Hobby Science: Paint Pigments

It's time to learn about those pretty colors in our paint! Let's find where art and chemistry meet, and see if we can understand our art supplies a bit better.

Pigments are the lovely powders that give paint their color. In this episode we mix our own paint, look at chemical structures, read paint labels, and generally try to get our head around the materials that we use every day at our hobby desk.

And of course, I slap some paint on some poor drukhari kabalite warriors from warhammer 40k! :-)

More Goobertown!

***************************

Products I Frequently Use!

[chillywilly]

Came for the paint chemistry, stayed for the deer eating a pumpkin.

[peterlavalle]

Brent; "... painting a happy little Drukhari ..."
Me; "HE SAID THE LINE!"

[ignacejespers]

Brent: analyses paints and pigments on a deep level to better understand them using chemistry and science
Me: "so that's a darker green paint..."

[Miscast]

science brent, science brent, I love science brent

[socklips]

I just observed an Elven Mage giving an introductory lecture on his vast knowledge on alchemy, and even though his sonorous voice is full of wisdom, my Barbarian brain still pictures him shredding a lute as part of a Norscan-metal bard troupe.

[drfishynoooo]

1. Goobertown Paints - I'd buy them.
Especially if the range had a yellow that that didn't make me cry when I realise I have to do 20 coats to get a smooth finish.
That and some strong metallics.

2. Brent is the Walter White of mini painting.

[rustedbeetle]

Science!

There are museums that store some of the pure sources of pigment (shells, plants, metals, etc), which make for fascinating viewing.

[Nathaivel]

This is like if Bob Ross had a PhD in chemistry. Thanks for sharing!

[dmchodge]

Great to see you back discussing the chemistry side of things. It's something you do that I've not seen from anyone else.

[johannesvvith]

Coming from the art side of pigment appreciation, I can only second the importance of understanding the qualities of different pigments, rather than thinking of paint as just paint. Mini painting have kinda been spoiled by being an art form that came about after the synthetic colour revolution of the early 1900's. That's not to say that natural pigments are inherently superior to synthetic (quite the opposite is true in many cases) but rather that the limitation that naturally comes with having a limited range of specific hues is a great motivator for actually learning colour theory rather than getting super caught up with what specific paints are used for a given effect. That becomes a roadblock to creative improvement in my opinion - ie. thinking "what colour from the Citadel(TM) product line did they use for that effect?" rather than "what approach to color did they use to create that effect?" obscures what it is that is really the reason the model look good.

Mixing all the colours from the base colours is difficult, as you say, but not impossible and practising it is, IMO, the best way to get a practical grasp of colour theory. I follow the same principle with mini paints as with paint-on-canvas paints: Get a good quality red, blue, yellow, white and black paint and mix your way from there, and only buy more paints from there when the need for it arises naturally - ie. if for my army I need a lot of, say, indian yellow and turquoise, I'll specifically get those colours, but primarily as a convenience, to save me time.

This became kinda tangential and I don't want to bash anyone's way of painting, I just know that for myself personally, my painting level took a quantum leap when I started to think about paint as a limited palette of basic "carmine reds" and "raw siennas" and so on (sort of "god given" pigments in that they are of a naturally limited number) that I have to wrestle into the hue I want, rather than as a practically infinite range of specific hues that I have free choice between.

[rgholcomb]

This was so interesting! Seriously considering adding this video to my chemistry curriculum next year, and now I'm super stoked for your future physics video on reflection and absorption as it's one of my favorite topics to teach. Hooray science!

[bramverbeek]

If you're interested in the spectrum reflections of different paints, you can make an easy setup with projecting white light through a spectrum and seeing where along the rainbow a certain paint reflects. What's hard to do, is making the whole dark enough so you only see the right reflection, but with some creativity, it's possible to pull this off.
Your content is awesome, and the presentation is as good, keep at it!

[KevinvL]

Science Brent is the Best Brent! <3
This contains everything I love: Mini Painting, Science, Relaxation, Joy.
More of this please! I'd like to have an episode on all the stuff you additionally add to the medium. Flow Improver, "Metal" stuff, crackle medium, ...

[puffins_apothecary]

Listening to you speak when I have a horrible migraine is so soothing. No crazy music, no bright lights and no loud sounds. Just your great voice distracting me from a terrible night. Thank you!

[seanclarke]

I was actually thinking yesterday "I wonder what Brent is up to, I haven't seen an upload for a while", interesting video dude, thanks!

[bryal]

I'm only 5 minutes in and I *know* this is going to be one of my go-to videos. Your information is transparent, easy to understand It's completely facilitating!

[bekkison]

Amazing video! Our hobby is starving for more information like this. I'm definitely with you in that science is beautiful and can only enhance the art. And while I'm all for experimentation in painting, it's also nice to avoid mistakes with some good information before starting! Keep making these videos!

[Smilomaniac]

The library of 'good colors' is huge too. All you can do is ask in the community that revolves around the paint subject and hope that someone knows the exact color you mean. On top of that there's the color difference on monitors and before you think about brightness and color settings, the fact that if you're using an old monitor will change things too.
If you can invent or find a new yellow pigment that covers well, you'll be *RICH*.

[Finkeldinken]

Yessss, this is my jaaammm!!
I love pigments and would absolutely love a deep chemistry nerdy dive!!
I have a few friends who mull and make their own watercolours from either self-sourced or bought pigments, and tbh I am a little addicted.
I loved this video so much.
I also love just how certain pigments can produce such a wide variety of colours, like PR101, PBr7 and PV19.

I think one of my biggest peeves with mini paints is just how many of them clearly contain white, most probably PW6. I know this is a highly personal peeve from someone who came in from other kinds of traditional art, but argh.

I have been waiting to get the Kimera Kolors for about six months now. Not having access to good mixing colours and pigment and lightfastness info is part of why it took me so long to get into mini painting, so when I saw Marco Frisoni mention KK, I was sold!
They have been sold out for most of that time, even before the lockdown, though. I know they I working on making more, and my wallet is ready!

Thank you, Brent!
Moar pigment and dye nerdery! MOAR!!!

[TRUEiMPROrecords]

This is the type of video that makes that "clack clack" sound in your brain as the puzzle pieces of your experience and instinct gets explained into knowledge. Brent, you rock!