difference in paints

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rumpleforcekin

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Hi guys. I'm having a hard time with the cheap paint I'm trying to use on paper. The craft paint is not so bad, but I think would spray better with a medium tip (I have only a fine tip on my badger 175). The poster paint is terrible, hard to thin, and clogs the brush often. Both will not come out of the gun unless I do at least a medium pullback on the trigger.. nothing... then a medium flow, no fine lines..

I noticed the difference when using regular testors enamels on my models, in comparison. The enamel flowed well, thinned easy, stuck well, and allowed me to make really fine lines (If I had needed them).

I guess I need to break down and buy some decent paint for airbrush art. It seems the paint I see everywhere is called createx. Michaels, my local crafts store sells spectra tex. They both sound similar, in that they can be used on a variety of surfaces, including textiles. This paint is a little pricey for me (I know it's actually the cheap stuff). I just wondered if there'd be a cheaper alternative if I had interest in only putting the paint on paper (or canvas I guess). I also don't mind doing a little mixing if I could get by cheaper that way. Any suggestions?
 
Personally I've never liked Createx a lot. The new generation Wicked is somewhat better than previous series, but still not my favorite paint. The main reason I'm not fond of Createx is the coarseness of the pigmentation, the second reason is that the medium in which the pigment is contained is not the best available. In Holland at Airbrush Services Almere a bottle of Wicked costs as much as a bottle of Holbein Aeroflash (7.25 Euro). The Createx bottles contain 60 ml of paint and the Holbein bottles contain 35 ml. But apart from the price / quantity ratio there are other things to consider as well:

1. Holbein sprays much easier - the flow is better (because the pigments are finer than in Createx)
2. Holbein gives less tip dry - the frequency of you needing to clean the needle is much lower (because the medium is superior)
3. Holbein behaves very well without using additional substances and remains easy to spray even if you leave paint overnight in the airbrush's paint cup (which I do often)

If you leave paint in the airbrush cup without spraying for hours, the medium will evaporate, so the paint becomes thicker (more pigment particles per volume). Adding Talens ******er before you resume spraying will dilute the paint again and you can continue spraying. I also tried this also with Createx (and even then it works) beside with Holbein. Ox gall (I also have that from Talens) works almost in a similar way and has the added benefit of spraying even smoother. If I leave the paint overnight, the paint cup is usually half filled. Adding one drop of ******er or ox gall is enough to not let the paint go to waste.

Then there is an other thing to consider. For the JFK portrait on A4 paper - 8.27 × 11.69 inch or 210 × 297 mm - I used 8 drops of Holbein paint for the entire painting, because the pigments are better, even though in theory Holbein is more transparent than Wicked. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect the paints will last artists approximately an equal amount of time / art works.

A paint of slightly less superior quality than Holbein is Lukas Illu-Color. A 30 ml bottle costs 4.75 Euro in Holland. For iluustration and fine art this paint is excellent. It can also be used to spray t-shirts (for which Holbein is not fit) when adding the textile medium. Image sprayed with it survive washing machine abuse.

The only type of use at which Createx beats Holbein Aeroflash and Lukas Illu-Color is its better adhesion to hard surfaces, but if you're working on paper the better paints should be no problem.
 
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Hi there,
Im also not the biggest fan of Createx colors. I have the wicked colors and only use them on hard surfaces. When i paint on paper i mostly use Schmincke Aero Color.
I also have a few bottles of Spectra Tex here and i like them better then the Wicked colors. I dont know what paints you have available in the USA though, but here
the Spectra Tex are about the cheapest airbrush paints i seen so far.
 
When I first started and practised on paper I used F&W ink. You can thin it with water, and it was pretty cheap with a good range of colour. Make sure you get the right one though, it should have an airbrush icon on the bottle.
 
I ordered a 1 ox bottle of badger black to try. I looked up some of those paints you guys mentioned, and they're even more expensive here. The F&W ink sounds interesting to me. I really like the way my printer ink sprays, but it comes out too light. What's the difference between ink and paint as far as airbrushing goes?
 
The FW bottles look conspicuously much like the legendary Rotring airbrush ink I used to spray with... Unfortunately some brain dead manager decided to discontinue it. Inks behave like candies, nothing (except water) sprays easier, only inks have better coverage. What you can do with printing ink can be seen here where my friend MEO did large format (movie bill boards) miracles with the liquid. Not sure what brand he's using. But perhaps he'll tell me.
 
Hi guys. I'm having a hard time with the cheap paint I'm trying to use on paper. The craft paint is not so bad, but I think would spray better with a medium tip (I have only a fine tip on my badger 175). The poster paint is terrible, hard to thin, and clogs the brush often. Both will not come out of the gun unless I do at least a medium pullback on the trigger.. nothing... then a medium flow, no fine lines..

I noticed the difference when using regular testors enamels on my models, in comparison. The enamel flowed well, thinned easy, stuck well, and allowed me to make really fine lines (If I had needed them).

I guess I need to break down and buy some decent paint for airbrush art. It seems the paint I see everywhere is called createx. Michaels, my local crafts store sells spectra tex. They both sound similar, in that they can be used on a variety of surfaces, including textiles. This paint is a little pricey for me (I know it's actually the cheap stuff). I just wondered if there'd be a cheaper alternative if I had interest in only putting the paint on paper (or canvas I guess). I also don't mind doing a little mixing if I could get by cheaper that way. Any suggestions?

What psi were you using when you tried the poster paint?
 
I was using around 15 to 20 psi to spray the poster paint. I picked up some spectra tex today at Michaels. They had a half off coupon, so I got it for $16. I'll try it out tomorrow.

I also will look into ink, as it sounds like what I'd like to work with. I'm reading the airbrush studio book right now, on the part about the difference between dyes and... the other one.
 
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...pigments.

I tried the spectra tex today with the dots, and had crap luck. The stuff kept drying up at the nozzle. I've dealt with this before, and expect it, but this happened after a minute of cleaning the tip over and over. I was spraying a little high psi compared to normal, at 20. I turned it down around 15 and had the same drying really quick. Clean tip, do one dot, clean tip, one dot, etc. I got tyred of it and just tried to gun that crap through (It would spray if you made it heavy enough). It seems like the craft paint worked better than this stuff, meant for an airbrush. When I was spraying testors enamel through it the other day, it was like a dream. Tip didn't even dry until I was almost done, and just that once. I had sprayed for maybe a half hour or fourty five minutes..
I'm starting to hate acrylic. I know I need to give it a chance, but what a terrible first impression. It's pretty hot where I'm at in Corona, CA. I'll try to get some glycerine from the drugstore to use as a ******er. Should I thin it with alcohol or blue cleaner, instead of water? Would it help with this exact problem? Thanks for reading.
 
I'm not familiar with spectratex, but if the company sells a reducer for it then I would def get it. I use wicked paints and always use the w100 reducer recommended to use with it. I do get a bit of tip dry after a while, and some colours are worse than others, but properly reduced (or even over reduced is probably better) with the correct reducer, I don't have a problem. So don't give up on acrylics yet, they are great and very versatile.
 
you can use glycerin to help with tip dry just ad a little drop helps with the flow. I keep a piece of steel wool by me when I AB to take off the tip dry and clean the noozle works great. So doesn't finger nails too lol.
 
Steel wool? I thought that would scratch. I use cotton swabs the same way, I think. I will be looking for glycerin today.
 
I also use steel wool on glass and chrome seems to work good no scratchs on chrome or glass. Glycerin you can get at any drug store or even walmarts. It is usually by the first aid section around the rubbing alchohol another good purchase which is handy to have around.
 
If you put too much glycerin in your paint it will turn to snot while your trying to spray it. Not good.
 
Rumple, as with all airbrush products I always recommend people buy expensive, but buy once. I use createx, however I hear good things about etac and com-art paints also. I like createx because many people use it and hence it's kind of a standard. If u only want to buy one colour I'd recommend violet and the applicable reducer.
Spend the $20-$25. Here in aus I pay $25 for 450ml createx and I'm really happy with that.
That's my 2 cents. After hearing what ignis said about those Dutch paints starting with H- keen to give them a go too
 
I've read reviews on spectra tex, and people like it for the most part. It's also what I can run out and grab if I need to. If I go out and buy the wicked set or something I might end up with the same result I had with the spectra (frequent dry tip). I just got some glycerin at the drug store, and have to give the spectra tex a chance with it before I dam it to hell. I do live in a hot and dry area. My moisture trap hasn't collected a drop after about 5 hours of painting. If all else fails, I'll just spray inks I guess. Thanks for all the advice from everyone. I'll go easy on the glyc, and pick up some createx violet to try.
 
Cheap paints are exactly that LOL, I'm sure your noticing the difference or will do when you spray some decent paint through ya brush, but cheaper paints can be made to work a bit easier by using a flow medium..This is a product that aids in the smooth flow of acrylic tube paints..I use a brand made by "Jo Sonja's" that I have found works for me..Grab a tube, reduce it with half the flow medium and half water to your milky consistency (The flow medium also helps reduce binder breakdown which is common in cheaper paints if you add to much water)..Also add a few drops of glycerin to your mix to help keep it wetter on the tip to reduce the tip dry as ya mentioned..Make sure you also strain it very well to remove those big clumps of pigment that are likely present..A marble or ball bearing in your bottle will assist in breaking those clumps down more before you strain the paint..They still won't spray like top end paints but it will spray much better and is a great cheap way to get started...GL
 
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