Matteness come to me!

[Kito]

Hello everyone! I have been dealing with some gloss look on my minis that I dislike. It's not mirror-like glossy, but it's definitely not matte. I think this may be some causes:
- Primer doesn't give a matte undercoat (even if it says matt on it) and I don't know how much this affects the finished look
- Formula P3 don't seem to be very matt either... anyone else noticing this?

So, any suggestions? I want it to look matte, really dull, opaque, glare-less!
Maybe brands of paint/primer that you have had good matte results with?

Any tips are appreciated greatly!
Have a nice day!

 

[Wyrmypops]

I've not heard of primers being an aspect of how glossy the end result comes out, just the paints themselves really.
There are some matte solutions one can add to a paint, I've not tried them out myself.
The commonly employed process to make it all look matte is to apply a coat of varnish. Testors Dull Cote is often the go-to brand, and one I've used in it's spray form. The Army Painter line of products has a powerful Matte spray too, it totally kills the sheen that their dipping products create. A friend uses all that and the final effect was do matte and dry it made me thirsty.

One issue with matte varnishes is that they not only kill the shine, but can really dull up any metallics. Could perhaps steer the spray can around those areas a bit, or cover them before spraying, or use a brush on matte varnish so it only goes exactly where it's wanted.

 

[MAXXxxx]

never heard of primer affecting the matteness at all.
The paint can be it, as the P3 range is more like paint with a satin finish, then matt. Except of course when used with a matt medium.
Also the painting techniques can make the paint look glossy. Too many extremely diluted layers slowly build up the gloss.

What can be done: matt varnish (spray or brushon) / dullcote. The "Army-painter anti-shine" looks good, as is the "testors dullcote". I also love the andrea / VallejoAirColor matt varnishes. Applied with an airbrush both become really matt.

And as Wyrmypops wrote: the matt varnish can 'ruin' the metals, so they'd need to be revarnished with a satin/gloss varnish for best effect. Same for some effects like blood and slime. Either do them after varnishing or simply apply a gloss varnish to them.

 

[TomasP]

dude, I've been struggling with this for a while... working really hard with mediums / airbrushing / thin, thick layers applied in different ways... seemed no matter what, it always ended up tipping over into the glossy realm...

then swapped from a vallejo / GW paint combo to Reaper and got completely different results... I've not found the P3 paints as bad as Vallejo for this.

I think at the root of the problem was thinning the paint too much...

My feeling now is to use an airbrush base coat, followed by limited thinned but opaque colour strokes, feathered and then dryed fully and quickly in-between, using matt medium with vallejo / gw paints or reaper as is.



helps me

 

[Dragonsreach]

Hello everyone! I have been dealing with some gloss look on my minis that I dislike.
I think we could do with some pictures for clarity on this.

- Primer doesn't give a matte undercoat (even if it says matt on it) and I don't know how much this affects the finished look
What's the primer? I've used Tamiya White extra fine and found it can be rather slick looking, but not glossy.
- Formula P3 don't seem to be very matt either... anyone else noticing this?
Sorry not used them so can't comment

Have a nice day!
I'm going to be painting so yep, reckon I will do thanks.

Under normal circumstances I use Vallejo Matt Medium to get a flat base coat colour, but there are some paints which tend to have a natural sheen, regardless of how vigorously I rattle the bottle.

 

[RuneBrush]

In my experience, the undercoat/primer can change the finish you achieve with certain paints. Make sure you shake the can you're using to undercoat very well and also shake your paints. A matte medium will help if you add that to your paint. Testors dullcote or Daler Rowney Soluable Matt Varnish through an airbrush will remove the shine from a miniature - again, make sure that you shake the living daylights out of the dullcote if you use it!

 

[Dragonsreach]

Make sure you shake the can you're using to undercoat very well and also shake your paints. again, make sure that you shake the living daylights out of the dullcote if you use it!

I have almost religiously shaken my paints/primers/dullcoate...and that probably accounts for the Arthritis in my right shoulder.
Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Elric2k]

I use Vallejo model color extensively, and can tell you from experience if you don't shake them enough before use it will be extremely glossy. The reason for this seems to be the paint seperating, I guess is the best way to explain it. I did a test just now with an unshaken bottle of burnt cadmium red. The paint came out red, but also there was a greenish liquid that came out (and most of what i squeezed out was this). I mixed it and plopped it on a test mini and what do you know, shiny. I took the same bottle of paint and shook it for a few seconds, came out only red. Placed it elsewhere on the mini and bam, matte finish.

 

[Avelorn]

I suppose matte or flat results come from slight texture in the paint surface, P3's are smooth and therefore dry satin, perhaps from their "liquid pigments". If you do very thin paint and lots and lots of layers you can effectively polish the surface to become glossy as well. The flattest paint I've used is Rackham, but they are also too grainy for my liking. Mix a bit of a flatter colour into a glossier and you can dull it down some.