Jo Sonja limited palette

[Eludia]

In my constant quest to make things simple, tonight I've been looking at reducing my box of 30+ JS paints down to the bare essentials. First to go were the convenience mixes, i.e. those made from more than one pigment. Once I was left with the single pigment colours, I picked out a warm and cool version of each of the primaries:

Cad Yellow Light
Indian Yellow

Cad Scarlet
Brown Madder

Ultramarine Deep
Pthalo Blue

To this basic palette I added what I consider essentials - Titanium White, Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre (JS call it Yellow Oxide).

So now I've reduced my palette to 9 paints - big success. I messed about with a few mixes to get an idea of the limits of the palette but the real test will be the next figure

I thought I'd share this just in case anyone else is looking at doing something similar, they might find it useful.



On the left of the pic are the three mediums I've been using; Magic Mix for glazing, Flow Medium for general thinning and the modellers friend, IPA, for everything from cleaning hard paint from brushes to stripping paint from the model (and fingers).

On the right is the other essential ingredient for a good night's painting, a nice cold beer

 

[Buckledresin]

best way to go really ............ saves wasting money on stacks of paint ................. i dont even want to think how much cash ive wasted on paint over the years

 

[Eludia]

best way to go really ............ saves wasting money on stacks of paint ................. i dont even want to think how much cash ive wasted on paint over the years

Cheers Paul, unfortunately that money's already been spent. A bit like shutting the stable door after the horse is long gone

 

[Buckledresin]

yep my paint horse , brush horse and anything shiny horse all bolted long time ago as well

 

[bogusman53]

The trouble is whenever I pass Boyes, I go in and see the rack of all the pristine Vallejo colours and ponder for a minute and I must blackout at that point because I've already swiped my card at the till
On another subject altogether but related, I have used Vallejo for over 40 years as I used to use their Cel colour when I worked in the animation industry many years ago. Sadly they don't seem to make it any more.

 

[bogusman53]

And here's a young lady at Disney in the 30's 40's using similar cel paint

 

[Buckledresin]

http://www.cartooncolour.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1

heres a cel paint but its in usa .......... supposed to be the bees knees

 

[bogusman53]

Yes I did find Cartoon colour during my research for my post, but sadly Vallejos colour is no longer manufactured

 

[Wayneb]

I think you're just show'n off Billy..........seriously.....it's great if you can pull it off

Wayne

 

[Eludia]

Lol, it shouldn't be that hard Wayne. I've been using a minimal palette with oils for ages so I'm just applying the same thinking to acrylics. I like the simplicity and it kind of forces you to think about colour theory to get the most out of your handful of paints so you learn a lot too. Seriously, you should give it a go, I'll bet you a pint that your painting will improve

 

[Wayneb]

O.K...I'll raise that pint and show you the floor ( is that poker talk?,I don't play cards....but it sounded good)...Anyway...I'm sure it will improve my painting....but I'm all about doing the best I can with the simplest way I can.And right now that involves a boat load of friggen paints to get the job done.After all....I am a borderline geezer and will be till the day I cash in...... ..

Wayne

 

[Range Rat]

I use some of these which are used for animation http://www.chromacolour.co.uk/art-supplies/paints/artists-colours.html

 

[Nap]

Hi Billy

Nice one mate like most I have far too many acrylics ..of all types but nowadays tend to stick with JS and Cobra water soluable oils

Just a question ..what did you do with all those "excess" colours !

Happy painting mate

Nap

 

[Eludia]

Theyre in a box on the shelf Kev, along with the rest of my excess paint....there's quite a lot

 

[Nap]

Theyre in a box on the shelf Kev, along with the rest of my excess paint....there's quite a lot

Reserve troops then !

Why not put them on the Market Place ?

Nap

 

[Eludia]

I've tried before, Steve (Valiant) bought all my Vallejo paint but there was no interest in the rest. I had a clear out about a month ago and ended up recycling a few hundred quid worth of oil paints.

 

[peedee]

Clever palette Billy, and a great approach, it must be the way to go because your work just gets better and better.

I now have to completely ignore this otherwise my paint racks that hold 120 dropper bottles would look like an empty football terrace !
Paul.

 

[pkessling]

Cel Vinyl are the paints made by Cartoon Colours. I used them and sold them when we had The Palatte. Preferred them to JS which is what I started with. Mainly painted in oils but used JS and Cel Vinyl for undercoats and groundwork. For me, painting with acrylics took longer than painting with oils and the results were unpredictable. I could get better texture using oils which is what my painting was all about.

 

[Eludia]

Clever palette Billy, and a great approach, it must be the way to go because your work just gets better and better.

I now have to completely ignore this otherwise my paint racks that hold 120 dropper bottles would look like an empty football terrace !
Paul.

Cheers Paul

It is a surprisingly versatile palette. The core colours are Yellow Ochre, Brown Madder, Ultramarine, Burnt Umber and White and you can probably mix 80-90% of the colours you need from them. The rest are only needed for the odd occasion when you need a really bright accent (like a bright yellow-green or turquoise for example).

I just cleared my paint racks off my bench the other day and put all my paints into a little Tupperware box........sooooo much space

 

[Jay-BFG]

Hi, can I ask you what your basic oil palette consists of?