Grainy metals

[GreenOne]

Hi y\'all
A post fo the metal lovers...
My metals are grainy, especially where I do the highlights, and it shows very much in pictures...
Tried glazing inks and paints with many successive layers, tried thinning my metallic paints (something like 1:6)
It\'s still grainy.

I see pics of very smoooooooth metallics, and just wondering how do you do that ???

 

[tidoco2222]

Practice is all I can advise, I thin my metals down heavily and it sometimes takes two or three coverings to get a nice solid effect, when I highlight the highlights are very gradual and I also tend to feather the highlights back using a clean slightly moist brush, using glazes also helps as well.

 

[Amazon warrior]

I recall hearing/reading somewhere that you get a better effect if you always paint metals in the same direction. Maybe that\'d help too?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Smooth metals require lots of work.
I\'ve found it best that the area being painted is burnished smooth (A La Automaton) and then the primer needs to be carefully applied.
Needless to say the paint needs to be shaken to within an inch of RSI and I find that painting the metals with brush strokes in the same direction helps.

You might want to consider a couple of other things,
NOT painting all the area with the basecoat but working only the areas of shades and then Midtones and then Highlights.
Consider Vallejo Airbrush paints as I\'ve found the metallics to be very fine ground pigment and smooth to apply.

 

[GreenOne]

Thanks for the tips

I think mini prepping might be part of the problem indeed.

@Tidocco: To what ratio do you thin your metallics ?
I find over a certain points the flakes separate from the binder/water, and what I get on my brush is patches of flakes witch aggravate the problem.

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
NOT painting all the area with the basecoat but working only the areas of shades and then Midtones and then Highlights. and smooth to apply.

I do not quite understand this statement, care to elaborate a bit?

 

[Crayfish]

The best metallic paints i think is the GW ones, havent tried the air color yet, im gonna buy some the next time ill order paint but for highlighting the metals you should try VMC natural steel, it has really fine \"flakes\" that makes it great for painting highlights, but it is bad for basecoating... i like to use GW boltgun for basecoats, perhaps even with some black in it...

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by GreenOne

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
NOT painting all the area with the basecoat but working only the areas of shades and then Midtones and then Highlights.

I do not quite understand this statement, care to elaborate a bit?

Kinda thinking like this

Excuse the roughness only did a quick demo.

 

[GreenOne]

Yeah that makes sense, maybe I could combine this with the techs I already use.

 

[tidoco2222]

Sorry didn\'t see the question until thisevening, I couldn\'t say to be exact as I tend to mix the paint heavily in the pot by adding water when i buy the colour and then I\'ll thin it further on the pallette.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

most of it is down to the prep work as mike has mentioned.

file it, polish it and fill any dents holes etc with a milliputt slip then when cured sand smooth with 800 grit or finer (i use 1300 grit)

 

[EldinTux]

This was done by doing a highlighted and shaded undercoat. From black to white. Then very thin layers of boltgun metal. Once the layers look solidI shaded further with very thin black was &, I hightlighted further with mithril silver and then washed in gold to give it the olde look.
Picture sucks - sorry

 

[GreenOne]

Thanks, this seems like a very good technique, and it gives pretty good result from what I see.

 

[bullfrog]

If your metallics have become grainy as a result of the all too common problem of finding the right dilution with water you can also use this to your advantage to solve the problem.

Add a bit too much water so that it is quite fluid as you would with your non metallic acrylics and wash it over the offending area. Don\'t apply to the point where it is dripping off or collecting in large puddles but just enough to thouroughly wet the surface.

Because the paint is metallic and quite diluted I have never had it fill in any detail or create unwanted tide marks. On the contrary, the metallic particles settle in the shallows and it seems to fill in the graininess. Make sure that it is completely dry between coats but after 3-4 you will find that the surafce will become quite smooth and I use this technique to create glass like surfaces on armour.

While I have never had failure one drawback is that I have not tried this on anything other than silver metals and I cannot guarrantee how others will turn out.

Failing that try some Vallejo Air metallics. The particles are ground considerably finer as to not clog your airbrush up and are almost as fine as some non metallics.

 

[mickc22]

the alchohol based metallics from Vallejo are really good, I\'ll be using them on the stormvermin, just waiting for some thinners(alchohol) to arrive so I can clean my brushes
they are 35ml bottles for around £2.50 you do need the thinners tho, I got mine from http://www.modelsforsale.com/

 

[Trevor]

Slight threadomancy, but warranted I feel.

Consider Vallejo Airbrush paints as I\'ve found the metallics to be very fine ground pigment and smooth to apply.

This little comment got filed away and today I was checking out where to get hobby supplies in my new town and found the Vallejo air. I bought the metallics.

OMG!!!!!!

Like WOW!!!!

These are so hot I\'m wearing shorts and shades!

For years now I\'ve been looking for decent metallics, started with GW, these are OK, good, but not great, tried vallejo model, really didn\'t like them, tried the alcohol ones, superfine but dried faster than a knats tear in hell, so unworkable, tried the P3, too watery, poor coverage, tried the single rackham metallic colour, actually that was ok, but virtually impossible to find.

Then tonight I tried air...

The words do not exist to describe how briliant these are.
Supersmooth, superthin, but cover soo well, one coat over black, done. And they thin with WATER!!!
Amazing.
Did I say they were good?

Thanks Dragonsreach, best tip I\'ve had in years.

Can anyone tell me what the normal air colours are like?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Trevor
Thanks Dragonsreach, best tip I\'ve had in years. My Pleasure Dr Tolhurst sir.

Can anyone tell me what the normal air colours are like?
Just as Fine a pigment granulation and equally a good a colour range.
However Coverage is dependant on multiple layers. Care and attention (?) to allowing layers to dry thoroughly between coats is ESSENTIAL. Hence my reliance on a hairdryer somdays. (ARGOS £2.99 El Cheapo does fine.)

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Trevor
Then tonight I tried air...

The words do not exist to describe how briliant these are.
Supersmooth, superthin, but cover soo well, one coat over black, done. And they thin with WATER!!!
Amazing.
Did I say they were good?

Thanks Dragonsreach, best tip I\'ve had in years.

Excellent, which did you try?

Einion

 

[bullfrog]

Aluminium, Chrome and silver are all nice to work with in the Model Air range. I am not too keen on the golds. One ( I can\'t remember which) has poor coverage compared to the rest of the line and the other I personally don\'t like the colour for it\'s use.
The darker white metallics seem to be a little grainier than the lighter ones too.

The MOdel Air range don\'t compare to the alcohol metallics but are a great choice if you want the ease of cleaning in water.

 

[Trevor]

I got the chrome and the gold, colour doesn\'t matter too much to me, because I use inks, glazes and washes to get the colour I want. The chrome is a very bright silver and the gold is quite a light silvery gold.

 

[Aliengod3]

If this thread is to help you paint your elf then here is my two cents. I dilute my paint to about 6:1 wateraint when I paint metals. When I painted the axe blade of my trollblood it took me about an hour because the paint was so dilute, and all of the brush strokes were in the same direction, like people have been mentioning.

One thing I recommend is once you have applied your metallic basecoat paint over it with a super dilute wash of black paint. Do a couple of super thin washes and let it dry. This will help any successive layers of colored paint you want to apply adher better to the surface of the metallic areas. It will also help to make the paint less grainy. Obviously you will need to practice alot but you will get the hang of it. I had plenty of areas to practice this technique on my trollblood before I attempted the axe blade.