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[korokuXneo]

I am in a bit of a pickle.
In my state, you must be 18 to buy spray paint. I'm only turning 17 in March, so I'm not capable of buying it. My dad keeps putting it off when he tells me he'll buy it, my friends are just lazy, and I really need to get a move on with my cosplays.

I have TONS upon TONS of acrylic paint.

I have made armor out of craft foam, and it is sitting, all alone, waiting to be painted. It is begging me. The armor is already shaped the way I want it to be, and will not be making much movement from here on out.
I have painted props with acrylic paint before (A leather pair of shoes, lol, and some glass beads. The paint stuck well to the leather, but the beads... not so much)

So my question is: How well does acrylic paint stick to craft foam? Does it crack if it even stays at all?

[Celyddon]

You must seal the craft foam with Gesso or Mod Podge before paint will stick to it with any sort of satisfaction. Craft foam is naturally porous, so it soaks up paint when you least need it.

[Yui]

What sort of acrylic, specifically, do you have?

I hand-paint all of my foam armor & props with Liquitex acrylics (their medium or high viscosity kind...the "Basic" low viscosity is a bit too watered down.) I paint in multiple layers anyway, but I do notice that the first one or two applications does seem to soak into foamies, and has a very matte and unsaturated look until you layer a few more times &/or coat the top with a flexible acrylic varnish (which makes all of the colors then pop, plus gives a nice armor-like shine.)

But yep, acrylic paint and craft foam are both compatible flexible plastics that will bond together so long as you don't spread the paint too thinly.