The Secret Language of a Tube of Paint

And why you should learn it.

Many people are confused and intimidated by paints. Alcohol markers are so much easier to use and require no special knowledge to get going. They are convenient for comps and quick original art made for when you don't have to worry about the longevity of your originals.

I've seen many marker works fade badly over time, including mine. Almost every piece I ever owned by my mentor Frank Kelly Freas, some of them dating back to the 1950's,  was destroyed by time. I am grateful that I stopped trying to do major works with graphic arts tools years ago. Even without exposure to light, they fade or crack. 

Interestingly, cheap markers I had when I was a kid have lasted longer than the expensive designer markers I used as an adult! Price has nothing to do with longevity!

FYI, I have not used alcohol based markers in about ten years. I have seen fading on works that have never been exposed to light for more than the few days it took to work on the books I was doing while using them.

Anyway, a lot of people are confused by paints, and don't even want to start with them. They don't realize that once you learn to use them, you have a much wider array of options in your art. And often, fine art supplies are less expensive than designer markers!

I mean, you do you, if you want to use markers fine, but I'm going to try to make it easier for you to get started with paints if you want to give them a go.

First off, there's a secret language to paints that most people never realize is right there on the label, and will make your work go a lot easier when you understand it. 

Each manufacturer has different label codes, but some codes are standard throughout the industry. Most manufacturers also have downloadable reference sheets which tell you everything you need to know about the paint before you buy it.

You're looking at the Lukas brand of paint, their Sorte 1 Vincent line. I don't think this paint is made anymore, but I happen to have a set. This was created in honor of Vincent van Gogh who is said to have used this brand of paint in his work. I'm going to be using this as well as other brands in an upcoming project.

You don't have to have brand loyalty when it comes to paints. I know some people are fanatical in their devotion to Copic Markers. But many other much cheaper brands perform just as well. Why pay more? Do you really need 200 colors?

Same with paint. Different brands of oil paint colors can be swapped out and used with other brands any time you like, and unlike markers, once you learn to mix colors, you never need more than a dozen or so tubes. Anders Zorn (famous for the Zorn palette) never used more than four colors in portraits. One brand will have a wonderful yellow you want to use, while another will have a fabulous red. Brand loyalty in paint is for suckers. Pick and choose the best performing tools and use what you like. Oil paints will all work together. 

(Don't mistake this to mean all paints will work together EVER. Oils and watercolors don't mix, for example. But oil paints do.)

The name of the paint above is Primary Blue, and you can see it there in different languages on the photo of the back of this tube.

Now, this code indicates what pigments make up this tube of paint:

These codes are standard throughout the industry. Every paint is made of these pigments, and lucky for you, you can go to THIS WEBSITE and look up any pigment or pigment combination and find virtually any paints made, along with comments about the properties of the paints. 

The downside of that website is that there is so much info there, it is dizzying. If you're not a process geek like me, you may just want to avoid it entirely, but you will learn a lot, and I recommend you try having a go at it.

So, looking at this tube of paint, we can see it uses PW4, which is Titanium White.

It also uses PB 15:3 which is a powerful form of blue, the reason the pigment is cut with white.

When you scroll down the (long) list of paints, you can find it by name right here.

The initials refer to particular brands of paint. WN means Winsor Newton.

Now, move to the far right, and you get all this information, too.

As you can see, this pigment used in oil has different properties than the same pigment used in watercolor. In oil, the pigment is listed as having a high lightfastness rating. In watercolor, it's listed as good, with rankings on this website going from 1-4 with 1 being the highest. This is a safe paint to use in your oil paintings. It's going to last a really long time. Your watercolor may not be as good, but that can vary by manufacturer. So more research there is needed. 

But for our use as a Lukas oil, it's solid.

So we go back to the manufacturer label and we have a look at what other info is there. Below, the lightfastness rating on the label shows as 3 stars (also 7-8).

But wait, didn't that other website say 1 was best? Doesn't this 3 stars mean bad and if 3 is bad isn't 7-8 worse?

Nope. Each manufacturer has it's own rating system. For Lukas brand paint, the bottom rank is 0 stars with the top rank being 3 stars. The scale of 1-8, while often used among manufacturers (including the venerable Old Holland,) isn't common or entirely standard, but it's a high rating that means this paint will hold up.

Regardless, I never take a manufacturer's word for it. Frankly, some of them stretch the truth. Some even lie. When I'm looking at a paint, I check out independent sources, too, Like The Color of Art Pigment and Handprint.com . 

Whenever I buy a paint, I look at the label, then I look at other sources to double check. If you're dropping $15-$30 on a tube of paint, a few minutes of research won't hurt you. And while $15-$30 may seem like a lot, with proper care, those paints will last a really long time. They're a good investment.

Lightfastness is very important. Paints fade, and some paints fade faster than others.

It's annoying dealing with people who make the argument that "All colors fade, what difference does it make if I use alcohol markers? Everything's going to fade!"

Alcohol based dye markers have no lightfastness rating at all. Which means they fade in 0-10 years of light exposure. It doesn't even have to be direct light for that fade to begin. 

Some dye colors fade even without light exposure. Dyes are unstable, and they break down with time, particularly when you use a lot of blenders/solvents. Some of my marker art faded even though it was sitting in a drawer without light exposure.

Paints aren't made of dyes, they are made of pigments. All paints have different characteristics. The rate of fade varies from color to color. And unlike dyes, even with some fading, pigments can remain incredibly strong for hundreds of years.

Watercolors, considered by many people to be pale and delicate, are responsible for the oldest paintings in the world! Cave paintings from thousands of years back are watercolors! They last because some pigments are very powerful. Even if they do fade...they last.

I've had marker pictures not last 20 years! They were completely destroyed. 

Anyway, when you see a high lightfastness rating on a tube of oil paint, that rating tells you that paint isn't going to have any measurable fade for about a century in normal gallery conditions. Even if it does fade a bit, the average person probably won't be able to see it. The fade of paints is measured by tools which estimate tiny variations in hue and tone. A highly lightfast paint will show almost no change. A fugitive paint with a poor rating can almost completely fade in just a few months of daily exposure. Alizarin crimson paint is notorious for this.

Bottom line: for sketches and comps, cheaper paints are fine. But you now know how to look for better grade lightfast paints. The info is there. 

OK, we have one more code on this tube of paint that most people never pay attention to, and that is this: transparency.

For this particular paint, this symbol indicates that the paint is "semi-opaque". That is, it's going to give you better coverage in one go than other paints. 

But that may not be what you want for a particular area of a painting!

Look at this reference sheet for the Lukas paints.

The little white boxes mean that this paint is transparent. It is going to go down like cellophane almost. It is good for glazing, which is a wonderful feature of oil paints that give you beautiful color with sheer washes that can look almost like stained glass for luminosity. 

The Turqouise paint is opaque, as indicated by the black square. That's going to go down pretty solid! And the white box with a slash through under Permanent Green yellowish indicates that it is semi-transparent.

You can get many different effects. You can glaze, mix, build them up, and you will know what the paint can (or can't) do for you by looking at that label and reading the codes before you buy it!