Colour theory

At the moment i’ve had a little go at mixing the com arts and only seem to get brown lol
I have got my IC now but want to use the com art just to get my daggers and reverse daggers right. Also have a little play about with mixing, i’ve made the secondary colours correctly but just seems when ever I add a complimentary colour I get brown.
I think I need to work the ratios out properly though.
Ones I start to use the illustration i’ll get empty bottles and mix that way just to get my head round it a bit more.
 
Practicing daily though and now know the basic colour wheel off the top of my head so I’m learning.
I wanted to learn with Black and grey first but the way fhe black performs i might bin that idea.
Does paint go off because it seems my blacks are getting worse?
I did buy the .2mm nozzle though and seem to have more issues now than i have with the .3mm nozzle
 
At the moment i’ve had a little go at mixing the com arts and only seem to get brown lol
I have got my IC now but want to use the com art just to get my daggers and reverse daggers right. Also have a little play about with mixing, i’ve made the secondary colours correctly but just seems when ever I add a complimentary colour I get brown.
I think I need to work the ratios out properly though.
Ones I start to use the illustration i’ll get empty bottles and mix that way just to get my head round it a bit more.
Just means you have too much red and yellow, add more blue...it will look black. add some white to see what youve really got.
 
Just means you have too much red and yellow, add more blue...it will look black. add some white to see what youve really got.

Thats a great tip thanks, i’ll try that tomorrow.
Just had another go at an eye, only freehand for now so nothing major and the black just seems unuseable through that nozzle.
I can pull tiny lines with any other colour but trying to get the blood vessles in the eye right was horrific with the black.
I can do eyelashes easy now so i’m happy with that :D
 
Practicing daily though and now know the basic colour wheel off the top of my head so I’m learning.
I wanted to learn with Black and grey first but the way fhe black performs i might bin that idea.
Does paint go off because it seems my blacks are getting worse?
I did buy the .2mm nozzle though and seem to have more issues now than i have with the .3mm nozzle
That will happen with .2, and itll need cleaned more. The paint wont really go bad quick at all, sometimes it will get worse as you go even if your brush is clean only if youve not been shaking it well or leaving it open. Straining helps too
 
Im very guilty of not shaking it well all the time, which is great at first since you only get the very smallest pigment particles since the others have settled out. Until youre halfway through a bottle and finally shake it LOL
 
I have a habbit of leaving the cap open so was thinking it might be that.
I’ll get in the habbit of shutting it, I just put some violet in anyway and it is roughly performing the same so probably needs a decent clean.
 
Oh to get you going on making a primary grey the easiest way ive found is to mix some orange then add that a little at a time to blue with a bit of white from there youll start getting the other ones easier. It only takes a small amount of the warm color.
 
Thats a great tip thanks, i’ll try that tomorrow.
Just had another go at an eye, only freehand for now so nothing major and the black just seems unuseable through that nozzle.
I can pull tiny lines with any other colour but trying to get the blood vessles in the eye right was horrific with the black.
I can do eyelashes easy now so i’m happy with that :D
With regards to the black, don't give up with it too early. What mix are you running, i.e. reduction, pressure, any trans base?
 
With regards to the black, don't give up with it too early. What mix are you running, i.e. reduction, pressure, any trans base?

I just used it straight from the bottle at first, then tried a few drops of water with the opaque black which worked in the past.
Even the trans black run like crap so I cleaned it out and tried the violet which has been running relatively problem free, that also run a bit rubbish so I stripped and cleaned before I went to bed last night.
I’ll try again today after work see how I get on.
 
I just used it straight from the bottle at first, then tried a few drops of water with the opaque black which worked in the past.
Even the trans black run like crap so I cleaned it out and tried the violet which has been running relatively problem free, that also run a bit rubbish so I stripped and cleaned before I went to bed last night.
I’ll try again today after work see how I get on.
If they’re still. It great, reduce a little more and try again. I know people use con art with finer brushes than .2. Give it a little more and see what happens.


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Will do SiRoxx thanks
I was a bit surprised really as the violet has run so well practicing my lines and fades all week so I was a bit gutted when I sat down to actually have a go at painting something and trying out the techniques that it run like crap.
 
Will do SiRoxx thanks
I was a bit surprised really as the violet has run so well practicing my lines and fades all week so I was a bit gutted when I sat down to actually have a go at painting something and trying out the techniques that it run like crap.
That can happen from one day to the next. Don’t be disheartened, the reduction required will change small amounts with simply the level of moisture in the air. Or as you’ve said, it’s simply the brush isn’t quite clean. You’ll get there.


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Fingers crossed
I’m sad in the fact I quite enjoy doing lines and fades so not disheartened yet and not painted anything yet really so once I get my head round all these little problems I will enjoy it even more.
 
windsor and Newton flow improver works lovely with the com arts opaque black.
Just testing now.
I gave the brush a good clean last night, came home today put some of the com arts violet in and straight away pulling tiny little maybe 1mm lines with the end cap off and the needle showing.
Stuck the opaque black in and my fine lines are not solid almost like the brush is spitting. They are 1mm lines but rather than solid like the violet they are broken, i poured as little of the flow improver in as I could as it hasn’t gor a dropper top and the 1mm lines are now solid so it seems worth using if anyone is interested in giving it a go.
Cost me £4 from The Range.
I will see how it runs while i’m using black, maybe it just needed reducing but com-arts should be ready straight out of the bottle going by their product discription.
 
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I will see how it runs while i’m using black, maybe it just needed reducing but com-arts should be ready straight out of the bottle going by their product discription.
quite a few manufactures claim ready 'straight out of the bottle' but often the criteria is that it is used at 50psi (normal for tshirts/textiles)
so when you use them for art that theory goes out the window.

you'll slowly start to know if reduction is required for your needs for the day. do a test spray without reducer then just add as needed, you can always add more,
 
My suggestion, don't buy one.
You can find everything you need to know online.
heres a free book that covers all you need
https://www.derivan.com.au/assets/downloads/the-colour-book.pdf


Heres a simplified advanced system
http://jon404.com/dload/mix.pdf
From what I gather this system is basically what @musicmacd has been discovering and leaning towards all on his own.

Buy something like this
https://www.dickblick.com/products/artists-color-wheel/
thank u for sharing nice links
 
Sounds like a good plan for color mixing.
Golden has an airbrush medium you can use to thin their paints, of course that would probably be just as expensive or more.
I've had success when just messing around using craft paints. Not the bottom of the line 50 cent ones (the pigment is too rough) but the same kind of brands $1.50 ones. Ive had a lot of success thinning artist acrylic with just water and liquitex varnish and it works great until you get into tiny details. If you thin it enough to work right then on small details it just spiders all over the place.
It really does no good for learning how to thin the paint you will actually be using though.
So if my Createx spiders then I reduced it too much? Or is my psi to high or too low? current psi on paper medium 20psi reduced 4:1 Reducer 4 paint 1
 
The first training course I will buy will be from Mitch.
1. He's responsible for this sweet forum.
2. He's just like hey, wanna paint like me? Ok I can teach you that.
3. I've never seen him trash talk other artists
4. He doesn't use any hard sales tactics
5. He doesn't claim to have any secret revolutionary product or method you can only possibly learn by paying him
6. He's just that cool
7. Last but not least, His work is great, If I could only paint like him Id be pretty happy
And He teaches us to ... "spread the love'"!!
 
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