Hey guys,

I was thinking about trying out Jo Sonja paints. What would be your recommendations for an absolute minimum starting palette? I already have way too many Vallejo paints and want to keep it simple if I start with Jo Sonja. There's always time to buy more later

Cheers,
Richard

Hi Richard
may I ask why you want to try Jo sonja paints while you re already furnished with vallejo paints ?
i own both and most of the time, i will reach for the vallejo bottle
alex

Believe me I have reached for many colour brands thinking it was going make me an absolute perfectionist and it did'nt, oils are my choice from many years ago and I,ll stick with them...

I own both too. I'm also curious why you might want to go with Jo Sonja. As of now all 40 tubes of my JS paint has been relocated into a box for storage. I'm going to be using exclusively Vallejo paint. Check out my post here as to why.

Ok if you want a beginning pallette, I would recommend the following, Carbon Black, Titanium white, then a cool and warm variant of each of the primary colours (e.g. Ultramarine for warm blue, Pthalo blue for cool blue). Then if you want to spend more you can get cool and warm variant of the secondary colours.

If you only want to paint flesh, just go with their Earth tones, there aren't that many, then grab a tube of Brown Madder, and a tube of blue or green to grey out your flesh tones.

The part I don't understand is a 'limited palette'.
Why would you want to restrict your choice of colours?
If you wander into an art/craft shop and pick up any set of
acrylic, oil, gouache or watercolours, they all give you a full range of colours.
Bearing in mind the smallest pack size is 10-12 colours tubes,
Logically that must be the minimum range, and the most neccessary colours.
Best of luck,
Paul

The word was "minimal", not "limited". Basically I was looking for pretty much exactly what you described. A selection of the most necessary colors, maybe doctored a bit towards figure painting, with some colors you guys use often for skintones.

In the meantime I've done some reading on color theory and realize now that there isn't really a definitive answer to my question.

Just disregard it, I guess?

No no no no no !

My mistake,

In the art world a lot of painters do use a limited pallete of perhaps 3 colours as their style,
and that was what I thought you meant.

My reply was in the hope that, if you bought a full set, you would still have the colours you did need
once you found for yourself 3-5 colours won't work on figures !

Sneaky I know, but I didn't want to say 'you were wrong in trying',
you see !

You carry on,

I learned colour mixing as a young teenager beacause I couldn't afford a
ll the colurs in a hobby paint range, so I had toi learn how few you really do need.
Paul

I wish I'd asked this question instead of wasting money on "nice" tubes of paint I haven' t ever used.

Roger.

Thanks for your post, I read your analysis of JS paints earlier today. Very scientific and thorough!

I think I'll stick to vallejo for now and get to read up on color theory some more instead of spending money, thinking I'll magically become a better artist.

I've used both Vallejo and Jo Sonja paints for years, and my preference is for Jo Sonja because they dry flat every time, whereas Vallejo's have a tendency to remain shiny unless you add Tamiya Flat Matt to it.

Jo Sonja paints are also cheaper and available at my local art supplies store, which makes them more convenient for me.

I'd suggest you go for Carbon Black, titanium White, Flesh Tone, Napthol Crimson, Burnt Umber, Prussian Blue, Olive Green and Naples Yellow. This will give you most of the colours you need, or need to use to create specific colour blends.

This is another thing that sometimes baffles me. If the paints don't dry completely matte, why not apply a coat of matte varnish when you're done painting? That would give you a nice, consistent finish on the whole figure; and clogging up details shouldn't be a concern anymore AFTER the figure has been painted, right? Gunze produces some very fine products, I've seen the Topcoat Flat give a figure a completely matte finish after just one very light misting.

Picture related (Topcoat is acrylic, Mr Super Clear is lacquer based)

I use acrylics these days after losing my oil collection in a move. I really think it's worth supporting brands that are made for our hobby. Vallejo, Andrea and now Scale 75....all top notch.

I like the flat finish of JS paints, they are fantastic for base coating prior to finishing in oils but do need quite a bit of thinning and perseverance to get a smooth opaque coat. I keep promising that I'll try and finish a figure using only JS but I always end up reaching for the oils.

I also like Vallejo paints because they're good to go pretty much straight out of the dropper bottle but the finish of the individual paints is a bit more hit and miss, some matt and some glossy (or at least semi gloss). I have finally got some Tamiya flat base but if I'm really honest, I just can't be bothered with the extra hassle of remembering to add it every time so it'll probably sit on my paint rack, unused for most of the time.

I've heard that Scale75 paints dry very flat, and they are, of course, pre-thinned to an extent and come in the same easy to use bottles as Vallejo so maybe they are a good alternative, giving the best of both worlds. Now I need to ask myself "Do I spend more money on paint or save it for figures (or beer)?"

Regarding the original question...erm, what Tony said (a good selection to start with, I would add Burnt Sienna mainly because I use it a lot)

I have finally got some Tamiya flat base but if I'm really honest, I just can't be bothered with the extra hassle of remembering to add it every time so it'll probably sit on my paint rack, unused for most of the time.

Hi Billy,
A tip I picked up from Carl, get an empty dropper bottle, add your Tamiya flat base to the dropper bottle with distilled water, give a good shake and hey presto. Use this to thin your paints, all I do is put a piece of electrical tape around the bottle so I know which has the Tamiya added to that of just distilled water I use to clean the brushes.
cheers
Richie

Cheers Rich, I already have my own home-brewed acrylic thinner decanted into a Vallejo bottle. I overlooked the obvious solution of just adding a few drops of Flat Base to my mix. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees

My thinner mix:

60/40 ish mix of deionised water/IPA (actually it's more like 66/33)
A few drops of flow improver.
A few drops of retarder

And now a few drops of Tamiya Flat Base