IONIC is a high-coverage acrylic range built for figures and fantasy models. The palette mixes cool and warm in a way historical lines do not: icy blue and yellow, laser green, turquoise, coral and vanilla sit beside working tones such as bone, desert sand, leather brown and two greys. The shades are formulated to cover even over a dark base.
That last point is what the range is for. Light and saturated colours are traditionally the ones that need four coats and bury the sculpting in the process. The notes below cover what high coverage does and does not spare you, and why the neutral tones run out first.
An ordinary acrylic needs three or four coats over a dark base before it stops showing through, and each one fills a little more of the sculpting. Paints with high coverage cut that to one or two, because they hold more pigment and less filler. For a figure painter that matters most in the yellows, whites and corals, which are traditionally the worst offenders.
The second strength is the colour logic. Alongside the striking fantasy tones the range carries neutral greys, bones and sands, which are what you use to mute and tie the saturated colours together so the model does not look like a colour chart. Those neutrals are usually the test of whether a palette was assembled for the bench or for the catalogue.
High coverage does not mean applying the paint neat. A heavy layer floods relief. Thin drop by drop on the palette and check the body on an offcut; the tools are in bottles, pipettes and palettes.
Put two saturated colours side by side and they fight. A bridging layer of bone, sand or grey reconciles them. The same tones then serve skin, rope, wood and the base, so they become the most used part of the palette. Expect to finish them before the striking colours and restock in good time.
Light and saturated tones still appreciate a pale base, even with good coverage; dark and earthy ones manage over grey. Choose in surfacers and primers.
The brand's other lines, including shades for historical vehicles, are under AMMO of Mig Jimenez model paints.
