A question for acrylic painters

[theseeker]

I prefer oils because I am used to them, however I hate the time involved in the drying process. I have read many posts here and I see references to Andrea, Vajello Acrylics and others. So my question is this; for those of you that swear by acrylics, do you use tube acrylics or bottle? Please also provide which brand you use and your thinning method.

Lastly, off topic, for newbie’s like me, please add the type of paints you use in your builds, the scale, the maker of the kit and any other helpful information! Please!

 

[Guy]

In the oils I use for flesh I always put the figure under a 60watt bulb after painting and I can continue the next day with the other colors. With oils you can speed up the drying process a little. Some of the Masters I have known who use oils also help their oils dry this way. Bob Knee showed me how to use a regular light bulb to dry oils.

 

[Stephen Ward]

Hey man

I use Vallejo acrylics out of the bottle, heavily thinned and layered on. They are by far my favorite medium to use and are the best that I have used in regards to acrylics. I swear by them and am very, very satisfied with the results I get.

 

[Wendy]

Hi Rocky. I use Vallejo, and on occasion, I will use the artist's acrylics in a tube. I swear by the tubes for metallics as tube paint is thicker than Vallejo and because of that, much better for drybrushing. (Because the tube paint is thicker, for non metallics, it does take more water to dilute it.) I dilute Vallejo with water (filtered water, not tap). I know some people use a dropper to precisely dilute the paint, but I just go by feel. Vallejo has a good tutorial on their website (http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/ - click on the Brit flag, then pick Model Color on the drop down menu), with guidelines on dilution included. Very important, too, is to touch the loaded brush on something absorbant before touching the fig. Paper towel will do in a pinch, but most suggest cotton since it won't leave the fibers that paper towel will. The other benefit of acrylics: easy clean up.

Hope this helps,
Wendy

 

[AJLaFleche]

Andrea and Vallejo for 90% of my painting. I keep a little container of water (I really should get some distilled water) and an old eye dropper to dilute. Like Wendy, it's measured with a Mark 1 Eyeball. I have some Model Master and Humbrol for a few of the metallic colors and use oils where I need a wash. For the most part I use the base of old take out condiment containers for my pallettes.

 

[EasyOff]

I use acrylics also, but what I do differantly is I use an ice cube tray for my brush rinsing water source. Before I start the days project, I stop in the kitchen and fill the tray with fresh water. As I'm painting if I use blue, then I ALWAYs have a blue water bin to keep my brush wet, or wash off the paint from the brush keeping the brush clean even during use preventing dried paint to mess up my lines. I always roll the brush on a paper towel to see if any more color comes out after I'm done with that color and just when I don't see any color showing on my shop towel, and think that I'm only seeing water, then I rinse the brush out in one of the clear water bins on the ice cube tray, just for good riddens, and from that point on that particular bin will always be my final rinse bin untill it gets kinda dirty. I like it this way because if I have 4 colors going in a short period, I have clean water for each color with the ice cube tray.

As for mixing my paints, I use the typical artist mixing trays that you can buy at your neigborhood art supply store or craft center. Because the paint is out in the open air I without fail pour a drop or two of RETARDER to keep the acrylics from drying out to fast. There's 10 little dimples in the one that I use, it holds plenty of paint for a session and I found it to be advantageous to wash that sucker out in the sink when I'm done for the day. If you don't, not a biggie, Andrea and Vallejo's paints even when dried will come out if you soak it with hot water and use one of those green abrasive sponges. For the most part, you'll get it so clean that you'll have it looking like the day that you bought it. Recycle! LOL!

For metalics, I found a method of using Humbrols metalizer for my shinning silvery things like swords. If you apply the stuff with a brush, add just a tad of thinner to keep it flowing, work fast, get it smooth, then as soon as you see it start to turn a differant color while drying, start buffing it right away! You're cheating certain death here so practice, but when I brought my figure to over a half dozen shows and people thought that it was a metal figure and not the resin figure that it was...I was sold! Trust me though, it took lots of practice and mistakes to get it down right. I think I'm going to use Gunzie's metalizers now, I hear through the grapevine that the metalic flakes are so small that you can't see them on smaller figures. SO, as soon as I can find some, I may switch.

As for my use with oils, I think oils make wonderfull washes, I love to use acrylics as a base, shadows and highlights on faces then use oils for warming up the face, on top of the acrylics.


Good Luck

John (Aka) EasyOff... da figure strippa!

 

[theseeker]

Thanks for all of the input. I really like the ice cube tray idea and you have given me some very good ideas.

 

[captnenglish]

I use Vallejo and Citadel exclusively. IMHO tube acrylics blow for painting miniatures. FWIW

 

[theseeker]

I use Vallejo and Citadel exclusively. IMHO tube acrylics blow for painting miniatures. FWIW

I am glad that you do not candy coat your feelings!

 

[theseeker]

Andrea and Vallejo for 90% of my painting. I keep a little container of water (I really should get some distilled water) and an old eye dropper to dilute. Like Wendy, it's measured with a Mark 1 Eyeball. I have some Model Master and Humbrol for a few of the metallic colors and use oils where I need a wash. For the most part I use the base of old take out condiment containers for my pallettes.

Someone in another forum told me that Adrea acrylics are made by Vallejo, any truth to this? If not, what makes Vallejo better than Andrea?

 

[Jim Patrick]

No, Andrea and Vallejo are not the same nor are they made by the same manufacture. Yes, they are compatable, but not the same. Which is better? Depends. Some aspects of Andrea are superior, and the same applies to Vallejo. The link Wendy provided is probably the single best article (my opinion) but the best technique by far is yours. You don't have one? Sure you do.....you just need to practise on it. So why are you still reading this? Start painting and show us your results!

Jim Patrick

 

[theseeker]

No, Andrea and Vallejo are not the same nor are they made by the same manufacture. Yes, they are compatable, but not the same. Which is better? Depends. Some aspects of Andrea are superior, and the same applies to Vallejo. The link Wendy provided is probably the single best article (my opinion) but the best technique by far is yours. You don't have one? Sure you do.....you just need to practise on it. So why are you still reading this? Start painting and show us your results!

Jim Patrick

I have shown my results! My first with oils in 10 years http://http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23977
And my second with enamels and acrylics http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23978
And the latest http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23995

 

[LVM]

I use only acrylics.

I've never tried acrylic in tube. I paint with colors from Vallejo and Andrea. To be honest I don't feel a real difference between the 2. I paint with the 2 and mixt them equally.

I dilute them with distilled water. I don't think it's always usefull to use this kind of water. By the past I've used running water but I've got some troubles once and I thought it was due to the quality of the water. So now I take care and use only distilled water.

Personaly, I don't dilute much the colors. In fact like Jim Patrick said, there is no best technique. Dilution it's something to feel and to feel it you have to try. But I think that at the beginning the better it's to not dilute much to avoid some kind of surprise that are irritating, like a buble of colored water that comes over the area you're painting.

I also use kind of "cube trays" for my mixt. I use the "cube trays" from drugs, especially aspirin. And to keep my mixt I put this "cube tray" in a small bottle, so there are no air and the mixt keeps long time, wihtout retarder.

Good luck

Laurent

 

[theseeker]

Any one have a good place to order Vajello on the net?

 

[Einion]

So my question is this; for those of you that swear by acrylics, do you use tube acrylics or bottle?

Tube (artists' acrylics) for me. BTW just to be precise: the hobby paints are vinyl paint, not strictly acrylics; that's one of the things that helps them dry reliably matt, most of the time. I've tried Vallejo a bit and even being an experienced acrylic painter (about 12/15 years at the time) I found them difficult to use. So although they clearly work well they're not for me.

After years of using 'normal' tube acrylics like W&N Finity, Liquitex Heavy Body and the like I tried Jo Sonja a couple of years ago and haven't looked back since. They're sometimes referred to as acrylic gouache still (that's what it used to say on the tubes I think) so they dry quite matt, something I struggled with for years using standard acrylics - you can't get Dullcote over here. They aren't pricey at all and they're pretty much the same consistency that I'm used to so instantly better results for things like fabrics, without any learning curve. I still use standard acrylics for skin and other things that should have a slight sheen, like leather and painted surfaces like shields.

I thin the paint when I'm mixing the colour on the palette (usually a ceramic tile these days) by adding just a little water from the end of my mixing knife. These days I will then transfer the paint to a homemade stay-wet palette where it'll remain until I've finished the painting - you can easily get a couple of weeks' life from a small puddle of mixed colour.

During painting if the paint needs to be thinned further for application I'll just do this on the fly with the brush, something that becomes second nature over time - for undercoating the consistency is something like cream, for the beginnings of the shading work it'll be something like milk and the more subtle the effect needed the thinner I'll go, down to merely dirty water for the most subtle touches.

For metallics though I use a lot of different things, including graphite, enamels, lacquer (Alclad II), acrylics, alcohol-based colours and homemade shellac-based paint.

Someone in another forum told me that Adrea acrylics are made by Vallejo, any truth to this? If not, what makes Vallejo better than Andrea?

Used to be. Not any more.

Einion

 

[Einion]

I think I'm going to use Gunzie's metalizers now, I hear through the grapevine that the metalic flakes are so small that you can't see them on smaller figures. SO, as soon as I can find some, I may switch.

If this is Mr. Metal they're referring to I'd take that with a pinch of salt until you see the effect in the flesh.

Personally I think they're not as good as they're cracked up to be (not nearly as tough as reputed for example) and certainly when applied by brush the effect is often out of scale for smaller figs, say 65mm and lower, IMO. In all honesty I've seen the same or better results using Metalcote, which is a lot easier to get and a heck of a lot cheaper.

For spray application to use on larger surfaces, like shiny plate steel - instead of the heavily-weathered effect we usually go for (because it's so much more forgiving ) - Alclad II beats the pants off Mr. Metal.

Einion