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I'm using Raphael 8404 brushes and I think I've got the thinning part down (some says skim, some say 1%, some 2%. But it seems almost universal that for most painting, you're trying to achieve the consistency of milk. I use mostly Vallejo paints and thin with the vallejo medium). If I am going to do detail work or edging, I'll leave the paint a little thicker so it won't run.

However, I have a helluva time loading my brush correctly. Watching the good painters, their brushes are filled with paint, the bristles come to a perfect point and when they paint, they get perfectly consistent coverage. I especially have a hard time with details and edging. If I try to load too much paint, my thin lines become thick and blotchy. If I try to decrease the amount of paint in the brush, I end up creating a line that can barely be seen and I have to reload the paint every 5 seconds which means 1 straight line ends up being 3 or 4 not so straight lines cobbled together.

Help!

I've heard to get a lot of paint on the brush and then blot off the excess onto a paper towel. My problem is I don't know when I have "a lot" on the brush and I don't know how much of it is "excess"!

Does anyone have some very specific tips or better yet, a video that shows exactly how to do this properly and know you've got the right amount of paint on/in the brush? I've spent hours watching youtube videos and haven't found anything very helpful (lots on thinning paints however!)

Thanks in advance!

What size brush are you using ..
Isue the following
Priming size 2 Flat Synthetic
Base Coat size 2 Round Synthetic
High Lighting/DryBrush size 0 Round Sable
Edging Size 00 Round Sable
Fine Detail 0000 Round Sable
eyes and other dots ..Single White Boar Hair
wash Size 2 Flat Synthetic

Fill the brush roll it on the wax paper on my wet plallete so its not over full ..paint..



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Note I am not a professional grade painter..
Yes I use a wet palette ..and I only thin as I load ..(the advantage of a wet pallette.)


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Sharp Edge (like on tanks) a size 0 Flat Cut at a 30 degree angle

Sometimes it depends on the brushes you use, a sythentic brush will most likely be less able to soak up paint than a sable one.

One small tip would be: You have small curve between the knuckle on your thumb and the nail. If you think you have too much paint on your brush and the bristles aren't in a point you can roll the brush on this part of your thumb to point the brush a remove excess paint.

After you load up your brush, do you wipe some off to form the point and control the quantity of paint?

Painting with thin paints really does come down to the amount of paint on the brush. You cannot load it up or it will run all over your model. You must wipe it off first... the EASIEST way to start is with a paper towel. You will likely wipe off too much for a while until you get the hang of it. I just use the side of my mixing pots and I never dip the brush into the paint very far.

It sounds like you're thinning the paints too much.

When people talk about thinning to the consistency of milk, they're usually talking about airbrushing (which is what I thought your post was about at first).

You only want to use a little thinner (I use water, no need for fancy thinners for brushwork), and go by feel. Most of my gw/vallejo/cotedarms/reaper/p3 paints work fine right from the bottle, or with a minimal addition of water.

If you're having trouble with coverage/opacity/runniness/brush not holding paint, then its too thin. Thicken it up and try again.

I couldn't even begin to tell you a consistency or formula, its all feel.

 Cruentus wrote:
It sounds like you're thinning the paints too much.

When people talk about thinning to the consistency of milk, they're usually talking about airbrushing (which is what I thought your post was about at first).

You only want to use a little thinner (I use water, no need for fancy thinners for brushwork), and go by feel. Most of my gw/vallejo/cotedarms/reaper/p3 paints work fine right from the bottle, or with a minimal addition of water.

I have to disagree with this as far as it pertains to GW paints (as that's all I use at the moment). My personal experiences with GW's line have been the opposite. Thinning to the consistency of milk and building up multiple coats I would say is a must. GW's paints are far too thick to use straight out of the pot and the effect becomes very patchy (see my practice models vs my actual Dark Angels for an example).

I generally take one drop of paint on the end of my brush and apply to my pallet. Then I use a dropper to drop a single drop of water in a different spot on the pallet and then thin by dipping my brush into the water droplet and then mixing it with the paint until I get the consistency of milk. Re-apply fairly small amounts of water as the paint slowly dries.

Yeah honestly there is no such thing as thinning 'too much' ...you can paint with slightly tinted water; it just takes some practice and loading-the-brush is obviously an important step.

I feel like proper brush loading is, like thinning, more art than science. The latter also affects the former, as does the task at hand. My only real suggestion (aside from practice, ad nauseum) is to treat the two as an inextricably linked pair.

As you've seen, dilute paint soaks up readily into the bristles and is released just as easily - it's not difficult to flood an area and cause runs. If your lines are becoming thick and blotchy, lay a few down as practice, paying close attention to what exactly is happening at the point of contact. Is paint only going where bristles touch? You may be applying too much pressure, effectively widening your stroke by splaying the tip on the model's surface. If you're only gently dragging the tip but a slightly irregular "linear puddle" is forming instead of a fine line, you have too much paint loaded for your current level of dilution.

In the latter case, you either need to wick away excess paint and lay the line down in multiple strokes and layers (being that your paint will be largely transparent, with less of it on the brush) or thin less. If solid lines are the goal, heavy thinning can actually be counter-productive - as long as the paint leaves the bristles easily and lays flat on the model, thicker paint may serve you better.

You mentioned having trouble determining just how much is "a lot" and what is "excess" - again, there's no substitute for observation and experience. Load a brush with as much paint as it will hold (while trying to avoid soaking it right up into the ferrule, of course - brush care 101 ) and lay down a relatively short line. Keep laying down strokes, taking note of how the behavior changes as the paint load lessens (keeping the strokes short gives you more points of reference, as you lose little paint each time). You should, at some point, get a line of the proper thickness and smoothness. Take note of the load at this point - that's what you should be aiming for. Repeat the exercise at different dilutions and you should start to get a better feel for things (remember how they're linked? Thinner paint = more flow = lighter brush load to maintain control). After that, you can start practicing your brush loading technique, trying to dip and wipe, as necessary, to get your brush to the same load level that gave you the results you wanted.

You can, of course, do all of this directly on models, instead of test scraps, if you prefer. It tends to seem less tedious that way, but prepare for lots of blotting of paint runs, sharpening up of lines, etc. It will likely take some time, but your painting will run much faster and smoother for it.