Are inks easier to mix than acrylic paint and added mediums? Can you get the same results? Yes and no.

Consistency in viscosity (how runny or thick your paints are) is the most important thing to nail if you want your pour to turn out.

Too runny=bare circular spots and zig zag patterns from over correcting the run-away paint.
Too thick=paint drying before it can travel far enough to create a design, and building a mound that traps paint from gliding along in some places.
Mix these two together and you get both things happening, a mound in one colour and a drippy mess running over the mound in the other colour.

I also find mixing paint brands that are craft grade or student grade with artist grade paint not optimal. You can really see how much better they are to the others within the same painting.

**Therefore, buy great paint. You are not using a brush, so drop the coin on the paint. You will save yourself a lot of money and heartache in the end. I’ve spent a lot on cheap paint, ruined many canvases in the process, only to give in and buy the expensive stuff in the end. Do it! You can thank me later ;)

In this Video, I try a Liquitex Ink! kit that I bought from my local Curry’s Art supply store for $25 CND (12.5 Pounds, roughly 15 US)

The kit comes with three colours which blend well together to produce amazing hues, and a tiny baby sized bottle of their internationally famous pouring medium, (famous because it works).

!!** If you are getting cracks after your fluid art dries, it’s because you don’t have this product, or an equivalent.

Pouring mediums that are NOT equivalent:

Aylmer’s Glue is an option but will yellow over the years. Water is not a pouring medium, and neither is floetrol, contrary to what you may have heard. These are great ADDITIVES that can help you get cells, and a beautiful consistency. However, they lack binders, and should be used along side a proper pouring medium. Floetrol is more like a paint extender and helps house paint to self-level so you don’t see roller streaks. Artist be like-pfttttt, nah, it’s for cells. (Deluxe Paints owns this now and sells it for half the price on Amazon).

Many awesome and renowned artist, like Rinske Douna, use only water and/or floetrol, and get great results. They are no doubt using a great quality paint, and sealing it with a UV filtering varnish to ensure it lasts longer than 15-50 years. Yup, that’s it. Some paintings at the Louvre are 1000 years old! That’s how long I want mine to last ;)

A pouring medium, like the one Liquitex offers, has the necessary binders in it, allowing you to make paints a thinner consistency without diluting it. Ps Liquitex, feel free to throw me a bone here! I will definitely accept a sponsorship 🥰. Too bad it sells itself—can you blame me for trying?

Will it dull colours?
No. It does not dull your colours. It will seem like it at mixing time, but it dries clear, and the pigments come back in full force. It dries glossy. Varnish is never a bad idea afterwards.

Colour choice can be difficult for beginners, and this pre-chosen mix of three colours removes the possibility for wasting paint on a muddy end result that you are like, “I made this, so I don’t want to throw it out, but I also don’t love it, or want to show it to anyone I know, and have to tell them I made it”.

The Primary Colours box is not actually red blue and yellow, but is magenta, turquoise and yellow. Not sure why that name was chosen?? Does anyone know?

Cells:
Not easy to obtain with Inks just by pouring. Also, only the white produced cells after torching, which was not an ink but was a mixture of Liquitex basics titanium white, water and Liquitex Pouring medium. Floetrol was not used in any of the paints.
I did love the orb like cells I got though.

Consistency:
Way easier! Each paint is exactly the same. I used 10 drops in about half an ounce of pouring medium. No water, no added paint. No air bubbles, no stirring for five minutes, no run test (where you put drops of all your paints on a card to see if the run at the same speed-very important/tedious).

Mixing time:
About 20 seconds per colour!!!!! I’m in love with my time, so this makes me love the inks even more. I’d rather be pouring than stirring.

I highly recommend Liquitex Ink! To all levels of liquid artist! I can’t wait to make more pieces with it.

Please subscribe for more product reviews, and technique attempts. I may fail, but I’ll be learning. You aren’t learning if you aren’t failing. If at first I don’t succeed, I’m addicted so, I’ll be trying again, no matter what.

I’m on Tiktok for shorter and faster releases @Carathefailingartist

Please comment and ask me anything!

Thank you for watching, I hope this helps.

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