Denim Painting 101: Paint and Supplies For Painted Denim
Published Nov. 2019 | Updated Oct. 2024
Before you can even start painting on denim, you need to get the right supplies! High-quality materials are key if you want your painted denim to be permanent, wearable, and washable.
After years of painting on denim, I’ve found the best paints to use for painted denim, brushes that make details a breeze, and the ingredient that keeps your painted masterpiece intact.
This is my complete list of all the art supplies I use and recommend for painting on denim jeans and jackets!
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Best Supplies For Painting on Denim
Short on time? Skip the post and jump straight to my supplies lists!
Paint For Painted Denim
High-quality paint that is made of just pigment and resin is the best for painted denim. It helps avoid cracking and peeling and makes it more durable through washing and wearing.
I only use acrylic paint (mixed with fabric medium) and do not recommend using oil paint, watercolor, or gouache.
Acrylic paint and fabric medium become permanent on denim once you heat-set them.
My top recommended brands are Amsterdam Acrylics and Golden Acrylics. I use and love them both for painted denim! You can also use Liquitex Basics, though the quality may not be as great.
Paint Sets
Amsterdam Acrylics
Golden Artist Colors
Individual Paints
These are the 6 paint colors I recommend getting to start your palette. You can mix them to create a huge range of different colors and shades.
All these colors can be used to create almost every painting I’ve done!
Titanium White, 120ml
Pyrrole Red, 120ml
Burnt Sienna, 120ml
Primary Yellow, 120ml
Ultramarine Blue, 120ml
Oxide Black, 120ml
Why Do I Need High-Quality Paint?
Cheap acrylic paint typically has filler ingredients to make it less expensive. This filler material may still look decent on a canvas but can cause cracking and peeling when painted on fabric.
High-quality paints have natural pigment (it will be labeled on the tube as something like PB29). This pigment is mixed with a binder (resin) to create acrylic!
The acrylic paint brands I use, Amsterdam Acrylics and Golden Acrylics, are made with just pigment and resin. They are perfect for painting on denim when mixed with fabric medium!
Can I Use Fabric Paint?
If you’ve followed me on Instagram for a while, you may have seen a couple of posts with fabric paint. I collaborated with two different companies—Arteza and Jacquard—to test out their fabric paint on my jeans.
Arteza fabric paints are ideal for puffy-paint style art and you can see the pair I painted with Arteza on my Instagram.
Jacquard has a few series of fabric paints – including textile paint and sneaker paint. I used their textile paints to create this pair of shorts. They are great quality and I would recommend them if you’re looking for fabric paint.
I prefer using acrylic because of the wide range of colors I can create with their artist pigments and it typically has a nicer, more matte finish than fabric paints.
Fabric Medium for Painted Denim
Fabric medium is a liquid that you add to acrylic paint to turn it into fabric paint! If the paint and fabric medium are both high-quality, your painted jeans will be too!
I have been painting on jeans since December 2017. For the first year and a half, I only used acrylic paint. No sealant, no fabric medium, nothing (the paintings were stiffer, but still held up well!).
I tried fabric medium for the first time in 2019 and have used it for my jeans ever since!
Tape for Painted Denim
I love Artist Tape because it is just sticky enough to stay on, but still peels off easily.
Artist tape is also ideal because it is white. Did you know that your tape color can affect the colors you paint? If you use blue painter’s tape, it might be more difficult for you to gauge the colors you are using since it is not a neutral color.
White tape, while not totally neutral (neutral gray is what most artists use for their palettes to make sure they mix colors accurately), is ideal compared to colored tape.
You can also use Artist Tape for your projects on canvas, paper, etc.!
Paintbrushes
Since I first started painting, I have always used Princeton Brushes.
They make brushes for all types of painting, but what I love is that their brushes can be multi-purpose. The same brushes I used for my watercolor art classes can also be used for painted denim.
I only use synthetic brushes because I do not buy products made from animals. Princeton’s synthetic brushes are such great quality, that sable brushes are completely unnecessary.
My favorite lines of brushes from Princeton are the Velvetouch series and the Select Artiste series.
Palette For Acrylic Paint
Confession: I used paper plates as my paint palette for years. I knew using paper plates wasn’t sustainable, but I wasn’t sure acrylic paint would come off of a reusable palette.
I bought my plastic palette in 2019 and used it for a few years, but it was tough to clean off thin layers of acrylic that didn’t peel off in one piece.
In 2022, I upgraded to a glass palette with a gray background for more accurate color mixing and have been using it ever since!
It’s a great palette and feels luxurious! It cleans much better than the plastic one, feels far more sturdy, and I can use a palette scraper on it.
Pens For Painted Denim
I use Papermate Profile pens and Sharpie ultra fine points.
I draw out my design in pen on the white base coat (titanium white mixed with fabric medium) before I begin painting.
Papermate Profile pens are great for drawing out the design, but they’re also great for day-to-day writing.
They dry quickly so there is no smearing on the jean pocket and they don’t mix with the paints. Make sure the pen is completely dry before you start painting.
Sharpie ultra-fine points are great if the design has smaller details you want to include. I use Sharpies less often than Papermate Profiles, but still occasionally use them.
FYI: Sharpies have a soft tip, which can wear down easily if you’re painting on rough denim.
Happy painting!
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