What paints do you use and why and what to reccommend.

[strigoi]

hello all,

This has always been a problem for me on what to paints to use, before i say what paints to get i would like to know what the community uses and why?
At the present i am using GW but finding there range getting a little dull and pricey for what they are and expecting another price rise early next year guesses are i would like to test a few others and would like to be reccommended a few.
At the moment i have been considering vallejo Game colours or p3 i can get the whole set of paints of 1 so i got to choose wisley so could someone say what would be the best in there opionion? i have tried p3 it seems hit and miss and seems a little awkward to use at the moment what are your thoughts?
Also sorry if i have posted in wrong section wasn't sure if this was the correct one or not.

Basically i am painting warmachine miniatures so you get a feel of what i should be painting if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gohkm]

Mate, I'd say use the paint that you like best, rather than focusing on a particular brand. I've used GW, Vallejo, P3, and Reaper paints, and they all do the job. But different brands work better on different things. For example, I love GW Foundation and P3 paints for basecoating, cause they seem to have very high opacity.

For layering, though, I very much prefer Vallejo. It seems to dilute well without separating too badly. For metallics, I always default to Vallejo metals - they work best for me. I've heard that P3 metallics work very well as well, but after trying it, I'm not too impressed.

If you wish to try other brands, I'd recommend Vallejo, because they're what I'm most familiar with. If you detest mixing up colours, Reaper triads are very good as they come in base, shade, and highlight colours in a trio. If you just want something quick and dirty (single basecoat), go for P3 due to the high opacity. This is what I base my painting on, but I'm no expert, it is simply what works well for me.

I suppose the message to take away is to try out all different brands of paints and inks, and pick those that work best for you when you're attempting to use a painting technique. And because everyone's different, your mileage is going to vary.

 

[airhead]

What brand of car do you drive?

What brand of pen do you write with?

What brand of computer do you use?

What's your favorite color?

 

[strigoi]

Thanks alot gohkm the info you provided was ace and really do appreciate the help! i think i will try out vallejo game colurs when i head down to my local games store reason i am wanting a change is pretty much want to try out other companies and see how i fair out as there are some paints missing from the gw range and most gw seem very cartoonish colours. Again a massive thank you.
Erm airhead if you aint gonna say anything useful then dont waste your time typing to a thread like this if you dont like it im not sure what you want me to say but seems like your being sarcastic and very trollish in that post sorry if it was intended that way but does seem it.

 

[DaRat]

Best thing would be to try different lines, especially since you'll probably want to use different paints from different lines for different purposes and styles. I would highly recommend against getting all of any particular line: there will always be some colors that you won't use.

Vallejo Model Colour has a very good range of colors (particularly historically accurate colors), but it doesn't seem to wear well, and it requires a really annoying amount of shaking. Dropping in an agitator (glass bead is best) will help.

The Vallejo Game Colors wear well, but they're probably just duplicates of what you currently have (they were designed to replace the older Citadel Colours).

I like the Reaper Master Series Paints, particularly the neutrals, liners / shadow colors, and the skin tones.

No matter what line you choose, if you don't like the bottle style, you can get other styles of plastic bottles from an online supplier like US Plastics.

 

[airhead]

Sorry, but the "best paint" is like watching F1 or NASCAR fans argue over best driver/car brand.

All have pluses and minuses.

Do a search and you'll find a ton of threads dealing with this very topic and argued into infinitum.

That was the point I was trying to make, but got busy at work and couldn't.
***
Seriously? What does your local hobby/game shop carry. Support the local brick and mortar guys as much as possible.

 

[strigoi]

cheers guys again also no problem airhead and deffantly going to support my local store it sells alot of various paints which include GW, P3, Coat de arms, VGC and VMC so when i walked in there a few days ago i had an urge to get a new set of paints but felt like i was hit with a brick load of choice and confused me like a child in a candy store.
Again thank you people really like this community seem really friendly

 

[Einion]

FWIW I would certainly encourage you to try other paints than Games Workshop's for any number of reasons but even if only on price.

I mostly use Jo Sonja artists' acrylics for painting models now as they come in the colours I'm used to, have good coverage, they're reliably matt and they're inexpensive... assuming a dilution rate of 4:1 to equal hobby paints - and that might be conservative! - they're as much as 40 times cheaper than GW paints (yes, you read that right).

Also use a little craft paint - Americana, Apple Barrel, Folkart, Delta Ceramcoat, Blick matte acrylics, Craft Smart.

And normal artists' acrylics for when I want the natural sheen or specifically for transparency - mostly W&N artists' quality, also a few Galeria, a handful of D-R Cryla and System 3, some Richeson Quiller acrylics (the same as Tri-Art), some Tri-Art, a few Golden and Liquitex colours, a few Vallejo tube acrylics, Blick's own-brand acrylics and one or two of the Studio range from Lascaux.

Erm airhead if you aint gonna say anything useful then dont waste your time typing to a thread like this if you dont like it im not sure what you want me to say but seems like your being sarcastic and very trollish in that post sorry if it was intended that way but does seem it.

Nope, he was making a very good point that paint preference is about as objective as favourite chocolate bar (or anything else).

Einion

 

[strigoi]

cheers einion for the advice alot of brands there you stated i have never hear from must check them out if i can find them at the paint store near me, yea he was probally making a point but it seemed quite rude and uncalled still tho he was nice enough to say sorry i think i will be delving into Vallejo because when ever i see see people paint they usally use vallejo as a good base colour but im debating vallejo model or game but swaying model as the colours look slightly better.

 

[freakinacage]

i'm with airhead and einion, check this one out, plenty of discussions:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums...Sticky-Thread-Links-to-Tips-Threads-Tutorials.

 

[Einion]

Dude, if you think that was quite rude I hate to think how you'd feel if you'd just gotten a single post asking if you'd tried a search yet! Many questions of this type get that as the first response... I know because I'm usually the one to say it :rotfl:

Anyway, since the banner ad just popped up at the top of one of the pages:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/paints-and-brushes

Einion

 

[strigoi]

hehe usally if someone posted use search i will tend to ignore also it doesn't hurt my feelings anyways let it drop no point discussing a matter that is over but cheers for the links pretty cool i gone with vallejo Model colours the set with 72 paints and hope they satisfy my urge to try other things. Although i think i might complete the p3 range as well as the colours look really nice gonna be so poor by end of moth
Tho einion out of curiosity you said you would try other brands apart from gw just curious do you not like gw paint for some reason or is it the price as well? or a combo?

 

[Einion]

GW stuff is usually overpriced - sometimes horrendously - so it's always a good policy to check for an equivalent (or better) product, which you can often find for much less.

Apart from this general policy, their paint has become more and more expensive over the years, while the jar size has gone down :disapointed:

Although some other brands of hobby paints are priced better than GW's, all paints of this type are relatively expensive so I think it's worth at least mentioning alternatives for anyone that's value-conscious. And it's not just about price, as I've said in other threads some other types of paints are much better paint anyway.

Einion

 

[cfwheeler58]

Further to one of Einon's points...

If you do a lot of basework, then get.....as he says....

"craft paint - Americana, Apple Barrel, Folkart, Delta Ceramcoat, Blick matte acrylics, Craft Smart...."

in a variety of typical earth, rock and foliage colors.

There is no good reason to spend GW/P3/VGC/VMC money on terrain work.

Worth repeating one saw everyone agrees on....Vallejo Model Color is great paint, great colors,
effective packaging....but it will rub off if you look at it cross-eyed and you will need to shake
the living hell out of it.

Also....Vallejo Game Color continues to carry a few mimics of GW colors now discontinued......

Enjoy

 

[MAXXxxx]

I'd like to add one more. OOP Rackham paints.
some shops still have them. and they go for 1euro for 20ml (when diluted to vallejo levels it's 40ml or more) and are pretty good imo.

well actually when diluted they cover soo badly, that they make blending a bit easier. The slower drying time and the fact, that you can move the pigments around the surface adds to it.
Of course all is not that good with it. has the tendency to be chalky.

and of course as other have said: don't stick with one brand, try more.

 

[NightFallArts]

I have tried many different brands and in the end I tend to use a bit of them all. I like to work with the P3 paints for a majority of my work, but I also use GW and VGC when i want some very vivid colors... Try them out and get your own feel for them.