Review: Green Stuff World Acrylic Inks

Today I take a look at Green Stuff World’s new inks range. They promise high-quality pigments in an acrylic base, offering potential for a wide range of techniques. From smooth zenithal gradients to OSL light effect, I’ll be exploring the possibilities with Green Stuff World’s Acrylic Inks in this review post.

Green Stuff World’s new acrylic inks range was released in early 2024. Not to be confused with their existing Inktensity range, the 30ml glass bottles offer a total of 22 highly pigmented matt colours, including 12 transparent/semi-transparent inks and 10 opaque inks.

Please note: In the past, there have been some (justified) shitstorms around Green Stuff World. For example, they recently used a paint job for product packaging without the approval of the artist. Since I try to maintain an unbiased and journalistic approach, I feel the need to point this out, but ultimately leave it up to you to judge.

Green Stuff World Acrylic Inks review

Green Stuff World’s new Acrylic Inks are a direct competitor to the inks from AK, which were released almost simultaneously, and are similar to artist acrylic inks from Liquitex or Daler & Rowley. Compared to the inks from the Vallejo Game Color range or ink-based one-coat paints like Contrast and Speedpaint, the intensity and vibrancy of the pigments used are significantly higher. But the main advantage over other artist brands is the matt finish.

Here is the colour overview. Green Stuff World’s inks are divided into opaque and transparent/semi-transparent colours. Note that the opaque and transparent colours with the same name differ from each other in real life. For example, the transparent red has a cooler hue than the opaque one.

The transparent inks

The transparent and semi-transparent inks are excellent for tinting your model while allowing the base colour or pre-shading to show through. For testing purposes, I primed a MkIII Marine with Vallejo Mecha Color Silver (a light silver similar to Stormhost Silver). Then, I applied the Transparent Turquoise Ink directly into the airbrush and onto the model. Pay attention to the matt finish. The inks do not need to be thinned, but I recommend adding a drop of Flow Improver, I use the one from Vallejo. Furthermore, it’s essential to clean your airbrush thoroughly as the inks are highly concentrated, and residues can build up in the airbrush quickly.

A look at the opaque inks

Let’s take a look at the opaque inks. These have excellent coverage, with even yellow and red covering quite well over black. White ink is perfect for black to white zenithal priming, you can create superb soft colour gradients; just be sure to apply thin layers to avoid the ink running into the recesses. I particularly like the matt finish of Green Stuff World’s OSL White. The white ink from Liquitex, which I used to use for zenithal gradients, was so glossy that thin paints, especially Contrast paints and washes, didn’t adhere well. I always had to apply a layer of matt varnish first, which is unnecessary with Green Stuff World’s inks.

The opaque inks are also perfect for intense OSL (object source lighting) effects. For my Gallowdark terrain, I first brightened the lamps with OSL White Ink (although this is optional due to the high pigmentation of Red Ink). Then I applied Opaque Red Ink with my airbrush. The luminosity is enormous and barely captured by the camera; the red almost appears like neon paint. The completed effect has significantly higher saturation than what you could achieve with regular acrylic paint.

What I have to criticize, however, are the bottles. They are made of glass and can break if dropped, especially the pipettes, which are made of very thin glass. Also, you need to be careful not to get any paint into the screw threads. Otherwise, when screwing the cap back on, ink will be squeezed out, causing a huge mess. I would recommend transferring the inks into dropper bottles.

Value

The inks have an RRP of 5.28 € (or your local equivalent), but as is usual with Green Stuff World, they are permanently discounted and typically available for 4.75 €. For 30ml of highly pigmented paint, this is reasonable and is roughly equivalent to the competing product from AK. You can order the inks on Green Stuff World’s website; they are not yet available everywhere at our partner shops.

You can find the latest hobby products at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 10–15% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

Feel free to leave a reaction or comment below if you found this review helpful, and post your questions here or discuss on our friendly hobby Discord channel.