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Not sure what paints your using, I am going to assume its GW paint pots?
I moved all my remaining GW stuff over to dropper bottles (vallejo and others already are).
Now I can consistently thin my paints. Most take 2:1 (2 drops to one drop) paint to thinner. Some are 1:1 just a matter of getting used to and knowing your paints (this will come with practice).
Edit: Oh and there are great tutorials here and on the youtube, that show what you want to look for as far as how to know what "properly" thinned paint looks like.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/22 23:11:45
While it might seem like an obvious answer, you will deveop the skill over time and you'll be able to look at the paint and know right away if it needs more or less water.
Until then, You could do what I still do and once I have a bit of "thinned" paint on my brush... drag it along my palette for a short distance to get a feel for how the paint flows off.
This also has the added bonus of removing any excess paint from your brush.
If you find the paint does not come off the way you want (too thick or thin), you can adjust and try again real quick before moving over to your model.
When people ask me, "How do you build your army?"
I tell them its "The ten-zero factor, coolness ten, combat effectiveness... zero."
I'm new to all this as well and still don't feel like I've got a great handle on this aspect of painting yet, though I'm getting better. I drop a "dollop" of paint from the GW bottle on my palette, then use a medicine dropper to put a single drop of water in it, which gives it roughly a 2-1 paint-water mix. I did this for the green of my Orc skin and after 2 coats it looked great and smooth.
I then did the same with tausept ochre for the armour and found that it needs far more water than the dark angels green did, as it was still very streaky. I’m thinking for base/foundation colours, maybe bordering on 1-1 ratio.
I found looking at the "consistency of milk" videos hasn't really worked for me, as it sometimes looks fine on the palette and then just runs on the model like a wash, or still streaks. Seeing how the paint lays down on the model after a couple of strokes has been the best bet for me, and you aren’t so far in as to not be able to adjust and continue on. Running a line of paint on my palette also helps, as I like to see the paint line “contract” a little after my stroke.
@ Ron - Simple but effective, you know i never even thought about trying it on the pallette first, makes sense cheers.
@ Darefsky - The video helped alot cheers
@ Groundh0g - Yeah ive read everywhere that 'milk' is what your going for, i thinned it down to what looked like milk to me but found it was to thin and it filled all the gaps between the armour, ran into the back of the knees.
Ive just finished the starter kit so when i get some more models ill give it a go.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/23 08:11:26
Another great tool for testing paint ect is, when your out priming your models prime a few pieces of sprue as well. Works great to see if your paint is the right viscosity or even to see if a color is going to look like what you think it will on the model.
Hi, I'm not an especially good painter myself but there's some things I've learned which have helped with my workflow. I don't use water to thin my paints any more, when I can, I use acrylic thinner (Tamiya make a good one it's called X-20A thinner) - when I can meaning when I can afford it. If I don't have any I use a fairly cheap brand of car windshield cleaning detergent to thin out my paint in a 3:2 ratio of paint to detergent. Don't ask me why I use this, I tried it on impulse once and it makes the paint flow beautifully. Smells nice too hahahah.
Also, I'm not sure if you've heard of a wet palette before but it's simple to make and is well worth it. Find a cheap shallow plastic container (I use a take away container) with a lid. Put some sponges along the bottom of it (I use the black sponges from blister packs) and half cover these in water. Now cut out a sheet of baking paper large enough to cover the sponges and place this on top of them. That's it. Now you can mix your paints on the baking paper and they won't dry out for DAYS. The water in the sponges is drawn up through the paper and keeps the paint moist. The paint looks like it goes weird or separates sometimes but give it a mix and it's fine. You can put the container lid on and the paint stays fresh overnight. Yay!
One more vote for the wet palette. Getting the right consistency is simply a matter of practice - you'll get the feel for it, eventually, I promise - the wet palette will help your paints stay at the consistency you achieve while you work, making your (painting) life significantly easier.
One trick that helped me with thinning, initially, was to put a few drops of water next to the blob of paint on my palette. I would pull from each blob into the center to create my mix for painting. As the viscosity changed, due to evaporation, I could simply pull what I needed into the center to adjust the mix, on the fly (running out, pull more paint; thickening, pull more water; over-thinned, pull more paint; etc.).
The Dreadnote wrote:But the Emperor already has a shrine, in the form of your local Games Workshop. You honour him by sacrificing your money to the plastic effigies of his warriors. In time, your devotion will be rewarded with the gift of having even more effigies to worship.
I had the hardest time figuring out how to thin paint properly. So I stopped doing it haha. I now use a wet palette and use the moisture from that to thin the paint by default. Works like a charm. Small Tupperware, sponge, parchment paper voila!!!
Probably should have read the whole thread!!! I 4th? The vote for a wet palette haha.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/24 07:46:37
I use old syringes to measure out my paints its a great way to consistently get the same colour, also you can get some that measure out 10th of a millilitre very handy for watering paints down bit by bit.
i then picked up some empty paint pots for 99p from The Works
http://www.theworks.co.uk/corporate/Stores use that to see where your local store is. They come on a strip of 6 pots with lids with 2 strips in a pack
But they are right, using one should help out a lot.
