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As the title suggest Ive heard this catchphrase thrown around quite a alot so I was thinking what is the best way of thinning paints?

Depends on the paint I guess.
I usually use water when I paint, And that works fine for most paints. For some of the more stubborn ones I have the Medium from GW

Water, normally.
You could use medium, as its more neutral (controlled consistency and mineral content, that sort of thing), but water is cheaper.

Just put some paint on your palette, and gradually add water / medium until its what you're after.

I would never add the water / medium to the pot itself. Whilst it may seen efficient, you do run the risk of ruining everything.

Water. Medium is good, but somehwat expensive.

I personally go for a 2:1 ratio, when basecoating I have tho brushfulls of paint for one brushfull of water, and for highlights 1:1.

 Gingalain wrote:
Depends on the paint I guess.
I usually use water when I paint, And that works fine for most paints.

^ this.



Ghidorah

Water, on a palette. Don't add water to the pots unless they're getting very thick (and even then it's better to add a medium or acrylic thinner of some sort).

You want smooth flow and even application. Too thick and you'll get a lumpy finish, too thin and you lose a lot of opacity.

It goes hand in hand with brush control - most painting is done by glazing, where the paint goes on evenly over the surface, tinting it, rather than spreading it on like butter.

Go to YouTube and look up wet pallet

I keep a cup of clean water on may paintbench. I use a straw to get a drop, put in on an old blister pack palette. I then load my brush with a little of this clean water, and then get some paint straight from the pot. This thins the paint enough to work, without the waste of transferring it to a palette and mixing it there.

It’s not very consistent or scientific, but it works for me. YMMV.

Seconding look up wet palette. One of the best changes I've made to my painting.

Here's what I do:

I apply a layer of paint. Rinse my brush. Dry my brush. Dip it into the water. Apply brush over painted area.

Works all right for me.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
Here's what I do:

I apply a layer of paint. Rinse my brush. Dry my brush. Dip it into the water. Apply brush over painted area.

Works all right for me.

You'd be much better off mixing paint and water before applying either. Applying water afterwards is not going to be nearly as effective, either the paint will be too wet and it'll just wash off, or it'll be too dry and the water won't have much effect. Not to mention that using water to erase brushstrokes and such after the fact is so much less efficient than avoiding them in the first place with thinned paint.

I use a wet pallet and usually thin my paint with a small amount of water. 2:1 ratio of paint to water is about right.

I also use an acrylic flow enhancer from Daler-Rowney in the water sometimes. Helps the paint look better when it dries. It's stupidly expensive though. £6 something for a 75ml jar.

Look up a GW painting tutorial. Pay close attention to how many times they water down their paints.

 Paradigm wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
Here's what I do:

I apply a layer of paint. Rinse my brush. Dry my brush. Dip it into the water. Apply brush over painted area.

Works all right for me.

You'd be much better off mixing paint and water before applying either. Applying water afterwards is not going to be nearly as effective, either the paint will be too wet and it'll just wash off, or it'll be too dry and the water won't have much effect. Not to mention that using water to erase brushstrokes and such after the fact is so much less efficient than avoiding them in the first place with thinned paint.

Now THAT is something to look into!

I use a retarder from Golden meant for acrylics. Gives a smooth coat every time as long as you are consistent with application and make sure to stir it after it settles. Seperate a small amount of paint into a smaller pot, add about 1:3 ratio Retarder to paint for my basecoats. More if I want way thin layers.

.

really depends what I'm doing

most of the time, if I'm going to be painting for a good while, or doing several miniatures, I'll just use a regular palette and add water. How much solely depends on which paint I'm using, more for GW, less for Reaper none at first, at all, for Vallejo paints (usually). Later I may add more water.

I tend to use the specialty stuffs like mediums and retarders and flow improvers when I'm working more on detailed stuff or something I want to do a ton of layers on (like flames).

I tend to use a wet palette when I may be leaving and only have a few moments to paint something, or when I'm going to be doing an extended project and mixing more individualized mixes (like for flesh tones) so that I don't have to do it again, and waste paint.

Echoing many people here, water is great, and wet palette works wonders. The P3 one is cheap and simple.

I'd add that Liquitex Flo-Aid is like magic for the near-white paints, which can be hard to thin, like bone, off-white, and yellow.

I sometimes have the problem of adding too much water on my palette, making a very thin paint that is more like a wash in consistency. I guess I just need more practice at learning just how much water per quantity of paint.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I sometimes have the problem of adding too much water on my palette, making a very thin paint that is more like a wash in consistency. I guess I just need more practice at learning just how much water per quantity of paint.

A technique that I use on the wet palette is that I put a blob of paint on one side, and then clean my brush. Then I put a little bit of water (very little) about 5mm away. Then gently, I move a little bit of water towards the paint, and a little bit of paint towards the water, and start thinning til I get the consistency I want (which can vary greatly based on the application).

Wow, thanks for the advices guys! I'll look up the wet pallet and and try my hands on water. Will post some stuff when I got time to paint something.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I sometimes have the problem of adding too much water on my palette, making a very thin paint that is more like a wash in consistency. I guess I just need more practice at learning just how much water per quantity of paint.

Also brush control. If you find your paint running, it's because you have too much in your brush for the pressure you're applying to the bristles against the surface, less paint in the brush is mor forgiving in this regard. The general trick is to wick some off the brush either onto a piece of tissue, the back of your thumb, whatever.p

Living in the tropics I couldn't paint without a wet pallet, the paint dries to quickly on the normal pallet to be of any use, the wet pallet i can sometimes (not often) leave the pallet over night and have the paint ready to go in the morning (just add some more water) although i tend not to reuse those paints often.

How i made my wet pallet:

Container with a lid (little plastic disposable from your local supermarket is fine)

put a sponge in the bottom of the container

fill the container with water slowly until it is about half way to 3/4 of the way up the sponge.

place a square of baking paper on top of the sponge (as mentioned previously the type of baking paper may be important but i just grabbed a roll from the kitchen with no issues).

now you can start painting, i change the sponge about once every 3-4 months (sometimes less), the paper i change whenever i run out of room, probably used two 20 meter rolls of paper in the last two years, mileage may vary depending on how often you paint. The water i top up as needed.

Hope that helps, i also struggle with working out how much water to put in my paint although i am getting better at it.

Fez

Hold on, does the paint on a wet pallet ever dry? If I'm doing a blend and I want to wait overnight, will the paint still be... paintable?

Yes, it does dry, but slowly.

It can be slowed further by covering the palette to prevent evaporation - I have had mixes sit on a palette for several days this way and still be OK. (I use a flat plastic chocolate box with a sponge in it - that it has a lid is handy).