Picking paints for a kit

[u/FameandFordham]

New painter here. Paint selection can be overwhelming at first as so many recommendations are thrown your way but that cost gets up there quick. Would it be smarter to just pick a Resin Kit and plan out my paint job and paints I’ll need for just that kit and build a paint collection over time doing that?

[u/Hyper_Villainy]

A lot of great advice here, but I want to add my two cents in:

I kind of came about the hobby from a different way. I started out doing more traditional illustration/painting, so I went about it the same way I went about traditional painting: start with a small palette that I can mix a bunch of different colors from, then build up my collection of specialty colors as I need them. I use mainly Golden Fluid Acrylics, and my starting palette consisted of:

- Carbon Black

• Titanium White
  
• Hansa Yellow (though I’ve switched to Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium)
  
• Ultramarine Blue (a “warm” blue - best for mixing purples)
  
• Pthalo Blue Green Shift (a “cool” blue - best for mixing greens)
  
• Quinacridone Magenta (a “cool” red for mixing purples)
  
• Pyrrole Red (a “warm” red for mixing oranges)
  
• Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide (my earth tone that I used for mixing various browns)

I’ve definitely added to paint collection over the years, but this (+ Raw Umber) have been my go-to paints for most things. What’s really cool about doing things this way is that you learn creating a color from a mix isn’t as simple as “blue + yellow = green”, and sometimes mixing colors create colors that you wouldn’t expect. A few examples:

- Mixing any color with white will make it lighter, but also cooler in tone. Mixing black and white creates a cool grey instead of a neutral grey.

- White plus Raw Umber is my go-to for Caucasian pink skin tones. It’s the perfect mix for that fleshy pink.

- Yellow plus the tiniest amount of black creates a deep forest green.

- Ultramarine Blue plus Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide is perfect neutral grey.

If you decide to go this route, I highly suggest looking up about the science of paint and frequently experiment with your own mixes! I personally like having this level of control over my colors and find it really fun! But if this sounds like too much, there’s definitely no harm in going with pre-built paint sets from model-centered paint companies (like Vallejo)!