What are your "go-to" paints?

[kanli]

I am always interested in learning what paints people find themselves using most often. I have to admit I am somewhat of a paint collector/junkie, having accumulated most of Reaper, P3 and GW's lines as well as many single colors and additives from various art manufacturers. However, the longer I've been painting, especially since moving to always using a wet palette, the more there are certain paints that I have either become very accustomed to or find to be superior colors for the effects I want to achieve. Of course I know a lot of it depends on what you're painting and your style, but I think most serious painters still have those standard colors they keep on coming back to. Just to name a few of mine off the top of my head:

 

REAPER:

Nightshade purple and midnight blue (dark, great for shading various hues)

Burgundy Wine (rich dark red/purple)

Ashen blue (nice desaturated blue)

 

P3:

Jack Bone (old bone/sand)

Menoth White Highlight (yellowish white)

Tie between Battledress green (grey olive green)and Ordic olive (warm olive green)

Cryx bane base (dark brown/grey/green)

Sanguine base (deep red/magenta)

Coal black (very dark turquoise)

 

GW:

Boltgun (ol' reliable, sure I'm not the only one)

 

I happen to find these paints to mix well together and are great for mixing rich shades and highlights. I, like most people here it seems, tend to avoid black. It's not so much that I don't find it to look "realistic", it just looks boring, even when highlighted. Perhaps, because black, reflecting very little light, leaves a "hole" in the composition of a miniature.

 

If you had to choose your favorite/most used paints and colors, what would they be?

[Froggy the Great]

Blue and Brown Liner, the Honed Steel triad, the Black/white triad, and the Stormy greys.

[Inarah]

Most used? Pure black, bone white, linen white, PP walnut, and two PP sample colors, maybe desert tan and some kind of light yellowy green. Tanned skin triad, dark shadow, ritterlich blue, brown liner and the ocean colors tried.

 

Favorite? PP pearl white.

[72moonglum]

I think I'd be lost without Reaper's Walnut Brown. A lot of my shading, lining, eyes, and darkening colors gets a dose of this color.

[Hot Lead]

Reaper:

+1 Ashen Blue (my go to for NMM steel and many other neutral blue concoctions)

 

Blackened Brown (which is really just a copy of Vallejo SS Camo Black - shhhhhh.....)

 

Bone Triad (Polished, Aged and Shadow) - awesome for neutralizing other colors or by themselves.

 

Buckskin Pale & Palomino Gold (NMM natch)

 

Dusky skin triad (a neutral purple useful for shading other cool colors and black)

 

Snow Shadow (off-white cool bluish-grey)

 

I don't use much more than Reaper nowadays but my "absolutely need it" red is Adikolor Martyr Red. (Itself a carbon-copy of Ral Partha Royal Red Satin.)

[Darkmeer]

Primer:

2:1 Vallejo White Primer to RMS Black primer (it's an awesome light-medium gray).

 

Paints:

Vallejo Charred Brown. It's the base of almost all of my reds and greens.

[Jubilee]

Dusky Skin & ashen brown

Blue Liner

Burgundy Wine

Bones & Ivorys

Khaki Highlight

dark elf skin

 

Sanguine Base

Coal Black (I wish it wouldn't separate so much)

[Vaitalla]

Blue and Brown Liner

Russet Brown and Driftwood Brown

Stained Ivory and Creamy Ivory

Snow Shadow

Tanned Skin

Redstone Highlight

HD Crimson Red and Brilliant Red

HD Mustard Yellow and Pale Saffron

Shadow Green, Ashen Blue, and Royal Purple

 

--Anne

[Ddot]

My top 5

1. Smoky Ink (VGC): so many good uses and a little goes a long way. Leather. Oily metal. Smoke and heat build-up. Hair (redheads and dirty blondes). It's almost never a part of the primary colors, but it adds so many touches it's impossible not to use.

2. Skorne Red (P3), Bloody Red triad (RMS): I love me some deep reds. Can't say I done them perfect (yet), but I do love them.

3. Beaten Purple (P3): Quite possibly the most perfect shade of violet ever. Rich yet vibrant. Becoming even more "go-to" as a primary color in my Journeyman Cryx force.

4. Walnut Brown (RMS): I concur that it singularly useful for so many detailing procedures where Smoky Ink just isn'tt the right tool.

5. Ghost White and Linen White (RMS): I throw them in the category of go-to highlighting tools, as most of what I've done so far is dark. GhW for cool colors and LiW for warm colors. On their own they are super cool colors to boot, but I do so little white, they mosyly serve as a highlighting tool.