Acrylic artist tube paints for mini\'s?

[RobberBaron]

I just saw a display of Winsor Newton tube paints and noticed the wide assortment of colors, and was wondering if these paints would work for mini painting. I know a lot of thinning would be required since they are in a thicker paste form, but if they have enough pigment, they should thin OK. So has anyone tried them and what were the results?

 

[Corvus]

I don\'t know about the W&N brand, but I\'ve seen people use acrylic paints from a tube for miniature painting. From what I\'ve heard those paints are fine enough for miniature painting and are highly pigmented. They require more thinning of course.

The brand I\'ve seen is Rembrandt.

 

[War Griffon]

I have seen them used to paint 54mm figures on one of the historic forums and they have come out OK but as to the cost effectiveness of using these against say GW or Vallejo acrylics I wouldn\'t want to say.

You would also need to be prepared to do a lot of mixing in order to achieve some of the colours that you might want to use.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

I know Shawn R.L. (the local OSL master) uses tube paints, I think exclusively. Just checking out his gallery proves to me that you can use them, and use them well.

 

[Dragonsreach]

I\'ve used W & N tube Acrylics, as has Einion.
However I\'ve not used them as anything but ancillary paints for washes and toning due to their heavy consistancy.
They do need to be diluted dramatically and do have a great many uses when thinned OSL highlights and Juice techniques being some of the things I\'ve seen and heard discussed.

 

[Einion]

See my gallery.

Einion

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Yup, all I use are tube paints, acrylic. Since it\'s all I have ever used I cant really give a comparison with the others. Tried oils but found them difficult and wasn\'t thrilled with the result.

I suspect that some of the bottled paints cover a bit better. Some of the tube paints can be a bit translucent..........which does have it\'s advantages too. Buy a few tubes and check it out.

Gouache might be an interesting thing to try.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Shawn R. L.
Gouache might be an interesting thing to try.

Trouble is as I\'ve found to my cost, Gouache remains water soluble even when dry.

 

[uberdark]

i also wanna say vike only paints with liquitex acrylics. i use em\' for highlights sometimes and what not. but stick to p3 and gw.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach

Originally posted by Shawn R. L.
Gouache might be an interesting thing to try.

Trouble is as I\'ve found to my cost, Gouache remains water soluble even when dry.

Forgot about that. It\'s also a bit pricey.

 

[djinn24]

Can someone post a link to these paints, I am in Iraq right now and reading a few articles on these, I might pick some up for shading due to their semi transparent state. I normally only use Vallejo and GW (never tried P3, since it wasn\'t out when I left). Good reading.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by djinn24
Can someone post a link to these paints...

Purchasing links or informative stuff?

If they stock the brand you\'re looking for Dick Blick would be my first suggestion to check since they often have the best prices anyway, plus their S&H is great too (both the rate and the service - if they can\'t complete an order immediately they will ship what they have, not make you wait until it\'s all there, and they don\'t charge any extra for the second delivery).

Just about my favourite \'normal\' artists\' acrylic are Tri-Art (or Richeson\'s Quiller line, which are the same paint in different packaging). But they are quite glossy when dry, so maybe not the best choice for minis. For a less-glossy, and uniform, finish W&N Finity is good and unlike Liquitex and Golden their earths are the way they should be based on the name - e.g. semitransparent siennas, instead of them being quite opaque.

For this type of colour range, but with reliable matt drying, I\'d suggest the Jo Sonja paints (the ones in the beige tubes). They\'re great value too.

Einion

 

[djinn24]

I was asking for a supplier and thank yout for the different selection posted as well. I want to experiment with these for use in my models and see if I like them. From what i understand and have read in this post they are somewhat like the other pains but are think and need to be thinned and tend to dry semi transparent?

If that is true this manybe what I am looking for to shade and layer my minis, I understand a learning curze would be involved with this but I have more then enough minis to experiment on.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Windsor Newton has a line of paints called Winton that I would not recommend unless you want very transparent paints.................that can be a plus in some situations.

Liquitex has been good to me. Good price and good paint. Golden is another good one.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by djinn24
I was asking for a supplier and thank yout for the different selection posted as well.

Welcome.

Originally posted by djinn24
From what i understand and have read in this post they are somewhat like the other pains but are think and need to be thinned and tend to dry semi transparent?

Thick, yes; semitransparent, not always. As I mention in the thread linked to above, paints of this type will tend to exhibit the natural character of the pigment used (as opposed to hobby paints which are made to be fairly uniformly opaque, generally speaking).

Some artists\' acrylics are very transparent because that\'s what the pigment is naturally like. A number are very opaque (like Titanium White, Mars Black, Yellow Oxide, Red Oxide to name a few). And others will fall in the middle zone somewhere - semitransparent to semiopaque.

With regard to the consistency, many of the tube acrylics aren\'t as thick as the \'heavy body\' designation might suggest (and they can vary from colour to colour because of poor QC!) but if you assume that they\'ll be roughly like toothpaste you\'ll have some idea of what to expect. I would suggest using a steel or plastic palette or painting knife to reduce their consistency, adding water by just dipping the blade into your mixing water and dripping into the pile of paint, mix up, gather into a neat pile and then add more water if necessary.

Originally posted by Shawn R. L.
Windsor Newton has a line of paints called Winton that I would not recommend unless you want very transparent paints.................that can be a plus in some situations.

Galeria Winton is the cheaper oil range.

Einion

 

[airhead]

I\'m off this weekend to see if I can find some of those water-based oils (emulsions?). That sounds like either the best of both worlds or the worst of both worlds.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by airhead
I\'m off this weekend to see if I can find some of those water-based oils (emulsions?). That sounds like either the best of both worlds or the worst of both worlds.

It\'s a whole new world. Wait til you try the oils for Skin tones on a larger figure or bust. And if yoyu haven\'t got a one to try it on .........well there\'s the perfect excuse

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by airhead
I\'m off this weekend to see if I can find some of those water-based oils (emulsions?). That sounds like either the best of both worlds or the worst of both worlds.

Just so you don\'t have to re-invest in a whole new set of paints, you might just try some drying retarder.