Looking to expand my collection of paints. What colors should i get?

[Tabris_]

I've being painting miniatures for about 5 months and loving it. Here in Brazil it's not as easy to get the materials but still things go ok (when the postal service don't get in my ways). I'm an adept of the Vallejo paints and i'm noticing that my collection of paints seem to look less formidable every time i paint. I would like the opinions of you guys in what colors i don't have would be good buys. I can't just go to a hobby store and test because i don't know any place that sells Vallejo or GW paints here and the colors in the webstores are not always exactly like the paint.

Right now i have the following paint:

GW Brown Ink
GW Catachan Green
GW Desert Yellow
GW Enhanced Blue
GW Ice Blue
GW Kommando Khaki
GW Midnight Blue
GW Regal Blue
GW Scorpion Green
GW Tanned Flesh
GW Terracotta
VGC Beasty Brown
VGC Black
VGC Bloody Red
VGC Bonewhite
VGC Bronze Fleshtone
VGC Charred Brown
VGC Dark Fleshtone
VGC Dark Green
VGC Dead Flesh
VGC Dead White
VGC Dwarf Skin
VGC Earth
VGC Elf Skintone
VGC Elfic Flesh
VGC Goblin Green
VGC Gunmetal Metal
VGC Orange Fire
VGC Pale Flesh
VGC Polished Gold
VGC Silver
VGC Skin Wash
VGC Stonewall Grey
VGC Sun Yellow
VGC Ultramarine Blue
VMA Aluminium Metallic
VMA Arctic Blue Metallic
VMA Black Metallic
VMA Bright Brass Metallic
VMA Chrome Metallic
VMA Copper Metallic
VMA Gold Metallic
VMA Gun Metallic
VMA Rust Metallic
VMA Silver Metallic
VMA Steel Metalic
VMA Turn Signal Red Metallic
VMC Royal Purple

I'm working in a Eldar army with a color scheme i created myself (see bellow) but i would really like to be "prepared for everything", not just equipped for one kind of mini.

Can you guys help me with some suggestions?

View attachment 3891

 

[Einion]

You don't need anything.

Even with all the metallics discounted you've got over 30 colours already, that should generally be more than enough for most uses; for day-to-day painting of miniatures 12-15 colours should be fine (you can actually make do with a lot less) since so much can be achieved with mixing.

The only reason to add more paints is if you don't want to do much or any mixing.

You might genuinely have a need to add a specialist colour or two for army painting, something that you'll be using a lot of and need to be consistent, but other than that it looks like you're well set up.

Einion

 

[Mourner]

I'd say, do what i do: buy whichever colour you need...

otherwise, sort your paints by color and see which shades you miss

something that catches my eye.... your eldar are going to be purple and yellow but i see only 2 purple and 2 yellow paints on a list of 48.... i do see a lot of flesh-tones and metallics....

my paint coffer contains the following (some 90 pots total):
4 purples (dark => pink)
7 reds (incl foundation, up to orange)
8 greens (incl 2 foundations)
5 flesh (incl foundation)
12 browns (scorched brown => bleached bone)
5 metallic silver
6 gold metallics (tin bitz => burnished gold)
4 yellows (incl foundation)
4 blues
6 greys (black => white)
12 washes and inks
7 cool mediums (glaze, metallic, slow-dry etc)
and a couple of oddball things

i've got a pretty complete collection with enough shades of each color to make smooth transitions
(i actually use about 25-50% of these paints)

 

[Tabris_]

I'd say, do what i do: buy whichever colour you need...

otherwise, sort your paints by color and see which shades you miss

something that catches my eye.... your eldar are going to be purple and yellow but i see only 2 purple and 2 yellow paints on a list of 48.... i do see a lot of flesh-tones and metallics....

my paint coffer contains the following (some 90 pots total):
4 purples (dark => pink)
7 reds (incl foundation, up to orange)
8 greens (incl 2 foundations)
5 flesh (incl foundation)
12 browns (scorched brown => bleached bone)
5 metallic silver
6 gold metallics (tin bitz => burnished gold)
4 yellows (incl foundation)
4 blues
6 greys (black => white)
12 washes and inks
7 cool mediums (glaze, metallic, slow-dry etc)
and a couple of oddball things

i've got a pretty complete collection with enough shades of each color to make smooth transitions
(i actually use about 25-50% of these paints)

Good point. I have this many skintones because i bought the Vallejo Skintone set. The metallics i think i over did it when i was unhappy with the results in a other mini.

I'll probably go for some more shades of yellow and purple and some other colors i like. Good point with sorting the by shade, i'll do that today.

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

I agree with Einion when he says:

"The only reason to add more paints is if you don't want to do much or any mixing"

I have half the amount of paints than yourself, but i have a load of old Tamiya pots (the glass ones) that i use to keep mixes in. The mixed paint remains stable for a long time in these (in fact, longer than in plastic tubs or bottles!)

You seem to have a lot of the more brighter colours though, and if you wanted a more all-round paint set i would suggest getting some more Vallejo Model Colour into your collection. There are some really nice colours in this range, more muted colours than GW or VGC stuff, Brown Violet, Chocolate brown and Green-grey being my particular current favourites.

 

[Tabris_]

I agree with Einion when he says:

"The only reason to add more paints is if you don't want to do much or any mixing"

I have half the amount of paints than yourself, but i have a load of old Tamiya pots (the glass ones) that i use to keep mixes in. The mixed paint remains stable for a long time in these (in fact, longer than in plastic tubs or bottles!)

You seem to have a lot of the more brighter colours though, and if you wanted a more all-round paint set i would suggest getting some more Vallejo Model Colour into your collection. There are some really nice colours in this range, more muted colours than GW or VGC stuff, Brown Violet, Chocolate brown and Green-grey being my particular current favourites.

My next buy is going to be mostly VMC stuff. Will try to get some more mute colors.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

burnt umber - my favourite colour of all time.

 

[Einion]

You seem to have a lot of the more brighter colours though, and if you wanted a more all-round paint set i would suggest getting some more Vallejo Model Colour into your collection. There are some really nice colours in this range, more muted colours than GW or VGC stuff, Brown Violet, Chocolate brown and Green-grey being my particular current favourites.

But dulling colour down is so easy (and it's one of my favourite things to do in mixing anyway).

A palette of 'bright' colours, with the means to lower chroma where needed (which most palettes contain automatically) means less clutter, costs less and provides more mixing experience which benefits the painter in the long term.

burnt umber - my favourite colour of all time.

Burnt Umber's nice, one of my favourite earths, but white is actually my favourite colour... think about it, when's the last time you painted something without it?

Einion

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

But dulling colour down is so easy (and it's one of my favourite things to do in mixing anyway).

A palette of 'bright' colours, with the means to lower chroma where needed (which most palettes contain automatically) means less clutter, costs less and provides more mixing experience which benefits the painter in the long term.

yes yes, i totally agree, i was only suggesting some ways to increase the original posters paint collection, as he asked

Ok smarty pants, take the list of paints from the first post and tell me how you would use these to make a close match to say, VMC Middlestone, or VMC Brown Violet

(im only joking btw, but i would like to see your take on that one)

Dave

 

[Einion]

Ok smarty pants, take the list of paints from the first post and tell me how you would use these to make a close match to say, VMC Middlestone, or VMC Brown Violet

(im only joking btw, but i would like to see your take on that one)

I don't know what those colours look like I'm afraid, but I'll take a stab at it anyway.

Based on the swatches in the PDF:
Middlestone: Sun Yellow, a little black, white, maybe a smidge of red. Or maybe Desert Yellow, white and a dot of black.
Brown Violet: this is a green?? Sun Yellow, black, white. Or perhaps Desert Yellow, Catachan Green + a touch of Stonewall Grey.

Einion

 

[Jbickley00]

Brown violet is really classic Olive drab, mix black into yellow until you get the tone right.
The middlestone is a yellow grey, it can be easily mixed with a yellow ochre, adding a middle grey and then white. Einion's take on the middlestone is pretty good.
ultimately you can get any color with a bit of thought and a colorwheel. One reason I went back to artists colors was that using VMC had becomea bit of "paint by numbers" for me. I like the fact that in mixing, very often my colors come out a little different each time-though exact conformity is not that hard to achieve. People don't tan evenly, colors don't fade evenly when exposed to the sun, and even the weather can make variations in the same shade. So each model is a little more unique because the colors are not precise - yet they are close enough to look right. When you start a color wheel is a terrigf tool, because it lets you road map your way around hue and value and you can mix the color you want and not just have the color that comes in the bottle.

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

Brown Violet: this is a green??Einion

A very nice shade of green too

I always wondered why it was called 'brown violet' untill i saw a bottle that had started to separate. Bottom half: brown, top half: violet/purple. Ah, i get it now....

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[Dragonsreach]

You don't need anything.
Einion

Ah but you forget Einion, we're modellers/collectors and Obsessive Collectors Disorder comes into play.

Tabris I'd suggest Two colours only for your immediate assistance:
Vallejo Model Colour :Ivory (Hueso) as a universal lightener
Vallejo AIR Colour :German Camoflage Black Brown probably one of the most useful colours I've ever encountered.

 

[Einion]

Ah but you forget Einion, we're modellers/collectors and Obsessive Collectors Disorder comes into play.

That's why I stressed the word need

Einion

 

[Jbickley00]

Golden Artists Colors Fluid Acrylics VanDyke Brown hue: Is very transparent, and with a bit of water is a marvelous wash.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Burnt Umber's nice, one of my favourite earths, but white is actually my favourite colour... think about it, when's the last time you painted something without it?

Einion

Haha smart arse. Yes white is pretty helpful as well.