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Grrrrrr! :evil: This stuff dries down so much it's pathetic!
I painted Gus' face. I had about 1 part cad red and 1 part cad yellow, and 16 parts of titanium white! By the time I got the color I wanted I had so much paint, most of it went to waste!
I bought these paints at Walmart. The brand is Daler-Rowney. Did the paint dry down (darken) because this is cheap paint? If so, what brand should I buy?
I mean, this stuff dries down so much it's incredible. I'm not kidding -- I had about 16 parts of white to the red and yellow, maybe even more! But... tada! I did match the color of the hands which are made out of plastic. I did pretty good!
These paints will have to do until I use them up. I can't afford to waste money! It looks like I already have! And now I got globs on his head. I gotta sand the paint now! FER PETE'S SAKE! Sand sand sand sand SAND!
Sheesh!
All I can say is, I'm glad I'm easy going. 
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Later
Gus has been to surgery and his skin is looking much better. The doc says he's gotta stay in the hospital overnight. Fine! Make my insurance pay!
Another question. Can I paper over this acrylic paint, or is that a no-no? I mean, will it work? I wanna change his eyebrows.
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Tip for mixing paint: Start with white, THEN add the color, if the desired color is going to be light.
Estimate how much paint you think you'll need, pour out that much white, then gradually add the other colors, mixing well each time. Never try to save paint by making exactly as much as you think you'll need, because if you're short, you will NEVER be able to match the color. EVER! Guess how I know this?
Color change upon drying is more usual than not, and it's usually darker. Experience is the best teacher. However, brand may have something to do with it, too. WallyWorld products are as cheap as they come: you can pay low prices or get decent quality. Pick one.
And never attempt to mix oil-based paint with water-based paint. It creates a whole new world of ugly. UG-LY!
Sue, who has done all the above... sometimes more than once. Except the oil/water one.
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Hi,
I am sorry to hear that you have run into problems. Acrylics are tricky to learn to use and Sue is right that learning colour mixing is a fiddle (the only person I ever knew who got the same colour every time was originally a paint mixer for Dulux, I went to college with him and he was a colour genius).
If you are starting out with these I would recommend that you choose the craft acrylic that comes in semi liquid form (This is usually cheaper and has the advantage that the colour range often gives you the tint you want without needing to mix)
If you are going to stick with tube acrylic then I recommend that you start with the following to learn the quality of the paint and the colour.
Draw your self a circle on a piece of thick paper, about the size of a saucer. Divide the circle into six segments. Paint one segment in your chosen red, one in your chosen yellow and one in your chosen blue, leaving a gap between each colour. In the gaps mix the colours to see what happens, I usually start a red slowly reducing the red and increasing the yellow, the the same from yellow to blue and then the same again from blue to red. You can either water the paint to mix or do it in thick stripes. Doing this will show the range of mixes. Once you have the colour wheel you can experiment with tertiary colours. This is the mix that occurs from the colours on opposing sides of the wheel. These allow you to mix natural browns through to greys. My favourite grey is a mix of burnt sienna and cobalt blue.
Keep a scrap book or pin board of the range of colour wheels you have made using different primaries and secondaries, making sure that you have remembered to label each with the colour you chose allows you to make informed decisions about reaching the colour you want.
Cardinal rule of colour mixing is always start with the lightest colour first and slowly add the darker. Another fairly standard rule is that the more pigments used to reach the colour the muddier it will look when dry.
Acrylic is a difficult but ultimately rewarding medium, it is water solvent and fast drying making it ideal for craft work. But this does mean that it fast dries on the pallette. Mix it in small quantities and if you want it to last for 15-30 minutes add a good drop of water over the mixed paint, unless you want it thick in which case use as soon as it is mixed.
Another good tip with the semi liquid form is to mix it in small yoghurt pots and cover with cling film whilst working it slows down the drying process a little.
Hope that helps.
PS do you have Warhammer in the US (they are a fantasy figure gaming company from here in Nottingham. The guys in the UK shops do workshop sessions and are a mine of information about acrylic painting)
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I empathise with your problem Lengo - I think we have all made that error of judgement with the paint mix and ended up with a bucket of (often) the wrong colour!
Hang on to the dubious mix though, keep it in an airtight jar and it will come in for something later on. I have a whole row of little jars like this. :oops:
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Well, the bniggest probelm is the drying down. How are you suppose to paint when what's on your pallette isn't what you get when it dries?
I am very good with color. I instinctively know what colors work together. But when they dry to a different value, and even increase or decrease in saturation, all my knowledge is a waste! I can't GUESS what the result is going to be! ANd I can't make a color wheel and accurately describe the mix ratio.
This paint dries down WAY too much. I think this paint is either really low quality, or acrylic is not a very good kind of paint.
ANd I don't understand this. The black goes on very smoothly. The white doesn't want to cooperate -- it's too thick right out of the tube, and not opaque when slightly thinned. These paints are artist acrylics in tubes.
I also have 3 craft paints. One is orange, one is yellow, and the other gold. The gold does not dry down at all. Theother two dry down far less than the artist acrylics. You'd think these craft paints would be inferior to the artist acrylics and dry down more than the artist acrylics, but that's not the case. Go figger!
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Acrylic paint is great like all things it takes a little playing around with until you feel happy with it. It has great mixing qualites, drys quickly (if you want your acrylic to dry slower you can add a retarding medium which slows down the evaporation of water from the paint but be careful not to use to much or your paint will be sticky.) Its great to paint on top of and paint wash over when it dries. When it dries its waterproof and does not smudge when you come to varnish it.
As already said paints differ in quality and colour in general the cheaper the paint the less pigment it has. This is not a bad thing as there are some good paints even though they are cheaper. But it does ( I think ) Have an affect on the way the paints apply and mix.
As also said dark into a light colour when making a light shade and make test sheets.
Sue.
You may find that adding to much water may make the paint appear dull.
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Lengo, what brand are you dealing with?
I dont't think the fact that it's acrylic paint is not the issue. Acrylics are very useful for this kind of project, but there are good ones and not so good ones.
Sue
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The brand is Daler-Rowney. It's a starter set of six colors. I didn't know what to buy, so I bought the cheapest I could find.
I'll get Gus fixed up. There's no way I'm gonna quit now. But I'm thinking I might start over with the paint, covering him in Gesso, then throw paint on him like Jackson Pollock!
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I gotta start completely over. I'm gonna Gesso him up.
This stuff is suppose to dry in twenty minutes. It does that fine. It's suppose to cure in 24 hours. It doesn't. It's more rubbery (like latex) than plastic.
Different colors 1 - flow differently. 2 - cover differently. 3. dry down differently. These are a pain to work with!
The red is a cool red. The white is not neutral and is cool. The black -- this stupid black -- is GLOSSY, unlike all the other colors. I haven't tried the green or blue, but I suspect that they're slightly warm!
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Don't buy cheap paints. These 'student' grade paints are terrible!! I don't even know why they're called 'student', 'cause you can't learn anything from them! (except how to waste your time and money)
Grrrrrr! Photoshop is MUCH easier!
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Erm.... I'm happy again!
Cheap paint is exactly what you want! I bought some craft paint, and it's just the right color, and it doesnt' dry down nearly as badly (go figger). You still want some tubes of acrylics, though. Get a primary set for mixing into the craft paints.
So, from now on, it's gonna be little bottles of craft paint. It flows better, it doesn't dry down nearly as much, and it's far less expensive!
Gus is looking good! I'll take some photos and post them later tonight or early tomorrow.
I'm so happy! Woo hoo!
http://www.iinet.com/~lengoforth/yeah.wav
p.s. Yesterday I took him with me to a couple of stores to get paint and whatever. I was too ashamed to bring him into the store. Today is just the opposite!
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