the 24-color set keeps the palette simpler.
The 12-color standard set moves to larger 75ml tubes, trading variety for more paint in each core shade. The outdoor set uses 2oz bottles and includes brushes, so its format is aimed at craft work.
Finish separates the specialty choices. The 12-color metallic set provides 75ml tubes, while the 36-color metallic set offers more shades in 18ml tubes.
The iridescent set focuses on shifting pearl effects, making it a complement for special accents or a project centered on reflective color. Compare surface compatibility and check whether you need brushes, a mixing tool, or extra standard colors before settling on a set.
| Product | Standout features | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Art Supply 72 Color Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Artists and students who want many ready-to-use colors for varied projects. |
| U.S. Art Supply Professional 24 Color Outdoor Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Crafters who want acrylic colors and brushes for painting outdoor objects and common art surfaces. |
| U.S. Art Supply 36 Color Professional Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Beginners, students, and artists seeking many colors in small tubes for mixed art surfaces. |
| U.S. Art Supply 24 Color Professional Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Beginners and hobby painters who want a core selection of colors in small tubes. |
| U.S. Art Supply 12 Color Set of Acrylic PaintCheck Price |
| Painters who prefer larger tubes of core colors for canvas and mixed-media work. |
| U.S. Art Supply 12 Color Iridescent Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Artists who want shimmering, color-shifting effects for canvas, crafts, and mixed media. |
| U.S. Art Supply Professional Metallic Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Painters who want larger metallic shades for canvas, wood, pottery, rock, or model projects. |
| U.S. Art Supply 36 Color Metallic Acrylic Paint SetCheck Price |
| Artists who want many metallic and pearlescent shades in smaller tubes. |
Choosing Acrylic Paint Tubes and Color Range
Small tubes suit experimentation, color studies, classrooms, and occasional painting because they offer variety without committing to large amounts of every shade. A 36- or 72-color acrylic set can reduce the need to mix every hue, while a 24-color option is easier to navigate for a new painter.
If you repeatedly use a handful of colors, a 75ml tube set may fit better, though you will mix more of the shades outside its 12-color palette.
Check what comes in the box beyond paint. A mixing wheel helps with color theory, and the outdoor craft set includes seven brushes.
The other sets should not be assumed to include tools unless their details identify them. Also verify the exact color lineup when a project depends on a particular blue, red, earth tone, or metallic finish.
Matching Acrylic Paint Finishes to Projects
Standard acrylic colors are the flexible starting point for canvas, paper, wood, and fabric projects named across these sets. For rocks, toys, pottery, or models, compare the specific surfaces named for each option rather than assuming every formula suits every material.
The outdoor-oriented set is the clearest fit here for craft work on rocks and wood, while the metallic sets explicitly include pottery and model projects.
Metallic paint adds high-shine color, and the broader 36-color collection includes pearlescent and iridescent effects. The separate iridescent set describes color shifting across its shades.
These are specialty finishes, so consider whether reflective color is the focus or an accent before replacing a conventional palette with one.
Who Should Buy Which Acrylic Paint Set
Choose the 72-color set when broad color variety is the priority, or the 36-color 12ml set for a smaller but still expansive palette. Beginners who prefer fewer shades can start with the 24-color tubes, while repeat users of core colors may appreciate the 75ml standard set.
For crafts that call for outdoor use and included brushes, consider the 24-color bottle set. Pick the 12-color metallic option when larger metallic tubes matter, the 36-color metallic set when finish variety matters, and the iridescent set for color-shifting effects.
Match the set to the surfaces and finish you expect to use most.