Pro Acryl BETTER than GW and Army Painter for painting Warhammer? | Comparing three brands of paint! 

Thanks for watch, folks! Which of the three brands do you like most?!

Would have loved to see a vallejo paints comparison included otherwise great stuff

If you're an AP painter and you want a less fuss with your painting set up, might I suggest Vallejo as an alternative. A lot of color matches, it's only a little bit more expensive the quality of the paint is in my option much much higher.. My advice is to ignore brand loyalty, and just pick the best paints from each brand. It's all just paint. Grab whatever paints you like and sling them on your model!

In the U.S., ProAcryl are $4 vs. $4.50+ US for a normal GW paint. So...better bottle, almost double the paint, included mixing ball...for less money. Oh, and the paints are pretty awesome (I only own about 12 so far).

I realize I'm a little late to the party here but having spent nearly a year and a half working exclusively with Army Painter products, I've found that the real problem isn't the paint itself. Yes, it needs vigorous shaking. It's the medium. The bottles come with excess medium in them, by design for ... some reason. I had to look at their 'free painting guide' to see what I was doing wrong. Apparently you have to give it a few shakes, squeeze out the excess medium, then shake it vigorously and spread. The paint *GENERALLY* will work the way it should after that. It sometimes does not though as apparently the level of medium is quite variable. For instance my oak brown has been a consistent nuisance. But for dragon red, in particular, this was easily fixed. I should also note that this problem was MORE pronounced on their 18oz pots vs their 'beginner' 12 oz pots. The 12oz pot set actually worked better out of the box and it took me far longer to figure out what I was doing wrong. This is likely due to them simply being smaller pots so less medium can be put into the bottle.

The pink reflections on your glasses give an 80’s music video feel. Or that time I found out Wednesday was drag night at a bar I visited...

Dude even on first coat, that Pro Acryl though. I am beyond in love with these paints, everything else feels like it's missing something, the pigment is so dense and yet they water down to a glaze so easily it's incredible. Have you tried the Transparent Paints yet? GAME CHANGER. Washes coming soon from Monument!

Great video! Fairly new to mini painting and have only used Army painter so far except for some citadel washes which I love. Think I might give the Pro Acryl a shot when I get my next batch in. Thanks for the video !

I grabbed some Pro Acryl to test after seeing Ninjon using them several months ago and fell in love with how well they covered and how matte they dried.

I am a commission painter, so finding paints that cover well really helps me time-wise to get more miniatures out in a given month. I bought army painter when I started and some of the paints I love, but dragon red is 100% not one of them. Based on your video I bought 5 pro acrylic paints. White, black, dark red and dark brown + a yellow as these are typically the paints I suffer with from army painter. Will see how it turns out in 2 days time when I use them! Great video.

I don´t know much different paints. Until now I only use Citadel and Armypainter and I am very happy with my Armypainter. I don´t know what I made diffrent to you, but they are so much better than my citadel.

Solid little comparison video man :) Nice to see you having a views boom too!

When I first bought army painter I had the same issue but like you pointed out when thinned and then shaken with an agitator they work much better.

I have so many brands and I want to try more. Pro acryl is on the list of brands to try, in my opinion I love that so many paint companies exist. Reaper makes the bulk of my collection, but I have to say citadel has left me wanting, if only for the price.

Thank you for the side-by-side comparison. As I returned to the hobby, my decades old Testors enamels that I used for my 2nd edition miniature painting was still viable, but the pricing on them these days is crazy high in the US, so, I thought it was time to learn how to use acrylics and eventually decided that I would venture into learning with Pro Acryl. My experience so far supports your experience with the paint. I have never used Army Painter or Citadel paints; can cannot offer a comparison-based opinion ... just that the actual use of the Pro Acryl paints is smooth and creamy.

Just bought up the Pro Acryl line of paints and am very excited to get them on some minis!

nicely done. I really like Pro Acryl, got the full range over the winter and ended up getting rid of a good deal of my citadel paints, but I find citadel does have some great colors but I don't need every shade because with Pro Acryl I can make a quick blend right on palette. Good stuff!

I have a plethora of paints and thats why I love videos like this! Helps save money... It seems the different ranges do different things extremely well. I LOVE my turbodork metallics, my gw + ProAc basecoats or premixed second and tertiary colors, vallejo primaries, gw washes. Just to name a few. Just a heads up to what I use for larger pots like ProAc for storage are nail polish holders from amazon. Several layers, snaps together easy, durable, light. Might want to check them out. Great vid, ty.

That was realy interesting, I personally new to painting, but didn't start on a warhammer dedicated shop, so I got the choice between Citadel, Vallejo and Army painter, Mostly all of the vallejo pait were sold off, I chose Army Painter for start, mostly charmed by the bottle format over the cap one (now I think it was a weird reason to be frank). I get my hand on the Army Painter 50 color pack them and so far, well I must admit not all colors work the same.... as mentioned here, black and white are really good, but a lot of collor that I use a lot (daemonic yellow, dragon red, crystal blue, greenskin....) have very poor covering, like without dilluting, just using a wet pallet will require you to apply up to 5 layers. And other.... well just do the job well, which is actually do a good job. I honestly think I'll go trough the paints here then slowly try other brands such as Vallejo I had really good returns on.

I honestly like to use army painter paints. I've gotten used to the way their paints mix and flow at this point. But I think I'll try out some other brands when I run out of some of my current colors

Thank you for the review, the only experience I've had with Army Painter was one of their yellow spray paints and I wasn't impressed, poor pressure and on first use kept 'spitting'. I've also been buying more Vallejo paints which are consistently as good as Citadel.

Great job! Really well made video. Earned yourself a sub. Thanks for the review.

Nice vid Benji lad. I recently got hold of the Pro M translucent range. They are superb, i just need to get better at painting!

Great video! As someone who was out of the hobby for a long time and got back in a few years ago I also immediately bought Citadel paints. I've seen a ton of videos from painters who's opinions I respect talking about Pro Acryl paints and have looked into it. I'm pretty much at the same place as you. I'll probably get them to replace paints as I need but can't really see myself picking up an entirely new paint range. I do want to suggest you check out Vallejo metal color paints. Especially aluminum and gunmetal as they are amazing. Nearly perfect coverage with a single coat and super thin out of the pot. A tiny bit goes a really long way. I've honestly never used a metal paint I've liked as well as these.

Really enjoyed this comparison, all the best, Garry

Interesting findings. I've stuck mostly to Citadel paints so far, and in general have been fairly happy. I don't mind the pots, but I do get a bit frustrated when you get dried paint in the lid and they don't shut properly (until you scoop it out). Like you, the pro acryl bottles won't fit in my rack, so I'll probably stick to GW for now. As for the models, from the video the citadel and Pro acryl looked pretty similar (aka good), but the AP one looked really glossy. Could just be the lighting, but I definitely preferred the matte finish. P.s. Can confirm the mug is good quality, it's currently my go-to mug for my teas.

I use a variety of paints, including Army Painter, which I haven't had an issue with. I have a set of Pro-acryl transparents, which I tend to use rather than Citadels contrast paints. My paint of choice for the last 6 months or so has been Scale75, which I rate above all the others. Prices in the UK vary quite a lot though i.e. don't go straight to a famous online store that sells practically everything as smaller retailers are more than £10 per set cheaper! Lovely paints to use, with great results.

25 or so years ago I started with Revel and Humbrol later Citadel arrived with acrylic, wash, glaze and a s%# load of colors. I liked those effects that took a lot of paint time off to get me satisfied. I just started again. And bought Citadel and Vallejo. And a Glaze medium. I dislike the Citadel pots, they won't stay open if I don't wedge a brush under the lid. But are inconsistent in behavior to each color. Vallejo paint are incredible, pigment saturated smooth single layer cover. And behaves best when thinning even to extreme with glaze medium. I would love a complete Vallejo, but it isn't cheap 😕

Red for all! Got to try out that new fangled paint. Looks good. 😀

I keep watching your pink eyeshadow. I have some Acryl paint and i love it so far.

Having had issues with gw paints drying with a glossy finish, I moved into using scale 75. These offered a gorgeous Matt finish but I find them really hard to work with at times. I tried pro acryl, and honestly won't buy another range again. They offer the matt final of scale color, but the ease of use of citadel.

I started with the army painter D&D line and struggled so hard. Then i got some citadel paints, painting got easier. Finally got some pro acryl and i absolutely love them. since then ive played with golden paints and heavy body paint. Its pretty much all about what works with your painting style. I still go back to my AP line now that i know how they behave in comparison.

Great and informative video! I'll check out ProAcryl based on your info. One thought: as other people have likely said, Army Painter paints shine when used to highlight and mix and anything else where a thinner paint is useful. Thank you!

This is a great comparison video. I've been using Army Painter, Citadel and Vallejo paints for a few years now and realized a while ago that they all have a place in my miniature painting world. Yes AP paint covers very poorly (especially warmer colours), however they work beautifully as glazes and filters. GW paint is exceptional for solid base cover, but is very unforgiving when layering, glazing or wet blending. Citadel metallics are also very granular with huge metallic flakes. Vallejo Metal Colour are simply the very best for metallics and VJ make the best mediums. So what I'm trying to say is that one brand isn't always the best answer for our hobby. Each brand has something to offer. 👍 Keep up the great work. Hitting that subscribe button as I type 😉👌

Wish I had seen your video yesterday. I ordered the Army Painter Mega Set. It's due to arrive today. Wish me luck.

I love the GW pots. Dipping straight into the shades is superb. They don't clog. And you have less waste.

Doesn’t look like you emptied the first ML or 2 from the Army Painter Dragon Red. So you basically have a lot of gelatine and almost no pigment. A lot of people go wrong with AP because of this insulation layer at the top of their bottles. Below the layer almost all their colours have excellent pigmentation. Also the fact that their medium is not water makes them different to work with that most acrylic paints.

I have 5 paints all together and I haven’t committed to buy any sets yet. I am glad I waited and now have seen this video. I think I will buy the pro acryl starter set. I wish P3 sold a complete set too, but it is paired down by factions.

If you haven't tried their primers yet....I'm sorry for you, that's where the magic is. Had a friend let me try some as I was about to give up on airbrush priming. Back in full swing but now need to buy more.

I didn’t read somewhere that older army painter paints had extra medium at the top to help with storage, any chance this might of been the reason for the thin consistency? Anyway, pro acryl is the one I found is the best overall!

I started with Army Painter, because it was cheap for how many colors I got. No matter how much I shook them, they didn't mix well though. I ended up taking toothpicks to every single bottle to scrape the pigment off the walls, then put them on the vortex mixer. After that, they were amazing to paint with. That being said, the amount of effort it took to make them good paints isn't worth it. I've since switched to primarily Vallejo.

Guess I've been living under a rock. This is the first I've heard of Pro Acryl. They sound promising. I'm surprised AP didn't have a better showing. I'd also like to add my voice to the chorus wishing you'd included Vallejo. Very informative video. Thanks!

I really like the Liquitex line. They are maybe a little thick, but with a little water, they are great. I legit did two WarCry warbands using their "School" 12 color pack. Mixed great and went on great. The whole pack of 12 colors was less than 20 bucks.

I love pro acryl paints, they are spectacular. I have some citadel contrast paint which is nice for speed painting, but so expensive

I personally love the army painter 50 paint set for beginners. I got it 5 years ago to start the hobby and still use them daily. I add other brand paints as I go but to start with I think it is well worth it.

I'm very interested in that Pro Acryl White now... Thanks!

I learned to paint with Privateer Press' Formula P3 line and still love those paints rather a lot, with my current favorite being Vallejo Model Color and Game Color paints. I also have a pile of Citadel paints on hand that I really need to bust out more often since they have some cool, distinct colors of their own. Currently my favorites are, ranked in order, Vallejo, P3, Citadel, but I did just order a bunch of Pro Acryl primary colors on a couple of people's recommendation, and I'm looking forward to trying them! I find that Vallejo and P3 work best on a wet palette, though Citadel can do just fine on there as well with a tidge more thinning and effort. Good video, and don't bash yourself too hard, man--you're a perfectly good, clean painter, and as i'm not too much better than you, I can afford to say so. :)

I have a bit of pride for ProAcyrl. They’re manufactured here in my home state of Arizona, and not only that, they’re some of the best paints I’ve used.

I have favorites in almost every range. Mostly Vallejo, Citadel and Pro Acryl, but a few others here and there. I'll also throw out that for airbrush, Tamiya is worth a long look. They're great.

Nice video! @2:28 - Which brand is which blob of red? ... Also, on the painted figures (6:30ish) the GW red seems dull. The AP seems brightest but a bit uneven and the pro acryl seems rich though not as bright. Does your eyes agree with this?

Having used citadel for years (without issue, but wanting dropper bottles) and bought a Vallejo “game air” paint set I’m not fully sold on either brand. Really wanting to try the pro acryl line.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

video of yours I've seen. Enjoyed it. Good job. Subbed :-)

May i ask what brand of eye shadow you're using on this video, this is a lovely pink!

What about the colours available in the ranges? Does ProAcryl have a comparable selection to GW? Are there more vivid colours or more drabs? Is the selection of blues better on one range or the other?

Looking for some advice, ive recently purchased a set of Pro Acryl and when trying to paint with it, it has quite a strong hydrophobic effect in the sense that it does not seem to want to stick to the model (similar to putting water in oil). I am thinking it has something to do with my primer but i was under the impression GW primers would be decent enough not to cause this issue. Anyone else had this experience?

The more I read about pro acrylic, the more I realize I need to get them. Army painter has consistently felt like they don't work as well as anything else I have, and while I have defended them, I think I need to move on to this better stuff. I am not good enough of a painter to use subpar paint. Thank you for this review!

What are your thaughts on coat d'arms paints they are my first choice

I've only used one pot of army painter paint. I've been experimenting with different shades of blue with a load of Vallejo bottles and they give noticeably better coverage, whether it's from model or game colour ranges. I found similar to you that it acted more like a wash. I don't think I would buy anymore if this is what they are just like, their washes seem alright though. I like the look of the pro acrylic paints and the agitator is handy because vortex mixers still don't thoroughly mix paint without one.

I've been slowly buying all of the proacryl range. I'm probably about half way done and I absolutely love these paints, they give me pretty much 0 issue every time I use them which I can't say for CItadel nor Vallejo which are my other paints. Although I will continue using specific colors and especially washes from those brands till Proacryl broadens their stuff more. But if it's available by them i'm using it.

The only Citadel white paint I have is Ceramite white and the stuff dries like chalk. I was impressed watching the Pro Acryl go on, but it's very hard to tell in a video how it dries - would you say it ends up like most other acrylic paint (sort of rubbery/like plastic) or does it succumb to chalkiness as well? Also very nice paint shelf. I am in need of one, is it custom made?

I agree with you here, the pots a great for washes.

The pro acryl did you thinned it or use out of the bottle And is it normal that the paint has a rough texture

I'd be interested in what you thought of UK based INSTAR paints, I wonder how the pigment concentration and matt finish compare to Pro Acryl.

I don't mind the citadel flip tops for their wash line. Consistency is thin enough that the lip under the top is useful for removing excess from the brush, but this doesn't work so well with the main paint line. It wasn't bad enough for me to notice when I first started, but after having tasted proper dropper tops I can't go back.

I've been trying Vallejo for a while now, besides from too many paint ranges. I feel they are ok, but I always come back to Citadel. Why... mainly all tutorials use them or give you the colour you need. It's nice we have more choice, but I get confused too easily with all the ranges.

Interesting might give them a go. Using Vallejo and P3 now and are very happy with them. Still use some of GW's reds though, but are slowly moving away from them since they're overprices and the pots are designed to fail.

When highlighting red, try using a caucasian flesh tone mixed in (cadian fleshtone, or{ bugman's for a very subtle highlight}, and from pro acryl, i think it's basic flesh, or light flesh) , instead of white. :-) start 3:1 red to flesh tone. I think you'll be really happy with the more subdued color, and it won't push your model towards reading pink. I've also found doing metallics after varnishing will get you maximum metallic shine and impact.

Have you used Vallejo? I’m curious how it compares to the pro and gw.

I always use vallejo paints , I like how they look all the range of color they have.

Also very nice paint job on the models. They look great

Pro Acrylic behave exactly how I want them to, for my painting style. I think that’s the operative term though. Depending on how you like to paint and what your expectations for a final result are, you’ll appreciate one line over another.

I have used GW for over 25 years and I love them tried others and still use a few different makes for certain colours and a few metallic paints but the new GW metallic paints are as good now so I will stick with what I know, thanks for the vid and keep up the good work.

ive not used the other 2 brand shown in the vid but i have used Vallejo. i always go back to citadel paints though, while i see the concerns about the pots i also share the opinion that i do prefer them. i always feel i waste far more from dropper bottles (yes i have some of my citadel paints in dropper bottles too) as opposed to just taking directly from the pot.

Personally I use pro acryl are my workhorse paints, but also use a fair amount of citadel, p3, and AK interactive for various jobs, particularly when I want consistency across a large number of models vs. trying to blend an exact color match. the Pro Acryl range is great in a lot of areas, but it's also got some holes in terms of available colours that I hope they fill in at some point.

The important thing is to use what you like, for me because i like matt paints it's Pro Acryl and scale 75. Don't like Citadel or army painter.

my army painter paints never did that tbh, they just looked super glossy. I still use either vallejo or citadel paints.

Cool vid man. Can you maybe later do a comparison with Vallejo?

I'm mainly a Vallejo guy with Andrea and Scale 75 paints in my collection but I also like the pricy Citadel Colours (occasionally), Reaper Paints are fine, now that they fixed the formula but I find the same issue with Army Painter, gloopy and poorly covering so I avoid.

P3, Reaper and AK/MiG are awesome brands as well. I never use metallic paints on a wet pallet.

My first mini paints were that big 70something ArmyPainter set. My friend gifted it to me, barely having used it because he found out mini painting wasn't his cup of tea. I got some mileage out of them, especially initially, but eventually I tried out some Vallejo and the difference was like night and day. Started my first 40k army soon after and got some Citadel paints too, which I do generally enjoy after filling them into some proper dropper bottles (no, the pots are hideous garbage, really - I had UNOPENED pots with dried and/or separated paint in some painting sets. UNOPENED, I want to stress this). I basically haven't touched my AP paints after this, except for some rare instances where I needed a specific color. Ordered meself the Pro Acryl base set yesterday (it was out of stock in the only online store in my country that has them for all of december). I am VERY excited to see how they perform. If they are as good as everyone says, I might upgrade to the full range and replace the AP bottles in my rack.

i use gw ap and vallejo. never had a problem with any but the ap paints defo need more more work than others to paint with

I use mostly Citadel, Vallejo (don't care for Army Painter), and ProAcryl paints. I also use Scale 75 for more advance techniques which is what I find ProAcryl useful for as well. I'm interested in AK Interactive's new line of paints but don't have the funds for the line and also I still have close to a full line of Citadel and Vallejo paints available.

Very interesting video. I use Vallejo, Scale75, GW, AP, Reaper and AK. (And some more unknow brands for special colors) Each manufacturer has advantages and disadvantages, even the pure black of all manufacturers is so different, that I like to use it for different things. In the end certain manufacturers seem to have a better idea of e.g. metallic colours, here I find Scale75, AK and Vallejo Mecha the best, while for washes AP has really good ones. And a big plus are the base colours from GW and the Vallejo Primers. I think everyone should use what they like best and what you mentioned at the beginning of the video is totally out of line, no one should be judged by the colours they use. I personally get the best results and have the most fun, when I mix the manufacturers and especially the direct airbrush colours are very helpful.

For me, price & availability is an important factor especially in the late 2000s when I was still a student with a limited budget, which is why I went with Army painter. I have been happy with the results & yes they do need some thinner & a mixing ball to get the best consistency. As my skills improved & I got more interested in historlica models, I started adding in Ammo by Migs range of paints & weathering products. Looking back if I should maybe spend the extra money & have gotten the Vallejo range, but hindsight is always 20/20. In my option Citadel paints are overpriced & not be worth the investment if you are a non-wargamer. I all so prefer dropper bottles over pots.

I don't seem to have as much problem with Army Painters paints as other people ^^. And it may be because I am not as good but I don't really feel a difference between GW and AP paints. But to be honest I think the best thing one can do is mix the brands if he wants to get the absolute best paint possible for each color. That being said I'll stick to GW (as long as I have some) and AP for now.

Lol I'm in the same situation, in alot of Facebook groups and citadel paints seem to rub people the wrong way

You're a better painter than you think you are, Benji. Those are some really nice models. Good work chap. So far I've tried 3 brands of miniature acrylic paint, Scale 75 F&G, Citadel and Vallejo Game and Model colours.... Citadel wins. Shame about the pots (I don't like them personally) and the price. I'm looking to try Pro Acryl soon.

All else being equal the best paint is the one you can pick up singles of at the shop. That said, I use Kimera only and although my local store now stocks them I used to have to wait for a short ordering window to open and then another 2-3 months to receive the paints from Italy.

have you ever tried the Reaper Master Series Paint? It's a good paint to use that come in a wide range of colors and having what they call "triads" for each color having a shadow, base and highlight version of each color, fairly decent coverage for most colors plus it's a bit thinner, i've not done any mixing with them so i don't have info on that but I feel that they are great paints

I try to avoind putting metallics on my wet pallete, always seems to cause issues. Either splits, goes wattery, or on rare occasions, makes it through into the water (?). Pro Acryl is fine dropped into a wee silicone pot whilst you use it, great paints!

good video, nice music too.

Been using AP paints since I got an old color set from a friend ages ages back when getting into the mini painting hobby for D&D. Never had to much trouble with them personally. Don't like the pots from Citadel paints since I like to mix my own colors and that is annoying to do with pots. So at this point I just buy whatever paint I like. Its generally cheap enough that I can buy a couple here or there no matter what the brand is and expand the colors and collection of brands over time. So my current collection is a mix of brands. Turbo Dork is a fun one. I like their metallic paints, the color on the bottle is often not quite the finished color, but those really change with different color base coats. But they have some cool color effects.

Thank you for this video. Im new to the hobby. I spent 200$ in a gw store and was really dissapointed when i started looking up painting tutorials and found each model i was missing so many paints. I think im gonna shell out for the pro acryl boxes. 220$ us for the entire range and nothing but great reviews. I notice they have "transparents" and im assuming that is their take on washes?

I love army painter , an vallejo , AP is my brand of choice just gotta shake them very very well .

Will be picking up a pot of white Pro Acryl and will avoid army painter paints :) Great video thank you

To be honest we all have our favourite paints but it's mainly about the painter rather than the paint

I like GW paint pots purely for nostalgic reasons. One other thing I personaly hate about pots in general is the temptation to dop my brush in there quickly if my pallet has run out or I need one other unexpected colour.....I seem to have a subconsious tendancy to do it thinking the paint wont notice too much if I dont thin it on the odd occasion lol..

I use (in preference order) Vallejo, Citadel & army painter. Ive found that army painter can be a massive hit or miss but the other 2 brands are great imho

As someone who’s entry to the hobby was the large army painter set, the red may be the worst color in their line. I definitely can relate to the struggle using that dragon red.