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Author Topic: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics  (Read 2437 times)

Offline HerbyF

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #15 on: March 13, 2018, 02:15:05 AM »
I use craft acrylics. I do have a few old Ral Partha paints. Most of my craft acrylics cover just fine. Although some of the store brand ones are a little thin & don't cover as well. Cermacoat, Folklife, and Applebarrel have worked relly well for me. Sometimes Cermacoat is a little thick. A few drops of rubbing alchol or water usually does the trick.
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Offline casual tea

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2018, 03:42:28 AM »
However, back in the day, I used to use Maimeri gouache acrylics for figure painting.

Interesting option I hadn't considered! Gouache is not actually an acrylic, though. It uses gum arabic as a binder and can be re-wet like a watercolor. Do you seal your figures with a varnish?

I have a dropper bottle with a mix of water (80%) and flow improver (20%). each time I use GW type pots, before closing the jar, I add in two drops of my mix and shake, it keeps the content really mobile. Every now and then, I go through all the Vallejo bottles and do the same.


I am also a big fan of flow improver. I use a dropper with a ratio of 10:1 water to flow improver and mix it on the palette. Most of my GW paints dried up in their pots long ago before I discovered this additive, sadly.

Offline Fitz

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2018, 04:24:40 AM »
Interesting option I hadn't considered! Gouache is not actually an acrylic, though. It uses gum arabic as a binder and can be re-wet like a watercolor. Do you seal your figures with a varnish?

Gouache is just a term for an opaque, rather than transparent, type of watercolour paint, also known as body colour. If the binder is gum arabic (the traditional binder) then it's not an acrylic and can be reactivated with water. If the binder is acrylic then it's acrylic, but it's still gouache if it's used in the manner of gouache.

I do tend to seal it in any case, if the figures are going to be handled much, but mainly because the surface is very, very matte and tends to pick up finger oils easily.

Offline FifteensAway

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2018, 04:31:05 AM »
Another happy craft paint user - who gets to spend more on minis as result!.  lol  They've always performed fine for me and my needs.  I suppose those seeking 'artistic' level jobs might not like them.  Like any material, there is a curve to learning to make the best of the medium, like learning how to do a wash or dry brushing with any paint.

One thing - and some more artistically inclined person might be able to identify the colors - but I understood some years ago that certain traditional artists colors were on the verge of running out because the inorganic sources were being exhausted.  Might want to keep that in mind, especially if embarking on a large project.

Craft paint = seventy-five cents US for 2 ounces, hobby paint 3.79 US for a 1/4 ounce, work out the math.  Yes, the craft paint has to be on sale but that happens a lot in my neighborhood  (Western US)  My craft paint lasts in the bottle for years as long as I clean it properly before sealing.  Very, very few hobby paints have ever done that for me.  And I absolutely loath those eye-dropper style bottles.  And the color array of craft paints is VAST and what is missing is easy to mix with a little color theory - but I rarely need to do so with so much choice.

A neat trick I use is an inverted plastic cup (individual apple sauce servings, jello pudding, fruit cups) have little wells that I drop paint into and work away - easy to clean up later, too.  They also bring the paint up a little higher so the brush is closer to the miniature(s) being worked on.  For a wash, turn over a cup and mix away.

Offline casual tea

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #19 on: March 13, 2018, 07:42:34 AM »
Gouache is just a term for an opaque, rather than transparent, type of watercolour paint, also known as body colour. If the binder is gum arabic (the traditional binder) then it's not an acrylic and can be reactivated with water. If the binder is acrylic then it's acrylic, but it's still gouache if it's used in the manner of gouache.

I do tend to seal it in any case, if the figures are going to be handled much, but mainly because the surface is very, very matte and tends to pick up finger oils easily.

I see. Those sound like a great option for miniature painting, then!

Offline Hammers

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #20 on: March 18, 2018, 09:01:11 AM »
Gouache is just a term for an opaque, rather than transparent, type of watercolour paint, also known as body colour. If the binder is gum arabic (the traditional binder) then it's not an acrylic and can be reactivated with water. If the binder is acrylic then it's acrylic, but it's still gouache if it's used in the manner of gouache.

I do tend to seal it in any case, if the figures are going to be handled much, but mainly because the surface is very, very matte and tends to pick up finger oils easily.

Fitz, gouache is indeed nicely matt. I have never used it on models an minis, eventhough I now remember reading the great Shephard Payne using it on his 1/35s in his poorer student days (I used to slavishly follow his advice). But I suppose that desirable guache quality advantage to a ordinary is rather rather diminished after a coat of varnish. So do you use gouache only with display objects?

Offline Fitz

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #21 on: March 18, 2018, 09:57:32 PM »
Fitz, gouache is indeed nicely matt. I have never used it on models an minis, eventhough I now remember reading the great Shephard Payne using it on his 1/35s in his poorer student days (I used to slavishly follow his advice). But I suppose that desirable guache quality advantage to a ordinary is rather rather diminished after a coat of varnish. So do you use gouache only with display objects?

I use it these days mainly for colours that I don't have, or can't easily mix from my collection of Vallejo acrylics. Back in the distant past, when I was doing mediaeval wargaming, I used to use it for everything except the metallics. I varnished them then with Humbrol Matte, brushed on. These days I use acrylic matte varnish, usually airbrushed on.


« Last Edit: March 19, 2018, 11:04:51 PM by Fitz »

Offline eilif

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Re: Difference and benefits of artists acrylics/hobby acrylics
« Reply #22 on: March 29, 2018, 11:51:11 PM »
Just wanted to add my 2 cents. 
It has been my observation that...

1) If you're only painting to a tabletop standard (dipping, or simple one highlight and a wash, etc) craft paints are all you will ever need.

2) If you're painting to a high standard then can definitely benefit from finely pigmented, smoother application paints,  whether you get there via hobby paints or high-quality artists acrylics and aditives (flow aid, etc) is up to you, both will work well.

3) There are some folks who get very good results with cheap craft paints.  Here's a friend of mine who uses Americana craft paints almost exclusively http://mdarrow.blogspot.com  He does have a style that works well with craft paint, but his results are excellent.

I'm a tabletop-painter-dipper and while I have some hobby paints (usually gotten in cheap lots, samples or 20 year old pots I've had since I was a kid) I mostly use Craft paints.  I've found Ceramcoat to be my favorite, but I'm not too picky.  After the dip goes on any nuance that fancy paints would have given me is gone anyway, so I'm not about to waste my $ on paint that costs 8 times more.