I tried painting with the LEGENDARY Anime Paints (what a surprise)

In this Video I finally get to try out the Legendary Nicker Poster Colors! These Paints have been used in some of the biggest animation productions ever and I have always wanted to try painting with them!

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[AlpayEfe]

A Huge Thank You to all my Patrons who make these videos possible 🫶. You’re the best!!! If you want to join our little Patreon community and support the channel head over to Patreon.com/alpayefe 🙌

[marllram]

Ex graphic designer here. Wikipedia's explanation that poster colors are for students is only half right. The paint indeed used a lot in schools, because they are more controllable than watercolors, vibrant, and affordable. The other half, my lecturer in uni told us that poster colors, are created for designers pre-computer, where they needed to color the artworks (hence 'posters', logos, lettering, all things that are usually solid in shapes, less artistic than a painting) EFFICIENTLY: less chaotic than watercolors, dry faster, opaque in one swipe, doesn't change in value when dry like gouache, less mixing needed to get certain colors for branding consistency and faster working (thus the many color options), comes in vibrant colors less used in paintings but definitely eye catching for ads, dry matte unlike acrylics so great for reproduction, and cheaper. Even now, design students are starting their color theory with poster paints before learning about RGB. Sadly ad agencies now of course no longer use them, therefore without mangaka and manual animators using them (so few of them now that still choose to color manually), I believe poster colors quality will later go downhill to cater only to students.

So contrary to wikipedia's explanation of 'cheapo medium', they were the standard for ad industry deadlines and budget, hence understandably also why anime studios rely on them as well: imagine you're trying to recreate 50 frames of the same sky, rather than mixing watercolors, share them with your team, with everyone having different stroke styles.. it's more consistent if you work with poster colors, just use what comes in the tube or mix a bit, and the opaqueness is really forgiving with different strokes.

[AndroidAn]

Something particular about Nicker is that they focus a lot on the pigment particles having the same size, hence the fact that when they dry they generate a more consistent, uniform finish, the same with gum arabic, they use a very fine gum without impurities, this It arose because the anime industry required it to have more consistent results.

[lordofgraphite]

The amount of work in traditional animation will never stop blowing my mind

[ceciliacorzo]

I’m an animator that works with paints and the consistency of poster paint is perfect when you have to paint hundreds and hundreds of frames! Heavier consistencies like acrylic become such a chore after a while!!

[nemhod]

Dangerous to paint a gremlin with something that looks that watery :D

[synii]

As asian teen in the 2000s, I grew up using poster colors and never heard of gauche until my mid 20s. The well-known brand we've got here is Sakura, everyone who needs this type of medium uses and suggests this brand to others because it's decent quality and so affordable even for the middle-schoolers. One downside of poster colors I find is it's so heavy if you have many colors. I used to carry them to school in a big modified lunch bag with cross-body strap. lol

[watashiwamosura]

Animators actually wet both sides of the paper when using these paints (Nicker themselves even have a tutorial on their YouTube channel and Kazuo Oga demonstrates this in a few videos too). I'd be really interested how your impressions/technique would change if you tried it!

[lilliefluff]

As a gouache artist, it's always lovely to see people talking about paints like this!

Poster colours are technically a type of gouache, and I think both mediums (the same medium?) will take any recognition they/it can get haha

They're so incredibly versatile!

[navypinkdesign]

When you ask “why does the paint dry faster?” And my mind immediately went to “duh these artist have tons of cells to make and need to work fast” but you were actually wondering about the “how” of it. Cool video and thanks for the demo! Love gizmo!

[Kuvall]

I know you said you have seen so many others making Studio Ghibli recreations but i would absolutely love to see what you would do with a creation from one of their films but in your own style just like you did with Alice in Wonderland.

[wayfaringspacepoet]

there is definitely a difference between poster paints in western countries, and poster *colours* in Asian countries like India, Korea and Japan
the former is just a synonym for kids' grade tempera paint that usually comes packaged in bottles, which kids are then given to use for fingerpainting and other little art projects, whereas poster colours are as you said — simply a variant of gouache that is used in industry settings and is formulated for this reason to dry faster

[froggballoon]

Homie ya gotta try painting with these on an acetate sheet! Animation paint like this was supposed to be formulated to not seperate when painted on a clear plastic animation cell. I wanna see how it reacts!
(Note, acryla gouache is a good alternative for this)

[moondoggie]

Even if the paint itself isn't special the artists who use it are what make it legendary.

[NavyAssassinOnBLAST]

Time is money in Hollywood. Makes sense they used a fast-drying paint. As.a watercolorist I get frustrated having to wait for my layers to dry before I can move on. That alone makes me want these paints! Besides they look gorgeous & fun to work with! Thank you for the beautiful demonstration 😊

[AndroidAn]

Jelly paints have a little more glycerin content, which gives them their peculiar consistency, which is why they take longer to dry.

[XimenaZhao]

The main benefit of Nicker paints is the way they photograph, because they are designed for animation. They are meant to dry fast and super flat, to not cause glare in the photo frames. Most paints that dry fast contain a siccative agent; a chemical that speeds up the evaporation of water media (or curing/oxidation in the case of oils/alkyds).
Gizmo! Don't get them wet and don't feed them after midnight.

[samanthajradney]

I used to live in the Philippines and this was my introduction to any type of paint. And yea i used them in elementary school and high school. I only had the basic colors and learned how to mix colors at an early age. 😊 super nostalgic to see them here.

[artistchristos]

Thank you for demonstrating these paints. I was a graphic designer, years ago, turned visual artist for several decades and these look great. The wet consistency is uniform among the range and they dry flat and superbly opaque. I would rather use these than artists gauche for the perfect flatness as well as drying speed. Watching your experiments makes me want to start painting something entirely different from my using oils for so long!

[peepopalaber]

They are simple poster colors. larger pigments than gouache, high density, fast curing. As graphic designer who did learned a bit the old school stuff, i love them.