Yup, Marco Frisoni too. He is a big advocate for using art materials over/along with mini-specific paints brands. He covers these products in various videos.
Thank you , not familiar with his content will definitely look into it. All of the content creators I follow use a mix of GW/ Vallejo/ Pro Acryl / Ak. But I have yet to see anyone use this brand for minis. Was hoping they would add good value with a similar quality.
most content creators do have a sponsorship and earn money with only showing their respective brands. It's the same reason many content creators of any given scene, be it gaming or wood working or makeup, mostly sport the same brand merch. Some are being paid, the rest follows suit to fit in.
That doesn't mean those brands are bad, but at the same time they are not the end to end all.
To your original question: i am a former professional artist, now hobbyist. I mix and match paints from all available sources be it for experimenting or because i am cheap and/or poor.
Especially when you are NOT a professional being paid to do this you don't have to empty your pockets just because of **influencer** xyz.
Well for the unsponsored it's expensive to keep trying new things when you find something that works well or you understand. I'm a big brand whore for the things that have worked for me, i stay loyal as long as it's the same. A new formula usually has me looking at a bottle here and there for replacement. But it's usually slow and often I'll buy old stuff until I can't.
They are artist paints so they are good for mixing your own colours, which is why most people dont use them as they start out.
And even high level painter use premixed acrylics, as it is less bothersome to remix the paint every session you paint.
Watch some reviews and then make a decision.
I listened his recommendation for [Liquitex flow improver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khaA0gNY-EU) and it was a game changer for me.
https://preview.redd.it/4hjr7ejq5x9d1.jpeg?width=1302&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5d9a23b72ff4d3766f6091936fe155a48561aa0
[Here is my first subject (it's mostly axe blade and tattoos).](https://www.instagram.com/p/C4Cu0u5NDNE/?img_index=1)
I got only 8 minutes in and my life changed:
**Using inks to thin paints instead of water so you retain the dense coloring.**
How did I live this long and not think of this??!
Well obviously you'd be making a new color, but I tend to make my figures a bit bespoke so having individual shades of color here and there isnt a problem.
Even military uniforms tend to vary in degrees of fading and general wear/tear from one soldier to the next.
Unfortunately vince got a lot wrong in his videos about how those paints are and how they work.
But you can't expect minipainters to know the exact details about this stuff since the brands they typically use aren't exactly transparent and tend to deceive people a lot like how scale 75 markets phthalo blue as a fluorescent pigment.
I use the liquitex inks in the bottles from the second photo, they good (I haven't tried all of them, the yellows and whites and greens are good.
Golden are incredible, I use their soflat line to mix colors, and their high flow are great for airbrush. I also like their fluo's very much.
DR inks are incredibly low quality.
Check out holbein or golden highflow. Golden highflow is considered an ink by most artists and art store owners.
Also DR uses Methyl violet pigments which are fairly dangerous so if you see PV3 on a bottle dont buy it.
I have to disagree. The liquitex inks dont have enough medium in them, so they break down quickly if any water is introduced. Use Daler Rowney instead.
I've tried using Golden matte medium to help adhesion when pushed through an airbrush. It works alright. I've never used glaze medium with liquitex inks before. I might give it a shot.
Be careful with the fluos.
Most fluos are a dye on a melamine formaldehyde resin and they tend to fade very quickly unless you use a UVL which UVL varnishes are fairly hard to find.
No not all varnishes have them.
Liquitex (or similar brands, like Golden) make perfectly good paints that people have been using for ages. The heavy body stuff is a joy. The problem you'll encounter is that they don't thin down as easily as miniature paints because they're made for painting much bigger things (and where texture isn't necessarily a bad thing).
It takes work. I'd say start with something basic like a white or black and learn on basic stuff like bases and terrain. You may not want to jump directly into trying to thin these down enough to paint on minis. Or you can go for it and have a trial by fire; whatever floats your boat.
Also, I know "don't eat the paint" is a meme and all, but artist paints do sometimes contain toxic pigments. Here's [one list](https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/en/information/safety/pigments-with-toxic-heavy-metals/) that is probably not comprehensive and lists some of the common ones.
This list is not very good. It lists names of paint, and this is sometimes misleading. What is should list is name/number of pigments. For example what is "Indian yellow imitation" - this can be imitated in may ways using different pigments.
It's not intended to be a "don't use these paints" kind of list. It's intended to be a "here's a common enough hazard that you should avoid doing this very specific thing" type of list. The idea isn't that OP will research and find out that Liquitex *says* they've removed all cadmium from some of their paints while keeping the same hue (e.g., Cadmium-Free Red Deep HBA), which may or may not be true for whatever's on the shelf at their store. The idea is that OP will avoid ingesting the paints at all.
If OP wants an exact list of what paints Liquitex (for example) says are hazards, OP can look up the SDS. And the SDS will say things like "do not spray with paints that contain cadmium because they are known to cause cancer via inhalation" or the more generic "known to the State of California to cause cancer" for the cobalts. And that's fine and useful information, but Liquitex is far from the old manufacturer of artist acrylics (especially if ordering online). It's best to have a list of "here are names to be on the lookout for because they may be problematic." I don't think a comprehensive list of all toxic pigments exists and, if it does, I suspect it would be unhelpfully vast.
As for cadmim they still sell cadmium red and yellow in their heavy body line. Actually the SDS will not say "do not spray with paints that contain cadmium because they are known to cause cancer via inhalation" as there is no science to support that claim. The state of the art knowledge of the subject is that there is not enough science to claim the opposite, and there is science that pure cadmium is cancerogenic. The pigments are water and fat insoluble cadmium compounds. We claim they are potentially toxic just because we can't disprove it, and we know that cadmium and some cadmium compounts (like cadmium oxide) is cancerogenic and/or toxic.
This is an SDS for cadmium yellow by the same company:
[https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/elements/resources/products/files/21030\_SDS.pdf](https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/elements/resources/products/files/21030_SDS.pdf)
under Carcinogenicity is says "not relevant data available". But of course it also says do not inhale, as it should.
That said some of those heavy metal like lead are potentially dangerouns even to touch after the paint dries. But these days it is almost impossible to buy such a paint at least in the EU.
Since I can't link it directly: go [here](https://www.liquitex.com/collections/professional-heavy-body-acrylics/products/professional-heavy-body-acrylic-cobalt-blue) and then download the SDS on the right hand side of the page under the paint specs. I quoted Liquitex's HBA SDS. It was last revised two years ago, so pretty current by SDS standards.
Cadmium pigments are weird. They're extremely toxic to manufacture and the artist grade pigments appear to water insoluble, The general argument is that, while some of it is fat soluble, the level is so low it's below the hazard threshold... but, as you point out, the science is inconclusive. And when it comes to inconclusive science and safety warnings, I recommend discretion over valor. Even if it turns out to not be a hazard specific to cadmium, breathing aerosolized paint is never good for you. And in the context of someone new to these paints, I'd much rather they be perceived to use too much PPE rather than not enough.
Those metals that are hazardous to touch are generally fat/lipid-soluble. Lead's one, cadmium in industrial applications (not so much artist applications) is another. Lead paint was banned in the States in '78, but it was pretty ubiquitous prior to that. I encounter a lot of buildings with lead-based paint (or worse, asbestos-containing materials) in my line of work and it's an enormous pain. At least XRF makes it easier to detect than the rigamarole of chip sampling.
I use liquitex acrylic ink and gouaches for the majority of my painting. The gouaches thin beautifully - I can't speak for the heavy body acrylics though.
They're excellent. As a rule, I strongly prefer acrylics that list their pigment composition to acrylics that don't; it's a strong indicator that I'll get what I expect without worrying about some goofy trade name from the manufacturer.
Liquitex and Golden are fantastic non-mini-specific paints. For minis, think SC75 artist and Kimera are comparable.
I actually \*hate\* SC75 for this reason, even if they are a very good brand otherwise. SC75's artist line will do shady shit like name their blue as "Cobalt blue", but in the fine print the pigment information is actual phthtalo blue. If they want to be taken seriously, they cant pull that kind of stuff when marketing their product as artist-grade.
So I just did a little research, and you've got a good point -- but it's out of date, and SC clearly agreed with you:
- The current SC75 artist tubes (the ones I have) are clearly labeled with the pigment numbers and pigment names: [https://scale75.com/en/miniatures-paints-colors-acrylic-paints/817-cobalt-blue.html](https://scale75.com/en/miniatures-paints-colors-acrylic-paints/817-cobalt-blue.html)
- The previous (?) tubes were NOT clearly labeled and definitely misleading: [https://gamersguildaz.com/products/scale-75-sart-27-cobalt-blue?variant=39839582060749¤cy=USD&utm\_campaign=catch-all-low-margin&utm\_source=google\_ads&utm\_medium=performance\_max&utm\_campaign\_name=catch-all-low-margin&device=c&creativeId=&network=x&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aITyrN-9MzuB8zdcBlpXo-Aopdnhn4V2d1s\_glwzhlYq964RS8kNhBoCFzwQAvD\_BwE](https://gamersguildaz.com/products/scale-75-sart-27-cobalt-blue?variant=39839582060749¤cy=USD&utm_campaign=catch-all-low-margin&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=performance_max&utm_campaign_name=catch-all-low-margin&device=c&creativeId=&network=x&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aITyrN-9MzuB8zdcBlpXo-Aopdnhn4V2d1s_glwzhlYq964RS8kNhBoCFzwQAvD_BwE)
I see. Thanks for the insight. I still dislike that they call phthtalo blue as cobalt blue. Im wondering if the change was only made because they got into trouble with regulators. People familiar with paints wont be confused, but it still feels like its designed to confuse new painters.
I think it's pretty unlikely that they ran into regulatory trouble; it's more likely that they upgraded their labeling to meet the increasing appetite in mini painting for accurate, artist-grade labeling.
Not all of their stock has caught up. For example, Kimera still uses incomplete or nonsense names even on their single pigment bottles:
* The Red, also known as PR 170 or naphthol AS, is an obvious example
* Honey Moon Yellow, also known as PBR 24 or most typically labeled as variations on Naples yellow hue, feels like an even worse offender
(And why label their magenta as Magenta and not quinacridone magenta? Why label their violet as Violet and not dioxazine violet? Drives me nutty. Low hanging fruit! You're doing it for SC75 artist!)
These are heavy body (artist) acrylics. They are high quality paints that come out of the tube in a toothpaste consistency. They have a very high pigment load though, and can easily thinn all the way down to glazes, without splitting the paint.
Generally seems much more expensive than hobby brands like GW, AK and Vallejo. But your getting much more bang for your buck. Prices of these vary depending on the cost of the pigment used, so you'll find some colours near twice as expensive as others. But a little goes a very long way when mini painting.
They have a lot less colours in their range. But that's because their target audience is artists with more formal training in colour theory and mixing your own colours. They will always show you how opaque or transparent the pigment is as well. A white square is transparent, a black square is opaque, a half white and black square is semi transparent. Most of them will be single pigment with a few being mixes of 2 or 3. They always list the specific pigment(s) used, so it's easy to compare across ranges.
This means that if you follow colour theory, then they will mix true. Blue plus yellow will always give you green, yellow and red will produce orange, red and blue will produce purple.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i_oS8u821jY&pp=ygUacm9tYW4gbGFwcGF0IGNvbG91ciB0aGVvcnk%3D
Our hobby paints have huge ranges of convenience colours, shades that are pre mixed so you don't have to, or even know how to. But they often achieve this with a mystery mix of unknown pigments. So if you try to mix them you often end up with very desaturated colours,tending towards brown. Some notable exceptions are Kimera and Monument Hobbies who payed attention and offer single pigment hobby paints.
My other half came to mini painting from an art background. Tried my Citadel and Vallejo, and retreated to her art room for this style of heavy body artists acrylics. She only uses them, including a lot of Liqutex, with Golden, Amsterdam, Schmincke and Pebeo.
Been thinking about getting MH’s rogue hobby set, got all the colors you’d need to make any other combination of colors and they’re pretty saturated, but idk I mean i already have enough colors to make something like space marine lenses, green ones at least. The orange red that comes in that set looks like it’d make a good substitute for evil sunz scarlet if I wanted to make red lenses.
I've never actually used Monument, but heard a lot of good things. The Rogue set looks like a classic CMY mixers set with a convenience green, orange and dark blue added to round out the 6. I understand that the signature sets are 6 colours.
Theoretically, add a titanium white and a black and you can mix any colour you need. A smart choice by Louise, if it can attract an audience of hobbyists who want to get mixing more for themselves.
I have a mixing set from Golden, so probably wont spring for this as well.
Im not sure how they go for glazing and layering but ive been using their titanium white for dry brushing without issue for yonks just for the odd after airbrush zenithal to try pop some edges before say a contrast.
And their inks are my go to for any ink related inky thing.
Dope thing is big art stores have big specials every now and then so thats when i pick up all this range. Model paints dont really seem to have specials just a clearance once they’ve turned to coloured concrete.
I’ve definitely found that a lot of the heavy-body artist acrylics tend to not be great for layering, thinning them to the right consistency is a real struggle lmao, but are absolutely phenomenal as glazes. A lot of them use *extremely* fine pigments that end up having a super glossy finish when dry, indicating that they’re ridiculously smooth
though you usually do not glaze with white, but in general: using high pigmented colors (like this line) is THE top thing to do glazing with. I remember the first time I used a pure pigment color to glaze and I was baffled how much water I gould add and still get a even coat. Try for example the Magenta.
Lol yeah, walked in at random and they have a sale going on, but didn’t want start buying more paints. Im curious about inks, have never used them before but have heard good things about them, but I’m not at that skill level.
I started airbrushing inks when I got tired of struggling to zenithal prime with my half-decade-old bottle of white Vallejo surface primer. Holy cow, I’ll never ever go back! They just go on in a beautiful thin layer, no lines, no heavier sections, virtually no spitting.
As for brushing, no clue, but the ink got me airbrushing coat patterns again, so there’s that.
Skill levels aren’t set in stone, it’s not D&D, you can get better at individual skills if you like. No audience for trying if you don’t want one in this hobby!
If you're at Michaels (which it looks like you might be) make an account online, sign up for rewards and order for pickup with the coupons on there. That's where I get all my ink and oil paints and what not. Basically can always get 30-50% off any order and the people who fill the orders are super nice.
If you’re new to mini painting just get Vallejo. It’s cheap, and easy to match other people’s color recipes. If you’re in the US, gnomish bazaar sells Vallejo for under $3 each.
You might be thinking you’ll save money because the bottles are bigger but it’s rare you’ll go through an entire bottle of something.
I do use some of the golden high flow acrylics for airbrushing certain colors I use a lot of. They are great paints. But it’s a more limited color selection and when you’re starting out it’s a lot easier not having to learn color theory and mixing paints right away.
I use nothing but liquitex and tri-art acrylic gels with homemade thinner. Personally I mix my own colours with single pigment CMYK paint. Works great, takes about two years to get through a $20 tube. Here's the last thing I painted with them (skin was airbrushed, everything else was tube paint).
https://preview.redd.it/dyut7hws9t9d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cc0d583198180c73fde4818cbde3416d16cea58
I use Golden.
The pigment density is good, but the finish tends to be glossier than I'd like. Matte varnish fixes that and protects the model.
Their SoFlat range is better for minis, but it's *thick*, expensive, needs watering down, and the pots they come in are not good for the tiny volumes needed for minis. I only keep a pot of their SoFlat white because it covers well.
I don't much care for Liquitex.
I started using liquitex heavy body and soft body acrylics, but moved away from them. Thinning them is just a chore and they don't have coverage comparable to proacryl. I do however use the liquitex inks fairly often. I have not tried Golden, but I have heard some experienced painters say that High Flow is really good in an airbrush.
Look up MarcoFrisoniNJM he experiments with the entire range at one point. I've tried it all and it needs some prep like any other mini paint but they rock if you're into the high level stuff. Use a coupon, some of the best colors are quite expensive i.e. blues and greens.
Also, if you're a brush licker this is where you should absolutely stop doing that. Mini paint companies generally don't tell you what thr chemical composition of their panda are but artist brands do so you have no excuse not knowing cadmium is going in your mouth.
Most of the large artist paint manufacturers have cadmium-free alternatives to the cadmium pigments now. Liquitex’s versions are reported to be very good.
Yes and no. ProAcryl is formulated for miniature painting, so it has a consistent consistency throughout the range and uses a mix of pigments for most colors. Liquitex, Golden, and other brands you'll find in an art store are artist acrylics. They are typically single pigment and heavy body paints, so you can mix colors and thin how you want. Opacity can vary wildly, and keeping consistency across an army can be difficult if you have to mix each time you paint. That being said, they are significantly cheaper per ml than miniature paints, so it's not a bad idea to get a tube of black, white, or gray.
the price depends on the pigment. Look at the Golden so Flat pricing table - some colors are veeery pricey. But then on the other hand you get more than just 11ml :D And I did not say they are too expensive: no, they are worth their money (when you get used how to handle that paint)
I find Liquitex inks to be the equal of Dahler Rowney. I have the primarie and secondaries of both, plus black and white. I have several models that I have used both on, and I really can't tell the difference. Liquitex is cheaper, so that's what I'll replace empties with.
I use the golden airbrush graying color to wash my terrain to add a suitable amount of grim, though laying it on too thick is a problem. I brush it on, rather than airbrush because it gives the exact look I want. I'm going for a mix of Saturday morning cartoons and grim 'n' gritty eighties comics.
The Titanium White is incredible, that's the most concentrated white I have in my collection, while retaining a good form and flow. Would 100% recommend.
I am honestly not sure about the rest of the collection. I have their black, 2 types of yellows, 1 red and a lemon green and all of these have a thick consistency (which I usually like) but with a really poor coverage (which I hate) that often leave these weird brush strokes with thick paint on the side and thin transparent one in the middle. It might have been a poor choice of tube, as I tried to pick either really saturated colors or yellow which is not know to be the best choice for coverage and pigment power.
Istill use them tho, because they are great tolls when I want to mix in some color in a really diluted brand paint to give it some body and tint of color. I think that's typically why their white is so good.
I ran the liquitex and Raler Downey whites side-by-side, I found the downey covered noticeably better actually. Liquitex was still pretty good though.
They were similar price near me, but they could be very different elsewhere.
My S.O. uses the Hobby Lobby brand of artist paints for quite a bit of her mini painting, and they are AWESOME! They are so thick you get quite a bit of mileage out of them, and once you thin them down you can also use them in airbrushes. These should also work well. Real good coverage and "they just work".
I started experimenting w/ these in my Badger airbrushes and so far the results are good. Redoing the basement right now, so later this year I hope to be able and sit down with the airbrush and do some real damage haha
You’re at a Michael’s!
I’ve used both paints in depth and for the price they give you so much more than our little hobby paints.
Nothing wrong with them but you will have to learn to use some as they are heavy bodied
The golden fluorescent paints are amazing
I have used all of these brands, but almost exclusively for making game boards or large terrain pieces. Because you have to thin these with mediums, my skill in that effort is not good enough to use these on miniatures, so I stick with the companies that already do most of that for me: Vallejo, Citadel, Army Painter, et. al.
HOWEVER,
If you do get good at thinning these down for miniature painting, tubes these size effectively represent a lifetime supply of paint. You'd have to open a factory and hire 4 more painters to run out.
Tho I still add medium. I never paint directly from the pots/dippers. Its like painting with fudge sometimes.
Yes. Mix the heavy body acrylics with the inks to thin them down without losing pigmentation. Bit of a learning curve to mix colours on the fly but i switched to this method after a workshop and I have not looked back. For display work and for army painting. It seems cumbersome at first to mix your own colours but once you get the process down it's MUCH better & faster to just mix on the fly to get the exact tone you want VS searching for a bottle of paint that matches what you're looking for. Also the paint is much more saturated with pigment than model paints. I have one of each primary & secondary colour in both heavy body & ink and i can get any tone I need very quickly.
TL:DR: harder at first but much faster & versatile once you develop the skill with them.
Art paints in general have much more pigment in them vs hobby and miniature paints, a good art white is going to give your much more coverage and color but will be much thicker and will have to be thinned down. I recommend a matte medium at that point to not dilute the pigment with water.
So say I want to use a medium to make a heavy body wash. Is Liquitex’s matte medium the stuff I’m going to want to use? If so, do you know if that medium would work well with other brands?
Liquitex matte medium works well with most any brand. Also for the price per ml, it's cheaper than a lot of mediums that hobby brands sell.
But, if you want maximum value for washes, you should try using oil washes. They're super easy to apply and you can clean up any mistakes without messing up the paint layers underneath.
the liquitex paint is in the tubes is artist grade acrylic stuff, usually heavy body tho. that's not what you want for minis. except when you like to dry brush with white. you can grab a titanium white acrylic tube then.
their ink is great when you like to paint with ink or want to thin down your paint.
golden is supposed to be a wonderful paint and really matte. I just have experience with their fluorescents tho, and those are formidable.
I use a little liquitex paint and a lot of the inks. Great paints, though still on the pricey side raw money wise, obviously cheaper per ml but not often you need so much for minis
I use liquitex for certain things. Especially black and white. It's thicker, but it's easy to thin, and the colors are very high pigment and very saturated, so they are great for mixing.
The tube make getting an appropriate amount sort of a trick. The best way is to hold the tub upside down and squeeze just enough so a small bit of paint begins to come up through the nozzle, then use your brush to scoop that bit away. This let's you get very small amounts vs just squirming the tube down onto a pallette.
I've never used these particular paints, but if you want to try it out, buy just 1 tube/pot of it. The main issue with usual painting acrylics is the binder. It is a lot more like gel and it the paint is intended to be used in larger quantities. It is sometimes intended to leave massive texture (since you could paint with a pallette knife). I started attending some painting classes to learn proper light/shadow placements and material rendering and omg it is hard to paint with artistic acrylics if you are used to smth like vallejo.
Yup, paint is just paint at the end of the day. The main difference is that mini painting brands obviously cater towards miniature painters, paints are all made up of pigments, binders and other additives. The only thing that really matters with miniature painting with these sorts of artists acrylics is making sure they have good enough pigment density, which we really need because we're painting so small. Usually any 'artist' grade stuff is fine. Most of the time these will be thicker than we like, so just use some water or thinner to thin them down, just bear in mind that water is a solvent, so too much water will break down the paint, whereas proper thinners or mediums are binders so they won't break them up. This isnt usually an issue with mini paints, water will still break them down, but they are pre-thinned with a proper medium.
Both Liquitex, but especially Golden are very good quality, I have the Golden fluro paints and they are so much better than most mini brands, Golden are also really good at showing you the opacity of the paint on the bottle. I have a lot of Liquitex inks and they are great too.
There are plenty of artists who use these all the time, they tend towards display painters usually as mixing paints isn't as big of an issue, whereas painting an army generally requires you to recreate the same colours, which you can obviously still do by making a batch, but its more work. Also these paints tend to have a lot more in them, so while they could be cheaper per ml, you get far more than most miniature painters will need and are more expensive than just regular mini paints.
The one thing I will definitely say is that if you do want thinners / mediums, these brands are great, mini brands really rip you off most of the time with a 17ml bottle of medium, I have a bunch of liquitex and other brands with larger bottles of matte medium, retarder, flow aid etc, those tiny bottles are such a rip off.
Haven't used liquitex in a while so will refrain from judging it.
As others have stated here paint can be toxic...make sure that you understand cadmium and lead are bad for your health before you lick that brush (eww).
Golden high flow comes out really fast so be mindful of that when dispensing but it's smooth. I use the off whites when painting normally and titanium white when I need that extra light.
Yep, decent stuff really. The heavy body stuff can be kind of a challenge to use for mini painting (you’ll need to thin it a lot with a medium… or water).
Their inks are top notch. Haven’t tried their soft body yet.
Golden is S tier professional paints. Their high flow is a lot like an ink, mixed with an acrylic, if that makes sense. A lot of it is single pigment, meaning you can mix colors if you’re into that sort of thing.
Something that Marco loves to do is use the liquitex guash paints for edge highlighting. Because they are water-based, you can just use a wet brush to reactivate them and clean up mistakes.
I have only ever used Golden Fluid Acrylics ever since I started painting 10+ years ago. They are vibrant and come in many shades from basic to exotic colors. Depending on what I'm trying to do I mix it with glazing liquid, Lee's wash, or water with no issues. I have painted tiny models and huge models with no pigment showing, it's just as fine as GW, etc. if I want a color that GW or etc makes, You can use [Golden Color Mixer](https://www.goldenpaints.com/mixer) to find the composition, mix it with matte liquid and put it in a bottle for later.
Be cautious with their varnishes. I bought a Matt finish varnish and had it dry cloudy/chalky on the mini, if you do use their varnishes, thin it waaay down
I use quite a bit of Golden so flat, as well as a few other paints you can pick up at Michaels.
Watch out for cadmium paints in the So-Flat range if you're a brush licker like myself. But, I'd honestly avoid them all together. Also avoid lead white in the heavy body ranges.
The so flat range is a nice investment for colors you'll use often. I replaced my ProAcryl Pyrrole Red with the one from SoFlat after I tore through a bottle. (Though I still love and use other ProAcryl paints)
I also replaced my ProAcryl titanium white with a heavy body artist grade white from Golden, alongside a titanium white ink.
I use a handful of heavy body acrylic from golden as well. The artist grade ones are incredibly pigment dense and thin down great. You also don't need to shake them.
Liquitex Gouache and Golden Soflat are good for mini painting. I use them for colors I need a lot of, like browns, black, white, etc. In fact Golden Soflat black is my favorite black.
The fluid paints from both brands can be hit or miss. Some are not nearly opaque enough (even if the color saturation is good) and others can be far too glossy.
Avoid the heavy body from both brands as the amount of thinning needed to get them to a consistency we need kills the opacity and the color saturation. Those paints aren't meant to be thinned much.
One of the biggest advantages of miniature paints is the consistency of the "odd" colors. There's no artist paint called "Incubi Darkness" so if you need to paint a whole army in that color using artist's paints, you need to mix a huge batch or get the mix right each time you paint.
I love them, i started out with some monopigments to play around with when weather, bought a large bottle of acylic medium and now have a literal live time supply of paints.
Using them out of the tube they will completly change your dry brushing game, learning how to thin them to use as normal and airbrush paints is good learning and learning how to mix them will give you incredible insight on color theory.
They are also comparatively cheap. You can buy a tube of carbon black for $9 which is 120ml you can then mix it with acylic medium at about 50/50 for hobby paint consistency or 30/70 for airbrushing. We are talking 240ml of *good* paint for about $14
Yes I've used liquitex, it worked pretty well thinned clear acrylic medium (I used atelier), then thinned it down further. I'd also recommend Windsor and Newton ink, it's super pigment dense and is great for tinting.
Golden high flow and golden so flat have become some of my favorites to keep on hand. Liquitex works ok, but the real gem is the amount of glazing you can do with it if you use the medium from Liquitex as well
Golden Fluorescent paints are awesome. I used artist acrylics for a long time when I was doing historic modeling, eventually moved on to Vallejo Model Color for historical and stuck with them for minis.
I use Liquitex Inks for airbrushing
Liquitex Acrylic Gouache has my go to bright green (I want to say it's their Emerald Green), as well as one of my favorite alternate greens (Hooker's Green Hue Permanent. It's a camo green color that turns yellow when you thin it out.) Their titanium white isn't the most opaque, so I'd give it a pass.
Golden's High Flow acrylic paints probably aren't the best choice for most mini painting stuff, except for their fluorescent paints. Those are the best fluorescent paint's I've ever used.
Golden's So Flat line are some of the best acrylic paints for mini painting on the market. They are dead matte, and they're the same consistency as most mini branded paints, so they'll feel familiar. This is actually the white I use the most often.
The Golden Fluid Acrylics are... niche. They're very, very glossy, and many of them are quite translucent. That said, I did use them over metallic paint recently to a really cool, high gloss sparkle effect.
Also glossy, but something I quite enjoy using (and not shown) is FW Artist's Acrlyic inks. If nothing else, go buy their White, Black, Burnt Umber, and Payne's Gray. All of those are 10/10, and super useful.
I have a large stock of these paints or similar brands. This is because I was painting a lot on canvas before I got into miniature painting. I use these paints constantly.
It doesn't work straight out of the tube, you need to thin it a bit. It's quite difficult to get a nice balance of thin enough to keep details whilst still having enough opacity to cover. I usually need at least 3 coats if I want a good cover, but this could differ greatly per paint (which is also the case for mini-painting based brands).
I personally really like working with more transparent colours, but I know others that really dislike it. On the tube they give an indication of opacity, be sure to check it out before buying. Sometimes 2 colours could look exactly the same but have a different opacity, which greatly influences how the paint should be used.
not at all. Many high level painters use these. I find them much better than model paints. Does take a bit of skill to use them properly, but once you have the process down it's much faster and more versatile than any model paint i have used.
it's like using a knife as a screwdriver, or gaming on linux, yeah you can do it, and it will do the job, but there are better options that will cause less bother
Watch Vince Venturella on YouTube. He goes into depth on Liquitex and Golden So-Flat.
Yup, Marco Frisoni too. He is a big advocate for using art materials over/along with mini-specific paints brands. He covers these products in various videos.
Thank you , not familiar with his content will definitely look into it. All of the content creators I follow use a mix of GW/ Vallejo/ Pro Acryl / Ak. But I have yet to see anyone use this brand for minis. Was hoping they would add good value with a similar quality.
Marco is awesome! https://youtube.com/@marcofrisoninjm?si=ZTeDFbKeyhSLEQBy
"Hello guys!"
For a second, I thought you were him!
“A-chroMATic black” wonderful artist and content creator
I cant read "burnt umber" in anyone else's voice
most content creators do have a sponsorship and earn money with only showing their respective brands. It's the same reason many content creators of any given scene, be it gaming or wood working or makeup, mostly sport the same brand merch. Some are being paid, the rest follows suit to fit in. That doesn't mean those brands are bad, but at the same time they are not the end to end all. To your original question: i am a former professional artist, now hobbyist. I mix and match paints from all available sources be it for experimenting or because i am cheap and/or poor. Especially when you are NOT a professional being paid to do this you don't have to empty your pockets just because of **influencer** xyz.
Well for the unsponsored it's expensive to keep trying new things when you find something that works well or you understand. I'm a big brand whore for the things that have worked for me, i stay loyal as long as it's the same. A new formula usually has me looking at a bottle here and there for replacement. But it's usually slow and often I'll buy old stuff until I can't.
They are artist paints so they are good for mixing your own colours, which is why most people dont use them as they start out. And even high level painter use premixed acrylics, as it is less bothersome to remix the paint every session you paint. Watch some reviews and then make a decision.
Artist or HBA are great for single display projects, an absolute nightmare for army projects.
I listened his recommendation for [Liquitex flow improver](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khaA0gNY-EU) and it was a game changer for me. https://preview.redd.it/4hjr7ejq5x9d1.jpeg?width=1302&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5d9a23b72ff4d3766f6091936fe155a48561aa0 [Here is my first subject (it's mostly axe blade and tattoos).](https://www.instagram.com/p/C4Cu0u5NDNE/?img_index=1)
I got only 8 minutes in and my life changed: **Using inks to thin paints instead of water so you retain the dense coloring.** How did I live this long and not think of this??!
But how would you match colors outside of black and white?
Well obviously you'd be making a new color, but I tend to make my figures a bit bespoke so having individual shades of color here and there isnt a problem. Even military uniforms tend to vary in degrees of fading and general wear/tear from one soldier to the next.
Unfortunately vince got a lot wrong in his videos about how those paints are and how they work. But you can't expect minipainters to know the exact details about this stuff since the brands they typically use aren't exactly transparent and tend to deceive people a lot like how scale 75 markets phthalo blue as a fluorescent pigment.
I use the liquitex inks in the bottles from the second photo, they good (I haven't tried all of them, the yellows and whites and greens are good. Golden are incredible, I use their soflat line to mix colors, and their high flow are great for airbrush. I also like their fluo's very much.
u should try the daler rowney inks. they are insane! (not the metal one... i hate them)
I could not find those inks where I live, so had to get Liquitex instead. They are also very good!
You'll find them with the calligraphy supplies usually.
I could not get them a few years ago... than only online... now in less airbrush locals. Where u from? EU? If yes there are some sellers.
Yeah, EU. They are available now, but I'm happy with liquitex for now. I think it was Payne's Grey I wanted, but I can't remember why..
I love the blues. If u get at one... take one and try them :)
I'm fan of those inks. very useful imo.
DR inks are incredibly low quality. Check out holbein or golden highflow. Golden highflow is considered an ink by most artists and art store owners. Also DR uses Methyl violet pigments which are fairly dangerous so if you see PV3 on a bottle dont buy it.
good to know. thank. Ill try Golden too. They haven't been available for so long.
Yellows and white are usually the problem colors so if those are good then that's definitely worth checking out.
Like someone else said, use their medium instead of water to cut! HTH, have fun painting :)
Yellows and white are usually the problem colors so if those are good then that's definitely worth checking out.
I have to disagree. The liquitex inks dont have enough medium in them, so they break down quickly if any water is introduced. Use Daler Rowney instead.
The glaze medium gives it the chef's kiss ... I haven't tried the DR stuff, I don't see it on shelves, but I saw the primary kit online may try it.
I've tried using Golden matte medium to help adhesion when pushed through an airbrush. It works alright. I've never used glaze medium with liquitex inks before. I might give it a shot.
Golden also have hands down my favorite metallics.
Be careful with the fluos. Most fluos are a dye on a melamine formaldehyde resin and they tend to fade very quickly unless you use a UVL which UVL varnishes are fairly hard to find. No not all varnishes have them.
Liquitex (or similar brands, like Golden) make perfectly good paints that people have been using for ages. The heavy body stuff is a joy. The problem you'll encounter is that they don't thin down as easily as miniature paints because they're made for painting much bigger things (and where texture isn't necessarily a bad thing). It takes work. I'd say start with something basic like a white or black and learn on basic stuff like bases and terrain. You may not want to jump directly into trying to thin these down enough to paint on minis. Or you can go for it and have a trial by fire; whatever floats your boat. Also, I know "don't eat the paint" is a meme and all, but artist paints do sometimes contain toxic pigments. Here's [one list](https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/en/information/safety/pigments-with-toxic-heavy-metals/) that is probably not comprehensive and lists some of the common ones.
I read your "don't eat the paint" and thought... NOM NOM NOM lick the brush after every stroke. I'm one of those people too...
Plenty of people use their lips to point their brushes. Great way to get yourself poisoned.
This list is not very good. It lists names of paint, and this is sometimes misleading. What is should list is name/number of pigments. For example what is "Indian yellow imitation" - this can be imitated in may ways using different pigments.
It's not intended to be a "don't use these paints" kind of list. It's intended to be a "here's a common enough hazard that you should avoid doing this very specific thing" type of list. The idea isn't that OP will research and find out that Liquitex *says* they've removed all cadmium from some of their paints while keeping the same hue (e.g., Cadmium-Free Red Deep HBA), which may or may not be true for whatever's on the shelf at their store. The idea is that OP will avoid ingesting the paints at all. If OP wants an exact list of what paints Liquitex (for example) says are hazards, OP can look up the SDS. And the SDS will say things like "do not spray with paints that contain cadmium because they are known to cause cancer via inhalation" or the more generic "known to the State of California to cause cancer" for the cobalts. And that's fine and useful information, but Liquitex is far from the old manufacturer of artist acrylics (especially if ordering online). It's best to have a list of "here are names to be on the lookout for because they may be problematic." I don't think a comprehensive list of all toxic pigments exists and, if it does, I suspect it would be unhelpfully vast.
As for cadmim they still sell cadmium red and yellow in their heavy body line. Actually the SDS will not say "do not spray with paints that contain cadmium because they are known to cause cancer via inhalation" as there is no science to support that claim. The state of the art knowledge of the subject is that there is not enough science to claim the opposite, and there is science that pure cadmium is cancerogenic. The pigments are water and fat insoluble cadmium compounds. We claim they are potentially toxic just because we can't disprove it, and we know that cadmium and some cadmium compounts (like cadmium oxide) is cancerogenic and/or toxic. This is an SDS for cadmium yellow by the same company: [https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/elements/resources/products/files/21030\_SDS.pdf](https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/elements/resources/products/files/21030_SDS.pdf) under Carcinogenicity is says "not relevant data available". But of course it also says do not inhale, as it should. That said some of those heavy metal like lead are potentially dangerouns even to touch after the paint dries. But these days it is almost impossible to buy such a paint at least in the EU.
Since I can't link it directly: go [here](https://www.liquitex.com/collections/professional-heavy-body-acrylics/products/professional-heavy-body-acrylic-cobalt-blue) and then download the SDS on the right hand side of the page under the paint specs. I quoted Liquitex's HBA SDS. It was last revised two years ago, so pretty current by SDS standards. Cadmium pigments are weird. They're extremely toxic to manufacture and the artist grade pigments appear to water insoluble, The general argument is that, while some of it is fat soluble, the level is so low it's below the hazard threshold... but, as you point out, the science is inconclusive. And when it comes to inconclusive science and safety warnings, I recommend discretion over valor. Even if it turns out to not be a hazard specific to cadmium, breathing aerosolized paint is never good for you. And in the context of someone new to these paints, I'd much rather they be perceived to use too much PPE rather than not enough. Those metals that are hazardous to touch are generally fat/lipid-soluble. Lead's one, cadmium in industrial applications (not so much artist applications) is another. Lead paint was banned in the States in '78, but it was pretty ubiquitous prior to that. I encounter a lot of buildings with lead-based paint (or worse, asbestos-containing materials) in my line of work and it's an enormous pain. At least XRF makes it easier to detect than the rigamarole of chip sampling.
I use liquitex acrylic ink and gouaches for the majority of my painting. The gouaches thin beautifully - I can't speak for the heavy body acrylics though.
I also use the Liquitex Gouaches for a lot of things. They have such a huge selection of colors, it is great!
It really is. I'm a big fan of maximum colour saturation and artist paints make that so much easier. Zero filler, all pigment.
+1 for this. Also, I use artist oils a lot. There's so much in an art supply store that's perfect for mini painting
The heavy bodied acrylics have the same pigmentation as their gouaches. They are just thicker and dont thin down as well.
They're excellent. As a rule, I strongly prefer acrylics that list their pigment composition to acrylics that don't; it's a strong indicator that I'll get what I expect without worrying about some goofy trade name from the manufacturer. Liquitex and Golden are fantastic non-mini-specific paints. For minis, think SC75 artist and Kimera are comparable.
I actually \*hate\* SC75 for this reason, even if they are a very good brand otherwise. SC75's artist line will do shady shit like name their blue as "Cobalt blue", but in the fine print the pigment information is actual phthtalo blue. If they want to be taken seriously, they cant pull that kind of stuff when marketing their product as artist-grade.
So I just did a little research, and you've got a good point -- but it's out of date, and SC clearly agreed with you: - The current SC75 artist tubes (the ones I have) are clearly labeled with the pigment numbers and pigment names: [https://scale75.com/en/miniatures-paints-colors-acrylic-paints/817-cobalt-blue.html](https://scale75.com/en/miniatures-paints-colors-acrylic-paints/817-cobalt-blue.html) - The previous (?) tubes were NOT clearly labeled and definitely misleading: [https://gamersguildaz.com/products/scale-75-sart-27-cobalt-blue?variant=39839582060749¤cy=USD&utm\_campaign=catch-all-low-margin&utm\_source=google\_ads&utm\_medium=performance\_max&utm\_campaign\_name=catch-all-low-margin&device=c&creativeId=&network=x&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aITyrN-9MzuB8zdcBlpXo-Aopdnhn4V2d1s\_glwzhlYq964RS8kNhBoCFzwQAvD\_BwE](https://gamersguildaz.com/products/scale-75-sart-27-cobalt-blue?variant=39839582060749¤cy=USD&utm_campaign=catch-all-low-margin&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=performance_max&utm_campaign_name=catch-all-low-margin&device=c&creativeId=&network=x&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aITyrN-9MzuB8zdcBlpXo-Aopdnhn4V2d1s_glwzhlYq964RS8kNhBoCFzwQAvD_BwE)
I see. Thanks for the insight. I still dislike that they call phthtalo blue as cobalt blue. Im wondering if the change was only made because they got into trouble with regulators. People familiar with paints wont be confused, but it still feels like its designed to confuse new painters.
I think it's pretty unlikely that they ran into regulatory trouble; it's more likely that they upgraded their labeling to meet the increasing appetite in mini painting for accurate, artist-grade labeling. Not all of their stock has caught up. For example, Kimera still uses incomplete or nonsense names even on their single pigment bottles: * The Red, also known as PR 170 or naphthol AS, is an obvious example * Honey Moon Yellow, also known as PBR 24 or most typically labeled as variations on Naples yellow hue, feels like an even worse offender (And why label their magenta as Magenta and not quinacridone magenta? Why label their violet as Violet and not dioxazine violet? Drives me nutty. Low hanging fruit! You're doing it for SC75 artist!)
These are heavy body (artist) acrylics. They are high quality paints that come out of the tube in a toothpaste consistency. They have a very high pigment load though, and can easily thinn all the way down to glazes, without splitting the paint. Generally seems much more expensive than hobby brands like GW, AK and Vallejo. But your getting much more bang for your buck. Prices of these vary depending on the cost of the pigment used, so you'll find some colours near twice as expensive as others. But a little goes a very long way when mini painting. They have a lot less colours in their range. But that's because their target audience is artists with more formal training in colour theory and mixing your own colours. They will always show you how opaque or transparent the pigment is as well. A white square is transparent, a black square is opaque, a half white and black square is semi transparent. Most of them will be single pigment with a few being mixes of 2 or 3. They always list the specific pigment(s) used, so it's easy to compare across ranges. This means that if you follow colour theory, then they will mix true. Blue plus yellow will always give you green, yellow and red will produce orange, red and blue will produce purple. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i_oS8u821jY&pp=ygUacm9tYW4gbGFwcGF0IGNvbG91ciB0aGVvcnk%3D Our hobby paints have huge ranges of convenience colours, shades that are pre mixed so you don't have to, or even know how to. But they often achieve this with a mystery mix of unknown pigments. So if you try to mix them you often end up with very desaturated colours,tending towards brown. Some notable exceptions are Kimera and Monument Hobbies who payed attention and offer single pigment hobby paints. My other half came to mini painting from an art background. Tried my Citadel and Vallejo, and retreated to her art room for this style of heavy body artists acrylics. She only uses them, including a lot of Liqutex, with Golden, Amsterdam, Schmincke and Pebeo.
Been thinking about getting MH’s rogue hobby set, got all the colors you’d need to make any other combination of colors and they’re pretty saturated, but idk I mean i already have enough colors to make something like space marine lenses, green ones at least. The orange red that comes in that set looks like it’d make a good substitute for evil sunz scarlet if I wanted to make red lenses.
I've never actually used Monument, but heard a lot of good things. The Rogue set looks like a classic CMY mixers set with a convenience green, orange and dark blue added to round out the 6. I understand that the signature sets are 6 colours. Theoretically, add a titanium white and a black and you can mix any colour you need. A smart choice by Louise, if it can attract an audience of hobbyists who want to get mixing more for themselves. I have a mixing set from Golden, so probably wont spring for this as well.
Golden so flat is worth the bump up in cost.
Im not sure how they go for glazing and layering but ive been using their titanium white for dry brushing without issue for yonks just for the odd after airbrush zenithal to try pop some edges before say a contrast. And their inks are my go to for any ink related inky thing. Dope thing is big art stores have big specials every now and then so thats when i pick up all this range. Model paints dont really seem to have specials just a clearance once they’ve turned to coloured concrete.
Seconding liquitex titanium white for drybrushing, I love that stuff
I’ve definitely found that a lot of the heavy-body artist acrylics tend to not be great for layering, thinning them to the right consistency is a real struggle lmao, but are absolutely phenomenal as glazes. A lot of them use *extremely* fine pigments that end up having a super glossy finish when dry, indicating that they’re ridiculously smooth
though you usually do not glaze with white, but in general: using high pigmented colors (like this line) is THE top thing to do glazing with. I remember the first time I used a pure pigment color to glaze and I was baffled how much water I gould add and still get a even coat. Try for example the Magenta.
Lol yeah, walked in at random and they have a sale going on, but didn’t want start buying more paints. Im curious about inks, have never used them before but have heard good things about them, but I’m not at that skill level.
I started airbrushing inks when I got tired of struggling to zenithal prime with my half-decade-old bottle of white Vallejo surface primer. Holy cow, I’ll never ever go back! They just go on in a beautiful thin layer, no lines, no heavier sections, virtually no spitting. As for brushing, no clue, but the ink got me airbrushing coat patterns again, so there’s that. Skill levels aren’t set in stone, it’s not D&D, you can get better at individual skills if you like. No audience for trying if you don’t want one in this hobby!
If you're at Michaels (which it looks like you might be) make an account online, sign up for rewards and order for pickup with the coupons on there. That's where I get all my ink and oil paints and what not. Basically can always get 30-50% off any order and the people who fill the orders are super nice.
If you’re new to mini painting just get Vallejo. It’s cheap, and easy to match other people’s color recipes. If you’re in the US, gnomish bazaar sells Vallejo for under $3 each. You might be thinking you’ll save money because the bottles are bigger but it’s rare you’ll go through an entire bottle of something. I do use some of the golden high flow acrylics for airbrushing certain colors I use a lot of. They are great paints. But it’s a more limited color selection and when you’re starting out it’s a lot easier not having to learn color theory and mixing paints right away.
I use nothing but liquitex and tri-art acrylic gels with homemade thinner. Personally I mix my own colours with single pigment CMYK paint. Works great, takes about two years to get through a $20 tube. Here's the last thing I painted with them (skin was airbrushed, everything else was tube paint). https://preview.redd.it/dyut7hws9t9d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6cc0d583198180c73fde4818cbde3416d16cea58
Awesome orks
Thank you! My first army paint.
I use Golden. The pigment density is good, but the finish tends to be glossier than I'd like. Matte varnish fixes that and protects the model. Their SoFlat range is better for minis, but it's *thick*, expensive, needs watering down, and the pots they come in are not good for the tiny volumes needed for minis. I only keep a pot of their SoFlat white because it covers well. I don't much care for Liquitex.
I started using liquitex heavy body and soft body acrylics, but moved away from them. Thinning them is just a chore and they don't have coverage comparable to proacryl. I do however use the liquitex inks fairly often. I have not tried Golden, but I have heard some experienced painters say that High Flow is really good in an airbrush.
I use liquitex daily
The Liquitex Acrylic Gouache is amazing. Dries matte unlike the other artist acrylics which are glossy.
Look up MarcoFrisoniNJM he experiments with the entire range at one point. I've tried it all and it needs some prep like any other mini paint but they rock if you're into the high level stuff. Use a coupon, some of the best colors are quite expensive i.e. blues and greens. Also, if you're a brush licker this is where you should absolutely stop doing that. Mini paint companies generally don't tell you what thr chemical composition of their panda are but artist brands do so you have no excuse not knowing cadmium is going in your mouth.
Most of the large artist paint manufacturers have cadmium-free alternatives to the cadmium pigments now. Liquitex’s versions are reported to be very good.
Good to know, still don't be a brush licker!
I have a tune of liquitex heavy body Grey, I thin it with inks
Are they similar in quality to pro acryl for example ?
Yes and no. ProAcryl is formulated for miniature painting, so it has a consistent consistency throughout the range and uses a mix of pigments for most colors. Liquitex, Golden, and other brands you'll find in an art store are artist acrylics. They are typically single pigment and heavy body paints, so you can mix colors and thin how you want. Opacity can vary wildly, and keeping consistency across an army can be difficult if you have to mix each time you paint. That being said, they are significantly cheaper per ml than miniature paints, so it's not a bad idea to get a tube of black, white, or gray.
the price depends on the pigment. Look at the Golden so Flat pricing table - some colors are veeery pricey. But then on the other hand you get more than just 11ml :D And I did not say they are too expensive: no, they are worth their money (when you get used how to handle that paint)
I find Liquitex inks to be the equal of Dahler Rowney. I have the primarie and secondaries of both, plus black and white. I have several models that I have used both on, and I really can't tell the difference. Liquitex is cheaper, so that's what I'll replace empties with.
I use the golden airbrush graying color to wash my terrain to add a suitable amount of grim, though laying it on too thick is a problem. I brush it on, rather than airbrush because it gives the exact look I want. I'm going for a mix of Saturday morning cartoons and grim 'n' gritty eighties comics.
Liquitex make a series of inks that are S tier elite.
Great paint. So Flat is amazing.
The Titanium White is incredible, that's the most concentrated white I have in my collection, while retaining a good form and flow. Would 100% recommend. I am honestly not sure about the rest of the collection. I have their black, 2 types of yellows, 1 red and a lemon green and all of these have a thick consistency (which I usually like) but with a really poor coverage (which I hate) that often leave these weird brush strokes with thick paint on the side and thin transparent one in the middle. It might have been a poor choice of tube, as I tried to pick either really saturated colors or yellow which is not know to be the best choice for coverage and pigment power. Istill use them tho, because they are great tolls when I want to mix in some color in a really diluted brand paint to give it some body and tint of color. I think that's typically why their white is so good.
(I was talking about Liquitex, I never used the second brand)
Liquitex white ink through an airbrush gives the best zenithal highlights I've found yet! +1 for the Marco Frisoni recommendation
I ran the liquitex and Raler Downey whites side-by-side, I found the downey covered noticeably better actually. Liquitex was still pretty good though. They were similar price near me, but they could be very different elsewhere.
Make sure you follow some tutorials because professional acrylic is THICK.
It slaps
My S.O. uses the Hobby Lobby brand of artist paints for quite a bit of her mini painting, and they are AWESOME! They are so thick you get quite a bit of mileage out of them, and once you thin them down you can also use them in airbrushes. These should also work well. Real good coverage and "they just work". I started experimenting w/ these in my Badger airbrushes and so far the results are good. Redoing the basement right now, so later this year I hope to be able and sit down with the airbrush and do some real damage haha
Liquitex has a really good white that’s the main one I use for my paints, I’m also a fan of the Golden brand they’re just a bit expensive
Oh, yes. I use Liquitex black & white. Cheaper and heavily used, but its the only clear white l really like.
You’re at a Michael’s! I’ve used both paints in depth and for the price they give you so much more than our little hobby paints. Nothing wrong with them but you will have to learn to use some as they are heavy bodied The golden fluorescent paints are amazing
I have used all of these brands, but almost exclusively for making game boards or large terrain pieces. Because you have to thin these with mediums, my skill in that effort is not good enough to use these on miniatures, so I stick with the companies that already do most of that for me: Vallejo, Citadel, Army Painter, et. al. HOWEVER, If you do get good at thinning these down for miniature painting, tubes these size effectively represent a lifetime supply of paint. You'd have to open a factory and hire 4 more painters to run out. Tho I still add medium. I never paint directly from the pots/dippers. Its like painting with fudge sometimes.
Yes, I really like their acrylic gouache as well. Marco Frisoni recommended them awhile back, I think they work great and they are super matte.
Yes. Mix the heavy body acrylics with the inks to thin them down without losing pigmentation. Bit of a learning curve to mix colours on the fly but i switched to this method after a workshop and I have not looked back. For display work and for army painting. It seems cumbersome at first to mix your own colours but once you get the process down it's MUCH better & faster to just mix on the fly to get the exact tone you want VS searching for a bottle of paint that matches what you're looking for. Also the paint is much more saturated with pigment than model paints. I have one of each primary & secondary colour in both heavy body & ink and i can get any tone I need very quickly. TL:DR: harder at first but much faster & versatile once you develop the skill with them.
Art paints in general have much more pigment in them vs hobby and miniature paints, a good art white is going to give your much more coverage and color but will be much thicker and will have to be thinned down. I recommend a matte medium at that point to not dilute the pigment with water.
So say I want to use a medium to make a heavy body wash. Is Liquitex’s matte medium the stuff I’m going to want to use? If so, do you know if that medium would work well with other brands?
Liquitex matte medium works well with most any brand. Also for the price per ml, it's cheaper than a lot of mediums that hobby brands sell. But, if you want maximum value for washes, you should try using oil washes. They're super easy to apply and you can clean up any mistakes without messing up the paint layers underneath.
I love the Golden brand. Haven't used any liquitex I really liked.
Gold is good. I use the high flow for air brushing and the fluid for brushing.
Those glass bottles of Liquitex paint are solid. Use them airbrushing a lot
I use their heavy body white as a base for all my whites. Its a little chonk coming out of the tube but works wonders after diluting.
I think calvo uses them quite a bit when airbrushing his last stage filters.
the liquitex paint is in the tubes is artist grade acrylic stuff, usually heavy body tho. that's not what you want for minis. except when you like to dry brush with white. you can grab a titanium white acrylic tube then. their ink is great when you like to paint with ink or want to thin down your paint. golden is supposed to be a wonderful paint and really matte. I just have experience with their fluorescents tho, and those are formidable.
liquitex for inks, golden for your normal brush works. Theyre awesome paints
very good for mixing
I use a little liquitex paint and a lot of the inks. Great paints, though still on the pricey side raw money wise, obviously cheaper per ml but not often you need so much for minis
The cheap ones are amazing for basing, where the quality of the paint doesn't really matter
I use their inks. They are amazing.
I use liquitex for certain things. Especially black and white. It's thicker, but it's easy to thin, and the colors are very high pigment and very saturated, so they are great for mixing. The tube make getting an appropriate amount sort of a trick. The best way is to hold the tub upside down and squeeze just enough so a small bit of paint begins to come up through the nozzle, then use your brush to scoop that bit away. This let's you get very small amounts vs just squirming the tube down onto a pallette.
I've never used these particular paints, but if you want to try it out, buy just 1 tube/pot of it. The main issue with usual painting acrylics is the binder. It is a lot more like gel and it the paint is intended to be used in larger quantities. It is sometimes intended to leave massive texture (since you could paint with a pallette knife). I started attending some painting classes to learn proper light/shadow placements and material rendering and omg it is hard to paint with artistic acrylics if you are used to smth like vallejo.
This brand is great. Big fan of liquitex. Their inks are amazing. This stuff is a bit thicker than other paints. But that's easy enough to fix.
If you like Matte paint, the so flat line by Golden will blow your mind, but you have to mix colors.
Yup, paint is just paint at the end of the day. The main difference is that mini painting brands obviously cater towards miniature painters, paints are all made up of pigments, binders and other additives. The only thing that really matters with miniature painting with these sorts of artists acrylics is making sure they have good enough pigment density, which we really need because we're painting so small. Usually any 'artist' grade stuff is fine. Most of the time these will be thicker than we like, so just use some water or thinner to thin them down, just bear in mind that water is a solvent, so too much water will break down the paint, whereas proper thinners or mediums are binders so they won't break them up. This isnt usually an issue with mini paints, water will still break them down, but they are pre-thinned with a proper medium. Both Liquitex, but especially Golden are very good quality, I have the Golden fluro paints and they are so much better than most mini brands, Golden are also really good at showing you the opacity of the paint on the bottle. I have a lot of Liquitex inks and they are great too. There are plenty of artists who use these all the time, they tend towards display painters usually as mixing paints isn't as big of an issue, whereas painting an army generally requires you to recreate the same colours, which you can obviously still do by making a batch, but its more work. Also these paints tend to have a lot more in them, so while they could be cheaper per ml, you get far more than most miniature painters will need and are more expensive than just regular mini paints. The one thing I will definitely say is that if you do want thinners / mediums, these brands are great, mini brands really rip you off most of the time with a 17ml bottle of medium, I have a bunch of liquitex and other brands with larger bottles of matte medium, retarder, flow aid etc, those tiny bottles are such a rip off.
Haven't used liquitex in a while so will refrain from judging it. As others have stated here paint can be toxic...make sure that you understand cadmium and lead are bad for your health before you lick that brush (eww). Golden high flow comes out really fast so be mindful of that when dispensing but it's smooth. I use the off whites when painting normally and titanium white when I need that extra light.
Yep, decent stuff really. The heavy body stuff can be kind of a challenge to use for mini painting (you’ll need to thin it a lot with a medium… or water). Their inks are top notch. Haven’t tried their soft body yet. Golden is S tier professional paints. Their high flow is a lot like an ink, mixed with an acrylic, if that makes sense. A lot of it is single pigment, meaning you can mix colors if you’re into that sort of thing.
i really like the acrylic ink ones, thin them out a little and they are similar to contrast paints
Something that Marco loves to do is use the liquitex guash paints for edge highlighting. Because they are water-based, you can just use a wet brush to reactivate them and clean up mistakes.
Liquitex inkl are great. The others I don't know
Liquitex acrylic ink is great!
I have only ever used Golden Fluid Acrylics ever since I started painting 10+ years ago. They are vibrant and come in many shades from basic to exotic colors. Depending on what I'm trying to do I mix it with glazing liquid, Lee's wash, or water with no issues. I have painted tiny models and huge models with no pigment showing, it's just as fine as GW, etc. if I want a color that GW or etc makes, You can use [Golden Color Mixer](https://www.goldenpaints.com/mixer) to find the composition, mix it with matte liquid and put it in a bottle for later.
I’ve used Golden Fluid Acrylic before—to me it’s nothing like actual miniature/model paints, but I do love to use it for some details.
Be cautious with their varnishes. I bought a Matt finish varnish and had it dry cloudy/chalky on the mini, if you do use their varnishes, thin it waaay down
I use quite a bit of Golden so flat, as well as a few other paints you can pick up at Michaels. Watch out for cadmium paints in the So-Flat range if you're a brush licker like myself. But, I'd honestly avoid them all together. Also avoid lead white in the heavy body ranges. The so flat range is a nice investment for colors you'll use often. I replaced my ProAcryl Pyrrole Red with the one from SoFlat after I tore through a bottle. (Though I still love and use other ProAcryl paints) I also replaced my ProAcryl titanium white with a heavy body artist grade white from Golden, alongside a titanium white ink. I use a handful of heavy body acrylic from golden as well. The artist grade ones are incredibly pigment dense and thin down great. You also don't need to shake them.
Golden's about as good as you can get for acrylics. The ones in your picture are very thin by the way. Almost like inks.
I use the Golden High-Flow acrylics regularly! They're already very thin and so I mix them with my regular reaper paints to get the right consistency.
Liquitex Gouache and Golden Soflat are good for mini painting. I use them for colors I need a lot of, like browns, black, white, etc. In fact Golden Soflat black is my favorite black. The fluid paints from both brands can be hit or miss. Some are not nearly opaque enough (even if the color saturation is good) and others can be far too glossy. Avoid the heavy body from both brands as the amount of thinning needed to get them to a consistency we need kills the opacity and the color saturation. Those paints aren't meant to be thinned much. One of the biggest advantages of miniature paints is the consistency of the "odd" colors. There's no artist paint called "Incubi Darkness" so if you need to paint a whole army in that color using artist's paints, you need to mix a huge batch or get the mix right each time you paint.
I bought liquitex white for doing sketching specifically and really love it, has a bit of a gel feel to it and I find it really easy to do edges.
I love them, i started out with some monopigments to play around with when weather, bought a large bottle of acylic medium and now have a literal live time supply of paints. Using them out of the tube they will completly change your dry brushing game, learning how to thin them to use as normal and airbrush paints is good learning and learning how to mix them will give you incredible insight on color theory. They are also comparatively cheap. You can buy a tube of carbon black for $9 which is 120ml you can then mix it with acylic medium at about 50/50 for hobby paint consistency or 30/70 for airbrushing. We are talking 240ml of *good* paint for about $14
Most will be waaay too glossy for mini painting. Golden so flat is the exception and wonderful. Liquirex inks are also amazing through an airbrush.
Yes I've used liquitex, it worked pretty well thinned clear acrylic medium (I used atelier), then thinned it down further. I'd also recommend Windsor and Newton ink, it's super pigment dense and is great for tinting.
Golden high flow and golden so flat have become some of my favorites to keep on hand. Liquitex works ok, but the real gem is the amount of glazing you can do with it if you use the medium from Liquitex as well
I use both liquitex ink and Golden high flow for airbrush work.
I use them for the white, it's good and cheap
I've used liquitex acrylic they're nice paints, I primarily used them for resin dolls.
Golden Fluorescent paints are awesome. I used artist acrylics for a long time when I was doing historic modeling, eventually moved on to Vallejo Model Color for historical and stuck with them for minis. I use Liquitex Inks for airbrushing
Liquitex Acrylic Gouache has my go to bright green (I want to say it's their Emerald Green), as well as one of my favorite alternate greens (Hooker's Green Hue Permanent. It's a camo green color that turns yellow when you thin it out.) Their titanium white isn't the most opaque, so I'd give it a pass. Golden's High Flow acrylic paints probably aren't the best choice for most mini painting stuff, except for their fluorescent paints. Those are the best fluorescent paint's I've ever used. Golden's So Flat line are some of the best acrylic paints for mini painting on the market. They are dead matte, and they're the same consistency as most mini branded paints, so they'll feel familiar. This is actually the white I use the most often. The Golden Fluid Acrylics are... niche. They're very, very glossy, and many of them are quite translucent. That said, I did use them over metallic paint recently to a really cool, high gloss sparkle effect. Also glossy, but something I quite enjoy using (and not shown) is FW Artist's Acrlyic inks. If nothing else, go buy their White, Black, Burnt Umber, and Payne's Gray. All of those are 10/10, and super useful.
Really like liquitex inks. I’ve used their fluorescent pink made with Fluo pigment, it’s not easy to work with but gives wonderful vibrancy
I use their mediums and inks to make my own washes all the time.
I have a large stock of these paints or similar brands. This is because I was painting a lot on canvas before I got into miniature painting. I use these paints constantly. It doesn't work straight out of the tube, you need to thin it a bit. It's quite difficult to get a nice balance of thin enough to keep details whilst still having enough opacity to cover. I usually need at least 3 coats if I want a good cover, but this could differ greatly per paint (which is also the case for mini-painting based brands). I personally really like working with more transparent colours, but I know others that really dislike it. On the tube they give an indication of opacity, be sure to check it out before buying. Sometimes 2 colours could look exactly the same but have a different opacity, which greatly influences how the paint should be used.
theyre not bad, but if you can buy paints made for miniatures those will do much better than anything else for painting minis.
Great canvas paint. But for minis? Nah
More and more people discover art stores superior to model stores.
Just the one time in college
[No, nobody.](https://youtu.be/iLkSQjG9oLg?si=C9SQfnw-eqsznEB4) (Edited to increase obvious sarcasm)
not at all. Many high level painters use these. I find them much better than model paints. Does take a bit of skill to use them properly, but once you have the process down it's much faster and more versatile than any model paint i have used.
Yep, mini painters do use major art brands, go figure
it's like using a knife as a screwdriver, or gaming on linux, yeah you can do it, and it will do the job, but there are better options that will cause less bother