Acrylic or Oil equivalencies

[gerryj199]

Hi,
Does anyone know of a chart that can give equivalencies between oil colors and acrylics from any of the main manufacturers?

I've been reading about painting horses from an art book and it uses oil paints with the standard names like Payne's Grey, Jaune Brilliant, Mars Orange, etc.

I'm trying to find the closest acrylic equivalents to these.
Thanks,
Gerry

 

[kagemusha]

As far as I am aware Gerry...there does not exist any kind of comparison chart between oils and acrylics.
Logically...if you grab some colour charts from the web...the reason will become obvious for the lack of such.
There are a far greater number of acrylic shades than there are oils...with so many similar shades of a given colour within most ranges.
Oils on the other hand...tend to have very few such shades of a given colour within a range.
Best I can suggest...download some colour charts of each medium...not ideal...but at least it will give you a starting point.

Ron

 

[Nap]

Agree with Ron

Good starting point

Nap

 

[gerryj199]

Thanks to both of you. I think that I'll have to find some properly printed printed charts to work from because when I tried to look at downloaded charts there was some variation in colors because of the limitations in how they've been scanned/produced/uploaded.

Time to go to a real art shop and then create my own charts from my acrylics collection to see what I can match as accurately as possible.
Thanks agauin guys.
Gerry

 

[Lucas Ferron]

Deleted

 

[Mike - The Kiwi]

Hi,
Does anyone know of a chart that can give equivalencies between oil colors and acrylics from any of the main manufacturers?

I've been reading about painting horses from an art book and it uses oil paints with the standard names like Payne's Grey, Jaune Brilliant, Mars Orange, etc.

I'm trying to find the closest acrylic equivalents to these.
Thanks,
Gerry

Hi Gerry
Adding on to Lucas’s notes I use Jo Sonja Gouache & acrylics - many are equivalent to generic oil colours. Trust this helps.

Maybe of interest I’ve also begun to again use oils for surfaces like animals, furs & leathers rather than acrylics to get a better natural sheen.
MikeTheKiwi

 

[dmcHobbes]

Gerry,
The two current comments provide excellent information. I just want to add that pigment information is another way you can find equivalencies between acrylic and oil paints. (Unfortunately, I also have not found this information for model paints such as Vallejo etc.) I also use Jo Sonya acrylics, like Mike, and they do have pigment information along with similar names to the equivalent oil paint. Most acrylic brands mentioned by Lucas also contain that information. Dick Blick carries many of those brands and you could compare say, Winsor Newton oils with their acrylic paints. Google acrylic pigment charts and you should find many posted on-line for many brands (I have one for Jo Sonya). I also have an Oil Paint Pigment Chart pdf I found on-line that you may find useful that I can send to you if interested.
Doug

 

[Lucas Ferron]

Deleted

 

[gerryj199]

Thank you all for this amazingly helpful information.

I have been looking at the acrylics of the artist-oriented paints, but I have also bought a full set of the single-pigment Kimera Kolors paints and am experimenting with those.

Of course, getting the colors right is just one aspect of this - I still have to improve my techniques in applying them!

 

[theBaron]

For me, the answer to this question, in our context of painting figures, is the same as it is in the world of scale models: I don't use color charts, or FS numbers, or similar things, when painting an airplane, or a tank, or a ship, and so on. I eyeball it, and if the color looks close enough to my references, and to my eye, then I'll use it. The color out of the tube, bottle, or jar, is often just a starting point, anyway, given that I'll tint it for shading or highlighting, or for weathering, etc.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Lucas Ferron]

Deleted

 

[Ferris]

Much is said already, just like to add that even if you achieve a colour match between the pure oil colour and an acrylic mix equivalent, their behaviours will be very different when mixing with other colours. So instructions written for mixes of oil colours will be very hard to duplicate with ‘matched’ colours.

Adrian