Preferred paint companies/brand?

[iamthefly]

Hi,

My GW paints are getting a little old and having to learn a bunch of new names seems like a good enough push to switch companies and try some other paint producers. I have a few Vallejo air for my air brush which is fantastic for vehicles, but I haven't tried their brush paints and i also have a P3 white which I preferred to the GW Skull white. I don't want to spend a fortune, but will stretch for quality if they won't dry up too quick.

I hate the GW bottles.

Please also recommend brushes if you can. I don't mind the GW brushes, but mine are done. i bought some brandless kolinsky sabel brushes from ebay, the dealer swore they were from the same manufacturer as some quality brand, just without the branding. they are small to very small, seem decent enough, but have a very long center tuft/hair which is kind of annoying as the main bulk of liquid is a bit behind the tip of the brush.

Thanks

[*Jack*]

I use vallejo game colour. Great paint, pretty much 1-1 with the old citadel range, so you should be good at deciding what colour does what. They come in dropper bottles, which are fantastic, and maelstrom has them for £1.50 a pot. That's for 18ml, citadel are 12ml.

I sometimes use vallejo model colour, and the panzer series for historicals. I'm not going to say avoid these, pick them up if you really want that colour, but I can't see them being a good all round range to use on our type of miniatures.

The army painter has a new range out called "warpaints" these come in the same bottles as vallejo, are pretty cheap, and they have 3 inks, one is basically devlan mud, one badab black, and I'm not sure of the third

Pick up one of these bottles next time you order something I try it, see how it feels for you. I cannot recommend it enough having made the switch from citadel to vallejo about 4 months ago.

As for brushes, buy yourself a new one if you're trying out a new paint range, and for gods sake, take care of it It's only your money you're wasting if you trash it, or worse, use an old brush to paint models :L

I use kolinsky sable, windsor and newton series 7. They're not cheap, but not hella-expensive either (about £5-7 each). I'm not an amazing painter, but for me, they last much longer than a normal citadel, or other companies one. They have a lovely point, and hold paint especially well. Recommended.

Citadel arent bad, but they can lose their point. Atleast, however, they're cheap. detail brush is about £2.50 I think, so its worth having one just in case.

I also think the army painter have brushes now, but I have yet to try them.

Good luck, Really hope you find a brand you like

[osoi]

I really like Vallejo model color and the Privateer Press P3 range of paints, I am changing over my GW paints as I use them up for these except for some foundations which are handy and the GW washes.

[Jishin]

Haven't used Vallejo in a while, so I don't know if they've reformulated, but I honestly didn't like the amount of effort I had to put in to get the paint to properly mix in the bottle. It wasn't a shake-shake-shake-paint proposition, it was a shake-for-a-minute-then-maybe-paint proposition.

I recently tried some Reaper paints, but they seem designed to do lots of very thin layers, and don't drybrush worth beans. Their washes are super-glossy and make any drybrushing over them even harder because the paint doesn't want to stick. Also, their bottles clog like mad. Annoying.

Floquil/Polly S has a very nice line of paints, but the colors are extremely limited unless you want to use enamels. I don't like the stink or the cleanup for enamels, personally, but the few acrylics they've got left are quite nice -- coat smoothly, thin out for washes well.

Honestly, the new Citadel line has been pretty good so far. I agree with you that I hate the bottles, but the paints themselves cover quickly and smoothly, and drybrush well. I especially like the new Citadel washes. Most of the paints I've been able to get my hands on recently have been junk for washes.

Also, if you're looking for inexpensive, I've had mixed-but-mostly-good luck with Apple Barrel and Americana paints, which you can find at Michael's. Americana paints in particular have the softer, more muddy look that Malifaux seems to want. Washes with these are a mixed bag, though -- sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and you won't know until you try. The price point is terrific, though -- you get a lot of paint for very little money.

[dunce002917]

I use the Formula P3 paint collection. Great coverage and dries relatively fast but gives you enough time to mix and correct your colors.

Pots are great except the lids tend to fall apart.

[Q'iq'el]

Haven't used Vallejo in a while, so I don't know if they've reformulated, but I honestly didn't like the amount of effort I had to put in to get the paint to properly mix in the bottle. It wasn't a shake-shake-shake-paint proposition, it was a shake-for-a-minute-then-maybe-paint proposition.

Just mix them with a stick. The are also small paint shakers, but I think buying one is a bit much.

Vallejos are a bit harder to mix due to the bottle size & shape (even with a stick), but I don't think they separates more than GW paints. I always had to give my old Citadel paints a very good mix before I could use them.

Also Vallejo uses liquid pigment, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know what other companies do that (Citadel old paints didn't, as far as I know, but I don't know about the new line). The liquid pigments, allegedly, are much better to work with - colors mix better, when you dilute them they hold the water better and they mix with other colors better. This is particularly noticeable with Vallejo's "Heavy" line - you can dilute them with water and they still don't separate, while Citadel's Foundation colors separate even undiluted.

And it may be me improving with my painting technique at the same time I switched to Vallejo, but my brushes last much much longer now. The paint seems to be much easier to wash off the bristle.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Q'iq'el

[johntoenjes]

I use P3 paints. Only real exception is Devlan Mud (magic in a bottle) or I'll pick up an equivalent Vallejo color if my FLGS is out of the P3 one.

[Subötai]

Reaper Master Series.

[Wyrdpainting]

brush kolinsky sable, windsor and newton series 7, vallejo game colour,reaper paints

[Pierowmaniac]

I made the change from GW to Vallejo a while back and must say so far Ive been very impressed with botht the quality, ease of use and price. I can't recommend them enough

As for brushes I always try and buy Windsor and Newton sable. I think with brushes you certainly get what you pay for apart from GW which should be at least half the price what they are (sorry I'm seeming to bash GW again, but seriously Ive never liked the quality of thier brushes). The more I spend the longer they last as far as brushes go.

[von Clausewitz]

I use Vallejo Game Color, Model Color and Panzer Aces series of paints. I have found that you can thin them down to 5-6 parts water to 1 part paint without the pigment separating from the medium, which is very nice if you use glazes. I use a few of the citadel washes and the new line seems to be just as good as the old one. As for a brush, a Kolinsky sable size 1 (it will have the same tip size as a size 0, but with a bigger belly) will cost you around $15. As you may have read, most people use the Winsor and Newton 7 series, but Raphael makes a good one as well. If you do get a nice brush be sure to get some brush cleaner as a kolinsky sable brush that is properly cared for will last a very long time.

[dgraz]

As for a brush, a Kolinsky sable size 1 (it will have the same tip size as a size 0, but with a bigger belly) will cost you around $15.

Where are you buying your brushes? Order on-line....a place like Dick Blick......for half that.

[Mister Monkey]

I too used to use GW but took the opportunity of loosing all the colours I know to shop around ... as such my first lot of Coat d'arms paints arrived this week, while I have only used a couple of them so far the outlook looks good for them

Brushes I use Windsor and Newton Series 7 and find them fantastic

[Dustcrusher]

To the OP- I'll just leave this here...

http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?29924-What-Paint(s)-do-you-use-2012-Edition

Only real exception is Devlan Mud (magic in a bottle)

http://taleofpainters.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-army-painter-warpaint-inks.html

Stahly's Tale of Painters tested Army Painter Warpaint Inks and said they are a near-perfect match for Badab Black, Devlan Mud, and Gryphonne Sepia. This is good if the blogosphere is to be believed and the replacement for Devlan Mud simply isn't as good.

Vallejo is best mixed not by shaking, but by "starting a fire," as I like to call it. Hold the paint between your palms and move your hands back and forth like you'd do starting a fire with sticks in the wild. I've been happy with mine even though mixing like that is a bit hard to get used to. I've not had problems with clogged bottles- on occasion I have to take a clean paper clip and poke the top, or wipe it off with a paper towel, but that's easier that pulling out dried gunk from a flip-top pot.

Polly S is gone according to my LGS owner- stock up if you have a source and like them.

If you want something between Apple Barrel and gaming paints, Liquitex Soft Body 2 oz jars are a good choice, though they have to be thinned with water. The only downside is that they are priced realistically according to cost to make, rather than having the cost spread across the range, so some colors (certain reds and blues) might be more expensive than others. Still much cheaper than any gaming paint line. Sadly, Michael's is discontinuing their stock, so I'd check dickblick.com.

[Vonvilkee]

I recently decided to, for the first time, own an entire paint range and got the war paints mega paint set. I am super happy with my choice. The paints for me fall between gw foundations (old) & their old basic paints. Color range is good price was great also came with a selection of their brushes handy little bit.

The warpaint Metallics are wonderful, I used to feel spoiled on the gws like I wouldn't find any better, but I am surprised at how solid and good they are.

While I like the army painter brushes for me nothing beats the p3 studio work brush. Local shop owner swears by them and one he finally had stock I got one, best purchase of a brush I've personally ever made.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Vonvilkee
grammar

[Huang Da Wei]

Any Vallejo paints and Kolinsky brushes for me

[Evilbleachman]

I tend to purchase paints in the color ranges that I want. Sometimes one company or another will have a certain color more appealing to my desires than a similar one from another firm.

I have mixed paints from Citadel (Games Workshop), Game Color and Vallejo. I have begun to prefer Vallejo paints or generally one in tubes, as you can portion them better for mixing up colors. This helps when making color recipes, as you have drops to go by and not what is stuck on your brush after dipping.

I can, however, recommend the new Citadel 'Dry' paints. It is actually pretty nice to use. I prefer using the bone color (forgot its name, lol) over dry brushing with bleached bone.

As to brushes, I use Da Vinci red sable brushes. These are nice and actually pretty high quality. At least from what I can judge as a casual painter. I had some of the Citadel brushes and the synthetics suck arse compared to the Vincis.

[Guild Monkee]

I've been making the transition from GW paints to Vallejo and am happy with the change (with a few P3 paints mixed in too). So far the only exception has been Devlan Mud but I've just got the new version of it and it's nowhere near as good. I'm swaying more towards Vallejo inks and mixing my own washes now.

For brushes I go for Kalinsky Sable for the standard brushes and a mixture of P3 and Army Painter for drybrushes.

[Viruk]

Some interesting points here, I enjoyed reading the discussion so far.

Personally, I tend to use many different types of paints (as you can see in a pic of my workspace below).

Using paints from different ranges has become a kind of hobby on its own for me I started a couple of years ago with Citadel paints and loved them. Before that I used only enamel paints that required a thinner to clean the brushes, making the whole process more difficult. So, understandably, using paints that can be mixed with water was a welcome change.

After a while I bought a couple of Vallejo paints. They have much better bottles and are mostly a good match for Citadel paints. I've had some problems with certain colors, where the pigment separated too easily and they required a lot of shaking before they could be actually used but overall, I like this range.

I also used Reaper paints and while these pots are a tad smaller, the quality of the paint, its consistency and coverage is very good too. Reaper has this nice idea of organizing its range of paints into triads, meaning you can buy three different shades of the same color that are designed to work together. And they actually do, you can get excellent results simply by using a three-step highlight system when you work with these. The other thing I like about the Reaper paints is that they actually have a small piece of metal inside them which helps a lot when you shake the paint before working with it. And once you've finished the paint, you can open it a get a nice looking metal skull

After that, I tried some P3 paints and while I love their consistency (they're a bit thinner than other paints I use) and excellent coverage, I don't care much for the pots they're packed in. They're hard to open and after a longer while the lids tend to get broken and fall apart. Still, I use some of these colors and I think they're probably the best for layering.

Another paint range I like a lot are Andrea paints. They come in boxes of 6 dropper bottles. They're a bit thicker than the other paints I use but they're unique in the design. They're sold in specific color sets. My favorites so far are black, gold, red and skin sets. When you buy a set you get six shades of a given color and a small leaflet with instructions on how to work with highlights and add shades. These paints are fantastic for working on individual models if you really want to get smooth highlights without needing to mix the paints. They work well with batch painting too. I love this range and would recommend it to everyone.

Still, if I was to start the hobby or if I had fewer paints and looked for substitutes, I'd definitely pick the Amry Painter set. So far I've bought only the metallics, washes and a few random colors. The metallics are probably the best I've worked with, thinner than Citadels with equally good coverage. The dropper bottles are a much better solution (especially when it comes to washes).

[Dustcrusher]

Some interesting points here, I enjoyed reading the discussion so far.

Personally, I tend to use many different types of paints (as you can see in a pic of my workspace below).

Workspace envy ahoy! Maybe I can set something up that nice one day, and I need to copy your idea of covering the entire tabletop with something tough but cheap- the desk I use has paper veneer that comes off with an eraser.

Before that I used only enamel paints that required a thinner to clean the brushes, making the whole process more difficult.

As a kid I used Testors enamels in what I thought was a well-ventilated garage. I am pretty sure I killed some brain cells from the fumes :Paralyzed_Puppet:

I also used Reaper paints and while these pots are a tad smaller, the quality of the paint, its consistency and coverage is very good too. Reaper has this nice idea of organizing its range of paints into triads, meaning you can buy three different shades of the same color that are designed to work together...The other thing I like about the Reaper paints is that they actually have a small piece of metal inside them which helps a lot when you shake the paint before working with it. And once you've finished the paint, you can open it a get a nice looking metal skull

I have some of the Reaper Master Series from one of their Learn to Paint kits and it's good stuff. I think you've sold me on getting a few more (namely flesh tone triads).

Another paint range I like a lot are Andrea paints. They come in boxes of 6 dropper bottles. They're a bit thicker than the other paints I use but they're unique in the design. They're sold in specific color sets. My favorites so far are black, gold, red and skin sets. When you buy a set you get six shades of a given color and a small leaflet with instructions on how to work with highlights and add shades. These paints are fantastic for working on individual models if you really want to get smooth highlights without needing to mix the paints. They work well with batch painting too. I love this range and would recommend it to everyone.

I am so tempted to get their flesh tone set: http://www.andrea-miniatures.com/marketUsa/AspsProductos/Detalle.asp?IdProductoDetalle=1022

$4.42 per paint isn't cheap, though, especially since it's rumored to be made by the same manufacturer that handles Vallejo.

Still, if I was to start the hobby or if I had fewer paints and looked for substitutes, I'd definitely pick the Army Painter set...

I'm tempted to get the Mega Paint Set for use as an on-the-go painting kit.

[Viruk]

To tell the truth, I use only 2 colors from Andrea skin set on regular basis, namely #3 and 4. Together with Ogryn Flesh, I get pretty decent results. Other tones from this set can be used with dark skin tones, something I've not needed so far.

I like the Army Painter range so much that I ordered a few more already

[dsmiles]

@OP:

I use a bunch of different brands...lemme see...

Primarily GW, since I bought the big box'o'paints a few years ago and have only run out of a couple of colors, which I have replaced with...

...P3 paints Thamar Black, Coal Black, several metallics (Blighted Gold is my favorite) and a few in their more pastel range (Carnal Pink and Frostbite, off the top of my head).

For washes, I'm leaning towards making my own with Liquitex soft body art acrylics. Payne's Grey (good for grays, blues, greens and reds), Burnt Umber (good for reds, oranges, and browns mostly), and Burnt Sepia (good for lighter browns, oranges, yellows and flesh tones) are my favorites.

I also use a few craft store generic paints. Specifically, a few of the glow-in-the-dark colors, and a few shades of green that I couldn't find in either (old) GW or P3. Sufficiently thinned, they're almost as good as GW paints (not great, considering I feel like GW is at the bottom of the scale as far as paint quality goes).

I'd like to start using Vallejo as some of my colors run out, but I haven't had to buy more paints since...sometime last year when I bought P3's Frostbite to replace my empty GW Space Wolf Grey.

[Pierowmaniac]

Had a 'dry paint' clearout last night, 12 GW paints in the bin and another 5 I managed to re-hydrate..I hope!

Oh well guess I get to do some more Vallejo shopping this weekend