You looked, didn't you.
This is slightly different than my normal paint jobs. As evidenced by the background of the picture, he was painted using only cheap craft paints (save for the sword and other metallic highlights). The reason for this is that I plan on hosting a Mini Painting Party, where I'll be providing all the supplies needed to paint up some little dudes. I want to do this without breaking the bank, but I also wanted to make sure that the cheap paints weren't going to make the experience unenjoyable. So, I put together the same kit I plan on giving everyone (#0, #1, #2 brushes, a DIY wet palette and some toothpicks) and got to work.
I've got about a dozen of this same mini. I might tweak the color scheme a bit, but the plan is to teach everyone step-by-step how to replicate the above, then bust out the assorted minis once everyone has an idea of what they're doing. Originally, I was going to pull the nice paint out after the first mini, but after seeing how well the cheap stuff held up, I think I'll save the pricey stuff for myself...
That being said, the craft paint worked much better than I was expecting. Part of it is likely due to the experience I've gained since I last used the stuff, but the only time I felt frustrated with the paint was when applying the final wash a good amount of green washed off. This happens to me a lot when applying washes so I think it's more something I'm doing than the paints fault, but it was much worse with this craft paint than the nicer stuff.
Anyways, here's a couple other angles.
I've found that with those cheap Applebarrel paints, for slightly better results a tiny amount of flow aid helps. It helps thin paints without as much of the ugly separation.
If you are using these paints, I think knowing and working with their limitations creates better results. For faces I would stick to shading the entire eye area rather that trying to paint eyes.
Thanks for the advice. I generally would not use these paints for mini painting, I only am using them for the group setting. I put a small bit of thinner containing flow aid in the clean water cup, which worked well enough for the application. I think getting the additives involved will overwhelm my guests (nobody has any painting or artistic experience).
I agree that painting the eyes was a poor decision. I didn't like the look of it with just the skin tone, but it probably would've looked fine after a wash. I'll probably skip the eyes when it comes to Paint Day.