Glossy finish - How to remove it and some new painter questions

[MAXXxxx]

I can't see where you worked at on the attached image , literally your step is invisible.

to your question: yes it's normal, but there is a small trick I use to make it disappear.
What I do is the following: I wet the surface with pure water (it's just damp, not dripping or anything) before going there with the color. This helps me avoid the drying of the paint where I put my brush down, so no tidemark.

What's missing for me in the steps is going through the part where you pushed the paint from with the second (damp) brush to feather out the line that's beginning to form there.

as for gloss: too thinned paint + paint taken from the top without REALLY shaking it can be the cause. Matt medium can't help in this beyond a certain point.

That said I usually don't use paint thinned out that much, only at the end when making small changes /fixes. Until then I stick more to 1:2 or so.
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metals (on the first pic I think): I think BoK means, that you should shade it more (with black / brown depending on steel/gold).
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shading: what colors do you use to shade/highlight ? ime a LOT can depend on it and the 'correct' (easier to use) colors can save you a lot of time / headache.
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Tutorial: I don't really know what you'll aim for, but it's worth watching the P3 DVD if you have access to it and a few GW youtube videos too.
Similarly I think you should try 1 or 2 lessons in a GW shop, but take everything they say with a lot of salt
(for example even though some of the GW YT vids are good, but the way they use the palette and brush is a sure way to ruin the brush fast AND run out of paint fast)

[PureConstant]

First, thanks a lot for taking the time to awser me

I can't see where you worked at on the attached image , literally your step is invisible.

Yeah I changed it, if you use the imgur url http://imgur.com/4BEHtmV, you migth be able to see more what I'm saying... I added a box around the section I'm talking about. It's not showing much because it is only one layer of semi-transparent paint

What's missing for me in the steps is going through the part where you pushed the paint from with the second (damp) brush to feather out the line that's beginning to form there.

I am not using the 2BB method. I used only the layering with glaze technique that I saw on the Hot Lead DVD and on a tutorial ou youtube and I wanted to know if it's normal to see where the glazing starts.

as for gloss: too thinned paint + paint taken from the top without REALLY shaking it can be the cause. Matt medium can't help in this beyond a certain point.

I shake but I use the paint from the dispenser in the top (p3 paint). Ill try taking paint directly in the pot.

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shading: what colors do you use to shade/highlight ? ime a LOT can depend on it and the 'correct' (easier to use) colors can save you a lot of time / headache.

I used Khador Red Highlight on Khador Red Base. For the shading, wich I havent started yet, I will use Sanguine Base. I do have the force of Khador book and I'm following their painting steps.

Tutorial: I don't really know what you'll aim for, but it's worth watching the P3 DVD if you have access to it and a few GW youtube videos too.

I watched the P3 DVD and they do not blend any colors. They drybrush a lot and do some edge highlighting. I really want to learn how to blend colors and do smooth transitions.

Thanks!

[GreenOne]

Looks more like glare than gloss to me but ill take your word for it.

If it is gloss, seems frequent with red+black shading, I think 'breaking' the red for the basecoat with a color that dries matt, then rebuild towards red could help.
Also, you need to know the difference between a washing and glazing they seem the same bu they are not.
Dont worry about perfect blending at first, put the effect on, then smooth down, if you get started while layering dry with a 1/5 ratio you'll only go nuts. Get the basic first, then more layer and thinner paints until you have the perfect blend. Likewise with wet blending, just practice will make it right ( I still dont get it.). With thin paints ( Just thin enough) you can always fix your mistakes and refine a transistion that started rough, at least you see something happening.
If you just thinned your black until its invisible you mostly covered your basecoat with binder, that might explain the shiny-ness. You got to be able to put a blending on first, before you perfect it; contrast is not optional, whilst perfect blending is.
I say all that cause I see almost no gradient on this picture.

I would also shed all the mediums for a while, they're just causing more confusion for now, and incorporate them when you see whats going on, some paint and some brands dry shinier but it's normally fixable.

For the round surface question from earlier, by criss-crossing you layers from different angle and always pushing the paint from shade to light you achieve roundness, which you cant if you do all your strokes from the same angle.

Hope this helps, happy painting

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Agree that all those additive make it difficult to know for sure what is happening. Also agree that you are diluting too much,especially on your base coat. There may be no gradient in your pic because it's just a base coat and you haven't begun to shade or highlight yet. I hope this is the case, anyway. If you are using that much Matt medium it is strange that you'd have any kind of gloss. And in answer to your question, you should NOT see any brush strokes at all. This is the goal.

[PureConstant]

There may be no gradient in your pic because it's just a base coat and you haven't begun to shade or highlight yet. I hope this is the case, anyway.

Indeed, I haven't started the highlight on that picture because the "glare/gloss" scared me so I stopped. Following all the tips from you guys, I think I managed to pull out something kind of good, I have to stop trying to achieve a professional on my first few minis.

For those interested, this is my first try with two brush blending : http://i.imgur.com/FSOfu9M.jpg. In this pick, you can see the shadow and highlights on the armor plate above the head. I might have to do more contrast but I do not like the "orange look" so I did not use much of that color. I will also do some edge highlight with a mix of orange/off-white. I may need to pick a darker red has my base color next time and use khador red as my first highlight.

As a bonus (lucky you), this in an album of my previous cygnar warjacks.

http://imgur.com/a/b2Pc6

Those are the ones that made me start this thread and were my first ever painting attempt. I stripped them down completely twice so it's not exactly my first attempt so let's say it is my third . You can also see my first custom terrain. I really like the blending with the blue on the head armor of my Ironclad. I still have to work on the black highlight. You might also notice some cat hairs... I should have cleaned them before taking that picture (damn cats, always on my desk).

Thanks a lot guys for all the help! I really appreciate it!

[GreenOne]

As a rule of thumb, its better to shade first then highlight, if it is not shaded yet, and if it is, it needs to go much muuuuuuch darker.

These older guys are not horrible by any strech, you should progress fast if you start on good bases.

[MrJim]

GW layman medium will when painted on removes the gloss immediately. And when mixed in with the washes line of paints creates a Matt look when the washes dry. Very good stuff. I've tried all sorts of Matt mediums including VMC WHITE WORK.I CLOSELY LIKE THE LAHMIAN MEDIUM BY GW but the LAHMIAN medium by GW is among my favorites cause very simply it does the job you need it to do. I guarantee it.

+1 for the GW medium.

I was painting some bloodletters and really liked the flame effects on the swords and though it would look even better if it was glossy. It wasn't. I was bummed. Just for the heck of it (rather than stripping the paint) I tried the GW Lahmian medium and it took away all the gloss and saved a lot of work.