What We Call Things

Turbo Dork paints are a mixture of pigments suspended in an acrylic medium and additives. Like acrylics from other companies, they are fast-drying, water-soluble when wet, and water-resistant when dry. However, they have their own set of distinct properties due to the type of pigments used and the unique formulation of the acrylic medium.  

 

There are three general types of Turbo Dork paints:

Metallics contain pigments and small mica flakes that create a sparkling effect on the paint surface making it look like metal. Many of the Metallics need a BLACK basecoat to look their best. However, many other Metallics look most vivid when used over a similarly colored basecoat. There is info on the side of the bottle on the best-colored basecoat, e.g., Pucker over yellow.

Turboshifts are made with tiny glass-like flakes that work like millions of small prisms within the paint. Depending on how the flakes are made, different colors are refracted or reflected in the light. In layman's terms, this means that the paint changes color depending on what light you are viewing it under, and what angle you are holding it to that light. All the Turboshifts except Mother Lode need to be used over a BLACK basecoat for the true shift to appear.

Zenishifts shift differently over different base colors. They appear almost as if they were two metallics in one bottle, with one color or the other dominating depending on what color base they are sitting over. In the bottle, they look like one of the colors that they flip between. A heavy zenithal basecoat works well with these paints.