While at Adepticon , I managed to fit in a trip to see the famous Dick Blick store (now known as Blick Art Materials) . While I was there, I excitedly purchased some Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics and Holbein Heavy Body Acrylics. I was wanting to get a set for some time, but just didn't get around to it right away.
1. To broaden my painting horizons.
2. Because some people come into the hobby from different genres of art (I.E.- painting acrylics on canvas.) For some, it might not be economically feasible right away to switch from heavy body to the hobby acrylics that we commonly use.
When reading up on painting with heavy body acrylics, there are some that said heavy body was only good for certain techniques (I.E.- Loaded Brush Technique). There were some not in favor of it because of the thickness of the paint and basically not having patience for the trial and error involved. However, in general, there were many in favor of heavy body and all of the wonderful things that they offer. As with anything else, it's all personal preference.
With that said, I figured that I would share my thoughts about my experience and findings so far with heavy body acrylics.
While I was at CMON Expo a couple of weeks ago, I took the time to experiment with the heavy body acrylics as I was working in the Paint and Take area. I chose to work on a Zombicide Black Plague "Wolf-Bomination". Wolves were always one of my favorite things to paint.
I definitely had a lot of fun using only heavy body acrylics on this figure. It was quick and easy and I spent about an hour or less total working on the figure. Here are my thoughts and findings about painting with heavy body acrylics:
I managed to pack my 9 heavy body acrylic tubes in a smaller storage container that fit into my backpack. So I loved that they were relatively easy to store and carry especially since I sometimes travel with literally over 100 paints.
I love the challenge of having to mix to get an exact color that you want. The fact that there are a few colors to work with in a basic set, makes you have to hands-on practice the concept of color theory more in depth.
With heavy body acrylics, it is best to make sure to use artist quality (or professional quality) in order to make sure that you use good quality acrylic.
The liquitex acrylics that I use have a good pigment quality and lightfastness (these are qualities that you also want in a heavy body acrylic).
Since heavy body acrylics are thicker, they tend to take a little longer to dry than the regular acrylics that we use which gives the painter more time to do blending techniques or make blending smoother with less work involved. For those who might not know, drying retarder is a great additive to use for regular hobby acrylics in the case that you need the paint to take longer to dry. Companies such as Reaper Miniatures and Liquitex, make these products.
Heavy Body acrylics are great for dry brushing techniques.
Can be great for miniatures like Reaper Bones . This is because heavy body acrylic paint has the ability to bend with the figure. Therefore, the paint will most likely not flake off.
As long as you remember that a little bit, goes a long way and use a wet palette, heavy body acrylics can be a money saver by volume/tube.
As I do more projects with them and experiment, I will be sure to share them with you. For the time being, I just wanted to keep this straight to the point and give what I hope is helpful information. =) Until next time...
Keep on painting!
Stay Crispy in Milk!
--Lyn