In one of my previous posts I talked about pigments as one of the main components of paints and I divided them into absorption pigments and effect pigments: the former can absorb a specific wavelenght and reflect others, giving back to us the colour of the paint; the latter can create particular effects by "manipulating" the light and reflect it into different ways.
In this post I will make an overview about the most important effect pigments.
Metallic Pigments
Metallic pigments are made from aluminum or bronze particles and provide a strong shiny, reflective appearance similar to polished metal. Their effect will result stronger than the metallic shimmering produced by MICA pigments.
Interference pigments
Pearlescent Pigments
Similar to metallic pigments, these pigments can be used to produce metallic acrylic paints because they create a pearl-like effect by reflecting light in multiple layers, giving a softer (very similar to metallic), shimmering appearance. It is the tipical shimmering effect produced by MICA pigments.
Chameleon Pigments
These pigments, usually MICA based, create color-shifting effects through light interference, resulting in colours that change depending on the angle of view or light.
(Iridscent) Holographic Pigments
These pigments, working like a prism, diffract light at different angles to create a rainbow-like, multi-dimensional effect.
Their structure is made up of a microscopic particles with a layered structure. When these particles are hit by light, each light wave interfere with each other creating the rainbow/holographic effect.
Luminous Pigments
Luminous pigments are pigments which can absorb the light and give it back. In this category we can have either fluorescent or phosphorescent pigments: fluo-pigments absorb ultraviolet (UV) light and immediately re-emit it as visible light, creating bright, glowing colors; on the contrary phosphorescent pigments absorb light and then slowly release it over time, creating a long-lasting glow in the dark.
Diamond Pigments
Diamond pigments are carbon based effect pigments designed to provide a sparkling, luxurious effect due to their exceptional brilliance and reflective properties. They differ from normal carbon pigments such as carbon black in the crystal-lattice structure, which gives them the hardness and sparkling characteristics.
Thanks to their properties they are used in different fields, from cosmetics to automotive to art and crafts. Added to paints and coatings to create a shimmering, reflective finish.
2 Uses of Diamond Pigments in acrylic paints
Mix the diamond pigment powder directly into the paint. Start with a small amount and gradually add more until you achieve the desired effect.
As a final coat by pouring, brushing or airbrushing for adding a shimmering finish to artworks, crafts, and decorative items. They can be used in various techniques, such as pouring, brushing, or airbrushing.
Comparison between the different effect pigments
Pearlescent or vs metallic
Even though the two terms are often used to describe a strong visual effect, they differ in the way they create the effect.
Whilst the colour-shiting effect (similar to a bubble soap) by iridescent pigments depends on the interference of different light waves to each others, the shiny effect by metallic pigments is achieved bey the simple reflection of light against the metallic particles.
(Iridescent) Holographic vs metallic pigments
Whilst by metallic pigments the shiny effect is achieved by simple light reflection, the rainbow/prismatic and multi-dimensional effect by holographic pigments depends more by the splitting of light into its components when it hits the single pigments.
Final words.
This was the first part of my serie to discover more about effect pigments and how to use them to create sparkle in our works. As we saw, metallic is not equal metallic but every pigment has its own property that makes them particular and different from each other.
Thank you for reading. If you like the post, leave a like, a comment and don't forget to follow my blog and Instagram and share the content on your social media.
I wish you a creative day.
Laura
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