Liner consistency

[Madog Barfog 255]

I've used the brown liner a bit, and really like it. It reminds me of Vallejo Smoke, considered by myself and many others to be an especially useful color, but the liner is darker and seems thinner, yet more densely pigmented.

 

My question is, in a nutshell, would it be fairly accurate to consider liners a cross between ink and paint in terms of behavior, consistency, and coverage?

[All-Terrain Monkey 59]

Couple posts down on this page, look for Vaitalla's post.

[Ghaz 0]

Or to be more specific...

 

http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?...st&p=446274

[Vaitalla 812]

Or, for those who don't mind repeating themselves, with a bit more depth...because why say it in twenty words when I can use a couple hundred?

 

Our inks are dyes suspended in a clear acrylic lacquer base.

 

Our liners are pigments suspended in a black-tinted acrylic enamel base.

 

Dyes are fully-soluble (meaning that they will dissolve completely in a solution) and will often re-activate when moisture is added even to a dried product (thus the "bleed" effects when paint is applied over some inks). Pigments stay particulate in solution, though the particles ground by today's high-end machinery are too fine for the human eye to discern. This means no bleed, and since there are particles of various sizes involved it also means varying degrees of coverage.

 

Both acrylic lacquers and acrylic enamels are known for their toughness. Lacquer is usually seen as a sealer and enamel as a coating. Enamels are more fluid and transparent than most paint bases. Thus, the liners are more fluid than other paints (extra flow improver added to the mix further aids this). The innate translucency in the acrylic enamel base is what makes the liners great for shading/glazing/washing/underpainting.

 

--Anne, with paint chemistry on the brain today