Thanks Eduardo, the drying time is much slower than acrylics and the consistency much, much smoother. I'm using Winsor & Newton Artisan range, all the info you need here, http://www.winsornewton.com/products/oil-colours/artisan-water-mixable-oil-colour/

Thank you very much Roger, the idea of prove those water mixable oils tempts me a lot.

Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia

The experiment continues. The plan for today is to apply a final highlight with pure Titanium White and the redo the darkest shadow area with Lamp Black.
I've just bought a jar of W&N Artisan water based oil painting medium to see how that works in comparison to just mixing with water.
The figure as it is at the moment before this next step.

Roger.

Hi Roger, looking good mate. May I suggest adding just a hint of blue to the white as you are hi-liting a dark metal.

Cheers

Ron

It's looking great Roger. I think your planned highlights and shadows should make it really pop.

Andrew.

Cheers Ron, thanks I'll do that..... if I can get away from here long enough.

Roger.

Thanks Andrew.

Whatever the opinion regarding water soluble v traditional oil in my opinion this is a better result than I've ever had painting armour with acrylics so I'm a convert. I'm hoping with a bit more practice I'll be able to hone the technique further but I'm pretty pleased with this my first really serious try with them.
Now to get on with the rest of the figure, Dan's Uhlan, the Leuthen set, etc. etc.

I'm not sure it can properly be called snobbery since the superiority of regular oils can be quite real, rather than just perceived - you can tell for example from how most water-miscible oil ranges are priced that they're not in the same league as many artists' oils.

There are a few other key issues but the price alone tells us a lot, just as it does if you were comparing the Georgian or Winton ranges with most of the major artists' oils.

Einion

Credit where it's due mate that's a better result than I ever got with them. Have to agree with Einion with regard to the cost of pigments and their quality. This for me was the key issue in that I could not get them thin/transparent enough for my style of painting. But that is personal choice and does not alter the fact that you like them and that is all that matters.

Ron

Hi Roger,
That looks ,I love how you transform these little fella's. Very interesting using the water soluble paints, I have some and might give them a go for certain applications.
cheers
Richie

Point taken Einion, the snobbery comment was tongue in cheek but expensive paint does not make a good painter.

Roger.

Thank you Ron and Richie.

The question is, if I said I had painted the armour on this figure in oils could you tell it was water soluble or is the difference only noticed by the painter as opposed to the viewer?
It's not important, I'm just curious.

Roger.

NO

No but the things so damn tiny I'd probably say what figure ? try it on a real one now

Steve

Thanks Richie, I might well upgrade to "proper" oils but using these might make the learning process less expensive.

Roger.

How do you know I aren't

Well it was worth bringing up, it might have been just snobbery! There's plenty of that about, especially among painters who use high-end oils lemme tell you

While expensive paint doesn't make a good painter better paint can directly help in producing a superior paintjob. Paint that's materially better in one or two respects can perform in ways that cheap/cheaper paint can't; the best example here is probably in coverage (linked to pigment load), since we've all used paint at one time or another that we wished had higher opacity.

Anyway, once someone has a few Artisans/Cobras etc. already the advice often given on painting fora - to anyone that's not 100% against using any spirits of any kind for anything - is to ignore that they're this type of oils and use them just as though they were regular oils, they actually work slightly better this way

Einion

Einion, tongue in cheek but maybe with just a little bit of truth.

Roger.