I really enjoy this format. Just sitting and having a conversation. Not trying to teach necessarily explain. Just two dudes sitting talking about what they enjoy.

citadel paint is best because if you get a little spoon you can eat it straight from the pot without getting other dishes dirty

This was fantastic. More of this stuff please

I am in the process of painting my 5th, 6th and 7th minis right now. I figure i won't be worried about "best paints" for a while. My biggest worry is getting paint to go more or less where I want it to go.

I love it when you and Sam get together and talk paint and painting!

The best mini paint is the one that ends up on the miniature. Everything else is a bonus.

Paint is like any other tool, you just build up a collection over the years. No one goes out and buys every tool imaginable, all from the same brand. You just get what you need for your current project and over time you end up with a whole range of things.

This came at just the right time; I’m about to buy my own paints instead of borrowing and wanted to be confident in my pick for my first set of paints to work with, and I’m glad to see for the most part that there’s no wrong set, just varying degrees of right.

I really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you for the info and the casual format

This is a nice treat. Two videos in a week 😁

Paraphrasing Vince Venturella’s excellent video on what paint is made of, all paint has four groups of ingredients: • pigment • solvent • binder • additives (a catch all for everything that isn’t the first three) Everything that isn’t the pigment is known as the “paint vehicle”. With mini paints, and acrylic paints in general, the solvent is water, the binder is an acrylic resin. Additives often include things like drying time extenders, opacifiers (for pigments that’s are naturally transparent like a lot of yellows), flow improver (for example in reaper paints). Pigments vary wildly based on paint brands. In the “artist quality” (2D fine art) paint world, the tubes will list all the pigment numbers on the back, and you can go look them up. In the mini painting world, not so much. In contrast, watercolor paints the solvent is water, and the binder is gum arabic.

I use a combination of brands, for me it’s color selection > performance > anything else. I love these little discussion videos. Thanks TM!

I think you were looking for the word medium, of which the medium could be acrylic, oil, tempra, etc.. Here is further breakdown Paint is = ground pigment and/or dye + medium/binder Mediums help the paint flow and set to a hard paint film. Mediums for miniature paints are most often acrylic (a polymer, essentially a plastic), or an oil based enamel Traditional art mediums have included: wax, egg yolk, casein (milk protein), oil (linseed, walnut, etc.), and others. Ground pigment can include colored earth, iron oxides, processed metals, burnt wood or bones etc. Dyes can be made through industrial chemical processes or with plant dye chemically bound to metals, etc. Binders: is anything that helps hold the dry pigments together, so the medium could be considered a binder. Other binders include wax, varnish, lime, and others. Binders can be unnecessary if a medium is present. Often manufactures take this as an opportunity to fill the paint with non visible, cheap, additives to bulk up the volume to make a profit. Vehicles: are additives like water, or more medium that can help make the paint flow better

75% of my paint collection is Army Painter but I also have Vallejo and Citadel in there as well. Completely right that no brand is perfect.

Thoughts - Hot Bright Yellows tend to be more transparent out of the pot unless they've added other colors to the mix. So your Bright Bumble Bee Yellow usually needs to be painted atop of a white, or needs as Sam says another less transparent color mixed with it, to help fight that. This is pretty universal among high quality paints. At this point, (and heaven knows I'm no expert) I'm using either Vallejo Paints, which I've just been using since I was a teen, and probably will always admire, but I'm favoring Golden Fluid Acrylics, as I bought those for my artistic pursuits, and while they were wrong for the type of art I wanted to do, they are doing just fine on the Miniatures. While they are more expensive, which is a consideration for people, I've tested a couple of colors against Citadel, and found they worked about the same (Especially the Purple). While I've not tried the special line of Citadel Paints for effects, I've not felt any regret using the Goldens. I particularly like the Pearl Iridescent paint, because you can mix that with anything to get a bright shiny color to add to your paints. It's beautiful. I'm still relearning the hobby, so I don't know how much my opinion really counts, but look for high pigment quality, with as pure a binder as you can fine, and you should be fine, IMO.

My preference is the best product! Whoever makes the best color that requires the least work for me to get it to do what I want in terms of color saturation, flowing, etc. Great video.

SAM! In WI! Awesome! What a great team up! Thanks for this video, Uncle Atom!

Mephiston Red has been hands down the best red I've used over the years.

Sam's comment about "helper colors" allowing for working with difficult colors is interesting. The way I learned to paint is the "GW Way" where you basecoat the full area with your mid-tone, add shading on top of the mid-tone (usually with a wash), then add highlights on top of the mid-tone. This method means that you need a really opaque basecoat to show through the shading and layering. It makes sense that if you start with mixing your mid tone with your shade/highlight color it will be easier to work with.

havent painted anything in years, this was a very informative video for someone wanting to get into painting miniatures

I had flashbacks to that one time in artschool when I did a mural in pigments and the oxide-red I was mixing felt like putting brick-dust to medium.

Back in the late 90s, I absolutely loved Chessex's paint line. They were thick and creamy, and went on so smooth.

The best video on youtube about paint drying.

This is a great format. Reminds me a lot of a podcast, but I can see your facial expressions, which I appreciate.

this was a nice and good video, thankyou. i feel more encouraged to try different paint lines

On black - I used to mix my own black, so I could mess with the tone, using Prussian Blue, Cadmium Red and Burnt Umber (lineseed oil as medium). Worked a treat and I always got a super rich colour with loads of depth.

Really love your videos like this. I think unlike most subscribers I'm not a miniature painter (I generally go for a 6 or 7 inch scale), but there's a lot of great information here that I can extrapolate and use in my own work.

Loved the format, absolutely.

I've gone nutz and just buy what I like. Mostly P3 ,citadel and Vallejo, but I've also found a few reaper colors I like. I've gone into this fun spiral of experimentation since the start of the year and figure, if I absolutely hate it, take a few pics for Frankenstein memories and strip it. A bit bummed that we can't meet at adepticon. Missed you guys last year because we only can for the day. Had a project for the wicker hat contest and everything. Looks like my waaaaaaaaaaagh hat will have to wait till 2021 lol

1300 minis in and still painting and, well, Sam and Atom are spot on. I started using enamels back in the 80s as they were pretty much it. When acrylics started to really become available I made the switch, but there were folks who painted incredible minis with enamels. Paint with what you like and just enjoy the hobby...

I decided last year to start painting mini's again after a long time away, so figured I'd get a good starter set. Reviews are all pretty "it works", so I settled on the D&D Players Starter, which uses Army Painter paints. I was not having good luck with them, even thinning with water they didn't seem to flow right. God a couple colors I was missing in Vallejo and they were much smoother and nice, so I got their painter set that has a much. Overall, very happy with the Vallejo, and I've gotten into the Citadel contrast line also, and it's giving me the look I want. I'm more an Atom painter than a Sam painter, and I'm fine with it. :)

I like a mix of Army Painter, Vallejo, and Citadel paints.

Over the six months I’ve been getting back into painting. I started out with paints from different brands but found it hard to deal with all the different names for colors (being slightly color blind doesn’t help). To help myself I went ahead and bought the Army Painter 50 color set. It’s helped me so much having a set of colors that build on each other. I still have other brands and will buy certain things from those. But having a single base set has helped my tremendously.

Always luv you talking to Sam Lenz . Very Cool Chill Vibes . 🤘🖤💙💚💛💜😁

There's good colors in each range, but there's also some awkward colors in those ranges too. Kimera Kolors paints are incredible though, it's got 13 paints in the set but they mix perfectly since they've only got one pigment in each paint, and 30ml dropper bottles makes it worth picking up a couple of their paints at least.

Wee, time to go into a (relatively) quick explanation of paint! All paints contain pigment, a solvent and a binder. In the case of acrylic paints, this is pigment (that doesn't change), water and an acrylic binder. The binder basically provides a lattice for the particles of pigment to adhere to, acting as a carrier; as the water (solvent) evaporates, the binder is what actually locks and holds the pigment in place on the surface of what you're painting. As long as you maintain a certain percentage of the binder, you can add more solvent (water) to thin it to your desired consistency; if the level of binder ever dips below this percentage the pigment winds up floating on the solvent and without the lattice those particles of pigment drift apart and can't form anything like a cohesive bond. This is why, if you've thinned your paint too much, it separates and you can actually see the pigment; it looks like grains of colored sand (the size depends on how well the pigment was ground) and when applied the pain will dry very splotchy and is more easily scraped away from the surface. Interestingly this is also the reason why you get "coffee staining" when you use too much wash or thin your wash too much; since they're thin to begin with, the pigment can separate more easily even when the wash is used full strength. As for the topic of the video; it seems like consensus is that there isn't necessarily a single brand of paint that can be called "the best" which is definitely something I can understand since my collection of paints is rather diverse when it comes to brand. I have Vallejo paints from pretty much all of their lines (excluding Game Air simply because I haven't found any colors I feel like I need there yet), Army Paints, Reaper, Golden Artist's Acrylic, Rub'n'Buff, Tamiya and Citadel; when buying them, it came down to what color I wanted and what brand sells that particular color. When people ask me which paints they should get, my advice is always; it depends entirely on whether or not you're on a budget and how much you want to sink into this hobby. Depending on those answers, I'll tailor my recommendation based on cost versus quantity (how much paint you're getting for the price you're paying).

Getting back into minis over the last few years, I paint primarily with Citadel paints I bought 20+ years ago (old hex pots, both flip top and twist top). A few were dried out but most still work fine.

Im an old school painter; in and out of the hobby for about 40 years. You Guys are so lucky, when i started painting at 7 all that was available Humbrol enamels; which i still prefer to acrylics. We didnt start seeing half decent acryllics until the end of the 90s. And now? You Guys are stuck for choice! I paint Historicals (dont hate) and i watch these videos and tuts because Art is Art. I as yet have not found the perfect range; last few years i believe i wasted alot of money on vallejo, i dont like the coverage at all. I bought every Red in their range looking for the Perfect Red and they failed! BY accident i discovered Citadel Mephiston Red and i love it; i immediately bought 5 pots just so i would never run out lol. One of the Pro painters that i talk to uses most ranges but he now uses Scale 75 most the time. I have just splashed out on a Red, Blue, and Green Scale 75 Set of Artist quality acrylics. Will they make me a better painter? Not sure? I believe they dry ultra Matt which is important when you are trying to create "realism." But like the Fellas said; dont be afraid to explore other ranges.

I'm still new to 40K. Right now I'm using the Citadel paints for my Ultramarines, simply because my local hobby store has the whole range and the Citadel app makes it so easy to find out what colours I need for my army from base to highlights.

I have a mix of GW, Valejo, Scale75, P3, and Golden. P3 has some of my favorite consistency. Easily thins while maintaining good saturation.

I like to paint miniatures and I just bougth my Amry painter set and also my Vallejo set for airbrush, but I also work as a formulator for a Paints factory, I work developing resins for industrial and architectural paints, all I have to say is that paint is not only watter and micronized pigmnet as you mentioned, the are a vehicle (resins system emulsion for water base) and a lot of additives that can help to increase the properties of paints. What I have found so interesting is the vallejo flow improver very interesting from a paint formulator perspective, the way it improve the airbrush application have moved me to know more about it, I dont know if it is composed of glicols or siloxane-eter additives, but it is so good for what it is requiered.

Many moons ago it was citadel paint (due to the lack of choice). Twenty years later I am getting back in and only use nuln wash only with many Vallejo and army painter. Just really starting to get to grips with what these paints can do when used with good techniques.

I've had several models make it onto Games Workshop's community-sourced product listing photos where a large portion of the model was painted with Apple Barrel paint, without them knowing it of course. You've just got to experiment until you learn how to use it. That said, more expensive brands are unquestionably easier to use. Not that those community-sourced product listing photos are examples of award-winning paint jobs, but it's certainly a Games Workshop endorsement of a well-painted model.

Reaper has been the best paint overall for me. It makes the largest portion of my collection by far. I bought the set with the first 108 colors of their master series. It's unbelievable good quality and just doesn't seem to dry out and the minis love it. I have also never had a problem remixing one of the Reaper paints no matter how long it's been since I used a given color. That might have something to do with the little silver skull bead in every pot though. I will be buying the rest of the line soon. Economically and customer service wise they are far and away the best company I have dealt with. I have a small selection of Vallejo and they work but I have noticed that some of the colors I was most interested in one of their wargame sets I bought, a few of the florescent colors in particular, seem to permanently separate and just won't remix. I also have the 8 bottle set of Vallejo's metallics and washes. I do like Vallejo's washes but I find I need to thin them or they tend to act like thin paint rather than a wash. Citadel I fucking hate with the burning passion of a thousand suns. The pots suck and seem designed to waste paint and are fairly difficult to use and then close properly. Even when closed properly and sealed their paints just dry out with a quickness in the pot. Once I learned the hard way how the pots were garbage and needed extra attention to be sure they were sealed properly I thought I was okay. I ended up going to the hospital for a three week stay and when I was recovering at home I was going to do some painting only to find out that half the GW paints I had at that point had dried out in the pots despite being sealed well and fine when I last used them. Most of their specialty paints, like the dry paints and the special effects ones, are even worse. The only GW stuff I still have and still like are their washes, the glazes (which are now discontinued) the liquid green stuff. Although to be honest I do not like their washes and liquid green stuff so much that I will be replacing them with more GW when my current supply runs out. GW sells pots that come in under size in ounces that every other brand sells and charge more per paint on top of it making it even more expensive. Now that I've gotten the hang of using Vallejo's washes I think I will be switching over to them and the Reaper washes as the GW stuff runs out. The liquid green stuff is great but it does seem to want to begin drying out almost as soon as you first open the pot when you get it home. I am looking for a replacement.

Im into 28mm wargaming and I find Reaper triads to be the easiest and best to use. They are naturally thinner most other paints so it makes painting the layered highlighting very easy.

I just painted a bunch of fists using Arteza paints. Wow. I am sold on those. They where 50 paints for 40$. I put over a base of Army Painter Desert Yellow paint/primer. Everything else was Arteza. The paints come in a paste like tooth paste so you have to get a medium. Every color essentially starts out as a dry brush. But I now have a matte and a gloss medium and now every color can be whatever consistency or finish I want. I liked the colors so much I just picked up their metallics line which I love as well, 36 for 40$. I could not start with a white or black primer and go to yellow. I could do that with GW paint if I wanted. I am not spending 5 dollars for a pot which dries out in a couple years. I have one hundred colors for ~90$. My only issue is that I want to use them all and that will take me a long time. Please comment and I will share pics with a link to what I have painted.

I paint mostly blood Angel's and have never had a difficulty with refs. That was interesting to hear a lot of people do. White and Yellow however have been difficult but eventually I realized the pure versions of those colors aren't meant as bases, and in pure whites case, I believe it to be no more than a final edge or spot highlight.

Wow, I'd like a tattoo from Sam

Hands down Vallejo is the most versatile & consistent for me. I use everything including Apple Barrel :gagreflexvomit (no KINK SHAME) ....I love'd this conversation

The advantage of one manufacturer is that many step by step instructional videos tend to use one set of paints. Looking at GW as a prime example, as you got to start somewhere and I got a shed load of GW minis. Now that I start thinking of my own paint schemes and non GW minis I start trying different paint manufacturers.

The stuff the pigments are "floating" in is called vehicle. It carries the pigment and gives the paint its properties. Such as water based acrylic paint versus alcohol based enamels, or a heat resistant ink that is used on a ovenable plastic bags that you cook vegetables in. The pigments are mostly universal in all paints/inks.

Great discussion. I found I actually have two sets of paints. I have Valejho for my FoW figures and citadel for my GW products. There is some spill over for each, primarily because, a Velejho white in a dropper bottle means the colour will last longer and not get tainted by my careless brush. I thought it was kind that you didn't follow the issue of bottles. The primary trend being dropper bottles for miniature paints but with citadel bucking the trend with fairly difficult bottle to work with. (Which is not a comment on the paint inside, just the container).

GW, Vallejo, P3, S75, Reaper, Inks, army painter tones, W&N oils, liquitex heavy body, I use them all depending on what I'm doing. It really is more about what you're looking for, the properties of the paints, and how to mix them to get the paint to be where you want it, behaving how you want it.

i have a lot of citadel GW paints mostly but mainly because it the most easily accessible to me but personally for preference GW Citadel - Mainly Contrast Black/Red/Green, Technical Paints, dry paints, earthy bones (Wraithbone, Morghast and Ushabti) Vallejo- Black and liquid Metallic paints , metallic model color warpaint - primer others- actual nail paint, actual sand, actual Blood (accidents but it worked?)

I tried to paint a yellow over purple recently. Let's just say they still a slight green tint on the very edge after many layers.

Vallejo. Best all around for me. Vallejo Air for airbrush and Game Extra Opaque for brush. Hard to beat IMO.

Love me some Vallejo, but I'm amiable with using certain P3 paints as well as Reaper.

Scale 75 in my humble opinion followed by P3 Vallejo and Citadel. Scale 75 has such a lovely matte paint. But honestly so many citadel and p3 have unique colors that I’d spend forever trying to make. So I love that.

Love you guys 🧡

I started with Floquil many years ago, which had very fine pigment. Didn't like the xylene thinner, tho, and it didn't like me. Switched to Humbrol paints, which I like very much. Their silver is very good. Also, they sold their medium, which was useful. Coming back to the hobby after some years, I dabbled in craft paints, which I still use for terrain, then settled on Vallejo for most work. I do have some Reaper triads for skin and hair. Also liking Mission Models primers.

Great video guys. I'm curious what you both would think of Scale75 paints. It's a tie for me between them and P3 for my favorite. Their new creamy paints are very different, still deep in the learning curve with them.

I got the big set of army painter and they have been great. I couldn't get them to go through my air brush so I watched a video. Turns out increasing the psi to 40 isn't how you get better flow. Now I spray at 10 psi and they work great.

I think for beginners finding a paint you like is more secondary to learning the paints and tools. For example after I started using a wet palette my thoughts on allot of paints changed and once I learned my method and tools I was able to say oh I like this one for this purpose or that paint for dry brushing ect.

The video itself aside, is that a Pa-chow shirt in the style of the supreme shirt?!

The broken brush from Aus only paints in citadel, he makes some nice grimdark schemes

Most of my paint is Reaper because it's really thin, but I also have a peppering of Army Painter, Vallejo, and Citadel (Who undeniably have some good technical/specialist paints).

Sam doing a great Uncle Atom intro impersonation.

Artist paints have the fine pigment and "medium" can be added for the various properties. Golden, Liquitex and Kimera work incredibly well if matched historical colors are not needed (Vallejo for that then). Acrylic inks and high flow paints are there as well.

I haven't tried citadel paints apart from a couple of washes, I paint mostly with vallejo, P3 and Scale 75. Also, I really want to try AK 3rd generation paints, they seem to have really good consistency and amount of pigment :D

Uncle Atom, you and I are going to have to throw down about Ultramarine blue. I love that contrast to the ends of the earth.

Holy hell, am I first? Last time I was this early, it was still cool to wear parachute pants. Oh, and Vallejo paint. It's in a drop bottle, has good quality, and is cheap compared to its contenders.

P3 and WarColour are best for me. Started with Citedal, but overtime have found, for me, there are cheaper and better. Perhaps Citedal is most people's go to paint , cause it's readily available on the high street. Happy painting people.

I just started not to long ago. But I literally use every acrylic paint i can get. Now for the apple barrel and folkart I use creatix airbrush reducer and only shoot them out of the airbrush for base coating. It's okay as long as you can get your mix right. And it saves you $$$. I detail mostly with game color by Vallejo. The creatix candy paints are amazing for brushing to. Some cool effects can be had with those.

I’m using Scale 75, Vallejo, Citadel & army painter at the moment. I will probably add Kamara & p3 at some time. But I love Scale 75 at the moment.

If you’re going to Paint imperial first try starting with dark yellow from Vallejo. I’ve been working with it for years to paint German tanks and it’s a great dark yellow. It would be perfect as a base for your imperial fest.

I started out with Vallejo paints, but as time goes on i'm actually a bit drawn towards citadel paints - as I find that Vallejo is a bit hit or miss with consistency and are often a bit more on the thinner side. But over time, I've collected a few P3 paints and since I started being a subscriber to Asset Drop I get new paints from new companies every month so now I have a lot of different fun paint brands to look into ^^

for me the best thing about citadel paints is that they come in that little tub so i can take just a tiny bit of the paint instead of relying on the dropper bottles like vallejo which will squirt out a bigger drop

And I’d love to buy the your new paints 🤩

1 year on and still helpful.

Great discussion in the video do a part 2 details of each paint 🎨

I started with citadel and i use a little bit valejo now

Great vid

I use apple barrel, Americana, craftsmart, decoart, Vallejo, armypainter, folkart, citadel and liquitex different mediums each has good colors to bad ones. Some is the cost to just hard to get my hands on but on citadel it’s just to must for how little you get. I also have used a few canvases paints there nice pigments just very thick

I believe the same applies for scale modelling. Tamiya and Mr Hobby is my go to but I also have an entire set of Vallejo paints for Luftwaffe aircraft, along with AK and Mig weathering products. When I got into Flames of War, I simply used the same paints and techniques as I would usually do with my bigger stuff. I did not expect this but It turned out excellent. Right now I'm just starting to venture into W40K with the First Strike starter and I'm already thinking I could maybe use the USN Navy Blue for the Ultramarines. Reckon it would work?

Help Sam create his own KZfaq channel, his personality is perfect for it.

i like ultramarine contrast colour a lot, but not for painting space marines. i think it's one of the best ways to paint jeans stuff with the right drybrush. ^^

Hi! A bit off topic, but I was wondering what solution you used to clean your airbrush in with the ultra sonic cleaner, as well as what settings you used on the cleaner/what parts you kept out of the cleaner?

Interesting discussion! For myself ,I tend to use Citadel paints, having used them for two decades or so ,and simply because they are widely available in my area. I have paints for modelling from other manufacturers, Tamiya acrylics,terrible for figure painting. Tester's acryl, which are surprisingly good for figures, straight from the bottle. I also have a bunch of Humbrol enamels. Great for tanks and other military subjects,but not so hot for figures. Shamefully, I have yet to try the Citadel contrast paints. Limited funds! Admittedly,I am more likely to stick with what I know,and buy more kits rather than try new paint ranges. Anyways, thanks for the video!

100% Vallejo makes some the best metallics out there where the consistency tends to work evenly and the color looks excellent when dried. I cannot recommend it enough and if you want a fun metallic, I highly recommend their Gunmetal Blue, it makes for great power swords. Their bronzes are also really solid as well.

I started painting largish scale reliefs and figures about a year ago. I started with vallejo. It seems to work for me. I can't afford to get multiple brands of paint

Recommend you guys start experimenting with lacquer based acrylic paints and enamels. I know they're not commonly used in the miniatures world but us modelers love them.

I think getting a set is a good idea. It a commitment and you got all the colors you need to get your minis painted. If the paint doesn't work for you it's probably not the paints fault if someone can make it work so can you. That's how I look at it. Commit and figure out how to make it work

If it covers properly it's good paint I guess is the easy answer. Personally I've got Citadel and Army Painter to play with and am brand new to miniature painting, the Citadels seem a bit thicker but the Army Painter paints are brand new and apparently the first stuff coming out is not the paint (which I didn't know - you need to really make sure you shake that bottle properly before use). Once I got the paint mixed properly I'm not seeing much difference, they both cover well but I like the fact I can't spill the Army Painter ones easily due to the dropper bottle design.

I needed you guys to console me for buying the army painter paints. Lol

I would like to see a secund video on this subject were you talk even more about the Strengths of some paints. For example, in some situations it mite be most efficient to use contrast paints for the fastest but best result. And some times "classical" method are faster and gets you a better result for less work. And what are those situations in your opinion...? Formost of us, thats Whats Its about. We are not artists... We want to lern technics that easyly can be replicated and optimising all the "hobby cheats" you can, to get as close to "box-art" as possible in the easyest/fastest way possible. Thats what a lot of us are after. Nothing bad with replacing skill with some extra mony to get some help in some situations if you can. (Im a builder, I kit-bash like crazy. Thats my thing. Then, I want a hight lvl fast) I think thats what people mean when they ask about paint. You did not answer that in this video. Thank you ☺️ 🤘🏻

Asymmetrical Jungle Warfare is a fantastic album name.

Warcolours makes the best white. Zero chalky and very smooth.

Ultramarine blue is amazing, I use it too smoothen transitions on my wait for it - Ultramarines! But I do dilute it with flow improver.

I use citadel for most but sometimes the colours can be a little "earthy" so if i want vibrant im going Vallejo. They're also good for coloured metallics and airbrush. Ive tried army painter and it refused to have any coverage whatsoever and didn't work in airbrush either.

P3 are great, but they fall short when it comes to cold colours. Especially blue and green. Fortunately I like to paint in warm earthy colours, using colder ones for accents, so the range works great for my purpose.