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I've recently had a bit of a revelation after having trouble painting Jokaero Orange over black primer. I don't go back and load up the brush nearly as often as I should. This is leaving the last few strokes with a lot less paint and an inconsistent finish.

How often do you guys go back to the palette to re-load your brush?

For what it's worth, I'm using art store synthetic brushes at the moment but I have ordered in some Broken Toad kolinsky sable brushes and from what I hear kolinsky sable hold paint much better so I probably will have to go back to the palette less often. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

TBH I go back to the palette when the intensity fades hopefully before the brush starts drying

I am really into consistency and thickness of paints right now, and looking at all sorts of ways to lengthen the working time of paints.

When to load up the brush should be obvious based on what you are seeing on the model. If the stroke is suddenly becoming more transparent, or you are finding it just gets too thick all of a sudden, here are a couple things to consider.

1) The thickness of the paint. We all know we should thin our paints, but water isn't the ideal medium. Get some acrylic medium (it's just paint without the pigment) from a local hobby store. In general, it will increase the working time for the paint.

2) Flow Aid, the stuff they use for airbrushes, can make your paint go on a lot thinner. Just don't use too much of the stuff. In general, with Flow Aid, the paints last twice as long.

3) Some combination of the items above and water. I find I spend a lot more time mixing paints then actually painting these days, because the painting takes less time once I have the proper mix. I've become a lot more efficient at getting the colors on the model once I have the proper colors.

There are too many variables for anyone to answer this question properly.
It depends on the brush you are using, the size, color of paint, and application technique.

For example, if I am dry-brushing with my crap brush, I go back to the palate very rarely and just brush "harder" as the brush starts losing paint.
If I am applying eye dot pupils to a figure, I go back to the palate after every single time the brush touches the model.

Also, oranges and reds are generally thin paints, needing a base color under them. You cannot just put several layers of orange on black and expect a consistent finish.
I recommend Iyanden Yellow (or whatever the dark yellow base is called now) as a first layer, then paint on the orange

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 Galef wrote:
There are too many variables for anyone to answer this question properly.
It depends on the brush you are using, the size, color, and application technic.

For example, if I am dry-brushing with my crap brush, I go back to the palate very rarely and just brush "harder" as the brush starts losing paint.
If I am applying eye dot pupils to a figure, I go back to the palate after every single time the brush touches the model.

Also, oranges and reds are generally thin paints, needing a base color under them. You cannot just put several layers of orange on black and expect a consistent finish.
I recommend Iyanden Yellow (or whatever the dark yellow base is called now) as a first layer, then paint on the orange

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All of this, plus if you want a darker red or orange, use a brown as a base under it, ANYTHING except black or white really, they're too stark and unforgiving. You need to get close to your desired colour first really.

Rik

Good to know thanks! I was thinking of getting grey primer instead, would that be a good idea? Or should I get brown primer? I'm using the Vallejo surface primer and really like it.

Supranaut wrote:
Good to know thanks! I was thinking of getting grey primer instead, would that be a good idea? Or should I get brown primer? I'm using the Vallejo surface primer and really like it.

The real question here is how much of the model is going to end up orange?

If it's most of it then a brown primer is probably a good shout, otherwise stick to black and just block out the ares that are going to be orange with a thin coat or two of a light brown first. Skrag Brown if you're using GW Paints.

Rik

Awesome. Thanks for the advice!

It's a lugganath Eldar army so mostly bright orange. I've been doing two coats of Jokaero Orange over black primer and then two coats of Troll Slayer Orange which is very time consuming and still not perfect. Would two coats of Troll Slayer over brown primer work or should I still use the Jokaero?