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Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User




Ive been panting my blood angels with some of my citadel paints watered down and some not. I'm not sure which consistency they should be. what should the consistency be for my metallic, bases, and layer paints? respectively
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






The consistency that works best for you.

You'll get a whole lot of advice on the matter - but none of it really matters. You need to figure out how you paint and work that stuff out for your habits.

If you think you want to do 5, 6, 7 or more layers of paint for each color - in order to get the really smooth blending and layers that you see on some of the showcase armies, you will want to dilute the paint a lot. It should be just a bit above colored water.

However, if you don't have the patience for that and want to paint your army in a day...throw some washes on it and give it a quick dry brush - then you just want to use a wet brush and paint straight from the pot.

Metallics you will normally want a little thicker than regular paints, though it will depend on what you are doing. If it is a base metallic color, you want to have enough metallic flake in the mix to get a good sheen. If you are just highlighting the edge of a blade - you can dilute it a bit more to reduce the coverage.

All in all though - it depends on what you are after. The best way to figure it out is to take a bit of paint and put it on a palette (one of those little dimple palettes are great). Grab a figure and paint a bit. Add a bit more water and paint a bit more. More water and paint some more. See where it feels best to you.
   
Made in us
Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf





It's really really hard to describe consistency over the internet and as Sean said it varies depending on what you want to achieve. If you're really new and have absolutely no idea, see if there's a hobby club/shop or GW store nearby which will let yet you go paint there and try and get some advice. It can be hard to learn from trial and error. I know people who still put paint on too thin (for what they're trying to achieve) even after a couple hundred models and years of painting and I've got squads/regiments which are randomly layered too thick from my early days of "trial and error" painting.
   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User




you want it watered down enough that the paint flows smoothly but not so watered that the paint becomes transparent (unless that's the effect you're looking for). If you're trying to paint fine detail and it goes on in a big blob (sometimes to the point where it dries before going on the miniature), that's a good sign you need to water down your paint some. You can usually tell when this is the case too, because if you look at the tip of your paintbrush, it usually blobs up instead of looking like the paint just coats your bristles.

If you're laying down a base coat, you only need to water it down so that the paint doesn't clump or obscure detail. If you're working on laying highlights, you might want to water it down even more so that it's almost transparent as you work your highlights up. I usually water down my paints to the consistency of milk.
   
 
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