What's the deal, why do so many artists use it, and what are the benefits? I know it's a form of acrylic, but what are the main differences from other acrylics? Does anyone know?...

It's just really nice acrylic paint. It's used by animators because it will stick to the vinyl cells (hence the name), which means that it has awesome coverage and color.

These are more my observations than actual facts about cell vinyl. It lays down thinner and smoother than most acrylic while still staying opaque. When painting it seems to be somewhere between gouache and regular acrylics.

It has downsides too. It's more chalky than some acrylics, so it seems to chip easier than acrylics that are more plasticy. It is also near impossible to make cell vinyl transparent.

The chalkiness is why I don't use it more often, but I had good luck airbrushing it before getting on board with Monster Kolor. I have also had some successes with getting it fake looking transparent.



But it's not worth the effort when things like MK exist nowadays.

Monitoring this thread ...

Never used Cell, but have used much Tamiya, mostly on resin, using it on vinyl a couple times. It is also an acrylic and available in clear colors. Like stated earlier it can have a plasticy feel. I've found it sticks well to vinyl, but you need to blast it with the hair dryer, should probably do that with any paint though. And I'd definitely clear coat an acrylic paint. You can just use Krylon crysal clear. I like Tamiya, good color range (and like i said, clears), the paint thins nicely, colors blend nicely, no real odor to it.