Unlocking Pro Acryl Paint Secrets

When I made the switch from Games Workshop and Vallejo Game Color (VGC) to only Pro Acryl (PA), I knew that there would be an adjustment period.

Making the Switch

A little over a year ago I tossed my last prematurely dried out GW paint pot into the trash. Those lids are stupid. I also looked over my Game Color paints and I wanted something new. My friend Byron had urged me to try Pro Acry for a while and I decided that I'd go for it.

I purchased the Starter Set, Rogue Hobbies Signature series (a must), and a few other choice colors. Nothing says commitment like burning the ships that ferried you to the New World, so I sold all of my other paints.

Something Different

The first thing I noticed was that 30% of the colors were very light, and 60% were very dark... with only a few mid tones. This was very, very different compared to VGC and GW, which had pre-mixed colors for everything. Byron told me I would have to mix, and as I looked at the swatches of my Pro Acryl paints I knew he was right.

But I never really did it... until...

Unlocking the Pro Acryl Secret Rainbow

As the New Year 2026 arrived, I looked at my Blood Bowl Season 2 Starter Set Black Orcs on painting caps. They've been on there for a while and they were about halfway completed with VGC paints. For my 2026 hobby resolution I vowed to finish up a number of my almost-done projects and this meant painting these miniatures. But they were done with paints that I didn't have anymore. I had to mix. So I did. Pro Acryl makes it easy to control color ratios with their dropper bottles. After a few tries, I successfully mixed colors that almost exactly matched my mid tone Vallejo Game Colors. But my failures created some interesting colors that I didn't have before. Intrigued, I started mixing more. Each day I picked a dark color and added a light color to it to see what would happen. That was the key!

The Key

Take a dark color, pick a lighter color, and mix dark 1:1 light, and then dark 1:3 light, then a trace of dark with one drop of light. A trace is just the tip of the paintbrush into a color. Add them to a swatch sheet and note the formula ratios.

You'll end up with 3 color swatches that make a nice triad. Will it be perfect? No. Well... sometimes it'll be perfect. But you'll see what you need to do to get the appropriate jump from one color to the next. 

Sometimes you won't get a triad at all, but instead 3 different new colors. That's okay... just add some white (or black) (or yellow) (or ivory) to those new colors to tint them.

Pro Acryl to Vallejo Game Color Mixing Recipes

• VGC Filthy Brown = PA Orange Brown 1:1 PA Golden Yellow
• VGC Goblin Green = PA Bright Green 1:1 PA Orange
• VGC Parasite Brown = PA Burnt Sienna 1:2 PA Golden Yellow
• VGC Khaki = PA Light Umber 1:1 PA White
• VGC Tan = PA Burnt Sienna 1:1 Golden Brown

I now have a mixing swatch sheet that has many more mixed colors than I have pots of paint. That's fantastic! I've read that Pro Acryl uses better color pigments and less extras to make their paints easier to mix. Is that true? I don't know. But I do know that I've had better luck with mixing these paints than any other brand I've owned before.