Paints and acrylic retardent advice

[Wolfey]

Hi all,

I'm new here and looking to get back into mini painting and have a few questions to ask you knowledgeable and talented souls out there:

1) I have some GW paints that seem to have lasted quite well. Are GW paints considered standard or good for painting minis these days or are there better options out there? (I'm looking to start with acrylics and maybe experiment with oils once I get my eye in again). I'll need to get a few new colours to replace old ones too.
2) Acrylic retardent - This is a new concept to me and I would really like to give it a go. I'm guessing there are quality ones and bad ones out there. Any advice on which ones to go for and its use would be great.
3) Brushes - I have a few old GW brushes that I can use for base layers but would like to get a few new detail ones. Advice here would be awesome too.

Thanks in advance,

Wayne

[Dragonsreach]

Welcome Back.
It seems as if quite a few people are returning to the hobby.

Hi all,

I'm new here and looking to get back into mini painting and have a few questions to ask you knowledgeable and talented souls out there:

1) I have some GW paints that seem to have lasted quite well. Are GW paints considered standard or good for painting minis these days or are there better options out there? (I'm looking to start with acrylics and maybe experiment with oils once I get my eye in again). I'll need to get a few new colours to replace old ones too.
GW are OK, but there are better options for cost/volume. I use Vallejo out of preference, but there are so many other ranges, Reaper & Privateer Press P3 to name the most popular.
However Don't settle for just one range find the COLOURS you wnat rather than the manufacturer.
2) Acrylic retardent - This is a new concept to me and I would really like to give it a go. I'm guessing there are quality ones and bad ones out there. Any advice on which ones to go for and its use would be great.
Water is a good starter rather than lash out first off, but Einion can give you better advise on Retarders than I can.
3) Brushes - I have a few old GW brushes that I can use for base layers but would like to get a few new detail ones. Advice here would be awesome too.
Well there is again so many ranges Winsor & Newton series 7, Raphael 8404, Da Vinci's and one of the less expensive but very good quality are Rosemary and Co.
Again it is a case of finding the brush that YOU feel comfortable with.

Thanks in advance,

Wayne

Oh and a warning, we're really warped round here. 'specially me.

[Einion]

Welcome back to the hobby Wayne.

Are GW paints considered standard or good for painting minis these days or are there better options out there?

What paint(s) to use or which paint(s) are best are perennial favourite topics as you'd probably guess, so there are loads of prior threads on the subject; well worth doing a search to see the range of views.

As you'd also guess opinions run the gamut, but there are a couple of things that there's broad agreement on: don't use only one brand and try a few different brands for yourself - I can honestly tell you, no matter how glowing the praise for a given paint brand you might not like it for some reason... that's what it's like for me with artists' acrylics, where the most common popular recommendation isn't even in my top five.

Re. oil paints, ask about these again when you're ready to buy. Some prior threads here on oils if in the meantime you want to do some reading specifically related to their use on minis.

2) Acrylic retardent - This is a new concept to me and I would really like to give it a go. I'm guessing there are quality ones and bad ones out there. Any advice on which ones to go for and its use would be great.

Not really as much as you might think. If you're currently eyeing any of the ones sold by a hobby supplier then definitely have a look at those sold for artists' use, they'll normally work out far cheaper; even the smallish bottles are quite large by the standards of the hobby painter so one could do you for the next decade, or longer. All of the makers of acrylics for artists offer a retarder, the ones you might see most commonly are Golden's, Liquitex's and W&N's. But many others to pick from.

BTW it's normally called retarder, that'll help when looking for info or doing price comparisons online.

Also, if you're primarily thinking of getting it to slow down drying on the palette then don't, there's a much better solution to that and that is to use a stay-wet palette which can be made at home using some fairly simple materials for little or no money (i.e. if you're lucky you wouldn't have to buy anything new).

3) Brushes - I have a few old GW brushes that I can use for base layers but would like to get a few new detail ones. Advice here would be awesome too.

Loads of prior threads on brushes too. Here are two from recently which had only slipped to pages 2 and 3 of the forum respectively, lots of good info in them so they make a good starting point:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/...recommendation
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/...lose-the-point

In terms of what you might want to look for and buy a lot depends on your location and whether you want to buy in person (best way to avoid a lemon, very important with Series 7s) or online (usually significantly cheaper, but no way to inspect the brushes beforehand and even if there's a good returns policy it's still a pain).

Einion

[Wolfey]

Wow! Loads of great info there. Thank you. I guess I'll have to do some testing but at least I have a great starting point.

Cheers fellas,

Wayne

[Wolfey]

Oh, and thanks for the warm welcome