Transparent Paints (createx)

T

Tobi-Lea

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Hey yall, I used to airbrush as a kid just started up again. I've just been using opaque colours, I use createx paints. Can I make my own transparent colours by thinning them out? probably a total newb question but I have no idea I didn't even know there were transparent colours. I'm not keen on buying a excrement load of colours if I can mix them up myself.
 
Technically, no you can't. If you add reducer or transparent base to the opaque color, you're really just extending the amount of spraying it takes until the paint reaches full opacity. The difference between opaques and transparents is that when opaques reach full saturation, they will get no darker, no matter how much you spray. Transparents will continue to get darker and darker the more you spray until theoretically, they become black. Now in reality, this doesn't happen with light colors like transparent yellow, but you get the idea. Also, the pigment size in opaques is usually larger, so lets say you spray the opaque at 50% intensity, it will not be as transparent as a true transparent color sprayed at 50% intensity. What you can do is buy mostly transparent paints and you can make them opaque by adding a small amount of opaque white. This is called buffering. Read Dru Blair's color buffer theory for more info on this. This way you can stock mainly transparent paints and make them opaque when needed by adding white. The only color that can't be buffered is transparent red. If you add white to red, it will turn pink, so you have to buy opaque red. Hope this helps.
 
Adding to JT's excellent post... There's a difference between transparent paint and candy paint as well. Spraying multiple layers of the same transparent yellow JT mentioned will gradually give you a darker and darker yellow, but as he said it will not produce an almost black appearance in the end. It will still be yellow. If you do the same thing with a candy yellow, it will reach an almost black appearance if you're spraying a true candy color. Downside is... true candies do not exist in the waterbased world.
 
ok, great info here, now i have a question. can i add tranparent base to an opaque color to make it transpent paint, but it will still have the larger paint pigments???
 
ok, great info here, now i have a question. can i add tranparent base to an opaque color to make it transpent paint, but it will still have the larger paint pigments???

Yes and no... Refer back to JT's answer... Technically speaking, anytime you add transparent base to a pigment you are in effect only extending the pigment. The final color at full saturation will remain the same as the original color without the trans base added. The color will behave as a transparent to some extent with the trans base added, but ultimately it cannot be a true transparent... I think I just confused myself, so I hope that makes sense...lol.

I'm not a chemist, but I would think the pigment size would remain the same when mixed with trans base because you're technically only extending or thinning the binder... but, I could be completely wrong on that.
 
ok, great info here, now i have a question. can i add tranparent base to an opaque color to make it transpent paint, but it will still have the larger paint pigments???

Josh, the short answer is no. By adding the transparent base to an opaque, you're just spreading out the pigment more, so it will take more paint to reach full saturation. Let me state it this way: If I put 1 ounce of yellow pigment in 1 ounce of binder and spray that, it will reach full saturation much quicker then if I put the same 1 ounce of yellow pigment in 8 ounces of binder, but ultimately, they will both achieve exactly the same color once full saturation is achieved. The latter example will just take much longer to reach full saturation. In a pinch if you needed a transparent color and didn't have it, you could add transparent base to an opaque and as long as you don't spray it to full saturation, it can act as a transparent to some degree. It will never be as transparent as a true transparent and a lot depends on what you're trying to achieve. Like I said before, its easier to make a transparent opaque by adding white, except for red. You have to buy opaque red because transparent red plus white equals pink.
 
cool, thats what i was looking for. kinda like doing a monotone portrait. i will add the transparent base and work lightly and it will give a nice fade from light saturation to full intese color..... right? i just dont like to commit to full color right off the bat because i like to build things up very slowly. i have a full set of opaques but dont really like opaques, lol!1 they were a gift so i thought i would get a big bottle of transparent base to mix with them to work the way i like to. thanks guys for the help!!
 
For doing a monochromatic portrait, using a highly reduced opaque can be your best friend. You will be able to get the subtle fades, but the opaque won't let you go too dark. Most think using transparents are easier, but really they're not. If you spray a transparent a second too long, it gets too dark and there's no going back and if you need to repair a mistake in a transparent artwork, guess how? Yup, you repair it with an opaque.
 
This is a great thread, learnt a lot. I know that doesn't help but....yeah.
 
using a highly reduced opaque

Be careful not to over-reduce your opaques (or transparents) too much. Some paint brands handle high reduction rates well but some don't, again its wise to experiment, if you add to much volume of reducer you can get a very grainy look due to the reasons mentioned above (less pigment, more volume) it can also break down your paints pigment binder. Personally I like to use a mixture of all the different paint types, opaque, semi-opaque and transparents for most of my work. One issue Seamonkey if using an opaque only system is chalkiness. Home made opaques suffer this badly and it can really create an overpainted look to your opaque work, especially with multiple layers,many art traditionilists avoid using white as much as possible in their work for this reason..Black also for that matter but for different reasons, and if you are creating your own opaque paints from transparents it will suffer chalkiness even worse as its not a pure color pigment your using, it has white in everything you use..By buying your opaques it helps to reduce this aspect of things, keeps your colors cleaner and less pastel, though personally I make my own a lot cause I just like to have fun and paint, I'm not stressed about this aspect.

I mentioned I like to use all 3 types, many artists will start with opaques so mistakes can be easily fixed and so you don't value your dark's to heavy to begin with so many rely on a dark charcoal/opaque black instead to finish of their monochromes but a problem with finishing of a monochrome with opaque darks is that it tends to look flat, it lets little of the base layering through and hides all that earlier hard work (especially if it involves texture layering) and this for me is when transparents come into their own and why its good to use both systems, opaque to build the base and trans to make it come to life..I find using transparents as the final layering process allows all that good earlier work to come through, you can saturate em to the point of black and hide anything needed hid or for really dark shadows and it also blends away some of the chalky look that a straight out opaque can suffer..

What I'm trying to say is don't throw out your transparents just yet LOL, try utilizing all paint types and use each's advantage to your benefit as both have their benefits and both have their negatives, using ones to counter the others really will make a noticable difference to your art..GL
 
This might be a dumb question... What is a monochromatic painting? Is it doing a painting in just black and white to get the chrome color? Does it have anything to do with making it look chrome in appearance.


Dylan
 
Thanks everyone for the awesome input. I was thinking like Seamonkey as far as mixing opaques with transparent base to make a transparent. Learned yet another thing here tonight! Haaaa!!!! Drobbins. It is using any one color throughout a painting by just tinting the same color to go from your lightest to darker areas.
 
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So whats the difference between transparent base and reducer? ive always found that a little confusing.....also with brands like createx they have things like "illustration base"

how do these addatives fit into what we've been talking about?

Great thread by the way....would have loved to read this as i began to airbrush, cleared up alot of confusion.

M. Chickens.
 
So whats the difference between transparent base and reducer? ive always found that a little confusing.....also with brands like createx they have things like "illustration base"

how do these addatives fit into what we've been talking about?

Great thread by the way....would have loved to read this as i began to airbrush, cleared up alot of confusion.

M. Chickens.

Transparent base is basically clear paint, which when mixed with some of your paint it will spread out the pigments ad make it transparent. Take black for instance, if mixed with trans base for first initial pass will be a mid to dark grey. Then your second pass over that will be darker, and so on until it reaches the full intensity of black. That is how trans base makes your paint act like a kandy.
The reducer just thins your paint down.

Hope that is explained right and helps. :)


Josh
 
Ok cool, so they both dilute the concentration of pigment but the reducer will also thin out your paint where as trans base (being thicker) will dilute the pigment but the viscosity of the paint won't change. Gotcha.

Thanks
 
Ok cool, so they both dilute the concentration of pigment but the reducer will also thin out your paint where as trans base (being thicker) will dilute the pigment but the viscosity of the paint won't change. Gotcha.

Thanks

Yes and no, lol! They both dilute the pigment but in different ways. If you want less tip dry use reducer, if you want to not have just one color at 100% then mix with trans base. The trans base will give the transparency, the reducer just thins it out. You can over reduce the paint and it will scare all over the surface because the binder in the paint is to thin and won't grab the surface.
I use the trans base when doing portraits so I don't go to dark and it forces me to slow down because I have a heavy finger that tends to put to much paint to fast. If I would just reduce it, then it would be the same intensity of the color I'm using. But that's just the way I do things.
Watch my Indian video. All I'm using is black with 3 different mixture with trans base, and solid black being the 3rd one only for the darkest of the darks.


Josh
 
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