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I have a dark secret that I must confess and I hope that I am not the only one our there. For the last decade I have not used traditional black or white hobby paints. Instead I have been using huge bottles of cheap Createx airbrush paints. It started innocently as just buying them for my airbrush but then I started to use them right out of the bottle because they were the perfect consistency without being to thick in the application. The black particularly can be watered down and it performs somewhere between a contrast paint and null oil. Anyone else do this?

Well now I'm going to need some pics.

If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid. And let's face it, saving money but still getting good results is NOT stupid.

Seems great as long as it doesn't interfere with any layering of more paint on top of it. That'd be my only concern, not knowing the makeup of the Createx paints.

Dude a technique is a technique. If it works for you keep doing it!

Here is a picture I had of the scene of the crime while I was painting some DA. Notice the Chappy looks glossy. This is the black airbrush paint.



And the finished 2k army to look at my lights and darks

Hahaha, oh I see. This is just an excuse to post some pics of lovely models!



Extra props for the classic Techmarine. I love that model.

Which Createx whites did you specifically use for those models in your pictures?

Insectum7, Almost 30 years in the hobby and I got some old models.

Here is a look at a larger black model. (a little dusty)



I do not paint much white on models, I end up using the airbrush paint mostly as an undercoat for detail on models I primed black but here is some white on a couple models that I recently painted.

I also have a dirty secret - I use cheap Apple Barrel black and white paint for the majority of my work as a commission painter for 40+ armies over years.

Looks great!

Otherwise - Les Bursley's meme-illegal black wash is 10/10 and I still have a paint can of it.

Yep

I was given an already ancient hex pot of skull white when I first started painting minis, over a decade ago. I've had to bring it back from flan-like consistency twice, but it's still kicking around. My other white is the Testors Aztek opaque white airbrush paint picked up on clearance from the craft store. My black is a small bottle of Golden fluid acrylic, carbon black. That stuff is so potently pigmented that, once thinned down, a 30ml bottle will last you for years of normal painting.

So, while I technically do own one, I've still never bought black or white paint from hobby brands. Granted, Testors is generally associated with models, but those Aztec paints were more for people decorating T-shirts using canned air and $15 plastic-bodied siphon guns, so I don't count it.

The paints I use

There is nothing wrong with using airbrush paints with a brush, or using artist paints rather than GW paints.

Price isn't necessarily an indication of paint quality. GW paints are ridiculously priced by volume, even compared with other paints made for miniature painting of comparable quality.
Vallejo isn't available everywhere, but they are a manufacturer and offer their product cheaper than GW. Others do as well: Instar, P3, Scale45, Mintaire, look around.

Keep in mind that acrylic paint may indeed be made to different purposes. That will influence pigment size, opacity, homogenity, viscosity and many more things that escape me.
Pigment size has to be reasonably small for airbrush. That isn't a disadvantage for brushwork.
Opacity will be indicated for artist paints, simliar to the GW obfuscation terms base, layer or even glaze paints.
Viscosity will be higher for airbrush paint, but like the OP I find that typically that will be convenient for airbrushing and makes the paint be pre-thinned for brushwork, rather than thinned with medium or water each time.

I've used artist inks, paint meant for lexan rc-bodies or more generally colored polyurethan primers instead of acrylic paint meant for miniatures.
Guess what - they work just fine if you adjust for their properties when using them off-purpose.

What I would stay clear of is cheap craft paint from the dollar store, since that paint will have properties wholly unsuited to miniature painting.

You use cheap air brush paints. Wow, that's a relief. When you said you had a dark secret, I thought you were going to say you liked T'au!

My dark secret is that because I live in Japan, its its only 150 yen a bottle, I use a lot of Tamiya acrylic paint. Its great on Eldar.

I wouldn't call Createx "cheap airbrush paint". Look online and on Youtube. Professional artists paint BMW's and Mercedes-Benz cars with Createx.

They are cheaper than HoK and other enamel or lacquer paints because they are acrylics. Acrylics are always cheaper than enamels.

Price per ounce vs Citadel just about everything is cheaper. I have the entire Createx Pearl and Flourescent and Wicked line and a few of their Candies. Createx are so nice to AB. Very little issue with tip dry and clogging.