Tube Acrylics

[Kheprera]

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

[Pingo]

If you are painting with oils, the cobalt colors are naturally fast driers, no added cobalt drier necessary.

 

Burnt Umber is also a remarkably fast drier in oils.

 

In oils the cadmiums dry *super* slow.

 

I would not thin oil paints with oils for several reasons. The major ones are that any added oil will drastically slow the drying time and will make the paint more transparent and vastly more prone to yellowing / going brown over time.

[Guildenstern]

This whole thread has made me very curious now about the difference between the acrylic paints we use, for instance, and that used by artists for pictures and such. My mom used to paint, a gene that obviously skipped me, as did her parents, and they always used oils.

 

Materials science is really a cool field. I have to wonder at the work that no doubt goes into making a line of paints, for use in miniatures.

 

It sounds like most traditional artists have to know not only colour theory and how to paint (technically) but a lot about chemistry or at least the composition of their paints as well!

 

Anyway, slightly! back on topic - someone on another forum I read was commenting and asking about the new* oils (for miniatures) that are water soluble. Has any one here tried those? I don't know that there is even any in my area, but I'm very curious if any have experience with them?

 

*new being relative, I believe it's only been in the last like 5 years

[Pingo]

It sounds like most traditional artists have to know not only colour theory and how to paint (technically) but a lot about chemistry or at least the composition of their paints as well!

It would be a good thing. It's really helpful to know and it's something I've always been interested in. But most artists aren't all that well versed in the underlying materials science.

 

Anyway, slightly! back on topic - someone on another forum I read was commenting and asking about the new* oils (for miniatures) that are water soluble. Has any one here tried those? I don't know that there is even any in my area, but I'm very curious if any have experience with them?

 

*new being relative, I believe it's only been in the last like 5 years

It's been longer than that. Commercially available water-miscible oil paints were around when I went to art school more than twenty years ago.

 

If the oil in oil paint is emulsified it can be thinned with water. In materials classes we made our own out of linseed oil and egg yolks -- basically mayonnaise paint.

[Kheprera]

It's been longer than that. Commercially available water-miscible oil paints were around when I went to art school more than twenty years ago.

 

If the oil in oil paint is emulsified it can be thinned with water. In materials classes we made our own out of linseed oil and egg yolks -- basically mayonnaise paint.

But... don't lick your brushes!!!

Edited May 15, 2016 by Kheprera

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

What are you planning to do with the white? Titanium white is opaque; it works very well as a base coat or covering underlying colors, but it overpowers other colors it is mixed with, making them look pastel and a bit gritty. Mixing white is transparent; it covers horribly, but will lighten other colors while keeping them vibrant. It's also good in washes and glazes.

[Pingo]

 

It's been longer than that. Commercially available water-miscible oil paints were around when I went to art school more than twenty years ago.

 

If the oil in oil paint is emulsified it can be thinned with water. In materials classes we made our own out of linseed oil and egg yolks -- basically mayonnaise paint.

But... don't lick your brushes!!!

 

Believe me, there was no temptation whatsoever to get one's mouth anywhere near that paint. 

[Guildenstern]

 

It sounds like most traditional artists have to know not only colour theory and how to paint (technically) but a lot about chemistry or at least the composition of their paints as well!

It would be a good thing. It's really helpful to know and it's something I've always been interested in. But most artists aren't all that well versed in the underlying materials science.

 

Anyway, slightly! back on topic - someone on another forum I read was commenting and asking about the new* oils (for miniatures) that are water soluble. Has any one here tried those? I don't know that there is even any in my area, but I'm very curious if any have experience with them?

 

*new being relative, I believe it's only been in the last like 5 years

It's been longer than that. Commercially available water-miscible oil paints were around when I went to art school more than twenty years ago.

 

If the oil in oil paint is emulsified it can be thinned with water. In materials classes we made our own out of linseed oil and egg yolks -- basically mayonnaise paint.

 

My #2 son really likes this ^^ :D thanks for the information this is really cool

[Pingo]

What are you planning to do with the white? Titanium white is opaque; it works very well as a base coat or covering underlying colors, but it overpowers other colors it is mixed with, making them look pastel and a bit gritty. Mixing white is transparent; it covers horribly, but will lighten other colors while keeping them vibrant. It's also good in washes and glazes.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Mixing White".  By the sound of it it is probably a Zinc White.

 

I only know of one company that ever made Zinc White in acrylics, and it drove me crazy.  Acrylics are naturally more transparent than oil paints, and Zinc White is an especially transparent pigment.  It may not overwhelm colors as much as the much stronger, more opaque Titanium White, but you will need to add a ton of it to mixes.

 

In oil paints Zinc White is no longer recommended because it has catastrophic long-term problems, including severe cracking, brittleness, and delamination of paint films.

[Kheprera]

I saw a "mixing white" in the paints, but am very unfamiliar with it's applications. I'd never heard of it before among my painting family.

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

 

What are you planning to do with the white? Titanium white is opaque; it works very well as a base coat or covering underlying colors, but it overpowers other colors it is mixed with, making them look pastel and a bit gritty. Mixing white is transparent; it covers horribly, but will lighten other colors while keeping them vibrant. It's also good in washes and glazes.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "Mixing White".  By the sound of it it is probably a Zinc White.

 

I only know of one company that ever made Zinc White in acrylics, and it drove me crazy.  Acrylics are naturally more transparent than oil paints, and Zinc White is an especially transparent pigment.  It may not overwhelm colors as much as the much stronger, more opaque Titanium White, but you will need to add a ton of it to mixes.

 

In oil paints Zinc White is no longer recommended because it has catastrophic long-term problems, including severe cracking, brittleness, and delamination of paint films.

Pingo! You made me run to my paint box, to be sure I wasn't crazy! Liquitex does make a Heavy Body Transparent Mixing White, but like you suspected, it is a Zinc White.

 

I also just searched for the long-term problems of Zinc White, and they're documented, but the research is only on oil paints -- I couldn't find anything on acrylics -- and discovered that you might not escape the use of Zinc White anyway, as some manufacturers use small amounts as an additive in the lighter shades of their colors and even in Titanium White to brighten it.

 

But thinking about it, I will retract suggesting using Mixing White for now -- save it for experimenting with later.

[Kangaroorex]

 

I am looking for a translucent dark red I can add the iridescent effects to for a sheen I can place over scales. I had a very lovely one that was an enamel for car/train hobby painting, but really don't want to work with enamels.

 

Is there a better brand you prefer? Liquitex and W&N are what I'm most familiar with.

 

Have you tried any of the Tamiya transparent paints? The reds and oranges are really nice, and easy to work with.

 

 

To each their own.  I love the smell of these paints, though its probably no good for me.  the colors can be used with an almost magical quality.  shiny and transparent, they make wonderful easy small gems, windshields and glass, mysterious liquids in glass bottles, etc.  I really love these, but a single bottle will last forever.

 

And red is a wonderful fresh blood, blue and yellow make great alien goo, and overlaying the gray over another color makes it look like color in a bottle.

[Pingo]

 

 

I am looking for a translucent dark red I can add the iridescent effects to for a sheen I can place over scales. I had a very lovely one that was an enamel for car/train hobby painting, but really don't want to work with enamels.

Is there a better brand you prefer? Liquitex and W&N are what I'm most familiar with.

 

 

Have you tried any of the Tamiya transparent paints? The reds and oranges are really nice, and easy to work with.

 

To each their own.  I love the smell of these paints, though its probably no good for me.  the colors can be used with an almost magical quality.  shiny and transparent, they make wonderful easy small gems, windshields and glass, mysterious liquids in glass bottles, etc.  I really love these, but a single bottle will last forever.

 

And red is a wonderful fresh blood, blue and yellow make great alien goo, and overlaying the gray over another color makes it look like color in a bottle.

If they are "flammable" they are not water-based acrylics.

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

Tamiya's paints are an acrylic lacquer, its thinner is (to the best of my knowledge) isopropyl alcohol with some acrylic flow aid and retarder. (If you look around online, you can find home-made Tamiya thinner formulas.) As with any reactive thinner, use in a well ventilated area.

 

I remember quite some time ago purchasing my first bottle of Tamiya X-20 thinner at my local hobby shop. I brought it to the counter and the shop employee looked at it and said: "Let me save you some money. Open the bottle and smell it."

 

A little unsure, I did what he said. He said: "Remind you of anything? Smells a lot like rubbing alcohol, doesn't it? I use that as a thinner all the time and it's a lot cheaper."

 

I showed my appreciation by using the money I saved to purchase more colors.

[CashWiley]

Pingo, if you wouldn't thin oils with oil, what do you use?

 

I'm not very good (read: zero knowledge) on getting good oil consistency, my portrait is almost entirely straight tube oils. But wouldn't the last layers be thinned with some oil to preserve fat over lean? Wouldn't turps start to lift layers after a while?

 

I'm such a newb, so much to learn. The portrait still has some surface oil sitting on it, a sheen where I last oiled it (and wiped it down) but didn't work any paint.