A Few Words About Painting-By-Numbers Paint
There have been quite a few questions on social media about Painting-By-Numbers Paint. I’m Russell, I’m a semi-serious artist of the more traditional sort and I thought I would write a few words on this. I’ve written a book on Advanced Painting-By-Numbers techniques and there is more information at the bottom of this post.
Painting-By-Numbers Paints. The paints that come with most Painting-By-Numbers sets are a form of water soluble acrylic paint. As with most things, the more you pay for your PBN set, the better the quality. Some are thick, some are thin. Different colors are transparent and other colors are opaque
Paint Make Up. Acrylic paints are made of 3 basic ingredients; pigment, binder and filler. The pigment is the coloring, filler gives the paint volume and the binder holds it all together as a liquid. The more expensive the paint, generally the more pigment used and the the brighter the color.
I Can See The Numbers Through My Paint.
Pigment. Pigment is what gives the paint its color and level of transparency/opaqueness, some paints are semi-transparent. Some pigments such as blues, greens yellows and ultramarines are naturally transparent. Other pigments such as whites, blacks, ochres and reds are opaque. If you see the numbers through the paint, the paint has a high level of transparency. It’s to do with the pigment, nothing to do with the cost.
You can make a transparent paint opaque by adding an opaque paint to the transparent paint. Adding a little white, especially an artist white such as Titanium White makes a color more opaque. White though does reduce the brighness a little. A little black also turns a transparent paint opaque, but heavily darkens the color.
Maybe add a little Titanium White to the paint, and when dry, add a 2nd coat. Some artists think that you need what is known as ‘Heavy-Body’ or ‘Full-Body’ paint. You don’t need Full-Body Titanium White, just a normal general quality Titanium White. Full Body paint is thicker and can be used to thicken painting-by-numbers paint, but it could need a lot of stirring.
Help, I’ve Run Out Of Paint
All is not lost if you have run out of paint. First of all contact the supplier to see if they can send you some more. They will probably charge you for it though.
You could also buy a set of some small tubes of traditional artist paint and easily mix your own colors. I’ve written a Blog post here that shows you how you can easily mix your own colors the cry goes up: I’ve Run Out Of Paint.
My Paint Is Too Thick Or Too Thin.
Painting-by-numbers paints come in various levels of thickness/thiness. Firstly, stir the paint in the pot to the bottom with a cocktail stick or brush end. Pigment can settle on the bottom and stirring a thin paint can remix it and thicken it.
Too Thick. If your paint is too thick then it could be designed to be thick, or it could be drying in the pot. Add water, a couple of drops at a time to the paint pot and stir until you get the right consistency. Water does dilute the color slightly. You could add some sort of Flow Enhancer or Flow Aid to the paint. You can buy these products or make your own. The Painting-By-Numbers specialist ‘Melanie Ball Gilstrap’ AKA ‘Melanie B’ has a video on how to make your own Flow Aid and you will find a link to it here: Make Your Own Flow Aid.
Too Thin. If your paint is too thin then it is probably because it is supposed to be that way. You can paint more layers on the canvas to give a deeper color or, you can add a proper acrylic paint medium (see later). You could add a powder such as Bicarbonate of Soda to the paint as you paint. Bicarbonate will thicken the paint and leave a grainy texture to it. The great artists used to add flour and sand to thicken their oil paints.
Acrylic Mediums
Artistic acrylic mediums are really acrylic paints without the pigments, and with other ingredients to give new properties. The use of proper mediums means that any changes to color and transparency are almost unnoticable. Make sure you follow the instructions on the container.
Water can thin acrylic paint, and a powder such as Bicarbonate of Soda can thicken acrylic paint. The best way though to alter the properties of acrylic paint is to use a proper acrylic medium.
- Flow Enhancers helps make the paint spread more easily.
- Retarders increases the time the paint takes to dry.
- Accelerants reduce the time the paint takes to dry.
- Thickening Gels will thicken paint but keep it smooth.
- Impasto Pastes will thicken paint and give a coarse texture.
- Gloss mediums will add a gloss sheen to the paint, and
- Matt mediums will dull down a shine on the paint.
You can mix some mediums to combine properties. Mix a retarder, and a flow enhancer for example to give acrylic paints, properties similar to those of oil paints.
Painting By Numbers: The Basics and Beyond is my new book on advanced painting by numbers techniques. Click here to go to your local Amazon web page (link now fixed) and read a sample, and buy a Kindle version (for a Kindle device or Kindle App) or a paperback version. If you are in Australia, New Zealand or Japan; you can buy the paperback HERE.
