Choosing a paint set for a sort-of beginner?

[pallid crag]

I'm fairly new to painting minis but I've been painting dolls (of many sizes) for a long time. The ones I work with most commonly are resin-cast, sealed with a matte sealant (I like MSC), and then I use a combination of chalk pastels and fluid acrylic paint to shade their faces, bodies, etc.

I have painted two minis for friends in the past but that's it... However, I recently picked up a 3D resin printer and I'm printing minis left and right now, so I'd like to start painting them as well. As such I'd like to get a nice set of paints to start with because I find shopping for individual paints (especially when I'm already sitting on like 10 minis and printing more because I am weak) overwhelming. I'd rather have a solid set to start with and choose my colors from that.

However, I'm caught between Vallejo Game & Scale75 Scale Color sets. I've been reading threads and watching tutorials and I honestly can't tell what would be better for me. I know that Vallejo paints are better for beginners, but I'm a quick study and I'm worried I'll have wasted money on a vallejo set if I decide I should have bought the Scale75 set in 2-3 months.

Hoping for some feedback on what might be the right answer for my experience level/background. 🙂 ( PS. Why are the scale paints SO much cheaper on the european site? Even with shipping? )

[hybrid vault]

I can’t speak to scale75 paints, but Vallejo is a good paint range, and not just for beginners. Several master and professional painters use them, so I wouldn’t let that stop you. I love Vallejo and they are my go tos. Happy painting, whichever you choose

[mystic ivy]

Choosing paints for beginning can be a bit overwhelming. Here are the sets I would recommend:

• AK 3rd Gen
  https://ak-interactive.com/product/basic-starter-set-14-colors-selected-by-josedavinci/
• Vallelo MODEL Colour
  https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/product/hobby/sets/basic-en/basic-colors-usa-70140/
  The two metallic colours are not good, but the rest is solid.
  I would avoid the GAME colour range, if it's the old formulation. The new formulation are much better but I don't think they have made sets from them yet.
• Reaper
  https://www.reapermini.com/paints/learn-to-paint-kits
  The only drawback is that the selected paints are for the minis included in these sets. It lack a more generic set like the ones from AK and Vallejo. But the paints are very good.

I wouldn't start with Scale75. These paints, while good, have a steeper learning curve than the 3 brands above. They are more transparent (and the Fantasy & game range is very transparent). The Scale Colors are extremely matte so making mistakes a lot more obvious.

Vallejo Game Colour: as I mentioned, there are two formulations currently available in shops. With time, the old range will disappear. But how to recognise them? It's easy: by the labels, as the Vallejo logo has changed, and by the bottle. The old formulation are in a semi-transparent bottle, while the new formulation are in a clear bottle. So far I've tested 25 of the new range and they are good, fairly similar in feel to the AK 3rd gen paints, but slightly less covering.
Below are examples of the old range and new range bottle.

[hallow osprey]

What other's have said: Vallejo are solid colours even if you are more experienced. Scale75 has a very matt finish, so if you want that, it's something to go for.
Squidmar did a comparison of a lot of hobby paints:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpZ7lFR1QPQ
My favourite so far are actually Kimera.

And to answer the question on why Scale75 are so much cheaper in EU than outside: they are produced in Spain and they often ship from there. Also, on their website there are prices w/o VAT, so you can add about 20% for the actual price in EU 🙂

[mystic ivy]

I wouldn't recommend Kimera for a beginner, without that person having a solid artist background in colour theory and mixing.

[hallow osprey]

well, they do come with a sheet showing you what to mix together to get which colour. So mixing should be something you can learn with them as well. But yeah, they are a bit peculiar and expensive

[mystic ivy]

I forgot this one:
https://monumenthobbies.com/collections/pro-acryl-paints/products/pro-acryl-base-set
A bit expensive but it's 24 colours, well chosen, and they come in 22 ml pots instead of the usual 17/18 ml for other brands.

[pallid crag]

Thank you all so much! I really like the blending that can be done with Scale75 though I did watch some wet blending tutorials on how to get a similar effect with vallejo too. Even though I do find individual color picking really intimidating I decided to do some mockups on two of my models last night abd right now I am leaning towards buying some 'just the colors I need' of both brands so I can try them then decide if I want to get larger sets from there. I don't love it but for the sake of spending it really makes the most sense. 😣

[mystic ivy]

Blending can be done with any brand of paint.You can even blend different paints from different brands.

One thing for choosing individual paints: don't trust the swatches from the brands and/or reseller.s A lot of them are not accurate and some of them are completely wrong.
You can have a good idea of the real colour here:
#tutorials-database message