What't the difference?

[Pegasi1978]

[Pegasi1978]

I recently made a trip to AC Moore (an arts and crafts store) to get supplies for painting my PYO wolf. I managed to find Liquitex paints Basic Matt(http://www.liquitex.com/Products/paintbasicsmatt.cfm) and brushes to use as well.

But I got confused when it came to the mediums. They had three different types http://www.liquitex.com/Products/fluidmediums.cfm: Slo Dri Blending Medium, Gloss Medium and Vanrish, and Matte Medium.

What’s the difference between these and which one do/should I use as a mixing medium? I’d like to know so I can return soon and use a 50% off coupon they gave me for whichever I need because they run about $7/bottle.

I’m planning on testing things out on something other than my PYO wolf – probably use an old plaster mold I have of a unicorn on a cloud with a rainbow and make it for practice using the materials.

[Jennifer]

I haven’t had experience with any of those particular products except the gloss medium and varnish (if anyone HAS, please feel free to chime in and share how they worked for you) but I looked over each product.

And, in the end, it looks like you should choose based on your personal preference! It says that all of these extend or thin the paint and increase flow, which is what a thinning medium would do, essentially. So you should choose based on the results you want. The Matte medium will make the paint colors more opaque and reduce the gloss… perhaps a good thing for painting fur and feathers, and not so good for shiny scales. The gloss medium is a thick gel, that dries clear and very glossy, so if you want a nice rich glossy look this might be the one for you. The slo dri blending looks like a type of retarder which obviously slows down drying time and allows you to work the paint for longer. If you want to do a lot of very soft blending, this might be what you want.

All in all it’s personal preference! Good luck. 🙂

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
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[sunhawk]

i’ve had experience using Liquitex paints (moderately good, not as good as Golden but not as bad as Rheotech, which is a poor man’s Tri-art) and I remember that liquitex paints are less viscous and tend to pool on your palette, rather than sit like a blob. Sometimes that liquid quality is useful and probably more so when you are painting a PYO, though when i used Liquitex for paintings i used to add gel medium to give it a little help in the texture-creating department. And being a little more liquid is definitely better than being prone to clumps like Rheotech; it tends to make the paint less easy to blend with other paints.

In terms of those mediums, i believe Nam explained them pretty well as far as i know. I haven’t used the slow-dri medium but it does sound like retarder but is maybe a little thicker like gloss medium. Any medium, whether gloss or matte, can also act a bit like a retarder in terms of staying wet longer on your palette if not your subject.

That’s what i know anyway 🙂

[Pegasi1978]

Thanks to both of you for replying. I’ve never worked with acrylic paints before (only craft paints like the Apple Barrel brand and watching my father use Testors on model cars) so when the tutorial mentioned a mixing medium I was confused.

I still haven’t decided which one to get when I go back, but I think I understand them a little better now. I’ll definately be doing some contemplating/debating before I pick one to use on my PYO wolf that’s for sure.

[Jennifer]

pegasi1978 wrote:

Thanks to both of you for replying. I’ve never worked with acrylic paints before (only craft paints like the Apple Barrel brand and watching my father use Testors on model cars) so when the tutorial mentioned a mixing medium I was confused.

I still haven’t decided which one to get when I go back, but I think I understand them a little better now. I’ll definately be doing some contemplating/debating before I pick one to use on my PYO wolf that’s for sure.

Actually, the Apple Barrel paints are indeed acrylics! They are just of a ‘craft’ grade instead of an ‘artist’s’ grade, but they are acrylic and I’ve used them to paint before. 🙂 Testors is a type of enamel paint which shouldn’t be used on large areas of Windstones (but you probably knew that!) 😀

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com

[Pegasi1978]

Aw man! I wish I had known sooner that Apple Barrel paints were acrylics (the bottles I have don’t say it). They are a lot cheaper per bottle than the liquitex and don’t require thinning at all, plus I don’t have to drive to the arts and crafts store an hour away to get more. Now I have to decide on returning the liquitex or give it a try.

Testors does have an acrylics line as well, you just have to look at the packaging carefully. I considered the Testors at first, but they didn’t have the color I wanted in a bottle by itself so I didn’t go with those.

[NirvanaCat13]

Give the liquitex paints a try, they are really nice to work with, IMHO(my experience with them is on paper/canvas, not sculpture, but they work nicely)

[sunhawk]

I agree that the “craft acrylic” label can be misleading because there are some “Artist grade” acrylics that are faaaar worse than the ones you get in the craft section of whatever store you choose. Except dollar stores, unless the store happens to carry a brand name found in normal stores, because dollar store stuff is a bit… hit and miss. Can be just fine or can be hilariously bad LOL Don’t get me wrong, i use dollar stores for everything else, just not paint generally

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