Help with inks and washes

[studcake]

Hi,
I bought some GW inks to wash my mini\'s with and I was wondering if you need to water them down first? Also, can you do a wash with a watered down version of a normal acrylic paint?

Thanks for helping a newb!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by studcake
Hi,
I bought some GW inks to wash my mini\'s with and I was wondering if you need to water them down first?
The simple answer is yes. The more complex answer is a question what are you trying to achieve. If its a heavy colour alteration then diluting the inks only slightly will give you a heavy colour cast. If you want very subtle changes in colour then think along the lines of 1 brush load of ink to 20-30 brush loads of water. (Add a tiny amount of washing up liquid to the ink to get better flow dynamics as well, it helps to stop the rings that can build up at the edges of the ink washes). This will give a very thin wash which you can slowly build up the colour. Do a search on the galleries for Astonia and AllanC for effective use of subtle washes.

Also, can you do a wash with a watered down version of a normal acrylic paint? Again yes and the answer is exactly the same. Thinned down gives better control of the graduation of the colour build up.

Thanks for helping a newb!

And a warm welcome to the forums.

 

[studcake]

thanks, I\'m going to paint an imperial guard army so I\'ll probably want to do less deluted ink right?

oh, and thanks for the reply by the way!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by studcake
thanks, I\'m going to paint an imperial guard army so I\'ll probably want to do less deluted ink right? Ok so which regiments? Catachan & Cadian will benefit from very subtle washes of both Greens & Browns.
Mordian Iron Guard -- I\'d be wary of using inks and consider doing washes of Paints instead. (Blue ink is notoriously shiney, more so than the other inks.)
Valhallan\'s well if you paint them dark then dark brown will wash nicely , but if you do winter effect it would have to be one of the grey paints (like Space Wolf grey) as a dilute wash.
Tallarn would work with either a wash of Snakebite leather paint or Chestnut Ink.
.

oh, and thanks for the reply by the way!

You\'re welcome.

 

[airhead]

as liner, I use ink slightly diluted (1 ink - 5 magic wash)

as a wash even more dilute (1:10 or 1:20)

You can also use your inks to thin your paint and change the color at the same time (1 drop snakebite leather and 1 drop brown ink = a thinner paint to work with and a darker paint at the same time.)

 

[studcake]

Thanks for the advice, I have been painting minis for about a year, my minis were looking flat, so I\'ve finally decided to learn more and hopefully get better. One more thing, since the army I am painting is Cadian, do you think I could use black ink for the armor and clothing and brown ink for the flesh? (I\'m trying to make this as cheap as possible, I\'m 15 and I have a job, but I need to pay for other things as well.)

Thanks for all the help, I really appriciate it!

 

[provoke_me]

i just wanna say you have a cool name.
a tip wuth inks it to watch it dry. sometimes it can pool up in certain spots and can ruin what you were going for.

 

[studcake]

yeah it\'s kind of an inside joke (I happen to be 6\' 2\", red hair, not the most attractive person around, har har)

 

[Legacy Account]

Wahey! Another ginnah!

As you may have noticed by my name/avatar, I bear a striking resemblance to one of Borneos finest......