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Hey guys and gals, wondering how you thing your paints? When you buy a new pot of paint do you go ahead and add in water to the pot itself or do you mix it somewhere else? I've read on here that a lot of people do it and it seems like there wouldn't be much harm to thinning them out with water as soon as you got them but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Also, another quick question on the side: I have an old paint pot from 2e that is one of the pop lids (they were white). Was the paint made to be thinner back then? I ask because I have some of them and not only are those paints still perfect in color, but they also seem a lot less viscous than other paints.

I water mine down as soon as I get them. Usually add about 1/3 of a cm of water/thinner to the pot, which gets it about the right tickness for me.

And the old posts generally had better fitting lids so didn't dry up so much. I still have some shining gold, bestial brown and goblin green in those pots and they are all still pretty good.

The black screw top pots were the worst - the lids never went on properly and almost all of mine have either dried up, or I have to open with a knife (as the lid gets stuck on as the paint dries in the threads).

Though I have to say I am starting to hate the newest style of paint pots as they just leak everywhere, can't stack and you seem to get a lot less paint.

Hello Drummerboy , when i tend to thin my paints i do not use just a plain tile or a china plate like i know a lot of people do , this is because GW paints which are the ones i tend to use most dry up really quickly on this. What i would do if i was you is to get either a tile or plate best a plate i would think and place a folded peice of kitchen towel onto it and then wet this , it will hold the water in and you can thin your paints directly on the paper towel , this is really effective for me as it does not dry out your paints and it also allows you to use less paint when painting a model.

Hope this is in someway helpful to you.

~UnDeAd~

Wow, thanks for the tip, Undead! I've always wondered about thinning paints on one of those tiles as you go... it seems like it wastes so much. I'd bought a palette that was supposed to keep things damp, but this sounds simpler!

It had also never occured to me to just go ahead and thin the whole pot of paint... that's a good idea, as well.

~UnDeAd~ wrote:Hello Drummerboy , when i tend to thin my paints i do not use just a plain tile or a china plate like i know a lot of people do , this is because GW paints which are the ones i tend to use most dry up really quickly on this. What i would do if i was you is to get either a tile or plate best a plate i would think and place a folded peice of kitchen towel onto it and then wet this , it will hold the water in and you can thin your paints directly on the paper towel , this is really effective for me as it does not dry out your paints and it also allows you to use less paint when painting a model.

Hope this is in someway helpful to you.

~UnDeAd~

You could just buy/make a wet palette?

I personally thin on my wet palette, the water from the palette helps to begin with and then with just a touch more water I get the consistency I need. I probably could thin them in the jar but as I am using more and more Vallejo Game Colour paints you can't really access the paint in the bottle.

If you use a tupperware box with a lid, you can keep your wet pallet going for quite a long time.

The best for this is quite a low sided box, as the less air there is inside the box, the less moisture you will loose from the pallet.

Some people have suggested using a thin foam sheet under your paper towel to act as a water resivoir, but you then risk the prospect of paint seeping through the paper towel onto it and then when you replace the paper towel, the paint in the foam may migrate into the new clean towel and mess up any paint you put on there.

Not sure how much of a problem this might be, but give it a go and see if it is OK

SilverMK2 wrote:If you use a tupperware box with a lid, you can keep your wet pallet going for quite a long time.

The best for this is quite a low sided box, as the less air there is inside the box, the less moisture you will loose from the pallet.

Some people have suggested using a thin foam sheet under your paper towel to act as a water resivoir, but you then risk the prospect of paint seeping through the paper towel onto it and then when you replace the paper towel, the paint in the foam may migrate into the new clean towel and mess up any paint you put on there.

Not sure how much of a problem this might be, but give it a go and see if it is OK

I use a Chamois and Greaseproof/baking paper. The paper stops the paint leaking through but still maintains enough 'wetness' to keep the paint dry. A kitchen sponge would work fine.

Hello Drummerboy , when i tend to thin my paints i do not use just a plain tile or a china plate like i know a lot of people do , this is because GW paints which are the ones i tend to use most dry up really quickly on this. What i would do if i was you is to get either a tile or plate best a plate i would think and place a folded peice of kitchen towel onto it and then wet this , it will hold the water in and you can thin your paints directly on the paper towel , this is really effective for me as it does not dry out your paints and it also allows you to use less paint when painting a model.

Hope this is in someway helpful to you.

~UnDeAd~

So do you still thin the paints in the pot in the same way that Silver does and just use the paper towel to create a kind of pallette for that session or do you not water them down at all? They seem really thick and I'm trying to get bettter at painting. Also I know this may change depending on colors, but what are the best primers to use for lighter colors. I've always primed black before and I'm trying to get around to painting tyranids and I find I need like 3 coats of paint (without them thinned) before it even looks reasonable. Is there a trick someone might be able to help me out with?

Thanks

Winter wrote:

~UnDeAd~ wrote:Hello Drummerboy , when i tend to thin my paints i do not use just a plain tile or a china plate like i know a lot of people do , this is because GW paints which are the ones i tend to use most dry up really quickly on this. What i would do if i was you is to get either a tile or plate best a plate i would think and place a folded peice of kitchen towel onto it and then wet this , it will hold the water in and you can thin your paints directly on the paper towel , this is really effective for me as it does not dry out your paints and it also allows you to use less paint when painting a model.

Hope this is in someway helpful to you.

~UnDeAd~

You could just buy/make a wet palette?

I personally thin on my wet palette, the water from the palette helps to begin with and then with just a touch more water I get the consistency I need. I probably could thin them in the jar but as I am using more and more Vallejo Game Colour paints you can't really access the paint in the bottle.

Well, Undead's method is essentially a homemade wet pallete, isn't it? I've never tried to do one, but I had understand that they were made with kitchen paper and water into a receptacle.

Testors Flow Control.

@ RiTides : No problem glad to be a help.

@ Drummer boy: I do not thin the paints while they are in the pot , when i am painting i thin the paints on the pallett as i paint a certain colour on the model. If i am painting light coloured models e.g. Harlequins or say tyranids with a light colour scheme i would always start with a white prime , i find this goes on eaiser if i leave the can in a jug or warm water for about 15 - 25 minutes before i prime the models. If i am painting dark colours like dark blue or reds i tend to use black primers as it gives it a more bold flat tone.

Hope this is helpful my freind , any other questions i would be glad to anwser.

@ Erasoketa : Yes it is basically a wet pallett i prefer using this method though because i can just throw away the paper towel after use and not have to clean the pallett after , also i use this because my experience with a wet pllett is that whenever i used darker colours like Regal blue or Merchite red it tended to stain the pallett a little.

Thanks ~UnDeAd~

I use the lids from juice bottles, the wax on the lid stops paint from hardening to it so you can scratch it off and use the same one a ton of times.

also a o ring inside the top of the black bottles helps them seal.

take the above with a grain of salt as i am a terrible painter.

Grundz wrote:I use the lids from juice bottles, the wax on the lid stops paint from hardening to it so you can scratch it off and use the same one a ton of times.

also a o ring inside the top of the black bottles helps them seal.

take the above with a grain of salt as i am a terrible painter.

I have never thought of this idea i might give it a go , dont think it would work with tankbrushes though

well I don't know about you but I drink juice by the gallon so the lids are about 3cm across and plastic, not actual "bottles"

Thanks for the input. Are the GW painting books worth their money? I looked through the tank one last time I was at my flgs, it didn't seem too great. Nothing compared to what I can find on here. Maybe the smaller model based books are a little better at describing all the different types of techniques.

I hear that washes are really good for tyranids. Do you just prime and go over the model in the desired colored wash?

When the first How to paint space marines book came out i bought that and it was very helpfull throught painting my army , however it now feels a little outdated and could i say ' old '. I think you would be better off finding a tutorial on here or another site like The Tyranid Hive or Heresy online. Take a look at LBursleys videos on youtube they are top quality and will help you progress through painting.

Onto the washing , i would suggest having a base colour when you are washing , its kind of hard to tell you what washes to use as i dont really know what you want your colour scheme like could you fill me in and i could try help you out.

For the meantime here are a few links i found usefull when i first tried my hands at nids :

http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=painting&action=display&thread=20756

http://thetyranidhive.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=painting&action=display&thread=22119&page=1

Hope this helps ~UnDeAd~

UnDead, thanks for the links. In one of them there is a tyranid color scheme with white skin and orange carapace. How would I achieve the skin look that he got?

I would imagine it was white primer, bleached bone, a wash(not sure the color), and maybe highlighted/drybrushed with skull white or bleach bone or mix. Also just so I can try and learn more about washing, what would the armor be washed in, or how did he get it to look that way?

The armor pattern that I was talking about becomes extremely apparent on the first carnifex in this page. One last question, is there an easy way to get the paint brush strokes that go down the armor. I think that gives the models carapace so much depth it really makes the model pop.

Any advice you guys could give would be great. If I have the paints I'm at least going to give the skin (aiming to end up like the pictures above) a try tonight after work. If I get enough replies about how to wash and streak the armor I might try that, but I'm a little more clueless about the armor.

Thanks

Hello again Drummerboy , I think he did mention how he achieved that colour skin on the ones with the orange carapace , maby skim through the thread to see if you can find something. If not i will take a look and see if i can help on that.

The link that you sent me to the armour pattern that you were talking about links me to The Tyranid Hive but it will not let me view the thread because it is no longer active. So i cannot really help you on that one , however painting the stripes is relativly easy just make sure you have a good detail and my technique i pull the prush towards me and achieve thin lines quite easily.

Otherwise the only thing that i would advise you to do when painting your Tyranids would be to make sure that you water down your paints as i mentioned above.

Good luck on your project , try post some pictures so that we can see your work. Any other questions that you have i would be glad to anwser.


Hope the information i have given you so far is helpful in some way.

~UnDeAd~