Worlds biggest paint test! - pt. 1

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This week we start our journey to testing out all the acrylic paints in the world to find which one is the absolute best for miniature painting and Warhammer miniatures. Did we miss any paint brands? Let us know in the comment section.
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Emil On
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Painting miniatures for your warhammer & d&d games. Age of sigmar and warhammer 40k. Blood angels, Slaanesh, Death Guard, Space Marines, Space Wolves, Stormcast Eternals, painting scale models, miniature busts! How to paint NMM. How to paint warhammer, how to paint d&D figures.

[@SquidmarMiniatures]

🖌 If you want to try out the Squidmar Brushes go here: www.squidmar.com/latepledge

[@OriginalRMG]

Really spotty reviews on these :(, any update on quality control?

[@RPRsChannel]

*_Maybe also a good idea to find out via elimination which brands have the best METALLIC PAINTS._*

[@madmoody100]

@@RPRsChannel Sorry, no competition for acrylic - vallejo metal color, followed by ak and scale 75.

[@wm2922]

Great test. What's missing though is a link to a table / chart with the final results

[@barbarianbrush6728]

Idk, regular DaVincis are much cheaper 😉

[@lehannaallen]

Really enjoyed this video! Two things I wish you would have done: 1) Used the same miniature for painting with similar colors available from the different paint types to better show the visual difference. 2) Painter does not know what paint they are using at the time of painting to eliminate any internal bias. We all have bias. For example, we already know you strongly enjoy Vallejo, so it would be interesting to see how you would have scored them differently if you had not known it was Vallejo that was being used. Thank you for making this fun and informative video!

[@OmegaDestroyer99]

Agreed about the bias.

[@williamjohnson4497]

Blind test is a good idea

[@olebrogger]

yess, i vote for a blind test too, using same miniatures and color scheme

[@SuperDuperHappyTime]

“This one is in a terrible pot, I wonder what it could be.”

[@maverickman6486]

Yes, there is also bias in what they are used to and how they normally paint. It is obvious that Vallejo will win the contest which makes this a very long commercial for Vallejo. I am more interested in how the other paints rate however. The Monument paints have good hype and I might want to try some of them.

[@forehandrainbow3761]

Paint point time stamps Monuments Paints 2:41 Green Stuff World 3:40 P3 4:26 Nocturna 5:20 Army Painter 7:32 Vallejo 8:20 Reaper 10:19 Coat D'arms 11:28 Scale 75 13:25 Warcolor 14:54 Citadel 17:43 AppleBarrel 19:00 AK Interactive 20:16 Instar 21:39 Kimera 23:35 Golden 25:30 Secret Weapon 26:54

[@HuntersOA]

I was looking for the current point values :D I'll check the time stamps as I am curious about the current statuses :D Thanks for stamping all these!

[@HuntersOA]

For anyone else interested in the current run up: 78 Kimera 77 Vallejo 75 Reaper 74 AK Interactive 69 Citadel 68 Scale75 67 Monument paints 58 P3

[@ZombieMonkey7]

@@HuntersOA Also Golden scoring a 71 beating out half the winners. Plus I'd wager this score would jump significantly if they tested airbrush results/had more So Flat paints

[@HuntersOA]

@@ZombieMonkey7 och right... I should have gone back and checked all the scores... Will do when I have the chance

[@waardlafrance110]

Thanks

[@INSTARPAINT]

Nice to see our paints here, though we will say that our paint was designed to be adaptable to the individual user very easily, something you touched upon when you said "Adding a medium would change the nature of the paint". We just provide a base and allow the user to adjust it as they see fit. Some people like glossy paint, others prefer more matte. In some cases, there's advantages to adjusting it depending on what area is being painted on the model. It's also based on building layers of paint rather than outright coverage from the first pass. However, each brand is different and each has advantages and disadvantages depending on who's using it. At least that has been our take away from the community over the past seven years where people love a certain line compared to others. Some amazing work from Lukas however, the model looked amazing!

[@BloomThat]

Really great to hear from you guys! I'd never heard of Instar before, and I'm definitely gonna look into your line from this video. The technical flexibility is a real plus and more and varied tools only helps. Thanks for what you guys do!

[@barbarianbrush6728]

Your paint just sucks though

[@INSTARPAINT]

@@barbarianbrush6728 and you’re entitled to think that, not every brand will sit comfortably with everyone. You may say it sucks, other people would say it’s the best stuff they’ve ever used. Looking at other comments to this video would show that to be the same story with Army Painter, Pro Acryl, Citadel, Vallejo, AK etc It’s all just down to personal preference

[@barbarianbrush6728]

@@INSTARPAINT there's literally no-one of note that says "oh this is good paint", because it sucks.

[@SarahRoseCO10]

@@barbarianbrush6728 wow touch some grass my dude. Everyone has preferences, yours isn't the end all be all. I happen to very much like the adaptability of the @instar paints, I feel like it gives me a lot of creative freedom.

[@glenmurie]

And yet no matter how much they dislike the paints they still create excellent results. Skill and practice and time investment > tools and paints. Great work guys. :)

[@georgewilson8025]

Ikr

[@Wa11breaker]

"this paint/brush/mini sucks!" *shows a masterpiece of a paint job* 🤣

[@georgewilson8025]

Yeah they are just too good

[@raxxor18]

tools will mostly influence how enjoyable and time efficient the work is. Having good tools will make learning more enjoyable and quicker.

[@advocatusdiaboli9909]

It would be nice to see how non pro painters can handle the various paint ranges. The results may differ greatly

[@bretmkal]

You should have done a blind test without knowing which brand was which to remove bias in your very scientific testing method.

[@Himle_]

Yepp blind test or it's kinda pointless. That said, it was enjoyable to watch, i guess.

[@WillWildsOutdoorAdventures]

@@Himle_ I wish they would have used the same model AND tried to color match. Seeing it presented like this does not much for me since they know what they are painting with, I really think mini paints are like wine if you know it's expensive it will change your judgment/review of it.

[@Himle_]

@@WillWildsOutdoorAdventures Couldn't agree more on using the same model/colours. I mean, how can you expect to compare a "bad coverage" colour like yellow with a dark blue? Also, when comparing paints like Instar, that are designed to be layered, it might be a good idea to use them as they are designed to do. I mean, you don't drive a diesel engine on ethanol and then complain it doesn't work... Also, by doing a blind test. You would remove things like GW = Bad pots & Expensive, so worse rating which doesn't affect the paint quality at all. (Sorry for ranting, tired and should be sleeping (: )

[@mattkay7915]

yeah even the music was a give away that they are both vallejo fan boys (and not surprising ly tbh as they are one of the best paints out there)

[@MAEX25]

@@Himle_ but pot quality and price is important. Like the Pro Acrylic where you get paint all over the cap. Or Kimera which are freaking expensive and hard to get in the first place. And then you always have to consider why someone paints. Does he do it for fun or does he want to win a competition. I don’t need Kimera to just paint for relaxation.

[@KabinMiniatures]

I have mostly used Citadel and Vallejo, so it's cool to see all these other brands, some of which I've never even heard of!

[@luuk341]

I have mostly the same.I mostly use Vajjelo with some Citadel here and there. But I do have some XTREME Metal from AK, and those are absolutely incredible. You 100% need an airbrush for them, but Ohh my god I cant get over how fantastic they arem.

[@savagex466-qt1io]

Me to. They are my favorite.

[@murrrrrrv1113]

Me too but Sometimes I also use tamiya

[@nofuxgivens2797]

Vallejo as a brand has everything you need. I will mention that the acrylics have some noticeable differences. Hobby line, gaming line and mecha line. I find that besides universal issues of certain colors like yellow. I don't encounter a bunch of paints in the same line that I have to use different which is why I suggest vallejo as most peoples start. Their liquid metal and mediums/flow improvers also do great

[@johntan4997]

Been using Citadel. Boy, do I hate the newer pots, the older pots were bad but managable. Looking to switch to other brands.

[@FanOfKOTOKO]

I think the testing should've been done with a single army instead of a unique model for each brand, that way it's much easier for the audience to discern the differences between the paint ranges.

[@aaronpendragran5387]

US based so Reapers are easy to get and are my favorite paints I have used hands down. Glad to see they got some love. As a new painter I like their cost and colors, the way they are sold in triads on the main webpage, they are just very friendly to beginners I think.

[@danielmcpeak2594]

Same. Very cheap too

[@BrianReichert]

They also have amazing customer support for both thier models and their paints. They go out of their way to make you happy. I've only had one or two issues over the years and each time they addressed it quickly no questions asked.

[@coreymorse1347]

Except their metallics. Reaper has terrible metallics.

[@nathanelacey]

100% agree. Reaper is my favorite paints by a wide margin.

[@BrianReichert]

@@coreymorse1347 I have to agree, their metallics aren't that great. But the rest is great.

[@coreymorse1347]

For Golden you should have been using the Fluid Matte line instead of the High Flow. A big brand that you missed was Liquitex. They are way more used than some of the ones you tested by a huge degree. Their acrylic gouache line is their version of Golden Soflat.

[@ericdavis4964]

I have been looking at Liquitex acrylic gouache so am interested in how it paints. One of the primary reasons I have been looking at the artist side of paints is you can actually see the pigments used and the opacity on the bottle

[@coreymorse1347]

@@ericdavis4964 I haven't tried it, but I've heard good things. Utrecht fluid acrylics are another one to look at. They are also matte and I've used them to good results. Really any matte fluid acrylic artist paint should be comparable in quality to hobby paint. Extra flow aide and drying retarder along with pre mixed colors is really all that separates fluid acrylics from hobby acrylics.

[@thehorizonchaser]

Lukas is just way too talented, he makes it all look effortless... You're good too Emil ;)

[@Domstar75]

Absolutely fantastic job on the blonde hair with the scale 75 paints! It looked absolutely awesome!!!

[@biggunsnevertire1718]

As Coat D’Arms follow the old 90s Citadel formula almost to the letter, they are designed to be painted over white and cover a lot better over it.

[@madmoody100]

I think that if everything were zenithal highlighted from the beginning it would have been a fairer matchup. All the paints designed for good coverage over black in preference to anything else had a big advantage.

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

@@madmoody100 Yeah, this would also have helped Kimera, Golden and Scale75 quite a lot

[@biggunsnevertire1718]

@@madmoody100 Absolutely agree

[@GuildensternTube]

and I never switched to priming black except for full metal armoured miniatures...well, I still do green bases, too 😂😘

[@biggunsnevertire1718]

@@GuildensternTube Nothing wrong with that, green bases look great

[@KITPUNK]

Would love to see how Duncan's new Two Thin Coats paint holds up

[@kungpochopedtuna]

There are reviews out there :)

[@CraigThomasBoyle]

Bright neutral grey by Pro Acryl has changed my life. It's SO good for coverage. Goes down totally flat without streaking and lets me layer white perfect.

[@ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

Transparent brown has been like magic for me. Using it for wood and leather; lay down values, then a coat of the TB over it. Wow.

[@juliehamel8330]

I'm getting flashbacks from that one time Jazza tested all the markers he could get delivered to Australia 😝

[@Bigsonnyblue134]

Was literally thinking that when I saw the thumbnail and title

[@johnnytizz]

You can get alternate paint caps for the pro acryl bottles, btw. That's what I did and it's so much better with the flip-caps.

[@ArhainHainar]

Great video but we're at least 2 other easily available brands you missed 1.Tamiya 2.Ammo Mig

[@ThatFetcherFargoth]

I was really wanting to see Tamiya and Ammo Mig compared.

[@kreativdesignstudio6817]

The Golden high flow is mainly used for Airbrush. The Golden Acrylic is mainly used for brush. Great video! Can't wait for the end results on the next video... Cheers!

[@dances4980]

The Pro Acryl lids are designed to be left open on the table for a minute, so the majority of the paint may flow back down into the bottle. You can choose to purchase alternate "flip top" style lids from pro acryl. Great paints, I highly recommend giving this a try.

[@thephoenix8722]

Its because of the air pocket giving it acouple taps and the pain goes down.

[@d.o.g573]

Tbh ? I don’t have a minute of time every time I open up a pot

[@dances4980]

@@d.o.g573 yeah I prefer to purchase the flip top Lids just for this reason

[@d.o.g573]

@@dances4980 Is that a second range or do I have to refill them ?

[@dances4980]

@@d.o.g573 the flip top Lids are sold separately they fit on the same bottles . They cost $6 for 10 lids. They are currently out of stock on the website sadly

[@BEmmonsArt]

I think what’s awesome about this test is that we get to see all of these paints in action! Though many of them scored really well we can see where some of them have shortcomings because they tend to do more specialized things and need different techniques, or give different finishes

[@NikkiAnnMarie]

The Golden high flow paints are more like inks really, great through an airbrush and good for glazing, but have a glossier finish. They also have the advantage that because they're artist paints, they actually tell you the properties - how opaque they are, the pigments used, the finish etc. is readily available information, whereas with miniature brands it's a guessing game even within the same range. The video is great, but it's a shame you're only evaluating them based on a very specific painting method - semi-opaque/transparent (i.e., poor coverage) paints can be great if used to their strengths!

[@ihaveasnake]

Totally Agreed. I use highflow for my high-fantasy projects or to give OSL effects, and normally apply a matte varnish afterwards. It does seem The video is more of "Which paints are the best using standard brushes on a black primed model", as a lot of these paints have different uses for different applications like airbrushing or zenithal highlights and stuff. Still, its really helpful for getting an overall idea of how these paints look and feel or for beginners.

[@NikkiAnnMarie]

​@@ihaveasnake You're right, it's the typical way people are taught to paint miniatures so it makes sense, and is still useful in its own way as a comparison - you don't tend to hear people talk about how paint flows from the brush, for instance. Also, sometimes having a different finish across the mini (e.g. matte highlights, satin shadows) can add another layer of contrast that's often overlooked too!

[@TheAbyssDragonGaming]

When I first got into the hobby i used only Citadel paints, but over the last 3-4 years ive switched to exclusively Reaper and Vallejo and it makes the painting process so much more fun when the flow is consistent between two paints. Ive always said that Reaper Paints are underrated so Im glad you are giving them a chance to shine

[@PainterIdeas]

This is the mostly easily watchable paint comparison video I can remember and we had a lot of them in the last months. Honest takes on the paint experience without sounding biased. Great content.

[@Meuduso1]

Might I add here how cool it is to see how Lucas got and is still getting more and more comfortable with video making, talking and recording. It's great to see

[@lu3tz]

Would love for you to show the golden high flow paints through an airbrush! Great video looking forward to the next part.

[@coreymorse1347]

That's a better use for them. The high flow are in the same category as acrylic inks. They should have been using the fluid matte line if they wanted something to go with the soflat.

[@LemurKrazy]

My high flow and sloflat sets arrived this week - high flow based on airbrush artist recommendations and soflat based on Ninjon’s review.

[@yfz450rider39]

My favorite I've used soo far is the new AK paints, been loving them lately!

[@Boshea241]

Golden's paint mediums are a great tool to add for basing models. Can get tons of different effects at fraction of the cost of "hobbiest" options

[@zaytunTV]

I attended an art academy for 5 years and majored in automobile design at Hongik University, the most famous art school in Korea. I get a lot of inspiration from watching your channel.

[@chrisalmich3071]

Golden high flow acrylics are phenomenal out of the airbrush but definitely need a varnish afterwards.

[@SangriaSamurai]

And they definitely re more glaze/layering oriented..

[@JEndymion]

Agreed , they are great airbrush ready paints.

[@hazemangames]

I love my monument paints, they feel nicer in all the categories than citadel and vallejo for me. Maybe because they are made by two people the range isn't consistent? Tight video, looking forward to round two!

[@nathanmccook133]

I agree, after over 2 decades of floating from brand to brand mh paints were so good I bought the fill line lol

[@hazemangames]

@@nathanmccook133 haha same here actually, but only 5 years XD

[@dahSweep]

Yup, Pro Acryl is my current paint of choice as well right now. Really like them, and they are great through an airbrush as well!

[@corbingovers7559]

I really like monument's finish. It's a really nice matte and the ivory/bright ivory have amazing coverage even over black.

[@hazemangames]

@@dahSweep yeah! The cover is great, don't often need more than one or two coats even on whites and yellows. The white in this range is in my opinion the best there is as well.

[@ryo86ok]

AK is more precisely, AK 3rd Gen. they have an older range thats not 3rd gen. also the different label colors on 3rd gen indicate type (blue for metal, yellow for high pigment deep colors, etc)

[@OPShergottite]

AK 3rd Gen is such an underrated paintline. i mean i cant remember any video where a pro painter recommended them especially. no surprise for me they got such a high score and im sure they will beat Scale 75. if somehow i would loose all my paints, i would buy a set of ak 3rd gen (alternatively vallejo)

[@BlekiAzrael]

@@OPShergottite Sergio Calvo use them...

[@verathorn1556]

Recently I have mostly been using the golden so flat line of paints. And with exception of the pot design I have been loving them one of their biggest benefits for me is that they actually list what pigments are in the paint so I always know what to expect.

[@damianchenot2667]

I recently started using Golden high-flow acrylics through an airbrush and I really enjoy them. I just have black, burnt umber, and sepia, but they do a great job at what I use them for. I use the high flow black over citadel black. I like how well it comes off of the brush.

[@svellice]

I really love vallejo but Golden has a gold spot on my board for having actual PIGMENT INFORMATION

[@FanOfKOTOKO]

Yeah just about any artist paint will tell you what pigment(s) is used as well as how well you should expect it to cover.

[@stonewall78]

It really sounds like you guys didn't read the instructions for the Army painter paints. The top is filled with extra medium. Before you mix it up you can remove some of the medium so the paint isn't extra thin. This way people can thin the paints to their liking. I would say this is 100% why you had coverage issues.

[@Dragonslairminis]

That, plus they are terrible paints.

[@TunneLVisioN42]

Horrible Paints army painter is a plague

[@grumpymeggo]

I agree! You have to know that you're supposed to get rid of the extra medium on top of the paint. Army Painter always tells you how to use their paint! They are not terrible and surely not the plaguel Yes, you hear a lot of bashing towards Army Painter, but I bet a lot of the people who bash, didn't even try the paint before! If Army Painter paints were SO bad, the company wouldn't be so succesful, wouldn't be able to continiously expand the paint range and wouldn't be able to sell their products at such an affordable price! I personally started with Army Painter paints, never had problems with them and got good results! I don't say they are the best miniature paints on the market, but they are definitely way better than many people say! Just read the comments. Every paint range has its own characteristics and some are better for wet blending, some are better for layering. You have to take into account that every paint brand often offers different ranges. Like Model Color and Game Color. There is no "best paint in the world"! It all comes down to personal preferences and painting style!

[@Dragonslairminis]

@@grumpymeggo I sold my mega set because they were basically unusable. I had reaper, vallejo and scale 75 all at the time so basically it was a no brainer.

[@timjones4146]

Awesome reviews. I like the way you tried to point out which brands might be better for beginners and which ones were better suited to experienced painters. Also, you mentioned the limited range of colours available for testing for some brands, which ones you have experience with, and which ones sent free paints, all of which might have an impact on the score. I'm looking forward to round 2 next week!

[@adamhanson5565]

There was a sale on P3 paints a while back at my LGS. I picked a few of them up & I've found their range has a lot of variety in terms of quality. Every range has this to some extent, but the P3 paints have some incredibly opaque colors & some that are basically glazes. This isn't a problem inherently, except they weren't labeled to indicate this at all. I mostly paint with a mix of Reaper & Vallejo, with some other random brands thrown in, if that matters.

[@Stagbot_Racing]

they have a few amazing colors that are hard to beat. I really like their coal black and necrotite green

[@daeval947]

@@Stagbot_Racing I haven't used Necrotite Green, but seconded on Coal Black. Greatcoat Grey and Battlefield Brown have done a lot of work for me too.

[@etherous]

Wow, you really have no problem tilting the scales per your biases. You took a dump on The Army Painter, then gave Vallejo almost a perfect score. I've used both and their very comparable

[@the.wannabe]

Word on the street is that Monument Hobbies has the best white paint. I still need to try it.

[@devinoliver2396]

Absolutely true. The caps are different than most people are used to, but it’s really not a big deal. They absolutely seal better than Vallejo and Army painter, which often dry in the stem and clog over the many years I’ve used them. You can order dropper or flip top caps from Monument for the paints. They absolutely will not break even with extreme thinning, and have excellent coverage. If you use a wet pallet be sure to use less water than normal.

[@tassiasmith]

Really nice to see Reaper paints get some recognition. One of my favourite things about them is that straight from the bottle on the wet palette they are exactly the consistency I like to paint with. They also organize all their colours into triads (having a highlight colour, mid tone colour and shadow colour) so if you're new they're very friendly, and they have a range of highly pigmented single pigment paints that are translucent which are great for mixing and tinting colours (as well as doing glazes) which they've had forever. They're just really solid paints and their price point is so good for miniature paints. If I don't want to mix a lot and want uniform colour matching across a lot of models I grab my collection of Reaper paints. If I do wanna do mixing (which I often do because I find it fun), I definitely grab my set of Kimera paints. Can't wait to see what paints end up on top! :)

[@spilbobaggins]

The high flow golden paints are really meant to be used with an airbrush.

[@elementairttv]

Yes!! I've been wanting a video like this but you go above and beyond that's a lot of paint.

[@DanielEbeck]

As soon as Lukas said "It's like painting with gel!", I knew that Warcolours wouldn't be going through. They need a different painting style.

[@pelasgus]

Its really peak tho; thats the good thing i love about them

[@bookgrub]

I love painting with them, but they're also the first paints I purchased after a Citadel starter kit. Totally different. Vince Venturella covered them pretty well.

[@Dragonslairminis]

The irony is that they were against scale 75 who have a gel medium and are different to paint with. Basically scale 75 is how a gel based paint should be.

[@raxxillion]

This ended up being more exciting than I thought! At first, I thought the match ups were going to be unfair. My champion (Vallejo) drew a challenge with Army Painter in the first round, while my nemesis (Citadel) got a guaranteed win with Apple Barrel. Good to see all your assessments so far mirror my own experiences with all the paints I have tried (about half the line up). Looking forward to next video!

[@urialgwydian4531]

As a newer painter/still developing my skills, I’m super excited that apple barrel did so well. I need to pick up some of your brushes and I think that will help as well. Would you be willing to post the final scores in an overall ranking, maybe averaging the scores of paints that got tested more then once?

[@aaronpendragran5387]

Apple barrel is such a good craft paint. I recently got into mini painting and started with them, then moved to Army Painter and Reaper (reaper being my favorite). However I grew up helping my grandmother with her crafts and all she used was Apple Barrel. She was no world class artist but she did excellent work and you cannot beat the price and availability. It does suck that they got stuck against Citadel in round 1 though. Bit of a raw deal.

[@benwhitnell]

The brushes won’t help, not yet at least. There are lots of painters on this platform that do amazing things with cheap brushes from Amazon. Get good with bad brushes, THEN the quality of tool may help get to the next level.

[@aaronpendragran5387]

@@benwhitnell Goobertown said that he used cheap bulk brushes for most of his work.

[@AVspectre]

@@aaronpendragran5387 Would say Apple Barrel is particularly good among craft paint brands? I have a decent selection of another brand from the Dollar Store but haven’t tried on my minis yet. :)

[@thomasgross8289]

@@AVspectre I use apple barrel paints and army paint and there isn't much difference to be honest.

[@Unifiedesign]

This may be an unpopular opinion but I dont think paints with lower coverage are an inherently bad thing. Having paints that can act as almost like a glaze out of the pot can be a convenient compliment to your other paints after you've used them to paint a base coat. Its still nice to see everything matched up and rated this way though.

[@Wijkert]

Like WarColours, Scale 75 also uses a gel medium for their paints. So it made sense to put them against each other. Just mentioning it, because you guys didn't. Ps, even though they are pretty subjective, comparison video's like these are my favorite video's to watch!

[@barbarianbrush6728]

It is not a gel medium.

[@Wico90YT]

Surprised Jazza hasn't done something like this for Tabletop Time. These videos are always entertaining even for people not in the hobby

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

When you're ready, would you mind giving a price per volume at the end? This puts some matchups in perspective (especially Apple Barrel vs Citadel).

[@the_victorious_1]

You missed Tamiya paints, their XF series acrylics are brilliant to work with, though they're aimed at historical scale modelling so don't have as many bright colours as these ones.

[@duacot6633]

Tamiya XF series paints are awesome!!

[@trolleymouse]

Maybe for the best, if they're rating paints partially by how they take to a wet palette.

[@GuildensternTube]

Tamiya and Revell's acrylics are both quite prominent brands, too

[@rhammitt88]

I love my Vallejo which is damn near perfect every single time. I have a majority of Army Painter and I have not had the problems that Lucas had in this video or from what everyone says about them. Apart from their reds, their reds are just horrible. I'm surprised Pro Acryl didn't get as high of a score considering how much everyone raved about them. I feel that you should put Golden in the second round just because it had such a high score. I really want to get my hands on some Kimera and AK G3. Love this so far, can't wait to see who wins it all. Probably Vallejo lol

[@drewshradel6423]

Yeah, AP vs Vallejo just seemed unfair. I would agree about the reds. I like many of the army painter paints and their air line is really pretty nice. Their colors are a bit off though, which is a bit annoying. Their drab green is really bright and not yellow enough whereas Vallejo's is much better in that regard.

[@albertmockel6245]

Some army painter colours are bad, eg my Monster Brown and Martian Red misbehave. But I also have the same problem with one of my Vallejo grey. I think that it is more of a marketing problem army painter has with the youtube pro painter community.

[@AFSienko]

Would be cool to see a comparison based on color, for example black vs black, as I heard painters often have a favorite color from a company rather than only using a specific range.

[@screwball69]

Golden High Flow are a great airbrush paint especially over a zenithal but you do definitely need to matte coat them afterwards

[@NoUseForAName06]

Yes, finally somebody who acknowledges the greatness of the AK Acrylics, I feel like they are often overlooked but they are freaking great.

[@Dargomar]

my favorite brand of paint remains vallejo, ak and green stuff world. I find at my level that Greenstuff is easier to apply and is easier to mix with an Airbrush.

[@KrazyMook]

This is the best review of miniature paints ever. Truely phenomenal! I'd love to see this again but with how well they work with airbrush.

[@devankallasmae]

I’ll be honest, coming from a fine art background (even if I feel I’m rather mediocre), hearing you describe mixing paints as not beginner friendly really surprised me. Honestly, before I started miniature painting it was rare for me to have more than 10 paints (my primaries in warm and cold, burnt umber, white and often a purple because of my personal taste, though black hovered around when I didn’t feel like mixing, and I always kept meaning to get a strong orange). For me, even before I really understood how colour worked, and how to mix colours for desired effects, my instinct was to fiddle with what I had till it matched what I wanted. Coming into miniature painting with its massive ranges of paints I sort of assumed they were optional to match the requirements of army painting where you want the exact same colours every time. If I’m painting single or unique miniatures then I might not necessarily need that.

[@connorcowan7606]

Been using Apple Barrel since I started painting. Still happy with it!

[@wwaxwork]

It would be nice at the very end to have a list of all the paints with their scores.

[@JaredNorton]

impressive amount of effort put into this video, I was expecting just a paper test of each paint, not a full complete mini for each round, even with the worst paints! Great stuff guys!

[@Dasp244]

Just started watching, my money is on Pro Acryl to win the whole thing.

[@denisstepanenko3037]

Thank you, guys, for your awesome work. You made my dream real - compare all paints. But for me, as a beginner, would be more clear to compare same colours from different brands on same mini.

[@MrLanzac]

Golden so Flatts are GREAT but expensive *(not when you calculate how much you get but still) they're a little hard to find but easy to order.

[@Zectari]

A superduper important characteristic you guys forgot is the colors in the paint series. As a newb it's very nice to use the trio system to GW for base, layer and edge because I suuuuck at mixing.

[@magnus0017]

Overall a good showcase, although couple things I want to say from the US end. Vallejo is amazing, and I love it, but it's getting quite hard to find here if you want to go to your local game store. The one store I knew had it? They're getting rid of it because they can't get it anymore, replacing it with Army Painter. Two, army painter is super heavy and does separate, with the bright red being the worst I've used, but as pointed out in another comment, if they were new bottles you're supposed to drain some of the medium off before you really mix them. They really need a mixing ball standard, but with good shaking and some care, they are like budget Citadel/Vallejo, and that half price/high availability in the US and Citadels high price earns them a better score. Although I also want to try apple barrel now. Reaper's core skills beginner and advanced kits are amazing and are my paint holders. 3 minis, fifteen paints, and a set of lessons teaching you painting techniques for about 30-40$? So fantastic. Also, not going to dispute your findings, but an objective raising where enjoyability is worth double? Hmmm...... Hope you all do some more stuff with the other ones that lost as some point (maybe getting a counter rating for the losers by the other painter or something afterwards). Looking forward to the next one.

[@cfeuchtj]

Hobby Lobby carries Vallejo

[@magnus0017]

@@cfeuchtj true, it does, but both where i am, there are very few Hobby Lobby (mostly Michael's around here), and the one that is close by doesn't really carry very much of it. Could also just order online, but between that and a conversation I had at my FLGS that had carried it for 10-20 years and hadn't been able to get more for 2-3 years, in the US at least I don't think it deserves a 9 for availability. Probably a 7, because I can get it on amazon in bundle boxes, or maybe order direct from them or a specialty store online, but to me that's only slightly better than warcolours, which is, I can order it online from their website and get it.

[@KillTech]

Army Painter has some nice colors, but the important part is to add mixing balls, which makes using the vortex mixer much more efficient. But I have to admit some colors have a really bad coverage :)

[@BMazeing]

This makes me want to try some new paints. I'm very new to this, and I saw a few odd bottles of Reaper lying around my hobby shop. I'll pick those up and try them out

[@QuintMorrison6]

Love that you guys used this test/competition to paint up Cursed City.

[@SquidmarMiniatures]

Making the backlog at least a little smaller ;)

[@tomb4610]

Scale 75 is probably my favorite. The consistency isn't there though, so paint cover fantastic some are just straight aful.

[@jon0963]

Great to see golden perform so well, will certainly be easier to pick up paints. The high flow ones are pouring acrylics if I'm not mistaken so I would imagine them not performing the way a mini painter would expect.

[@dr4gon166]

i feel for Lucas with the army painter ordeal! Golden flow is meant for airbrush & so flat is matte with lower viscosity!

[@Kianwan]

I just add two mixing balls into them and never have any issues with mixing them up, should they come with them included? Very much so, but once you add them yourself its easy to mix the paint and it flows nice and covers fine.

[@crackedupmonk]

Thanks, been trying to find a line to start with. This is a tremendous help.

[@norma1572]

It’s interesting you found the GSW paints to be low coverage since I found them to have great coverage and really loved them.

[@TadashiAbashi]

Same, altho I've mostly used their metallics so far, I feel like some of these paints are MEANT to be easily used out of an airbrush, but ALSO can be used with a regular brush. So comparing a line of paints that is geared towards being airbrush friendly against a line of paints meant for brushes is pretty unfair IMHO. They have different uses and fulfill their role in a mini painters set of tools excellently. GSW metallics cover amazingly out of a brush, and their color shifting paints are top notch out of an airbrush. And their bottles literally say airbrush ready on them, so it's not fair to bash them on coverage and flow if they are actually correctly manufactured FOR their purpose..

[@PlanetTrendy]

I've mainly used the metallics and the ink washes, both of which are really good. Their regular colours are very hit and miss, with the bright tones tending do hit more often (e.g. flubber green)

[@lusgoomis1620]

Thank you so much for this video! I have been using army painter for as long as I remember, and I always had problems with the coverage and consistency, but I thought it was just my lack of painting skill and knowledge. I'm so glad you adressed this in the video, and I can't wait to see who wins because I just might have to pick up a set. Thank you so much for the awesome content.

[@JoshNoodleSoup]

Cool stuff! Ninjon has stated of the Golden line, the SoFlat line is especially good. I also wonder about Scale75 artist line. Later in the year you should do a follow up addendum (maybe not the full competition, but just a grading).

[@johndoe920]

yeah I miss the artist range here, as they would be the closest in "philosophy" to Kimera (only 1-2 different pigments per paint, super high pigmentation, super thinnable and mixable) and from my perspective are a treat to paint with.

[@_lewtz]

Myuself and a buddy have used some SoFlats. We really like them. I want to get more.

[@roccoraspanti5742]

I have the Scale 75 artists and I find them amazing. To be fair, as painting is a highly subjective matter, I also love the other Scale colors lines, better than Vallejo and Ak3rd

[@Birdmanesp92]

I was not expecting the praise for Reaper. makes me glad my paints are just Reaper and Vallejo

[@denniswijker7162]

Honestly... As much as I like the idea of a video testing all major paint brands, a elimination bracket is just not the way to go at it. Some paints will be better in some specific ways than others. Greenstuff World paints, while eliminated in the first round for specific reason, MIGHT actually be really good in specific scenarios. Not to mention that certain brands have Specific paints that are amazing, while the rest of the paints are meh. (For instance, Games Workshop washes are universally LOVED by mini painters, while definitely not everyone loves the rest of their range). So although fun, this really doesn't SAY that much. It's all personal preference and I highly encourage people to just pick some up and find out for themselves :)

[@thomasjoyce1765]

Great video (once again) and a very interesting topic. Paints are like people, wonderfully diverse. Keep up the good work Emil & Co!

[@Jason-gq8fo]

i really like AK but the problem i have is that their swatches on their site sucks. So many times ive ordered a paint and its not near the colour on their site

[@SquidmarMiniatures]

We have made a brand new fantasy Universe with 10 amazing looking miniatures to paint! You can check out the campaign and support the channel - it goes live October 2022 here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/squidmar/champions-of-sona-75mm-resin-miniatures

[@ihaveasnake]

Just a heads up, if you are using the Golden Highflow for mini pinting, they are really meant to be used through an airbrush. They give result similar to contrast paints through an air brush. Casey from EbayMiniatureRescues uses them all the time.

[@fishacorn007]

I was so glad to hear you enjoyed the golden paints, I personally use their heavy body range for large scale traditional painting and occasionally use them on minis and am always happy with them (only after thing because as the name implies heavy body are thick paints)

[@hendrikmoons8218]

I'm a huge fan of contrast paints (GW) and color shift (green stuff world). Still need to test the counterparts from army painter to the contrast paints.

[@d.o.g573]

Ordered some color shift colors from Green Stuff World yesterday - looking forward to them !

[@hendrikmoons8218]

@@d.o.g573 Definitely use a black undercoat for best effect.

[@d.o.g573]

@@hendrikmoons8218 hmmm actually o wanted to try sth totally different. White undercoat, color shift color PLUS the holographic effect atop of it but will make tryouts first. Thank you for the advice I’ll will surely give it a try - it’s a whole set

[@dirkgaffron5456]

With Golden paints you showed that you did not informed you about the products. They are colors from the art range. The high flow acrylics are primary made for airbrush. By using an airbrush they are very good. The fluid acrylics are also made for brush and airbrush. And only for brush are there acrylic paint tubes which are high pigmented but way to thick for miniatures. However, also a lot of the fluid paint are transparend or half transparend, as you can see on the bottles. Empty square are transparend and half black half empty square are half transparend. I recommend the N5 Neutral Gray from the high flow range for senital highlight

[@xkukubax]

I wonder how Two Thin Coats would square up against the big dogs.

[@fogartyrt]

Literally thinking this the entire time I watched this video. I can't wait to get my complete set! I've been watching Duncan's tutorials for easily the last 6-7 years!

[@Kathdath]

Have they even started shipping yet? I was so worried about messing up when filling out my backer kit.

[@Kohdok]

Yaaaay Reaper! Glad to see such a strong showing! DFW Metroplex RepreSENT!!

[@WillWildsOutdoorAdventures]

Man, I wish these were the same miniature & colors so COMPARING at the end actually would mean something. Hard to say what is best when it's a different model AND color each time, I can't appreciate the details on "the best paint" if it's not compared to the other paints. Next time same model & color match AND if you can paint without knowing the paint, bonus if you paint blind so you don't know what brand it is. All these & I still don't know which is the next point I'd like to try, I HAVE to see them side by side with the same model & color set to judge. For example, I can't visually see a difference between Apple Barrel & Kimera BUT if they were both applied with the same colors to the same model maybe I could judge that better. Cheers Bruv keep up the great conent!

[@lsizhevsk]

I have waited this video for years! Thank you!

[@nestgumo6715]

For me the best one are AK paints… they are more consistent in all the color range, not like Vallejo, for example the yellow colours from Vallejo are pretty bad in comparison with the other colours.

[@Bushcraftranger]

I did not watch a Squidmar video for some time. Big mistake! Your vidoes are so well made, entertaining and informative. One of the best Channels in KZbin! Thank you guys!

[@Petrosthewalrus]

Having tried many of the brands I cannot understand how AK were graded lower than Reaper. They are so much better in every aspect. Maybe because you got mostly pastels as you mentioned and not the normal or the intense lines.

[@anab0lic]

not everyone enjoys that much of a matte finish of the AK range, so that could be a factor.

[@raver377]

by the way for the final video: maybe not just include the overall winners but also paints that stand out (in a positive way) in one or two specific categories like for example: "paint xyz doesnt have good coverage and the enjoyability suffers abit BUT the end result is one of the best ones" etc like you have the over all winners aka generalist winners and then you have a couple of specialist winners that excell at specific categories

[@edoNutella]

At first I was like "ah, another paint comparison video", then you introduce the elimination tournament and I was like "WOW, ANOTHER PAINT COMPARISON VIDEO!"

[@blaked7532]

I like warcolours, t's my goto paint line. I have almost the whole line and they do take some time to get used to, but the wet blending with them is great.

[@padorupadoru4477]

Totally agree about the Scalecolour poor coverage, especially when switching over from Citadel. Would recommend Scale75 as a layering paint and not for basecoating or painting larger areas

[@madmoody100]

Part of the reason I like that scale 75 and warcolour were up against each other at the beginning - they both have similar philosophies for their paints and therefore were really the only fair competition for each other.

[@uriance88]

Thanks to local availability I've used Vallejo, Army Painter, GW, and Reaper (also Tamiya, but they didn't test those) and what I've found is every brand has some good and some bad colours (as Emil noted, Corax White might be the worst paint ever). I haven't found the separation issue with AP (other than 'babe blonde'), even with shaking by hand and my bottle of that exact red works great - maybe the extra shipping time to Canada from Denmark as opposed to Sweden does something (I dunno, its a science question, so Brent from Goobertown might be able to answer it). Or it's just that they need to up their quality control . . . As someone else said, Reaper's triads are a wonderful thing. Their 'Worn Navy' is great.

[@FanOfKOTOKO]

Supposedly Army Painter have a bit of extra unmixed medium in the paint to help it against evaporation. You're supposed to have it rest for a bit upright and squeeze out the first several drops (of probably unpigmented medium), the rest is fine. It's a bit of a hassle for the consumer but I understand where they're coming from from a logistics point of view. I just wished that the paint come with the mixing balls instead of having the consumer do it themselves so it's nice that they started doing exactly just that with the air and speed paint lines. I found separation with my AP paints but with a bead inside I just give them a quick shake on a vortex mixer and I don't really have any issues. Reds and yellows still don't cover fantastic but for the price of the other "better" brands I just weighed my options and decided that liquitex guache is the better choice for those colors for me.

[@HeyItsMeAbelMaps]

Prices per ounce USD before taxes for the color green Monuments Paints $5.91 Green Stuff World $4.90 P3 $6.39 Nocturna $5.82 - they had no green Army Painter $4.58 Vallejo $5.20 Reaper $16.98 Coat D'arms $6.85 Scale 75 $4.01 Warcolor $6.43 Citadel $9.54 AppleBarrel $0.25 AK Interactive $11.68 Instar $7.39 Kimera $5.58 Golden $7.99 Secret Weapon $7.38

[@MrFrostyankles]

I really like the Golden So Flat lineup. They are limited in colors but they are great value and super nice to paint with. I also love AK and Vallejo. Thanks for the video.

[@v0x754]

Thats alot of paints... Love your content bro keep up the good work 🤘

[@SquidmarMiniatures]

Spanks my man :)