2 Miniature Paint brands you MUST TRY (And 2 to skip) | Pro Acryl, War Colours +more
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- Опубликовано: 9 мар 2022
- Shield Wolf Miniatures Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
In this weeks video, I review 4 popular indy Miniature paint brands, Pro Acryl, Kimera Kolors, War Colours, and Green stuff world to talk about the quality of the paints, the color ranges, price, and more! Best yet, there is one brand that will probably end up replacing all my other paints.
War Colours: warcolours.com
Green stuff world: greenstuffworld.com
Kimera Kolors: pegasoworld.com
Pro Acryl: monumenthobbies.com
00:17 War Colours
3:11 Green Stuff World
5:53 Kimera Kolors
8:39 Pro Acryl
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Prisma Color Micro Pen: amzn.to/3gjIPFc
Green stuff: amzn.to/2liTj0v
Milliput: amzn.to/2lNGifB
Testors Dull coat: amzn.to/2lN6Mhe
Thinner Medium: amzn.to/2lNWNZ2
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Talon Airbrush amzn.to/2kfSiWI
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Badger Air-Brush Stynylrez Gray Primer: amzn.to/2kgs0DM
Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver amzn.to/2ljRIaL
The Master's Brush Cleaner & Preserver: amzn.to/2YmPoz0
Under cabinet light: amzn.to/2leEWdg
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Background Music: Kevin Macleod, Serpent Sound Studio 
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Which is your preferred brand of paint?
Hey, I am interested in the Valkyrs. Are the heads separate and do they look like fearse viking women?
I like my base set Kimeras and ProAcryl. You've probably already ordered that ProAcryl Magenta, so this warning is too late, but in case it isn't: The ProAcryl Magenta has a buttload of white pigment in it, so it will not be what you are looking for as a primary mixer. They may have a good magenta in their range, idk, but I can tell you that it is NOT named Magenta - I was SO disappointed when I got mine! :P
Yet another wonderful video. Thank you
@@NightfallTH Thank you. That's affirmative, the heads are separate (both helmeted and non-helmeted options). 21 different head sculpts total, 33 heads provided per kit.
@@shieldwolfminiatures8645 oh, thanks for the comprehensive answer! If I were to need some awesome nordic women heads fast (this sounds like a serial killer, omg), are the Valkyries heads the same as your existing Shieldmaiden set on your homepage?
Currently my favourite paints are Scale75, have you tried them/opinion?
While I agree that most people can skip War Colours, I feel that the review did them a bit of a disservice. War Colours are a gel based paint whose strength is their consistency and transparency. They are not a citadel like paint system, they are a specialized paint line with a specific purpose, wet blending and glazing. I'd highly suggest checking out other reviews that give a more indepth review to show how to really utilize them properly. Their black and white are some of the best I've used and allow you to have far more precision with the tone compared to other black/white paints. Similar to Kimera or Scale 75, they are NOT beginner friendly paints. But if you know how to use them you can get truly amazing results.
very well said!!!
Don't particularly care for War Colours from Army Painter, my main issues being opacity and viscosity. Their Washes or Tones on the other hand I think are the best in the business. I find for what they are marketed for Vallejo does the job better. Army Painter has always been the odd outlier in the miniature painting space. Citadel, beyond the sheer brand recognition, makes a great generalist paint line. Best at nothing but VERY good at most everything. Vallejo on the other hand just makes great paint. Pro Acryl is a phenomenal paint line though, and if I didn't have the money tied up in Vallejo/GW the way I do, I would shift strictly to those.
@@clamus68 Warcolours isn't an Army Painter brand, it's an entirely different company. I've only used a couple of their colours at this time and like them but I don't have a strong opinion yet. I do like their naming convention though as it makes it easy to organize and work with shades.
can you recommend a good video review for war colours?
@@NODHLAN Vince Venturella has a few videos on them ruclips.net/user/VinceVenturellasearch?query=warcolours
Here's two of them, but I counted 7 direct videos and others where they are mentioned.
Product Review 27 - Warcolours Glazes ruclips.net/video/P9VzeS7_vfE/видео.html
Hobby Cheating 86 - How to Paint with Warcolours ruclips.net/video/e-ICWnMpnAw/видео.html
I hope this helps.
I recently bought Golden Soflat basic sets and I'm in love. Single pigment, high opacity, consistent texture, very fine pigment. You can dillute the heck out of them and they don't disperse. Best white I've ever owned.
I own most of the proacryl range (can't justify the shipping cost for expansion 3 right now) and agree your notes. I strongly dislike the default lid and prefer their dropper lids over the screw top.
Just a note regarding Green Stuff World, they're not the greatest company out there, whether it's trademarking other people's work, or putting a strike against a hobby youtuber (Sworde & Steele) I'd recommend choosing a different company to buy hobby supplies from if at all possible.
I've got to agree on the Pro Acryl from Monument Hobbies! Every time I try one of their paints, I'm always impressed and blown away every, single, time. It is such good value for the money.
Agree! Agree! Incredible.
I absolutely love ProAcryl. I bought two full sets. One for home and one for my work office during lunch breaks. Incredible opacity.
I absolutely fell in love with Pro Acryl paints from the moment I used one for the first time. If I could go back and tell younger me not to buy half the paints I did (ESPECIALLY the shitadel paints) and wait to get the whole Pro Acryl bundle off the bat, I would.
Just wanted to say Lyla that you have helped me tremendously not only
in my miniature painting but also across my model finishing spectrum.
Thank you very much!
Great channel lyla, keep it going.
Thank you very much for an excellent paint brand review……seems like you covered all of the important topics quickly and clearly. Appreciate your time and help.
I have switched most of my paints to pro acryl. The vibrant color, good coverage, and extensive range have sold me. I swapped out all of the twist tops for flip tops, and they have been great. I painted some grey primer onto the flat lids, then painted on some of the color, which makes it very easy to see what the color will look like on the model, and find it in the rack. They also sell empty paint bottles, making it very easy to pour two colors together to make a bottle of a custom color. I use this mainly for transition colors between two colors. For example, I made two extra bottles for the mid points between Bright Jade, Jade, and Dark Jade.
Crazy how availability changes between US and EU. You cant find Pro Acryl in Spain but GSW, Vallejo, Mig, AK 3rd Gen is pretty much everywhere. The latter is my favourite so far, and I definitely recommend it to you.
I’m in the US, Ak Interactive and AMMO Mig are pretty easy to get in my area.
Scale 75 isn’t sold locally and Vallejo always seems to run out of stock.
If I want to buy paint from a shop in the UK its either GW or GW or maybe GW. Gotta love online retailers.
@@B4MBI72 GW and army painter are everywhere too.
Reaper Miniatures makes my favorite paints. If you like magenta, their Clear Magenta is a single pigment paint, works great for mixing and glazing, but opacity is low due to the nature of the pigment. They have a magenta with more coverage called Thuvian Sun Orchid which I think is lovely.
Vallejo's new line (the black-top Game Color ones) has become my go-to brand. Great coverage, great pigmentation, and just the right thickness. And they're not expensive, either.
Thank you for this (and to the commenter who mentioned pro acryl new lids)! I've been looking to branch out with paints and this has convinced me. As for other paints I've tried, I really like Turbo Dork. They're expensive and metallic only, but they do some great shifting paints and just really pop overall. Thanks again!
Love Pro Acryl Paints. I am in the process of moving all of my collection to their line. I hope that they continue to expand so that they become more easily available. Great value and great paints. Keep up the awesome videos! Be safe and be well
I can’t agree on your warcolours take. They are perfect for wet blending and feathering due to their shellac consistency. You should give them another go now that you’re armed with new info. They are not “normal” paints. Watch Vince venturella’s review on them.
I use some pro Acryl and am gradually shifting over to it, You can find replacement caps to work more like other paint brands however I find that you get used to anticipating the extra droplet and if you let it dry rather than wiping it off it will plink right off with ease.
Green Stuff World have some amazing stuff. I've just started using their Ink Wash range to make glazes thinned with glaze medium. They take the harsh edges off highlights very well without obscuring the effect. GW shades are very good but I prefer the more uniform coverage from the GSW Ink Washes.
I'm new to painting minis, thanks for sharing your tips, I'm finding them really helpful
I actually swapped over to Pro Acryl as my primary paint a few months ago. I love their paint and Jade was my favorite, but the new Bright Jade might fight for it. Jade and Dark Purple make a GORGEOUS blue too.
Guides like this are so helpful! With the amount of paints on the market it feels like stumbling around in the dark to find the one that works for me, and with the prices that is not good! Thanks for this!
Glad it was helpful!
Monument sells other lids for their bottles. I just use the ones that come on them and wipe the excess on a paper towel. I know some people also just leave it open for a few seconds to let the paint drain back into the bottle
Warcolour - Their crystal sable brushes are now my all time favorite. I got afew paints. I have not learned to use them yet, but plan to. ProAcryl - I went all in. Worth it. Got the dropper tops to replace the twist tops. They can get chalky if you thin them too much but flowaid / medium helps. Still love P3 & Citadel but finally starting to transfer them to dropper bottles. Also still love Reaper & Vallejo. And yes I prefer a matt finish. Shieldwolf is cool, but I wish they were bigger. 32 to 40 is my prefered size.
This is SPOT ON for at least ProAcryl and GSW since those are the brands of the 4 you reviewed that I own. Your pros and cons are 100% in alignment with me, and I have only been painting for a year and don’t have an art degree (I’m an artistic engineer). Thanks for the great video!
Vallejo metals + GW Contrast + Pro Acryl for everything else is my holy trinity of paint ranges.
Got me a shopping list now! Thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge… it’s amazing what the difference can make entering a new hobby to have good quality materials and tools.
Have fun!
I love these paint reviews! I hope you do more in the future
War Colours one coat Purple is one of my all time favorite paints. The consistency and the coverage is fantastic, and I love the color.
Pro Acryl Bold Titanium White makes the best white in the hobby IMO. It's not chalky, it blends well and it goes on nice.
Crazy how good your blending is, would love to see more vids of you just painting stuff too
Pro Acryl, Reaper, Vallejo and Scale 75 are my go to. Im sad that in all the years, no one has made a paint as good as Polly S fantasy colors from the 80's.
I remember the days before internet shopping, when hobby shops only sold humbrol enamel for airfix planes, and the citadel box sets for models. We had a choice of 2 box sets of 9 paint that we had to mix to even make a basic flesh tone. Then came an ink set, but it was years before they developed a range of paints. Wet blending was something we learnt individually. Dry brushing was the expected norm.
I'm a professional oil, landscape artist so I am used to messy paint tube tops. My supplies are always a mess. LOL I don't think the Pro Acryl tops will be a deal breaker for me. Thanks for the great reviews, I'm going to try Pro Acryl soon.
ProAcryl's Transparent White is a total game changer for painting sheer white, highlighting pale sections, or highlighting NMM. The intense white paints can be difficult to thin without being chalky. This is a soft white, almost a glaze. It is among my favorite bottles now.
Im 99% sure transparents are inks in acylic meduim.
I had never thought to use the white that way. I'll have to try it out, thanks!
Since trying a few Pro-Acryl colors it’s all i buy now. Agree on messy lids and also hadn’t heard they have alternatives! I have started to squeeze out less on wet pallette, then the excess that oozes out from retightening the cap i just dab onto the palette - it ain’t perfect but a little better at least!
The proacryl changed how i paint. they are so good. You get used to the top i find. Going from vallejo to these guys was just night and day. Vallejo separates badly and gets very chalky. Proacryl has better pigments. I do like to use tamiya for airbrushing though
It's just too bad the alternate lids are a separate purchase.
If you could buy from them with your top of choice, it would be perfect.
The seperate lids also aren’t compatible with the original bottles unfortunately. ProAcryl are decent enough paints but dealing with the messy, hard to squeeze bottles makes me reach for an alternative 9 times out of 10.
Appreciate the review Lyla, I personally became a huge fan of Pro Acrylic as well. I love them for mixing or blending into other colors, plus their Bold Titanium white is the best white paint I've used so far. Definitely going to give their magenta and jade paints a try when I have to reorder more paints.
If I'm not mistaken kimera's biggest selling point is that they are all single pigment paints which make them perfect for mixing. Could be wrong. Nice video.
Have most of the pro-acryl line minus the metallics. Love'em. As many have already said, they do offer additional cap options, either a flip or a precision drop. Went with the precision one and replaced all my caps, very happy with the change, and always a satisfied Monument customer. Paint is great, have even gifted some to a buddy,
Also picked up the Kimera and the 1st expansion. Haven't used it much or at all so far. Waiting for a non-army centric piece to hit my desk.
Thank you!
Just got the full range of Pro Acryl paints, and converted over to the new bottle lid/dropper option Monument sells😎
I replaced my citadel and army painter paints with the whole range of Pro-Acryl and the Scalecolor set by Scale75. I love these matt paints.
Oooh I just got a bunch of light Pro Acryl colors, I hope those are as good as the others you reviewed.
If I were to start buying paints now, I'd buy a combination of Scale75, Reaper, probably some Vallejo, and artists' fluid acrylics/acrylic gouaches. Reaper's browns and neutrals are generally very nice, both in consistency and color, Scale75 has brilliant metallics and quite good flat colors, Vallejo has everything, and artists' colors are heavily pigmented with excellent acrylic monomer density, though they do require a bit more knowledge of mixing (and the price per volume for artists' colors is quite good).
I started with Army Painter(the less said the better), then bought some Reaper paints... Now I have just about all of them, even some of the discontinued ones. But I've now also 'found' Scale75, and man, those metallics are to die for!
Huge Pro Acryl fan right here. For a while I was jumping around between Citadel, Vallejo (until my LGS stopped selling them), and Army Painter, with Army Painter being my least favorite by far, and Vallejo being the best of the three. Even then, it still had a few misses. As soon as I got my first set (base set plus metallics) I felt like everything changed. The colors were SO much more pleasant to work with! White actually has coverage! Yellow isn't terrible! Metallics don't look awful! I still use other paints alongside Pro Acryl, but they've become my go-to if I need a new bottle of whatever color. I need to get lucky with Kimera still, those paints are stunning.
I almost exclusively use Vallejo, and this comment is enough to get me to consider trying the Pro Acryl.
Nice video. Always nice to have large selection of paints. Keep up the good work.
I love my ProAcryls. You get used to the twist top on the bottles- I keep a paper towel handy. Haven’t tried the others yet.
Being relatively new to mini painting, started with Vallejo, but once I tried ProAcryl, it was game changer for me. Gone “all in” with base set, expansion packs 1,2,3 and metallics. I have their new expansion pack 4 in the cart as next purchase.
How it differs from Vallejo for novice? iam novice myself and I love Vallejo so much, and barely could find anything better, but have no skill yet to judge properly.
@@necpwnz I find it easier to get full opacity (pigment density) and I have been able to thin it easier to a consistency that works for me. Others have issue with tops, but I like them just fine. I order direct from their website, always get a hand written thank you on invoice, nice touch. The only downside is Vallejo has way more colors than ProAcryl. It makes color mixing/matching more difficult than just grabbing a different bottle, but I also don't have to spend as much on that many more colors. I will say I use a lot of Vallejo doing scale model tanks, but historical accuracy for colors is more necessary if you are that type.
@@Notyourdaddysbaby Thanks mate! WIll consider buying a set!
This was a good watch! I've been slowly moving from Citadel to Vallejo, but I'm definitely curious about Kimera and Pro-Acryl. I backed the Duncan Rhodes paints, so I'll be waiting for those to show up before I jump into yet another paint line.
I finally branched out to Kimera recently and there is a bit of a learning curve with them. They're super vibrant which I love, but you're absolutly right... you must thin these down to achieve good results. I'm super stoked though, I have Pro Acryl's base set plus the transparent set and a few other random bottles coming in the mail saturday and I cant wait!! I've been watching a lot of Next Level Painting aka Kenny Boucher paint and he uses Pro Acryl... so I wanted to try them because he gets amazing results with them.. granted his skill greatly surpasses mine but hey, we all gotta start somewhere... thanks for giving us a heads up on these paints! I always love watching your videos 🤘🏼
Lyla, first time I have seen one of your videos. I like your style of painting. Your minis look awesome. I really like speedpaints by army painter. Not a fan of their other colors so I agree with you there. Honestly, I have never found a brand of paints that were great across the whole color spectrum. Reaper, I have found is the most consistent, but their yellows aren’t great unless you use their HD line which they sadly discontinued. You mentioned Color Shift paints. I love using Color shift paints! The ones from Folk Art are amazing and surprisingly consistent. A trick I do with them- water it down, apply then wipe it off. You will leave the color shift part only on the raised surface without the color. gives the glisten without much color. Makes an item magic by giving it that color shift glow.
I love pro acryl but hate the tops too. However, to avoid too much mess or gushing when opening after shaking, I've learned that waiting roughly 10 seconds after shaking and a few seconds after applying paint to a palette makes less of a mess to clean from the top.
Thank you!
I use Army Painter because you can buy a large set all at once for a good price. But your video showing alternatives is very helpful. Thanks!
Pro Acryl sells alternative caps at a very inexpensive price. I replaced all the default twist nozzles with the capped droppers. (Never been a fan of the flip/snap tops.)
Don't forget to try their transparent paints line! Omg so goooood!
KIMERA!! All I can say is once you learn how to mix paints to make the colors you want and control consitancy they are amazing. It took quite a bit of practice lol. They have become my favorite paints but it was a time intensive process with quite the learning curve. However it has made me a better painter and artist overall. I recommend them to everyone as long as you are willing to do the work. Good luck in your painting adventures!!
I have to be honest and say that I love the citadel range. I supplement this with inks from daler rowney, a white from liquitex and a couple of alcohol based metallics from vallejo. I find that they all have good parts and bad parts. The citadels range of colours is massive but the liquitex white has no chalkiness.
Gotta try that liquitex white ink, I have some DR but it doesn't go thru my airbrush well at all.
@@B4MBI72 Did you end up getting to try it? I have the same issue with DR white through an airbrush being crap
@@B4MBI72 @Hobominded If the ink isn't going smooth through the airbrush, you're simply using any of the tools or products you're using wrong.
Couldn’t agree more. I love Kimera, but Pro Acryl are my daily “army painting” paints. They’re incredible for all the reasons you mentioned. However, I don’t get along with their magenta. It’s more of a pink imo, and nothing even close to Kimera’s. And I don’t know what they were thinking with those tops! 😫
First time viewer, I enjoyed this talk, and will now have to check out your channel. Thank you.
I have a very large collection of acrylics, mostly Vallejo. But I need more working time to do what I want so I’ve switched to oils. Most brands of artist grade oils are consistently similar so there’s no huge issues.
Please try Golden Soflat. Next to their high flow and fluid lines, the soflat is matt and super easy to blend. Very pigment rich (mostly single pigments).
Nice review. Thanks for trying all of these and sharing your experience for us plebes.
I am a beginner with both painting and miniature painting. I started with a bunch of Tateyama Color paints recommended by my local hobby shop and... was not a fan. The paint REALLY prefers sticking to itself than even a well primered surface, so if it was even the SLIGHTEST bit damp when I went to add another layer, it would just lift off and I'd be back to bare primer. Then I got Liquitex Gauche in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, White, and Black (Sorry art people: "Primary Blue", "Primary Red", Yellow, Black and White) since I have a background in photography and photo printers and just started mixing all my colors from primaries. I LOVE the Liquitex Gauche! It is super opaque (and fairly thick) unless thinned, but glides on with no effort, can be painted over while still quite wet (probably embedding some bad habits it's so forgiving on this) and it really just feels like the paint is working FOR me. Probably going to pick up a brown and a could skin tones so I don't have to keep mixing those all the time, but loving the paints.
well after this ill be grabbing some pro Acryl to try out , what I use now is mainly Army painter as and I have everything but the new speed paints and ive been really happy with them once I got away from gw . Thanks Lyla for this is was very helpful for me
I like knowing more about other brands, keep it up. Makes the more popular either step up their game, or even (miracles) they get cheaper...
Great video as always Lyla! I've had similar experiences with these paints, but I've only had a few Kimera paints. I'm a fan of Scale paints, though sometimes certain colors are really finicky and it drives me insane as far as coverage because they're gel-based acrylics which sometimes can just be a hassle hah!
I haven't heard of most of the paints mentioned. Thanks for bringing them to light.
I think your analysis of the different paints is very good. Especially you try also to show the level of painting abilities you need to handle the colours in the right way.
I personally prefer Vallejo colours from the game colour and the model colour series.
I also use Schmincke colours for liaising.
I often hear that AK should be pretty good, but there, I got no experience.
As of late I found myself using Scale75 more and more. Both their main line and 'Fantasy and games' line have amazing colors to use. Most of their 'inktensity' products are also brilliant, if you know what you're doing (or willing to learn and experiment).
Also, Amsterdam is not a miniature paint brand, but their Ultramarine blue and Cobalt (ultramarine) blue work very well. Pyrrole red is great for mixes but is a little tricky to use on it's own, at least for me.
I'm a little curious about green stuff world and Pro Acryl.
My uni miniature club picked up the Pro Acryl starter paint and found it to be the best starter paint for new painters with the amount you get and introduction to dropper bottles. Wiping the top off does become annoying though. Their metalics are also worth checking out.
I love the pro acrylic top. Took a little getting used to, I learned to close the top then wipe the tip on the pallette
Just got to keep a paper towel at your side.
@@funchick202 no, I just wipe the tip on the pallette and leave it be. The paint on the top dries and falls off easily next time I use it. Also, the colored tip helps me find the right color I want when I'm looking into the box.
Love your videos, they are really helpful for noobs like me!
Great video Lyla nice to see someone giving there tips & opinions on brands. I’m a believer that you should have different brands of paints in your collection. I’ve been thinking of getting some Pro Acryl & kimera from I think it’s either mitchtoy. GSW look a bit like the Scale 75 paints in that they both use gel & I love scale 75, so GSW only web store only kinda puts me off. I know Vince ventutella likes war colors & I maybe tempted to use some as glazes only.
I like the Scale color paints. They have some really nice matte finishes and colours. Also they appear to be that gel like medium you like too.
Thanks for the info!
I’ve tried GW, Vallejo model, Vallejo game, Scale, Reaper, Army Painter, pro acryl, and AK 3rd gen. I use them all here or there, but I prefer the silver metallics from pro acryl (preferred consistency and coverage), washes/shades from GW, standard colors from AK and Reaper. AK surprised me as it’s sort of like the pigment density of Vallejo model but thinner in consistency like Reaper and slightly more durable than the former. I like it a lot. The durability is high on Vallejo game color (true to their advertising) though the consistency and coverage varies considerably. Still it’s nice when you’re looking for paints that are like the “old” GW range.
I'm very close to ditching all my mini paints and just using golden so flat. its amazing. i and slowly replacing many of my paints with colors from golden. i love their hi flow transparent and fluros too!
Never heard of it. Link?
War colors are great for a very specific style of painting. I don't paint that way normally, so....yeah. but I appreciate them for what they are.
I love Kimera Kolors, Pro Acryl, Scale 75 (model and fantasy), Vallejo, and GW right now.
I recently purchased the pro acryl base set in hopes of getting back into miniature painting. After your review, I feel I made a good choice!
Glad I could help!
i hope it helps.
I like Pro Acryl too. Their inks are very good. Specifically the brown ink for quick painting horses for armies. It's fast, bright and goes on perfectly. As for other paints, im slowly switching to AK acrylics only because they are just as good as vallejo and are a little cheaper.
There is no red blooded minis painter here that has not hovered over the Pro-Acryl Base Set 1 and clicked it into the basket ..
I must have been the first!
Completely agree. I started with Citadel, Reaper and some P3. There are a few Vallejos i still use (ice yellow is awesome), but I find myself reaching for the Kimera and Pro Acryl bottles more than anything else.
I'm going to have to get new shelving for my pro acryl and kimera paints
@@LylaMev Scrap wood in the garage. Paint shelves are the easiest thing to build by hand plus you can build to suit your space.
Pro Acryl has been a gamechanger for me. Don't paint as much as I'd like, but I have the entire (currently available) range, and I love everything about them. I don't see many issues with the lids, but I know they offer different ones on their site? The dropper lids look the same as the default, but I've never used them. But I do love all of their paints. And having the mixing ball inside the paints standard is super nice.
great review, I have been eyeing Kimera Kolors for some time now. But now.... looks like Im gonna try pro acryl! Thanks!
Pro Acryl Jade is indeed SO GOOD. A real treasure. I haven't tried the other brands you've mentioned, but I'm surprised to see how Warcolors performed since I've heard good things about the glaze range at least. That's good to know. Hardly an indie brand, but I've recently gotten some Apple Barrel paints after Eons of Battle recommended their satin black (I can confirm it's excellent) and much of their matte range is less than a buck. I was expecting them to be good for drybrushing at least, but so far I've been really impressed by how well they glaze even without thinning. I imagine it's because the pigment density is lower, but it's still not grainy, and the paint itself is nice and thick, so getting very fine glazes is super easy. I also really like Sennelier's Abstract line. Like the Apple Barrel, it's not very opaque so you kinda have to get a glob of paint on the brush and then spread it over the model if you don't want to end up needing five coats, but once I got the hang of it I found it was really worth it for just how buttery smooth the finish is, no visible brush strokes at all. I just got a few flesh tones from them after falling in love with their Caput Mortum colour, because I have a hunch they'll do very well on busts and larger models with a lot of skin.
I was really surprised about war colours as well! at first I thought that once I tried my second model it would go a lot better, but when it didn't I chalked it up to the paints themselves. But if anyone has any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong I would love to hear them! I tried to give all the brands a good shot.
I've switched to Liquitex professional artist acrylics. Bit of a learning curve with thinning (I've learned to set my wet pallet the night before so they get more workable) , but they're super cheap and available locally at Michael's (my nearest FLGS is 2 hours away).
I am increasingly switching from Vallejo, Citadel and Army Painter to Green Stuff World as, living in Northern Europe I have had swift and easy delivery experiences from them, at great prices. They are also relatively easily available in the shops here. For a cheaper and slightly easier to use option to Kimera, I find Scale75 shares many of Kimeras positive properties while having a much wider selection. As I have just purchased an airbrush I expect to be exploring using inks a lot more now.
I definitely looked at this from Ann American view point
As someone else with a background in art I'm really surprised you're not into the kimera expansion. They really fill out the traditional colours I love to use in oils, but maybe it comes down to personal pallet selection
All those delicious Browns to make chromatic blacks with...
As I have drifted into art further from the gaze or anything resembling a loving creator, I've been going to art brands for industrial quantities of paint. Goldens and things in foil tubes. Having a paint that is strong in it's pigment and drying time gives you a good "DNA" to start messing with it, to turn it into glazes, washes, bases, filters, textures, and everything in between is more important to me now in my journey than how friendly it is for use right out of the pot.
Great review!
I'd love to see you review the golden so flat artist paints. I have not tried kimera but I imagine it's a similar experience to the so flats due to the true pigment nature
Totally agree with you on Pro Acryl. I have the Chance to possess the whole range and the it is consistent, easy to apply and dilute. 👍
But as you say, their anti-clog caps are really a pain ! Thanks for the videos !
Hi, thanks for the video :) the most paints I have are Vallejo paints which are in my opinion pretty good. But I recently bought AK interactive 3rd gen paints an there amazing. Furthermore the Diorama series for basing is awesome to maybe you should check them out. Also army painter speedpaints really nice.
I reached a point a while ago where I realized that my skill had actually outgrown the paints I was using and replaced all of my Reaper and smattering of Vallejo paints with Scale75 and Daler-Rowney Artist Inks. I saved up for months and dropped a shameful amount on the complete Scalecolor and Artist lines as well as their primers. I regret nothing. Everything you've heard about them is true. Some of the techniques I was struggling with before I have had much more success with using the new paints. I would not purchase their Fantasy range as they are basically Reaper/Vallejo.
The primers are the best I have ever used as well. They go on easy. I used a .5 needle in my air brush and 30PSI. I tried various other settings first but the primer is thick and required the bigger needle and higher pressure. Once I figured that out they were beautiful. Once the primer is on let it sit overnight (as you really should at the minimum with ANY primer) and it dries completely flat, hard as a rock, will not come off unless you scratch hard enough with a tool to gouge the plastic and hold onto the paint just as well as the primer holds onto the plastic.
I also recommend their thinner and retarder as they are made to go with their paints which have a liquid gel base and pigment and these are both meant to work with that and they do it wonderfully. Because they are meant to work with a liquid pigment paint they also work amazingly in making washes and glazes with the inks.
The sealers they offer are also incredible. Rock hard when dry and the Ultra Matt is just that.
A bit of advice would be to save your pennies and order a metric crapton from their main location in Spain. Shipping to the US tops out at $100.00 no matter how much you order. I saved up for months and ordered just over a thousand dollars worth. They accept PayPal which streamlines overseas payments considerably in my experience. Be prepared for about 5 weeks or so shipping time. Also be prepared and do not be alarmed when the package seems to disappear into limbo for a few days on their customs end and up to two weeks on the US end. It's normal and kind of the luck of the draw sort of thing how long it takes. That $100.00 max shipping seems excessive but believe that checked and rechecked with the prices on the US distributor site. When I am only ordering a few replacements I will likely suck up the extra cost and buy there but shipping is not free after any dollar limit as is the case with most US companies selling online these days and the price markup is very significant. I paid an extra $100.00 for shipping on my order for instance but to order the same amount from the US distributor would have been almost $600.00 more before taxes and shipping. Another thing to note is that even with my large order I did not have any taxes or customs fees due when the package got here.
You might be disappointed with the pro acryl magenta. It's a mixed pigment paint that relies heavily on white for opacity. Comes out more pink. I've recently supplemented my paints with golden so-flat acrylics as well as liquitex acrylic gouache. Both highly matte, highly pigmented, soft body artist acrylics. As a painter I've always had an assortment of artist paints on hand, but these two are the best so far for minis.
That's what people keep telling me!
Love Pro Acryl. Finally got the courage to branch out from GW and picked up some Pro Acryl and Scale 75 … Absolutely loved the Pro Acryl and soon after had just about the whole line which has become my go to. Scale 75 is great too, but have had a couple “misses” for lack of a better word. My GW paints are now in storage bins and not really used minus a few staples.
ye, scale75 is super super thicc, they are very hard to control, great for wetblending. This review is really making me consider getting some proacryl paints. As far as GW paints, I only keep Mournfang Brown, Averland Sunset and Khorne Red. The rest is also put away.
I use scale75 at 50/50 paint to water it's so thick.
Scale 75 works best for glazing, you can thin them down quite a bit. And they are my go to paints to make glazes. They are the only paints I use to paint skin.
Definitely been slowly replacing a lot of paints with Pro Acryl. It’s amazing stuff. Even if the caps are a bit messy.
So, with the War colours paints I got my hands on them due to the Holiday Box for Conquest the Last argument of Kings tbh, if they had videos or an instruction pamphlet it would have been much more useful. That being said, I think they have the best metallic paints out there. Also those dropper bottles have never clogged and they have agitators inside so separation is much less of a concern.
Also, GSW is available via third party sites such as Michigan Toy Solider, I think the only paint (which is mainstream) exclusively not on a third party site ironically enough is War Colours.
Ars Manufactorea can sell you Kimera paints, and they are located in Italy. No idea how much shipping would cost to the States, or how long a wait you would have, but they can be consistently found through them if you need them.
Brave video! Applaud you for tackling something that is so subjective. I've settled in on ProAcryl too. Sold all of my Contrast and replaced them with ProAcryl Transparent and gave the majority of my Army Painter and Reaper paints to my nephew. I'm left with Scalecolor Artist and some of their bottle paints. I think everything you said was accurate, again Bravo!
Agreed. These are fighting words.
I only have one pro acryl colour paint right now, and it's their infamous Bold Titanium White. Going from using Citadel and P3 whites to using that is like night and day. It's incredible.
I agree!
Citadel isn’t that good.
Ak interactive, ammo Mig, scale 75, and Pro Acyl are all far superior.
@@andrewobrigewitsh citadel have plenty of good paints. Their whites are definitely not though, except apothecary white contrast paint, that's pretty good at what it does.
It's just commonly seen as hip to hate on Citadel. It has been for years.
@@crazeh8 I started with Citadel and frankly I don't like their paints too much. Only recently have people started to realize they are not the best. Same goes for army painter, but at least the army painter pots are not super annoying.
However you can get good results with any paints, and what people think is good or not is subjective and also dependent on painting style and what you paint.
I prefer AK Interactive if I want one coat coverage and scale 75 for glazing. I also use oil paints, enamel and inks. I even use some Daler and Rowney and Liquitex.
I'm confused as what you you mean by Infamous though. Infamous means well known for being bad.
ProAcryl does offer an alternate "normal" dropper cap but you have to buy those separately from the paints.
as a beginner i use vallejo paints for their pricepoint & dropper bottles, for metallics i enjoy the citadel paint range and i have just recently tried army painter (dungeons & dragons edition) set for a splash of bright fantasy colours.
would recommend all 3 to a beginnner
I'm a sucker for new paints, got myself some chimera paints and have been loving them! The ultra matte finish is actually a little too much so I tone it down with, oddly enough, a matte varnish lol. I would really like to try pro acryl sometime soon!
Pro Acryl is my go to paint. Other lines have individual colors I enjoy using but for a complete set Pro Acryl is absolutely the best.
Right where I am, too!
Add Fowtrol or acrylic medium to your cheap paints. Also I often dilute more expensive paints with the cheap and add medium too. Use 70% alcohol to thin also.
I've recently found out monument hobbies has released an alternative top for the proAcryl paint bottles.
No way!
@Lyla Mev - The Mini Witch I have the same complaint about the tops, so when I found the new tops, I ordered some.
They haven't showed up yet, so I can't comment on them. Yet.
@@LylaMev Yeah, I really like the round flip top ones. I wish they were the default! A trick with the regular ones though is to leave the bottles open for a bit after taking some out so the paint has time to flow back into the bottle and release the trapped air.
Yep, I bought the dropper tops for all of mine.
@@Tannhauser42 how are they?