Andrea Paints Sets... Again

[Khevsureti]

Sorry for my English, but I hope it would not be completely Georgian to you I'm new to painting miniatures and I've been using vallejo colors for a few months without much success. They defragment (wrong word, I guess) like hell. Of course, it has to do something with my inexperience with intermixing paints and diluting them with water, but anyway, when I recently tried andrea flesh and red paint sets I found results much better. Actually, I've read somewhere that for around last couple of years, Andrea colors are produced independently from vallejo model colors. Maybe at the same plant in Spain but not quite with same formulation. Anyway, I'm planning to expand my collection of Andrea paints and get black and white sets as well as some single bottle colors. I wonder which of those single paints I will no longer need having red, flesh, black and white sets. For instance, I've heard that 1st shadow from flesh set is exactly the same as Andrea's burnt sienna. There must be other similarities especially in reds, and maybe in blues and other paint sets too. To put my question more clearly I would like to ask miniature painters which use both color sets and single colors: Which of the single bottles you stopped buying since you started using different paint sets and which of those single paints are still.. how to say.. - irreplaceable. I tip my hat to Master Einion and other experienced hobbyists who recommend mastering color mixing right away. How can I disagree that using only ready-made colors will quite possibly hinder our artistic instincts.. well, if we have any. I also strongly believe that too much comfort benumbs our passion and commitment in general. But let's face it - I'm a dummy Maybe one day, when I'll be unemployed and free, I will seriously dedicate myself to color mixing. But until then I only have one hour a day for my miniatures. Along with my job I have to see my friends 3 or 4 times a week to drink wine, have to see my girlfriend at least 7 days a week.. What can I do.. Can't kill my darlings.

 

[PaultheMilitaryModeller]

Hi

The biggest problem with the Andrea Paint Sets is that the individual bottles are not listed as the same in their single colour range, which means if you run out of one colour you have to buy a full 6 bottle set to replace it. It might be that the colours are the same as those in the individual bottle range with just the name changed for the sets, I have never seen a listing showing this though. I also would like to see a list if there is one.

Paul

 

[housecarl]

Hi

The biggest problem with the Andrea Paint Sets is that the individual bottles are not listed as the same in their single colour range, which means if you run out of one colour you have to buy a full 6 bottle set to replace it. It might be that the colours are the same as those in the individual bottle range with just the name changed for the sets, I have never seen a listing showing this though. I also would like to see a list if there is one.

Paul

Paul, I think the idea is to get you to buy another full set.
The more expensive Vallejo Panzer Ace's, can be found in their Model colour range.
It's a conspiracy.
I don't know if this will help?
Carl.

 

[bagelman1952]

I have expressed my view about these sets before on here. I am sure there is a place for them but I personally would not buy them. Members on here have stated they swear by them but when asked how they used them on a particular figure they invariably say they did not use them straight from the bottle and usually added a touch of another colour. That to me defeats the object of buying the set. And you can guarantee that one colour will always go first and you either have to buy another set or find a suitable replacement in their other range. And if you can do that why buy a set in the first place. That is my personal view.

 

[Ferris]

For what it's worth: the much used base colour (dark base) in Andrea's flesh set can be replaced by Vallejo 876 Brown Sand. For perfectionists, If you add a tiny amount of a reddish colour, it becomes indistinguishable.

I recognise your limited time argument Khevsureti. I have the same time limitations you mention, heck, I wish I had an hour every day! I thought similarly and bought the flesh set to try it, and now that I have it, I use it, but not all the time. However, you do not really have to spend a lot of time to mix yourself, I later found out. Many colour recipes/mixture suggestions can be readily found at forums like PF. It becomes easier as well. After some time you will get to know the colours and their mixing behaviour and some seem to pop up in mixtures more than others. And of course it's much cheaper in the end than the sets.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[PaultheMilitaryModeller]

Hi

I actually own most of the Andrea sets, I don't have the metallic or ink sets but I do have all the others and must say they do make painting to a given standard quite repeatable, the only one I don't get on with is the White one, I think the shadow colours supplied in the kit are too strong, so with white I tend to just use Vallejo Offwhite for the base colour, normal flat white for the highlights and ivory for the shadows, many will find only using 3 colours very limiting though but as a beginner it works well for me.

Anyone interested in these paints might like to have a look at Andreas new book Painting figures in acrylics which covers just about every one of the paint sets.

Paul

 

[Patrick Kamsma]

I have several sets from Andrea. White, Black, Red and Flesh. And use them now and then.

I bought those sets a while back when I was pretty new to the hobby. I had troubles with mixing exact amounts of paint. My first highlights or shadows were too light or too dark. My first highlight was usually your third or even final highlight. I couldn't blend the paint to nice transitions. They were too big.

When I asked people for mixing recipes, I get the numbers and in how many parts (ratio), but the color is always a bit off because I had no reference. Especially when a base color consisty of two or three colors, like you have with white.
To get myself acquainted with the ratios I bought some sets of the more "difficult" colors, like white and black.
Thanks to the sets, I now know how to mix white and made my own variations of it. By understanding the idea behind the colors in the sets, I can now mix these colors with, for instance, Vallejo.
A second reason to buy these sets (red, white & black) was the fact the black and red colors of Vallejo tend to gloss a lot. Andrea dries dead matt.

Indeed, downside is that Andrea doesn't have the set colors as seperate colors available. But with a little bit of work at a local hobbyshop, you can probably find these colors in the vallejo or citadel range.
The Andrea yellow paint sets is very easy to copy in Vallejo colors for instance. Highlight and base color in the Andrea set are exact the same colors as some yellow colors of Vallejo and Citadel (I have to look them up at home, if you want the replacing numbers). For shadows you only need to mix with a bit of purple and brown, but you can't go wrong there. At least not much.

Grtz
Patrick

 

[Khevsureti]

Thank you for your replies. Sorry, I'm a bit late. We had elections in my country. A nervous time. Surprisingly those elections did not end up with a civil war or another revolution. Somewhat strange, though delegations from Europe are calming us down, saying we're getting civilized. maybe.

Anyway, I returned to my hobby and recently had a strong argument with my 10 years-old godson. He asked me to present him a big Lego ship on his birthday. I said that would be for the last time and then I read him a whole lecture on lego-vs-miniature painting, told him he should get rid of those cheesy yellow clones and start collecting and painting miniatures. Everyone should look individual, just like humans.. should. And he will himself feel to be a little god, a creator. He tried hard not to yawn, afraid I would change my mind about the Lego ship. Then I showed him my Warhammer marauders. I train on their muscles and flesh before I could be able to devote myself to Hassle-free Artemis' divine tits and buttocks. He said: "Not bad, they look like my lego pirates. Pinkish, not yellow." I told him to get a hell of out here. But when I looked back at them, knew he was right. And realized that quite probably, her buttocks will look just as flat and lifeless as cheeks of those marauders. No chiaroscuro. No vitality.

Felt like Waco Kid in that movie - Blazing Saddles.

Little Bastard shot me in the ass!!!

 

[HansDig]

Just got a box of Andrea colors from a friend who stopped figure painting. Though Andrea is mot my first choise ne should never look "a given horse in the mouth...". There are several paintsets in the box but some are missing some colors...
Red no 2 (first light)
Black no 5,6 ( first/second sadow )
White 4 ( 3th light )
Now...since Andrea didn't reveales NAC numbers on the sets I wonder what colors could replace the missing ones...

 

[jai]

black 6 corresponds to pure black, 5 to dark gray
white 4 pure white

 

[Oda]

I have expressed my view about these sets before on here. I am sure there is a place for them but I personally would not buy them. Members on here have stated they swear by them but when asked how they used them on a particular figure they invariably say they did not use them straight from the bottle and usually added a touch of another colour. That to me defeats the object of buying the set. And you can guarantee that one colour will always go first and you either have to buy another set or find a suitable replacement in their other range. And if you can do that why buy a set in the first place. That is my personal view.

Second that!

Oda.

 

[Viking Bob]

I have used the red set straight out of the bottle, to great effect, no problems.

(Mind you my paintings crap).

 

[Uruk-Hai]

What I enjoy most from Andrea paints is the matt finnish.

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[Roberto1968]

I prefer Andrea. Colorblind so with their instructions (included in their figures) it's easier for me

 

[chailey]

I also have a preference for Andrea colour over Vallejo which I find have an annoying tendency to dry with a bit of a satiny finish, most of the Andrea range can be purchased as individual bottles from Historex in the UK.
I also like Scalecolor from scale 75 which have never failed to provide me with a dead matt finish.

Steve