Hi,

I am sorry to hear that you have run into problems.  Acrylics are tricky to learn to use and Sue is right that learning colour mixing is a fiddle (the only person I ever knew who got the same colour every time was originally a paint mixer for Dulux, I went to college with him and he was a colour genius).

If you are starting out with these I would recommend that you choose the craft acrylic that comes in semi liquid form (This is usually cheaper and has the advantage that the colour range often gives you the tint you want without needing to mix)

If you are going to stick with tube acrylic then I recommend that you start with the following to learn the quality of the paint and the colour.
Draw your self a circle on a piece of thick paper, about the size of a saucer.  Divide the circle into six segments. Paint one segment in your chosen red, one in your chosen yellow and one in your chosen blue, leaving a gap between each colour.  In the gaps mix the colours to see what happens, I usually start a red slowly reducing the red and increasing the yellow, the the same from yellow to blue and then the same again from blue to red.  You can either water the paint to mix or do it in thick stripes.  Doing this will show the range of mixes.  Once you have the colour wheel you can experiment with tertiary colours.  This is the mix that occurs from the colours on opposing sides of the wheel.  These allow you to mix natural browns through to greys. My favourite grey is a mix of burnt sienna and cobalt blue. 

Keep a scrap book or pin board of the range of colour wheels you have made using different primaries and secondaries, making sure that you have remembered to label each with the colour you chose allows you to make informed decisions about reaching the colour you want.

Cardinal rule of colour mixing is always start with the lightest colour first and slowly add the darker.  Another fairly standard rule is that the more pigments used to reach the colour the muddier it will look when dry.

Acrylic is a difficult but ultimately rewarding medium, it is water solvent and fast drying making it ideal for craft work.  But this does mean that it fast dries on the pallette.  Mix it in small quantities and if you want it to last for 15-30 minutes add a good drop of water over the mixed paint, unless you want it thick in which case use as soon as it is mixed.

Another good tip with the semi liquid form is to mix it in small yoghurt pots and cover with cling film whilst working it slows down the drying process a little.

Hope that helps.

PS do you have Warhammer in the US (they are a fantasy figure gaming company from here in Nottingham.  The guys in the UK shops do workshop sessions and are a mine of information about acrylic painting)

Well, the bniggest probelm is the drying down. How are you suppose to paint when what's on your pallette isn't what you get when it dries?

I am very good with color. I instinctively know what colors work together. But when they dry to a different value, and even increase or decrease in saturation, all my knowledge is a waste! I can't GUESS what the result is going to be! ANd I can't  make a color wheel and accurately describe the mix ratio.

This paint dries down WAY too much. I think this paint is either really low quality, or acrylic is not a very good kind of paint.

ANd I don't understand this. The black goes on very smoothly. The white doesn't want to cooperate -- it's too thick right out of the tube, and not opaque when slightly thinned.  These paints are artist acrylics in tubes.

I also have 3 craft paints. One is orange, one is yellow, and the other gold.  The gold does not dry down at all. Theother two dry down far less than the artist acrylics. You'd think these craft paints would be inferior to the artist acrylics and dry down more than the artist acrylics, but that's not the case. Go figger!

Lengo, what brand are you dealing with?

I dont't think the fact that it's acrylic paint is not the issue. Acrylics are very useful for this kind of project, but there are good ones and not so good ones.

Sue

I gotta start completely over. I'm gonna Gesso him up.

This stuff is suppose to dry in twenty minutes. It does that fine. It's suppose to cure in 24 hours. It doesn't. It's more rubbery (like latex) than plastic.

Different colors 1 - flow differently. 2 - cover differently. 3. dry down differently. These are a pain to work with!

The red is a cool red. The white is not neutral and is cool. The black -- this stupid black -- is GLOSSY, unlike all the other colors.  I haven't tried the green or blue, but I suspect that they're slightly warm!

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Don't buy cheap paints. These 'student' grade paints are terrible!! I don't even know why they're called 'student', 'cause you can't learn anything from them! (except how to waste your time and money)

Grrrrrr!  Photoshop is MUCH easier!