I’ve tested all the Mindworks Heavy Body Acrylic paint sets. Marco Frisoni claims he won a Golden Demon thanks to these paints… but can that really be true? Are they genuinely that good, or is it just clickbait? Heavy body artist acrylics are a completely different animal from your usual hobby paints, and knowing when to use them makes all the difference. So in this review, I’ll walk you through their strengths and shortcomings.
Italian miniature company Mindworks currently offers three paint sets with 21 colours in total, and I’ve tried them all. I’ve prepared a video with three segments: first, I’ll show you which techniques these paints are best suited for and how to get the most out of them, even if you’ve never touched heavy body acrylics before. Second, I’ll give you a quick review across all three sets. And third, you get my honest verdict on whether the Mindworks paints can actually take your hobby to Golden Demon level:
Heavy body acrylics vs. miniature paints: what’s actually different?
Heavy body acrylics behave completely differently from the miniature paints you’re probably used to. That makes them well suited to certain techniques – and less capable of others. Let me explain a bit.
The Mindworks paints come in tubes like artist paints, and contain 30 ml each, so more than double a typical Warhammer Colour pot. As the name “heavy body” implies, the paints are super thick and creamy. There’s no need to shake them as they can’t separate, and on a wet palette they stay workable almost indefinitely.
The golden rule: go thick or go thin
In my experience, there are two ways to get the best out of heavy body acrylics: go thick, or go thin. The in-between zone is where most people run into frustration. Here’s why.
When you thin artist acrylic paints down to a typical miniature paint consistency (so roughly like whole milk) you’ll find the coverage is really poor. When base coating, you generally want to build a solid covering layer of paint as quickly and evenly as possible. With modern miniature paints two or three thin coats usually gets you there, as you can see in the demo in the video. But that doesn’t mean artist acrylics are inherently worse or unsuitable for miniature painting. Quite the opposite. High-grade artist paints like Mindworks contain very high-quality pigments in high concentrations.
The key is that you need specific techniques to unlock their full potential. The rule of thumb is: go thick or go thin.
Going thick: wet blending with Mindworks paints
Going thick means taking advantage of that high creaminess and viscosity. This makes the Mindworks paints fantastic for blending. Especially wet blending. Here on a zenithal-sprayed test Space Marine, I applied a thick, undiluted coat of Pyrrole Red. It’s important to use a brush with firm bristles for this because the paint is so thick. Miniature brushes are generally watercolour-style brushes made from natural hair like Kolinsky sable, and those are too soft and would get damaged. I’d recommend stiffer synthetic bristles instead. I’m using the Wolf Hair brushes from Chronicle, which are also excellent for heavy body paints.
Next I picked up some Phthalocyanine Blue, which is fairly transparent due to the pigment used, and work it directly into the still-wet red on the model. It looks a bit messy at first, but heavy body artist acrylics often have a longer working time, which is perfect for blending. I have plenty of time to mix the two colours and push them exactly where I want them. Applying paint this thickly does mean you need to be careful not to obscure the model’s details. But Mindworks paints use a high-quality binder and medium, and they dry remarkably smooth even with heavier application. The finish is a soft-matte, like a lot of hobby paint ranges like Ionic or Two Thin Coats.
I’m already pretty happy with that first blend, but I want to refine it a little further. I apply another coat of pure Pyrrole Red, only very slightly thinned, then feather it out with a clean, damp brush to soften the transitions. Then I repeated the same process with thinned Phthalocyanine Blue. Finally, I added an edge highlight with Cadmium Orange. I won’t be winning a Golden Demon just yet with that, but I do find the Mindworks paints made blending easier than many other miniature paints I’ve tested.
Both the Pyrrole Red and the Phtalo Blue are single-pigment paints, so they each contain just one very high-quality, vibrant pigment. Because of that, the two colours blend together beautifully, and I could work directly into the red with a high-contrast colour like blue. Typical miniature paints use a mix of several pigments and often contain additional white pigment or fillers to boost covering power. That’s why they usually can’t reach the same level of saturation as artist paints, and when mixing and blending, this makes the colours often go a little grey or muddy.
Going thin: glazing and airbrushing with artist-grade pigments
So going thick works well – but what about going thin? Here we’re drawing on the purity and vibrancy of the artist-grade pigments, too. Mindworks paints thin down exceptionally well. I use plain water (so no special medium) and the paint can be thinned to extreme levels without breaking apart. With the thinned Quinacridone Magenta from the core set I built up shading on the helmet through thin glazes, creating transitions by feathering. The brush shouldn’t be too wet for this, so give it a quick wipe on a paper towel after loading it, then build up multiple thin layers.
The Quinacridone Magenta has an incredibly vibrant intensity, and the result is really impressive. In fact, many Golden Demon and competition-level painters paint the majority of their miniatures with hobby paints, then use controlled glazes with artist paints to bring certain areas to life, taking full advantage of that high vibrancy. And because they thin so well, Mindworks paints also work very nicely through an airbrush. They will be quite transparent at that point, but they’re excellent for semi-transparent colour filters.
Reviewing all three Mindworks paint sets
Mindworks paints are currently available on the Mindworks website, either individually or in three sets, and the price for a 30ml tube is really fair. All three sets were successfully funded through Kickstarter campaigns.
The core set: a complete colour wheel with five paints
Set 1 covers 5 core colours: a magenta, primary yellow, Phthalocyanine Blue, black, and Titanium White. For the pigment nerds out there, the exact pigment is printed on every tube so you can look it up in pigment databases. With these 5 core colours you can mix a complete colour wheel.
Mindworks Brom Set reviewed: earthy tones and expanded mixing options
The other two sets each contain 8 further colours and are dedicated to the palettes of two well-known artists. Not miniature painters, but classic illustrators.
First up is the set dedicated to renowned fantasy artist Gerald Brom. Here you’ll find some key colours like Raw Umber and Yellow Oxide that significantly expand your mixing options for earthy tones, and the Pyrrole Red I used in the blending demo. There are also two pastel shades: a light turquoise and a light magenta. Whether you actually need those is debatable, because with high-quality artist acrylics you can easily mix pastel tones yourself using Titanium White.
Patrick J. Jones Set reviewed: darker palettes and a few trade-offs
The other set is dedicated to art teacher and fantasy artist Patrick J. Jones. Here you’ll find more darker and moodier colours: two shades of burgundy, a Burnt Umber that belongs in every palette, and a blue-green. Most of these colours use a mix of multiple pigments, so the colours are less pure. The Cadmium Orange is also made from three pigments. That gives it comparatively high opacity but also less vibrancy. I used it for the edge highlight on the knee pad here, but honestly, I could have used a hobby paint for that. For glazing, I’d have preferred a more vivid single-pigment orange, such as a Pyrrole Orange. But the sets do need to reflect each artist’s actual palette, so I give them that.
Verdict: can Mindworks paints really win you a Golden Demon?
And that covers all 21 colours across the three sets. Now for my verdict: do Mindworks paints magically turn you into a Golden Demon winner? Probably not, but… are they worth recommending anyways?
Now of course, Marco Frisoni’s thumbnail is classic YouTube clickbait. He’s a top-level painter who knows exactly how to use his tools. The real question is whether the Mindworks paints offer a genuine upgrade for everyday hobbyists.
I’d say yes. If you’re an enthusiastic painter who wants to push to the next level, heavy body acrylics are absolutely worth trying. Go thick or go thin – the strengths are in blending and glazing. If those are the skills you want to develop, the Mindworks paints are well worth a look. The quality is excellent, the pigmentation is high, and the colours are vibrant and pure, with the exception of the Patrick J. Jones set, which has more muted colours. The medium is very pleasant to work with, and the soft-matte finish sets them apart from many classic artist paint brands that often dry very glossy. I’d normally give a score at this point, but since I don’t have as much experience with heavy body acrylics as I do with hobby paints, I’ll add that in the pinned comment below once I’ve tested more, so keep an eye out for that.
Who should stick with hobby paints instead?
If you’re earlier in your hobby journey, though, or you just want to get great results quickly and efficiently, just stick with paints developed specifically for miniature painting – like Pro Acryl, Ionic, Warpaints Fanatic, or AK 3rd Gen, just to name a few. I have loads of reviews on Tale of Painters to help you find the best paint. When it comes to pure covering power and ease of use, hobby paints will serve you better than heavy body acrylics in my opinion.
Where to get
Mindwork Heavy Body Acrylics are available directly from the Mindworks website.
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