Buy Artist Paints & Mediums Online in Pakistan
Two questions decide every purchase on this page, and neither of them is “which brand”. The first is what the paint has to do: cover opaquely for a chart, stay transparent for a wash, sit thick enough to hold a knife mark, or protect a finished piece. The second is how much of it you actually get for the money — because on a paint shelf, more than anywhere else in a stationery shop, the bigger box is routinely not the better buy. Safencia stocks 120 paints and mediums, from Rs. 75 to Rs. 45,000, and the tabs above split them by what they do rather than by who made them.
That second question is worth a number. Across this shelf we found a 250 mL gloss medium that costs more per millilitre than the 135 mL beside it; a 55-colour oil pastel case that costs more per stick than the 48; a full-size pastel set at Rs. 2,850 for 24 sticks sitting next to Rs. 2,900 for 36; and a metallic poster colour priced at Rs. 1,200 a jar on one brand and Rs. 550 on another. None of that is visible from a shelf label or a product photograph. Every listing on this page that has a cheaper sibling says so on its own page, even when the cheaper one is not the one we would rather sell.
Which paint do you actually need?
Start from the job and the surface, not the price. Paints are not interchangeable — poster colour laid where you wanted watercolour will cover the very thing you were trying to keep, and a medium bought for the wrong reason changes nothing at all about the problem you had.
| What you are making | What to buy | What to check first | Safencia examples |
|---|
| A school chart, poster or hand-painted sign | Poster colour | Price per jar, not brand — school-grade and artist-grade differ roughly sevenfold for the same 30 ml | Classic Poster Colour 30 ml, Classic Poster Colours Set of 12, Pentel Poster Color Set of 12 |
| Illustration or design work that will be judged on colour | Artist-grade poster colour or gouache | Whether the metallics cost the same as the ordinary shades — on one brand they do not | Sakura Poster Color 30 ml, Pentel Poster Color 30 ml, Aquafine Gouache Starter Set of 6 |
| Painting on canvas or board | Acrylic paint, plus a gesso to prime with | Whether the surface needs tooth — a smooth factory board lets paint slide | Black Gesso 500 mL, White Texture Gesso 250 mL, Clear Texture Gesso 250 mL |
| Blending, gradients and soft edges | Soft pastels | Stick length — half sticks give you twice the shades for the same money | Mungyo Half Soft Pastels, Mungyo Soft Pastels For Artists, Keep Smiling Soft Pastels |
| Drawing and detail without the dust | Oil pastels or hard pastels | Whether you want a stick that holds an edge (hard) or one that will not powder (oil) | TiTi Oil Pastels, Cretacolor Brown Hard Pastels, Cretacolor Grey Hard Pastels |
| Acrylic that dries too fast to blend | A retarder, not a thinner | That you add it drop by drop — too much and the paint never cures properly | Acrylic Retarder 75 mL, Acrylic Flow Medium 250 mL |
| Fluid art and poured cells | Pouring medium | That it is pouring medium and not flow medium — the two are confused constantly | Acrylic Pouring Medium 240 mL, Silicone Oil 60 mL |
| Keeping white highlights through a watercolour wash | Masking fluid | That you decant it into a dish — a brush left standing in it is finished | Masking Fluid 120 mL |
| Turning colour powder into usable paint | A binder | Nothing on the label — neither brand prints a composition, so test before committing work | UD Binder 120 ml, ST Fluorescent Gouache Powder |
The bigger bottle is often the dearer one
Our 135 mL gloss medium works out to Rs. 6.48 a millilitre and the 250 mL to Rs. 6.64. Buying the big bottle buys you fewer trips to reorder, not a discount, and both pages say so in the first screen.
Half sticks are not a lesser product
Mungyo sells the same pigment in a yellow box of half-length sticks and a blue box of full ones, and neither box says which in English. The yellow box gives roughly twice the shades per rupee, which is the right buy for almost every student.
Check the metallics before you pick a brand
A metallic shade can carry a very different premium from one maker to the next. On Sakura poster colour Gold costs the same as any ordinary shade; on Pentel it is the dearest jar in the range. If metallics are part of your work, that one difference outweighs everything else.
A medium is not a thinner
Water thins acrylic by diluting the binder that holds pigment to the canvas, so a heavily watered wash can powder later. A flow medium loosens the paint while adding binder instead. That is the whole reason glazes are built with medium and not from the tap.
Priming is a step, not an upsell
Raw canvas and bare board drink paint. A gesso seals the surface first, and choosing a black, white or clear one decides whether you build from dark, from light, or over a grain you want to keep visible.
Buy the sample size first
Mediums are used by the spoonful and pastels by the stick, so a small purchase teaches you more than a large one. The Sakura 75 ml tubes price gesso, modelling paste and gloss medium identically, which makes them the cheapest honest way to find out which of the three you actually need.
Need something to paint with or paint on? See paint brushes, craft accessories and inks, or open Arts & Crafts and Stationery for the whole range.
Paints & Mediums FAQs
What is the price of artist paint in Pakistan?
Safencia's paints and mediums run from Rs. 75 to Rs. 45,000. School-grade poster colour sits at the bottom of that range, artist-grade jars, gouache sets and pastel boxes in the middle, and professional pastel cases and imported varnishes at the top. The current price is printed on every product card.
What is the difference between poster colour and watercolour?
Opacity. Poster colour dries flat and covers what is underneath, which is why charts, posters and signs are painted with it. Watercolour stays transparent so the paper shows through, which is why a watercolour painting has no usable white paint and highlights have to be planned or masked.
Do I need a medium, or will water do?
Water thins acrylic by diluting the binder that holds the pigment down, so a heavily watered layer can dry powdery or lift. A medium thins it by adding more of the same acrylic base, which keeps the film as tough as neat paint. For anything that has to last, use a medium.
Which pastels should a beginner buy?
Half-length soft pastels. They carry the same pigment as full sticks at roughly half the price per colour, and since a pastel is used on its side as often as its tip, the missing length costs a student almost nothing. Our Mungyo half pastels start at Rs. 700 for twelve.
What is gesso and do I have to use it?
Gesso is a primer. It seals a raw canvas or board so paint sits on the surface instead of soaking in, and gives the next layer something to grip. On pre-primed shop canvas you can skip it; on bare board, hardboard or timber it is the difference between paint that grips and paint that slides.
Is a larger set always better value?
No, and on this shelf it frequently is not. We found a 55-colour oil pastel case dearer per stick than the 48, and a 250 mL medium dearer per millilitre than the 135 mL. Where a cheaper sibling exists we print the arithmetic on the product page rather than leaving you to work it out.
Can I mix brands of paint together?
Paints of the same type generally mix — acrylic with acrylic, poster colour with poster colour. Brands differ in body and drying speed, so test a small quantity on scrap before committing a finished piece. What does not mix is paint types: oil and acrylic behave differently once dry and are not interchangeable.
Do you deliver paints across Pakistan?
Yes, with Cash on Delivery nationwide including Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Orders are confirmed on WhatsApp before dispatch, which is also where you tell us the shade, size or set letter you want on the products that come in more than one.
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