Yesterday I received a few tubes of Jo Sonja's acrylic paints. A week ago I'd never heard of them but then I discovered the painting works of Sang Eon Lee. He doesn't appear to have a website but is on Facebook and a google image search will yield many examples of his remarkable work. Mostly larger scale military pieces but I found his work via some studio paintjobs for Kabuki Models that he has produced. I'm not sure the painting style is entirely my scene (with some very OTT NMM effects) but the technique is astounding. I saw a few WIP shots on his Facebook and discovered that he was working over black undercoat. Unusual for a top-end painter but it immediately got my attention as I do the same. I then found out he uses Jo Sonja's Acrylics to paint his figures and so I thought I might give them a shot too.
I received nine tubes of the paint. Now the Jo Sonja paint isn't quite like the hobby paints we are used to but it's also rather different to artist's colours. In fact, it most resembles craft paints (like Decoart and Inscribe) but higher quality. I did a little experimenting and found them an intriguing paint. First off they're a lot thicker than hobby paint but generally more fluid than artist's colours. One good thing is that they're generally opaque and they thin with water without losing this to any great degree. Certainly if you try this with artist's paint you tend to have problems. So, need thinning ingeneral. I decanted mine into pots as using tubes for the amounts used in mini painting is just a pain. I might pre thin them a bit too (especially the black as it's like tar out of the tube). My favourite thing about these paints is the finish. They are totally dead matt in finish. When I varnish figures, it's not for protection, it's to get the finish and these paints have a finish like dullcote and don't lose it even when heavily thinned.
Anyway, last night's painting session was set up with the task of painting a mini using nothing but the Jo Sonja's paint. My little girl zombie seemed like a good idea as she would be quick to paint and had no metallic areas to worry about. Painting her didn't really throw up any issues with the paints. I'll have to get used to the levels of thinning required as I tended towards either over or under thinning but that'll come with a little practice. I'd also like to get a few more paints. The difficulty for me in buying my first batch was not wanting to buy too many and having to select the colours via online colour charts (notorious for their lack of accuracy). So, get a few more soon before I tackle something a little more sophisticated.
But I painted a mini, so here she is. Quick paintjob, just around an hour. Photograph seems to have flatted the effect a little but I'm pretty pleased and she's only about 17mm tall. Quick fun paintjob.
veery effective - and you reveal an art scientist with your commentary - im in awe of such stuff as i know so little - intend to keep it so as i think style is the product of what you cannot do - keep em coming please - this stuffs great .......
ReplyDeleteWell, it's funny you should mention the art scientist label as I never refer to myself as an artist. My usual label is scientist and occasionally engineer (both often preceeded by the word mad). My inspiration is rarely plucked from the air or via abstract means but as the result of analysis. Everything is 'how' and 'why' and never 'we'll see how it goes' and 'just because'.
ReplyDeletenon of these are mi usual route of inspiration but its rather than something that needs to be expressed - these urges can be stimulated bi odd comments, dreams, books, films, THE NATURAL WORLD AND WEATHER , works of other artists etc etc - but rarely how and why and never see how it goes and just because ...... a bit random and maybe a bit madde .....
ReplyDeleteVery nicely painted. Interesting use of Jo Sonja's acrylic paint. Is the paint something you would defiantly use again? How did you find it with drying times and retention of brush strokes - as usually allot of craft paints tend to be not suitable for miniatures.
ReplyDeleteI like the colour choice - if actually reminds me of John Blanche's style of painted minis...
Yes, I plan to get some more of the Jo Sonja paints and try them out on something more sophisticated. The drying times are what you'd expect from acrylics. Not too quick though. I didn't have any problems with brush strokes. You would if you used it neat as it has quite a lot of body to it but once thinned it's pretty fluid. Best thing I can say there is that there isn't much evidence of brush strokes on my little zedette and she's tiny.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Blanchian palette I suppose she does. I'd expect more richness from John though. Actually the palette was somewhat forced upon me by my lack of paint choices...
whoes the profs trousers then ???
ReplyDelete