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Hey guys. Like in the title, I'm looking for a white paint, but not really for making things white. 90% of the time It'll be used to lighten up a colour. I've looked around, but all I can see is people complaining about coverage.^^

I heard good things about:
- Liquitex Pro Acrylic Ink - Titanium White
- Vallejo Premium Color Paint - White
- Vallejo Game Color - Dead White
- Two Thin Coats - White Star
- The Army Painter - Matt White

They all seem solid, but again, everyone just talks about how well they cover. Which one would you say works best for mixing?

LAOK wrote:

- Liquitex Pro Acrylic Ink - Titanium White

I have only just discovered this weekend that this blinking stuff reactivates and flakes away if you try to brush a basecoat layer over it. Might work if you're mixing it with regular, properly waterproof acrylic and be gentle.

I think poorly covering white might work in your favour if you're using it for mixing, tinting strength won't be too high and inadvertently turn everything to pastels. Otherwise use a strong white but go carefully.

I can't comment on those other brands.

I use liquitex pro, and have been very pleased with the results. I have only used it to lighten colours for final light spots, and so can't comment on Vermis' experiences as haven't painted over it.

I wouldn't use it for coverage as it is an ink, and I think as it is white it is too chalky for glazes (it would need thinning further for this.) But if you just want to mix into existing colours, I have found that it works well.

Yes, that's my biggest concern with the Ink. I hear it's great through air brush, but needs to be sealed. I'm worried it may weaken the paint layers and that's just not worth the risk for me.

I'm kinda leaning towards the Vallejo paints, as they are the easiest to get and the cheapest, but I'm completely open to other brands as well. That's why I wanted to ask around first. Maybe there are some quirks to mixing paints over just using them straight on.

Peachy has been using Pro Acryl Bold Titanium White in some of his current tutorials. I've never used it myself so YMMV.

It depends what color you're mixing together.

If you're working with citadel lines, Pallid wych (has slight red tinge) mixes well with warmer tones while White scar mixes well with cooler tones albeit it's on a grainier side than one might like.

The key with mixing whites to bright up the color is that you really don't need that much white paint to do it. More often than not people mix it up at too high of a ratio of and ends up yielding color they didn't intend as the subtler pigments in the paints mix together and ends up accentuated, and then blames the paint for being "bad" for mixing.

You only want to add a brush tip's worth of white at a time until you achieve the tone you're going for.

Just use your normal white? I don't see why you'd need a specific seperate white for mixing. Alternatively get a deck tan or off white/ivory. Vallejo make the best paints in general in my opinion, so I'd go for those.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Just use your normal white? I don't see why you'd need a specific seperate white for mixing.

Unfortunate side effect of access to unlimited information, in particular claims of superiority of one product over another.

It's another one of those "buy a kolinsky sable in order to take your painting skills to the next level" claims.

On a recommendation from someone on YouTube (It may have been Uncle Atom, but I'm not sure) I got a tube of Winsor & Newton mixing white. There is another name for it, but essentially, it's more transparent than Titanium White, so it doesn't desaturate your color as much. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but in theory it seems like it should work

LordAriakan wrote:
On a recommendation from someone on YouTube (It may have been Uncle Atom, but I'm not sure) I got a tube of Winsor & Newton mixing white. There is another name for it, but essentially, it's more transparent than Titanium White, so it doesn't desaturate your color as much. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but in theory it seems like it should work

The general term for translucent white is Zinc White.

Titanium whites (and equivalents) generally makes the color more "pastel-y". Its general use is to increase coverage/pigment density for more translucent paints and for top most layer highlights.
Zinc white (and equivalents) are generally used to brighten up the tone without overpowering it. It's generally used to create gradual color shift.

yeah, I also saw one video about there being a diff with titanium white vs zinc white when it comes to mixing a lighter colour. However, I don't personally use white for lightening my colours so haven't looked into it (I like to mix in a lighter shade of the same colour instead of adding white, and don't do eavy metal "theatre makeup" edge highlights)