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No matter what paint or brush I use the paint tends to leave streak marks? Am I doing something wrong?

It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

If I add any more water to it, it turns to basically a wash.

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

If I add any more water to it, it turns to basically a wash.

I guess thinning is not exactly the case here.
Can you let us know what brand of paints are you using.

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

I second the scrap idea. Every time I load my brush I swipe some off on my thumbnail or cutting mat first. If it leaves a flat trail that doesn't recede, it's the right consistency. If it bulges it's too thick, and if the edges collapse inwards it's too thin.

 DalinCriid wrote:

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

If I add any more water to it, it turns to basically a wash.

I guess thinning is not exactly the case here.
Can you let us know what brand of paints are you using.

Reaper Paints on a wet palette. Clear Purple is the color I'm having the most issue with. I also tried a thinned Folk-Art purple and it does the same thing.

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 DalinCriid wrote:

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

If I add any more water to it, it turns to basically a wash.

I guess thinning is not exactly the case here.
Can you let us know what brand of paints are you using.

Reaper Paints on a wet palette. Clear Purple is the color I'm having the most issue with. I also tried a thinned Folk-Art purple and it does the same thing.

Reaper Paint is something that I've seen featured only in airbrush video tutorials. Airbrush acrylic paints usually are really watery (thin) and not all airbrush paint brands tend to brush on well.
I think this is the case, althou I don't know what Reaper Paints exactly are.

 DalinCriid wrote:

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 DalinCriid wrote:

Cerebrate64 wrote:

 Necros wrote:
It is probably too thick. water your paint down a little .. not too much just a a little.. Or what I like to do is just use a really wet brush when I dunk it into the paint, and then try painting on a piece of scrap before the model just to get the consistency right

You will probably need to do multiple coats though, wait for the first coat to dry completely before you do the next one

If I add any more water to it, it turns to basically a wash.

I guess thinning is not exactly the case here.
Can you let us know what brand of paints are you using.

Reaper Paints on a wet palette. Clear Purple is the color I'm having the most issue with. I also tried a thinned Folk-Art purple and it does the same thing.

Reaper Paint is something that I've seen featured only in airbrush video tutorials. Airbrush acrylic paints usually are really watery (thin) and not all airbrush paint brands tend to brush on well.
I think this is the case, althou I don't know what Reaper Paints exactly are.

Not supposed to be airbrush specific. I got one of those learn to paint kits they have a while back and liked them, so I bought a bunch.

Certain paints do that I think. I have this problem with GW's Altdorf Guard blue. I usually thin it a lot, but it still makes streaks, even though it oesnt cover properly which is very weird. Maybe Lahmian medium or some other paint medium can help you if water doesn't work for you. Still, sometimes there's probably not much you can do except try out a different paint or a different brand.

Reaper paints are not specifically designed for airbrushing and work just fine with hairy sticks. I think the problem is the 'clear' part.

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/46251-reaper-clear-paint-colors-like-clear-red-clear-blue-etc/

Also, try tapping the brush on a piece of paper towel to get rid fo the excess water.

 Ghaz wrote:
Reaper paints are not specifically designed for airbrushing and work just fine with hairy sticks. I think the problem is the 'clear' part.

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/46251-reaper-clear-paint-colors-like-clear-red-clear-blue-etc/

I thought it was just a name. I used their power pallette tool to get that purple because it was supposed to match the P3 equivalent. That explains why I have to paint 100 layers on to get it to show too, and I thought it was because I was painting over black.

I would maybe try thinning it not with water, but a bit of matte medium (GW's Lahmian Medium is very nice, but I personally use Liquitex Matte Medium). It'll make the paint into a glaze, so you can further thin with water if needed, and you can build up layers quite nicely.

If you thin the paint too much you wind up getting streak marks because you've reduced the pigment density too far.

Some paints are more forgiving that others. And some batches the mix winds up being off, and it makes the margin between 'leaving streaks because it's too thick' and 'leaving streaks because it's too thin' becomes razor-thin.

Try alittle bit of glaze medium then paint with 2 coats , or i have found with certain colours adding white or black to decrease the paints transparanty (thats some bad spelling ) helps

Oh man there's lots of things that might cause this. Paint needed more shaking to redistribute the pigment after having sat for awhile, didn't mix fully when adding thinner, somewhere on the brush a clump of hairs are molded together with dry paint, over loaded brush, forein particulate in the paint, poor selection of brush etc...

A combination of experience, cleanliness and good storage eliminates much of the factors. Keep those brushes clean, beware of contaminates that might get in the paint, keep everything securely stored when not in use.

I second that Lahmian medium helps to prevent brush strokes. At least for GW and Vallejo acrylics is working.