Adding Inks to your paint
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Shawn R. L.
New member
One thing you might check is what is called \'lightfastness\'. There is a number on the bottle and I\'m not sure what correlates to what (ask at a good art store) but it referrs to how well the pigment holds up in the light. I have had colors fade DRAMATICALLY in 1 day due to poor lightfastness.
MathewBaich
New member
Well, I do that occasionally but ive noticed that it changes the color slightly, sometimes not to my liking. it does thin it to make it cover easier but I find that adding water is better for the way I paint minis.
vincegamer
Active member
I do it constantly on my space marines.
The color scheme is yellow and blue. I use base coat with a little of the appropriate ink added, then each highlight layer has some ink in it. Final highlight is white followed by a thin glaze of plain ink.
I find it really deepens the color and helps the blending and ties all the colors together.
Never thought about its affect on coverage since my Vallejo paints get superb coverage.
The color scheme is yellow and blue. I use base coat with a little of the appropriate ink added, then each highlight layer has some ink in it. Final highlight is white followed by a thin glaze of plain ink.
I find it really deepens the color and helps the blending and ties all the colors together.
Never thought about its affect on coverage since my Vallejo paints get superb coverage.
Tinweasel
Member
Obviously depending on the color, Inks can greatly deepen/strengthen a color or change the tone entirely.
As a general practice, I add Inks to my paints for basecoats sometimes if I\'m looking for a quick effect and straightforwards coverage... although if the coverage of the paint sucks to begin with (think red or yellow,) then Ink isn\'t going to change anything, it\'ll just stain the poorly-covered areas and things\'ll still look patchy - just a different color of patchy. You still need to do multiple coats to get your intended color, even adding inks into the mix.
As a general practice, I add Inks to my paints for basecoats sometimes if I\'m looking for a quick effect and straightforwards coverage... although if the coverage of the paint sucks to begin with (think red or yellow,) then Ink isn\'t going to change anything, it\'ll just stain the poorly-covered areas and things\'ll still look patchy - just a different color of patchy. You still need to do multiple coats to get your intended color, even adding inks into the mix.
From what I understand, Inks are typically dyes, not pigment. So in essence by adding it to your paint, you\'re probably getting better coverage because you\'re both dying the under level the color you want, then cover it with the pigment you want, so would make sense to cover better and result in an intense color.
That\'s just my understanding, and I\'m completely willing to admit I\'m not 100% sure.
That\'s just my understanding, and I\'m completely willing to admit I\'m not 100% sure.
I suppose we could nitpick at what we\'d define \'coverage\' as. Is it necessarily a literal cover-up, or could it be re-colouring the underlying paint, like a glaze, too? Somehow, I doubt that it\'s all too important. What matters for us is what works.
A really nice tip, which I\'ve used once or twice. To change the mood of a mini, put a tiny amount of ink into a stock of the water you thin your paint with. All paint (except maybe flesh and the like) gets thinned with this water, creating an overall mood without compromising the colours. Blue works well for cold atmospheres, purple somehow creates an arrogant mood. Green for foresty type things.
A really nice tip, which I\'ve used once or twice. To change the mood of a mini, put a tiny amount of ink into a stock of the water you thin your paint with. All paint (except maybe flesh and the like) gets thinned with this water, creating an overall mood without compromising the colours. Blue works well for cold atmospheres, purple somehow creates an arrogant mood. Green for foresty type things.
Tinting the entire mini a certain color is actually a great trick a lot of well known top painters use regularly. It really have a great way of tying a mini together completely and giving it an overall mood. Typically I do this differently, typically by adding something like a hint GW shadow grey to all my shading, but the ink idea would probably work as well.
I\'m just scared of inks, I\'ve never used them so not confortable using them. And the one thing about my painting is that I\'m real slow to change (did I mention how stubborn I tend to be!), so inks may never show up in my collection
I\'m just scared of inks, I\'ve never used them so not confortable using them. And the one thing about my painting is that I\'m real slow to change (did I mention how stubborn I tend to be!), so inks may never show up in my collection
cripeys! Well Eric, your before CMON and after CMON pictures of Sisters of Battle served as a great inspiration to me. On top of that, so did your tinting technique. On top of that! so did your use of only GW brushes and water... unfortunatly, for some reason or another I still always got chalky results with just water and I think perhaps it has to do with the dry AC climate in my house... so I guess I am a little less stubborn than you it seems.
But I promise, when I move to SO Cal in Dec. I\'ll try only water again!
But I promise, when I move to SO Cal in Dec. I\'ll try only water again!
hubbabubba
New member
Hi .
I actually use inks for free hand detail, and I usually mix them with an equal quantity of paint for the following reason. The inks I\'ve got are the original citadel expert paint set inks,(yeah, they\'ve lasted this long.) that came in bottles that look like mini vallejos, these inks have the annoying property of drying with a gloss if you use them undiluted, hence I mix em.
I normally use a glaze to tie together the highlights and shadows, as Erik(El maestro, I tip my hat to you sir) said, it normally works for me but some times I\'ve over done it and taken all the contrast out. it\'s kind o do or die, especially after you\'ve spent alot of time blending
I actually use inks for free hand detail, and I usually mix them with an equal quantity of paint for the following reason. The inks I\'ve got are the original citadel expert paint set inks,(yeah, they\'ve lasted this long.) that came in bottles that look like mini vallejos, these inks have the annoying property of drying with a gloss if you use them undiluted, hence I mix em.
I normally use a glaze to tie together the highlights and shadows, as Erik(El maestro, I tip my hat to you sir) said, it normally works for me but some times I\'ve over done it and taken all the contrast out. it\'s kind o do or die, especially after you\'ve spent alot of time blending
F
faulkns
Guest
You can use 2 different ways:
Inks to paint definitely helps with coverage and is an excellent way of diluting down the paint without loosing the pigmentation. This can work really well for techniques such as underpainting
Paint to inks occasionally to give me the shade, wash or glaze colour I\'m looking for. Warning - make sure the paint is well mixed in for this method otherwise it will streak, \'cause of the difference in consistencies.
The best advise though is to experiment and try new things. You never know what you might produce.
Inks to paint definitely helps with coverage and is an excellent way of diluting down the paint without loosing the pigmentation. This can work really well for techniques such as underpainting
Paint to inks occasionally to give me the shade, wash or glaze colour I\'m looking for. Warning - make sure the paint is well mixed in for this method otherwise it will streak, \'cause of the difference in consistencies.
The best advise though is to experiment and try new things. You never know what you might produce.
