Kimera Paints - Good, Bad or Monkey?

I decided to paint a miniature using only the Kimera paints, to see "what all the fuss is about", to get a slight feel of the product, to be able to share my thoughts with you.

And sorry about all the monkey business. I have been made aware by dear Patrons that it's probably more of an "anthromorphic bat-like creature". But I like monkeys.

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[bettsdn]

This is a great vid. My wife, who is a studio artist with a graduate degree, was perplexed by my ever growing collection of paints when I started painted minis - particularly the large amount of browns. She wondered why I did not simply mix my colors. Then she tried and noticed that many of the colors mixed in ways she did not anticipate or simply desaturated - as you mentioned. I was so excited when I discovered Kimera paints because I could finally mix colors reliably with a consistent result. Oh, and she is a big fan of Phthalo blue. ;)

[Wijkert]

I love Kimera colors for their pigment density and thus saturation and ability to thin them down a lot. They tried to close the gap between hobby paints and artists paints and succeeded IMO. I would not call them a luxury item for 2 reasons. 1. the price is very reasonable and per milliliter turns out to be the same as Vallejo, Scale 75 etc. and better than Citadel; considering they are higher pigmented, they are actually a better deal. 2. I would say it is the other way around, premixed blends from every other manufacturer are a luxury item, because the work has already be done for you and you need to spend a lot more money to get the entire range.

That being said, it is not easy or convenient to mix all the colors and that does increase the barrier to entry.

[VingloLeClerc]

My god. A Yazirian miniature from Star Frontiers. That does bring me back a few years. I really liked the races in that game.

[Iwanttoregister]

"These paints are in my eyes very much designed to be used by someone who knows what they are doing"
I've never been so sure that something wasn't intended for me :D

[waittues]

I love that this space monkey(fantastic concept by the way) went through all the trouble of acquiring and wearing tactical camouflage. Probably to blend in. But then wears bright orange boots. Like, Does he want to get shot or Doesn't he? 10/10

[philgee]

I love my Kimera base set, I do paint in a completely different way when I'm using them, less deciding to mix a rich green, and more combining drops to see what I get. Don't throw the leaflet away, the mixing guide is a godsend. Thank goodness that for flesh tones there's Marco's NJM guide to mixing them from scratch tho. Great vid as always, really interesting to hear another perspective, as always approached thoughtfully and cleverly. And a space monkey again, needs a mohawk tho....

[diehexenmaus]

really love how this turned out (and as for phthalo blue, it's one of those colours that every artist i know who favours notions of 'realism' hates [while i end up using it, often, for underpainting because i generally reject notions of realism in my own art.])

[cory]

I have come to love older, simple minis now. They do have so much character and almost seem happy.

[MrDrTJ]

I use kimera for one off minis and low mini count games where everyone is unique, and for that they are fantastic! For army painting these for me are a big no, I can't be mixing the same tone for 50 space Marines months apart from each other. Definitely a case of the right tool for the right job

[Jsilveira]

Its always great to see alternative armies getting some love.

[jordydavis]

So happy to see you working with kimera! That paint range has taught me more about color theory than any other source. Sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty too learn a little!

[saintcityriot]

I have to agree with you about the quality of the sculpt. I LOVE collecting older miniatures, or pewter sculpts from smaller manufacturers. They really do have more character, and they often work in genres that the big companies don't. When I want cyberpunk, I go hunting for these sculpts.

[RisingApe]

Beautifully scripted as always, huge fan of Kimera paints, I made a video about them last month, yours as ever blows mine out of the water. great work

[Berserkerworks]

Great mini and great paint work. I always love the challenge of using Kimera paints and having to think so much more about how colours interact with each other. If a good kind of mumbo-jumbo.

[ThePickleJar]

I’ve never tried kimera paints before but a few people have recommended them. The high pigment quality would be super useful, I do like nice strong, bold colours. Great video bud

[jherazob]

Interesting note for the audience: The miniature is part of a group, the "Space Simian X Collection", released by Ganesha Games on a Kickstarter a few years ago with it's own rulebook, a lovely set of humanoid space apes which should form a great crew for Stargrave, 5 Parsecs or other games, Alternative Armies has them all :D

[MoritzPost]

As somebody who owns the Kimera base set as well, i can attest that the red/orange/yellow side of the set is very vibrant indeed. Love it. The set is really made to mix your way through the color wheel. Nice ape btw. ;)

[StevilKanevil_]

I am always happy to see people with the confidence to mix colours freely. I don't yet have the artistic confidence to stray outside the citadel colour chart but last month I bought a wet palette and some vallejo paints as to coax myself into painting in a more adult fashion. I love the mini, and found the same love of "under-embellishment" when I recently got into collecting the Middle Earth minis, after being burnt out painting hordes of Death Guard who are 67% filigree and detail. Anyway, my point of commenting here is I'd love to see you paint one of the Jim Fitzpatrick miniatures from Lucid Eye Publications. That's it, sláinte

[mycatistypingthis]

Per milliliter, these are cheaper than GW paints. Then we also have the higher pigmentation so they'll go further. Pure pigments are also every colour, while premixed colours will also desaturate more.

Using these paints somewhat thinned down (especially the blues), they'll work like a really rich Contrast paint, if you want.

[AndurzTalksHobbies]

Fantastic work, turned out beautifully! I always love seeing your wetblending process, it's just so organic and has definitely inspired me to do it more and more!