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Hello,

As this is my second posting and it has been awhile since I posted my last one, i have since been looking around at different models and brands of paint; and more specifically Malifaux, and I have since bought The Guilds Judgement starter set. Upon looking at the cover and seeing so many different colours and paints that I would need, is it okay to to buy cheaper acrylic tubes instead of GW Citadel paints and army painter.

I have have been looking at Liquitex paints and their lines of thinners, I have also looked at vallejo but in terms of how much I want to spent its just to much money for so little paint in a dropper bottle.
I know that Liquitex is not a traditional miniature brand of paints, and I have read some articles saying that it can be very blotchy is not thinned correctly, because I have not used these paints and have used exclusively GW paints.

Are there any other brands that are decently priced and the reason I am moving away from GW paints in the first place is because they are expensive and you need to buy so many separate paints for different shades of the same colour and again it just adds up; and at least with a brand like Liquitex although expensive to buy their paints apparently last for years and years after opening without drying.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this

I have always used GW. yes they are expensive and its the big evil empire etc, but they are damn good paints and unless your painting game boards and scenery they last for years if you look after them. The vallejo paints have the leg up due to the dropper bottles but I never really got many of them. I'd steer clear of the tube acrylics tho and stick to the better known paints for miniatures to be honest.

Dont worry too much about getting heaps of paints just go for the primarys and some accent stuff for the start and mix the shades you need and expand later. In GW Id get a few from the base range of colors first, the layers are pretty much just thinned down tone changes to the bases anyway so you can mix for for a while to get highlights etc, get a few washes and some silvers/golds and you will be ok with most models.

No matter what you decide to go for, look up how to make a wet palette and get some liqutex flow aid and mediums and good brushes.

You don't have to use hobby paints. Artist paints will work, for the most part, just as well. I really like the pigment density of the Citadel base paint line, but I use a LOT of Jo Sonja artist acrylics. They're a tube paint.

I would personally avoid craft paints - especially the cheaper ones - as the quality seems to be... ungood.

Craft paints have a lower pigment density, and require multiple layers of paint to get an even coat. This is not a bad thing.

You use a black basecoat, then pick a color for your top highlight using craft paints. Thin it down to the proper consistency (it should flow like milk, just like any other acrylic) and paint the whole area. The black basecoat shows though, providing instant shadowing. Continue highlighting up through four or five layers, and each layer covers the highlights a little better, reducing the shadowing effect of the basecoat. By the time you cover the black completely, you're up to your top highlight.

Works out pretty well.

And why go through the bother? Craft paints are between $.80 and $1.40 for a two-ounce bottle... and you can get it for as little as $.50 if you catch a sale. So between $.70 and @.25 per ounce.

Compare that to half-ounce bottles of Hobby paint (like GW) for $3.50 - or between TEN and FOURTEEN TIMES the per ounce cost. Even if you wind up using twice as much paint (I don't), you're STILL spending a lot less on paint.

Which gives you more money to spend on quality brushes, which is what REALLY makes or breaks a paint job.

Both fine art and craft acrylics can work. I generally find hobby acrylics to work better and with less hassle, though, so I use them when able and would recommend that you do likewise, especially if you don't have much painting experience. Heavy body tube acrylics take a bit more manipulation to get to a workable consistency and many craft acrylics use coarse, sparse pigment in an inferior binder, making thinning problematic. The learning curve is made much steeper if you have to fight your paints. You might learn their quirks and the necessary workarounds quickly, of course - up to you whether you consider it worth trying.

I honestly wouldn't worry about cost per oz/ml too much (and this comes from someone with a shoestring hobby budget). Starting out, the major expenditure is in establishing variety in your paint collection, not volume. A little 28mm troop model really doesn't take all that much paint to finish - I've done dozens and dozens without completely using up a single GW pot or Vallejo bottle (although my most used colors are on their last legs).

When you shift from infantry models to large vehicles, terrain, etc. then it's worth thinking in terms of cost per volume instead of cost per color. For small projects, two hobby brand colors are better than one artist's color. For big projects, spending ~$10 will take you much farther when you spend it on two 4oz tubes (fewer colors, but 8oz total) than three or four 15-20ml pots (more colors, but only ~2oz total).

Thanks for your input guys, I still feel inclined to give liquitex acrylics a go though.

Thanks again.

If you wanted to use hobby paints, but cheaper and more long lasting than the Citadel ones, you could give Army Painter Warpaints a try. They don't cost that much, have nice dropper bottles, and doesn't seem to be worse than the Citadel ones.

ProtonHawk wrote:
Thanks for your input guys, I still feel inclined to give liquitex acrylics a go though.

Thanks again.

The Liquitex heavy body paints are very thick. They need to be mixed with acrylic medium which you buy as separate pots, otherwise you get a very smeary coat on a wargame figure. Heavy body is intended for application on to canvas using a palette knife or heavy brush, to build the kind of textural thick layers seen in some fine art paintings.

In effect, wargame type paints are premixed for ease of use.