Like most of you, the BR bug has struck and learning to master a new painting technique has created a new passion for creating art. But, cost is a concern for struggling artists, and like some of you I too am looking for supplies on the cheap. I recently bit the bullet and purchased the 100ml basecoat value pack with Bob's face on the box. Now, what's interesting is that the ingredients on the box lists alkyd resin along with linseed oil and safflower oil. It's the former ingredient that caught my eye. Because, I found a paint supplier that uses alkyd resin as the pigment base which is by far cheaper in price than Bob's stuff and as far as I can tell has little difference in color and consistency. I'm talking about Paul Rubens oil paints. Apparently, the Chinese Oil Painting Academy is quite fond of alkyd resin as a basis for their oil paint pigments. I'm not spamming here but do your own cost basis comparison. 14 - 37 ml tubes of BR's paint vs Paul's 20 - 50 ml tubes. You be the judge. I used to think that alkyd was alien until I saw the ingredients on the side of the box for BR's basecoat value pack. Tell me what you think. Have you used alkyd pigments and noticed a difference?
Alternatives to Bob Ross Oils
Hi Cybermykal and welcome to TIB , my advice steer clear of Bob ross products as they are overpriced and there are many cheaper alternatives which are just as good....you can't go wrong with Winsor and Newton IMO.
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I use brand Lukas 1862 oils, they are much firmer than the Bob Ross Brand which makes it much easier to work with them for me. They are also a bit cheaper, but for sure not the cheapest brand on the market.
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Cybermykal
Pigment load is what we are after in the paints. Some pigments (colors) are more expensive than the others. Many of the paints will have word "hue" on them meaning this is cheaper alternative to the expensive pigments. So not all colors made equal in oil painting. All the folks here can recommend some brands for you to research, but depending on the country you are in there may be local cheaper brands. Also need to mention that there are gradations of paint based on applicability that will vary in pigment load and can make a painting process for a starting artist a challenge. Check if your paint of interest is school, student or artistic grade, price will vary based on the grade. School grade will have many additives to keep texture of paint thick, but those paints may not contain proper pigments and all to be referred as Hues. Artistic grade is most expensive. I would suggest to search for artists on youtube with very limited pallet even in acrylics lesson and get that basic 3-5 colors set and start mixing them. It takes your experience far away from what Bob does in his videos but will be more cost effective since Bob's techniques use a lot of paint with those big brushes. Or search for Bob's videos with extremely limited pallet (2-3 colors) first and buy new color to add when you can do it. It is normal to be a struggling artist because oil painting is a huge investment to cover in one go. Also you can research ebay for used paint sets ( I heard about many success cases from our community).
Cybermykal Now to resins in paints, which are alkyds many times. There is nothing wrong with them, they dry faster than traditional oil paints. Some artists add the resins to traditional oil paints to speed up drying. Those resins can be of traditional origin like dammar resins, or new alkyd ones. Care will need to be taken about brushes when resins need to be used as they dry faster and to clean any brush after use with resins may become a super challenge that will require special solvents/or brush cleaners. Thus coming to the point that you may want to have cheaper brushes. However again because you just starting with Bob Ross technique this will become a challenge to replicate what he does on the screen and will lead to frustration if not right instruments used (paints and brushes). So long story short becasue you have a set already go with limited pallet paintings first to understand how oil paint behaves, then migrate to full color. Also dont forget to freeze residual paint between sessions as it will help to save and not waste that paint. I cannot say how long paint with resin can be frozen for, try and learn yourself. Traditional oil paints without resins added can be frozen for two-three weeks easily and reused after that, just keep them in the air tight container.