Questions about Jo Sonya acrylic paints

[Chris Kelm]

Hi,
As I have been on this website for only a short time, I have learned a lot from all of you, thank you. Now I have learned about another product of acrylic paints, Jo Sonya. As some of you know I have been paint my figures with Americana acrylic paints and have gotten decent results. But from some of the talk about using craft paint, I know now, after looking at the results of my past figures you guys were correct about the paint.
The problem is that I have bought all of these bottles of paint since they where at such a low price and now I'm stuck with them if I wanted to change to a different brand. So now I've heard from you guys this Jo Sonya brand, before I go ballistic and toss all of these bottles(127) of them, please tell me the pros and cons of this Jo Sonya brand.
What makes this brand so good?
When I was on line looking at their website the tubes(2oz) not bottles were between $4.69-$8.99 each, ok are they better than oils?
At these prices wouldn't you be better off using oils for a little cheaper price?
Really now?! please tell me what's the big difference.
I just don't want to throw away the new paint I just bought and to try these paints. I just want to be completely sure.
Thank you
chris

 

[Rompy]

Hi Chris,

JS dries matt, which saves me the trouble of adding Tamiya flat to reduce the sheen. Personally i feel you don't need all the colors, just the primaries and a few others should do fine. Personally i started out with 5 colors (was using Vallejo, life color previously).Acrylics dry much faster than oil (in the case of a glaze, you can see it dry).

You best bet would be to try them out before making the "wardrobe" switch

 

[Chris Kelm]

Rompy,
Thanks, now when you say that I only need the primaries, I assume you mean red,yellow, blue and white? Also, from what I could see js doesn't have many colors, maybe 30 colors including 2-3 flesh tone colors. Besides the primaries, what colors would you recommend for the flesh tones? Also I can still use my americana paints as well on my uniforms/clothing correct? As for the question about the price of a 2 oz tube compared to the price of the tubes of oils, are the pigments the same is that why the prices are close to being the same? You've used them what is the shelf life of a JS 2 oz tube? Would I still have to dull coat my figure even if the finish is flat anyway?

 

[Rompy]

Hi Chris,


Perhaps you can consider the following. I got this list from (http://willkempartschool.com/how-to-choose-a-basic-acrylic-palette-for-colour-mixing/) My inital palette was simiar to this. I have not used americana paints so i am not sure how well they mix with JS. But Vallejo and life color mixes well. I still mix some of my Vallejo,Lifecolor from time to time

Burnt Umber ,Ultramarine Blue ,Cadmium Yellow Light ,Alizarin Crimson Permanent , White
Other useful colours: Yellow Ochre ,Raw Umber ,Ivory Black ,Cadmium Red ,Phthalo Blue

I believe most colors have a bias thats why u have different types of primaries when mixed gives u a different result. Eg Cad Yellow Mid is more warm while Cad Yellow Light has a greenish bias. But this is another topic altogether

I believe everyone has a different mix for flesh. Unlike pre mixed colors, JS gives the flexibility (or hassle ) to mix your own colors.
Personally, i use Brunt Sienna + Naples Yellow Hue for the midtone, adding more Naples Yellow Hue for the highlights. I add Purple Madder, Brown Maddder, Burnt Umber etc for the shadows. There's no fixed recipie, i am always trying something new each time i paint a bust.

I am not sure what pigments are used so can't answer that question. JS should keep very well so long as u keep the cap on

I don't always spray a matt coat after i am done painting. JS surprisingly is quite hardy

 

[Chris Kelm]

Rompy,
All the colors you just mention,are they from the JS line? Kinda off topic, your avatar is that one of your figures? If so did you JS for the flesh tones? As for the subject of americana paints I guess I didn't wright the question correctly. What I meant was,If I choose to go with JS as the paint of choice for my flesh tones then can I still my americana paints for the uniforms/clothing without the 2 types of paint clashing with each other? In other words, you have a great quality paint for your flesh and a mediocre paint for the rest of the figure,the 2 paints would be noticeably different based on the quality of each. Now does that make more sense? I didn't mean actually mix the to type of paint together.
Sorry about that.

 

[Rompy]

Thankfully JS mostly follows the naming convention as oils. Except JS called Yellow Oxide Yellow Orche but they look the same to me.

Yes that did that complete bust in JS. (The receipe for that flesh can be found above)

I did have a figure done in JS (face) and uniform in vallejo. The uniform had a slight sheen while the face was matt

Just give it a shot and see how things turn out. There's no fixed way, just find a way you are comfortable with

 

[Chris Kelm]

Hey thanks again for the info. As for your avatar figure do you have more photos of it,maybe in the gallery section? I would love to see more of your work.

 

[Rompy]

Anytime Chris.

Check out the vbench tab under my profile. There are a few forum threads on the projects i am working on or have completed.

 

[Rompy]

.Repeated Post. Twitchy fingers.

 

[Chris Kelm]

Thank you and good night

 

[Franco]

Hi Chris,

I paint figures using both acrylics and oil paints. Oils for stains and special effects whilst acrylics I use to build up the main highlights and shadows of clothing, faces/flesh, belts etc.

I now use Maimari (not sure on the exact spelling), Andrea acrylics and Jo Sonya paints. As Rompy mentions the JS dries very matt which is a positive. The only issue with the JS paints is that they come in tubes and not in the small bottles with the 'eye drop' dispensers. The bottles I find makes mixing of colours (graduation of shadows and highlights) easier.

My view is not to worry about using different acrylic brands on a figure - I started with a few tubes of JS and slowly added to my collection, but continue using other acrylic brands as well. In fact I have also mixed different brands of acrylics together and have obtained good results.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Franco

 

[bagelman1952]

As I said in a previous thread you will never get a good finish with your paints. They are too grainy and do not have the adhesion required for smooth blending. There is a possibility of using them for groundwork but that is about all. I have gone to using Jo Sonja although I have a big range of Vallejo which are intermixable. I understand you are on a budget but you will become very frustrated unless you change paints. Rompys suggestion for a starting palette is perfectly acceptable and will give you a wide colour range to start with.

 

[theBaron]

...before I go ballistic and toss all of these bottles(127) of them...

Chris, I know you've mentioned that you're working on a budget, so I hope you were just speaking hyperbolically and you would not actually throw the paints out. That would be a true waste. I've got paints that I've bought, that I found didn't work as well as I thought they would, but I wouldn't throw them out. I just use them where applicable and use them up.

Prosit!
Brad

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

I have some JS but don't really like them but maybe it's because I'm an oil painter having said that they do dry matt ,what i would say is there colour labels don't really match what true oil pigments are IE paynes grey is only a close representation of the true colour.

Also worth a note is not all the colours are opaque ,check the label at the top and make sure you buy the ones with the solid or filled in circle and not the half moon circle as the are transparent .having said this many top painters get great results from them but would also do the same with other paints .
I think you just have to find what works for you "no short cuts or magic formulas "

Ron

 

[ChaosCossack]

Which ever brand you end up using you don't have to run out and buy the entire range in one shot. I built up a decent collection of Vallejos over time. Started with a few staples... doing Nappys carmine, prussian blue, white, black, flat yellow, deep green, english uniform, a mix of browns and a three colour flesh mix (biege red, matt flesh and burnt cadmium red). After that, before I start a new fig, I'll see if any new colours are needed. In two years of using these paints, the only ones I've had to buy again are black, carmine and biege red. If you're doing WWI or II you'd need even fewer to start.

Over the years I've also gathered Citadels, Privateers, Ral Partha, Sergent (as well as some craft type paint) and though I don't really use them anymore I never threw them out... you never know when they will come in handy.

Good Luck

Colin

 

[Ferris]

Yeah, what the guys above say: don't try and analyse your way to 'the best paint'. Try one or two, see if you like them and slowly build your stock. i started with a handful of Vallejo's and bought a couple more with each figure. Although I hear a lot of positive things about JS, I'll stick with Vallejo, not to mess up my system with every 'fashion'.

I must admit to smiling about your remark getting the whole range of 127 bottles of paint because they were cheap and you were on a budget!

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Blue Thunder]

My first test using Jo Sonja

As the Life Miniatures bust has two heads, I just went wild and mixed and tested flesh shades in this head with an unworried open soul. This image represents about an hour of work. There is some grain I need to improve the control, but blending is absolutely second to none. It took about an hour of work and I understood perfectly what I need to improve. I want to go further and start testing Jo Sonja mediums. For this first time trial I only purchased paints, now's the time to invest some more dines!

 

[Alex]

being an oil painter on canvas, I do have many tubes of W&N artist oil paints.. And I love them.
I do also have 15-20 tubes of Jo Sonja acrylics and the 72 model color set of Vallejo acrylics.

for painting intricate patterns, heraldry, etc. I do much prefer to use acrylics instead of oils.. Dry faster, can be applied super thinly, etc. Also for oils, you will need to 'cook' them in order to reduce drying time.
I love Vallejo dropper bottles since I can easily and with exact proportion replicate a mix time after time without losing too much time in the process. Also, the dropper bottles are very easy to use and very convenient.
You do not need 72 bottles of acrylics.. Start with 10-15 and you should be fine for months if not years.

 

[BigDaddy]

I use both Vallejo and Jo Sonja. The Jo Sonja are easy to mix- specially if you used tube oils before- same color principal. The Jo Sonja (as said above)- some are more opaque than others. They are easier to use to glaze or give light transition coats when paining exclusively with acrylics. I find if I mix J.S. with Vallejo, I get great results. The Naples Yellow hue mixed with a bit of Burnt Sienna is a great flesh highlight- better than a Vallejo equivalent.

If I were you- find a type/brand of paint that you are comfortable with and stick to it. Don't switch back and forth, you'll get frustrated.

Matt

 

[Chris Kelm]

Matt,
I'm really trying to find that happy medium when looking for the right paints. Yes your correct I'm getting a little frustrated,but for all the feed back I've received here,I believe the JS paint line will work for me. I also went to your website to see some of your work and wow if I can do 1/2 as good as those I would be tickled pink! Lol. Did you use JS acrylics on your busts,or were they in oils?
Chris