WIP Critique Some fun with acrylics

[Eludia]

Hey again folks,

I thought, as I have spent a small fortune on various brands of acrylics over he last few years, I might as well learn to use them properly. So here goes. Advice from acrylics gurus will be warmly welcomed.

The practice piece is a fun little resin number that I've used previously for experiments with watercolour and gouache. I stripped him back and reprimed him earlier today using Alclad primers in black, grey and white. Black to start with then grey from about 60 degrees then white from above.



My paints of choice are all Jo Sonja colours which I've decanted into Vallejo bottles for convenience. For thinning I'm using Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner which works remarkably well as a thinner (and cleaner) with the JS paints. I've had issues in the past using JS paints, mainly with getting smooth coverage but the Vallejo cleaner seems to work as a thinner, retarder and flow improver all in one. I also made myself a wet palette, a couple actually but I'm only using one for now.



So I'm all set up and ready to go, wish me luck



Comments, critique and advice are most welcome.

 

[Range Rat]

Good luck

 

[Range Rat]

Good luck

 

[John Bowery]

I guess that's double good luck?
Cheers
John

 

[Huw63]

Have fun. I'm learning about acrylics at present so I will watch with interest.

Cheers

Huw

 

[Nap]

Following with interest especially as you are using JS thinned ...what was your ratio of paint to thinner ?

Have fun

Nap

 

[Eludia]

Cheers guys

Kev, I haven't pre-thinned the paints before putting them in the vallejo bottles, it's just paint straight from the tube. The Vallejo bottles are just easier to store and organise than a poly bag full of paint tubes.

I have 2 jars filled with thinner on my bench, one for thinning and one for cleaning and I just dip into each one as appropriate. For thinning I just dip my brush into the thinner and mix it into the blob of paint until the consistency looks and feels about right depending on what I'm doing (watery for glazes, a little heavier for painting undercoats etc., unthinned for drybrushing). To clean I just dip my brush into the cleaner and then touch the point onto a tissue and let capillary action do the work, 4 or 5 dips is usually enough to clear the paint out and the jar of cleaner stays nice and clean. Occasionally you get the odd drop of paint that finds its way into the cleaner, especially if your paint is thin, so that's why I use 2 jars. This is the method I'm used to working with oils and you know what they say about things that ain't broke

 

[Jazz]

Good tips.

 

[Eludia]

Good tips.

Lol, I'm supposed to be the biff here Jazz, getting tips from you guys

 

[Eludia]

Undercoating done. I'm beginning to like this preshading method, a couple of years ago I'd be happy to consider this almost done.



From a bit further back, I think you can see the benefit of the preshading a bit better.

 

[Eludia]

A little bit of shading and highlighting on the goblin. You can certainly make good progress with acrylics

 

[Pilgrim53]

After years working with oils as my main stay I have begun a transition to Acrylics. Shall still use oils for some applications; horses and large scale faces. Early sessions showing promise, using Scale Color and Andrea paints.
Good luck to all

 

[montythefirst]

where did you get the work holder from?

 

[Eludia]

After years working with oils as my main stay I have begun a transition to Acrylics. Shall still use oils for some applications; horses and large scale faces. Early sessions showing promise, using Scale Color and Andrea paints.
Good luck to all

Hi Stephen, I use oils as my main medium too with acrylics for undercoating mainly. But I always like to try new things so, while this is an interesting sidetrack, I doubt I'll be giving up my oils any time soon. I don't think there's anything that can be done with acrylics that can't be done in oils (and usually easier and better). The exception probably being airbrushing, I'm sure you can airbrush oils (and they'll probably spray very well) but I'm not to keen on atomising a load of heavy metals and other nasty stuff and have them float about in my shed for hours. The other issue of course is drying time but, to be honest, I don't have an issue with that, I'm in no rush

Good luck mate

 

[Eludia]

where did you get the work holder from?

It's from Bespoke Bases Simon, and I highly recommend it. It's the best work holder I've used yet

 

[chailey]

I was fascinated by your work holder as well, I'll continue to follow this post with interest!

Steve

 

[Eludia]

There have been developments

Inspired by Valiant's recent thread about painting faces with gouache, I blew the dust off my small collection of gouache and watercolours to have a little mess about with them tonight while I was waiting for some oils to dry on something else. I'm really beginning to warm to these now, I love the simplicity and versatility of them and they work really well over an acrylic base. I tried out some flesh tones on the dwarf and goblin and also painted the arrow shafts and flights with watercolour washes over gouache. Most importantly, I had an enjoyable night painting in front of the telly and I'm planning on doing a bit more gouache experimentation in the morning (while Mrs E is still in bed).

Anyhoo, enough waffle, here are some pics: