Artist acrylic paints

[mirparx]

Hi,

I've search on the forum but not found much on this topic.
The question is simple ( maibe the anser is a bit more complex ) : Are artist acrylic (liquitex, golden, maimeri, pebeo etc.. ) good for paining miniatures?
Anyone using them? anything do be worried about /avoid?

I'm using some Maimeri Polycolor at the moment, and honestly I like them. Matt finish, good coverage, quite vivid colors....
But I'd like to know if someone have different experience or experience with other brands.

:brushwave::brushwave:

 

[Stewsayer]

Hi,

I use some Liquitex, Altelier and alot of Golden acrylics paints for my minis.

There are some differences to wrap your head around as compared to hobby specific ranges. But once you do they are just as good (better actually because they are generally much cheaper by volume). The pigments are just as fine as the hobby paints.

Positives.
By volume prices vary but nothing I have bought has been more expensive the equivalent volume in Hobby paint.
A tube/pot lasts for ages.
The Professional ranges of Artist's colours have a much tighter tolerance on hue variation so you won't have the situation where you have two pots with the same name on them but significantly different colours.
Each range has a number of mediums for various functions that you can buy and mix in depending on what you want to achieve. And you know they will work together if they are the same brand. Unlike hobby paints where some of the fillers etc. can cause reactions with mediums.
The ranges I have tried all paint really nicely once thinned to the levels needed for minis.

Negatives.
Finish. Not all Artists acrylics are matte. This is because the pigments used are not matte. You need to learn to take this into account, and add medium to counter it or paint areas with matting agents once done.
Some of the thicker varieties become vary transparent when thinned enough for use. It takes some planning and maybe layers of other colours to help build opacity if you want to get there quickly.
I'll put this here cause it may put some off. You need to get comfortable with mixing colours if you use them. a set of 8-10 of the right colours can produce a myraid of hues if you are happy to learn how to mix them. But this adds time to the painting process.
With the exception of Golden's airbrush ready paint all the ones I have used need to be thinned significantly for use on minis. And they really need some medium added while doing it if you want to retain the lightfastness and adherence of the paint.

I really like the fluid ranges from Golden and Liqutex but have also used the Golden heavy body paints and the extra thin airbrush ready ones from Golden.

 

[Zab]

I use golden acrylics and their high flow transparent paints are nice. i am using them in the AB for some fun stuff I am doing for The NOVA open. Also jo sonja is used by many top painters. use what works for you sir!

 

[Schwarz-Brot]

I use Schmincke Aerocolor quite a lot. But they are way too vivid when used unmixed. And way too shiny. So I tend to use them to tone my Vallejo Game Colours. If you break it down (price versus amount of paint you get) they typically cost about double of the vallejo colours. They are much harder to work with since their properties are very different from colour to colour.. On the other side they are perfect for use with airbrush (what their intended use is).

I guess the Schmincke Professional lines is as fancy as you can get in Germany and around. I highly recommend testing with single colours first before getting the whole range. It in not only very pricey but takes a lot to get used to.

 

[mirparx]

Thanks to all for your inputs!

I think I will try some different brands to better understand how they behave and if I like them.

I will get a box of Pebeo that the art shop close to my office is selling. It is a cheap one (just 10€ for 10 tube of 20ml of color) and if I don't like them I will let my son to play with them
Then I will lok for some golden/liquitex/w&n, 2-3 colors to understnad if they are for me or not !

Don't know why but in this period I'm really attracted by paints in tube