Need thinning advice

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bakalla

Member
Hello..

I have a problem.

I can get the colours in the right spots. I can do decent hi-lighting and shadowing. I can do nice colour-schemes.

But i can\'t thin my paints very well. I\'m using mostly Vallejo Game Colors and they dry very fast.. How do you thin yours? How much water vs the amount of paint? 50/50? I find that if i put more than about 10% water in the mix, the paint becomes runny and doesn\'t cover well at all. Do you use anything else except water for thinning?

I\'ve heard of wet-pallettes but i haven\'t tried it. Think it\'s worth a try?

Thanks,
Hakan
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Need thinning advice
Click to expand...
Yes I need to go on a diet! Oh sorry; wrong type of thinning!
Never tried wet pallettes but look to Vallejo\'s website for their painting guide and it\'ll give you some very good advice.
(Can\'t remember the web address It\'s on my works PC. If no-one puts up the link before tomorrow{Friday 24th October.} I\'ll sort out for you.)
 
yrret

yrret

Member
Wet Pallette baby!

I gotta admit I was too lazy to do the whole wet pallette thing. But I tried it, and it makes a huge difference. Also I bought a little baby mediaction syringe thing, and mixed up some 50/50 Future Floor wax and water like everyone is always babbling about, and THAT is the jammy.
 
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bakalla

Member
Retarder..

I bought a retarder.. called Medium acrylic retarder. It\'s from Winsor & Newton.

Anyone tried that? What\'s your experience with retarders? :) Does the effect rub off on the user, making you retarded? I hope not..
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
Go easy on retarders

Originally posted by bakalla
.. called Medium acrylic retarder.... making you retarded? I hope not..
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It take very little retarder to change the drying time. Probably you were wanting extender to dilute the paint with? Extenders can be used in high ratios to the paint (1:1 or higher). Try airbrush extender from liquitex (designed for liquitex tube acrylics to be reduced to airbrushable consistancy).
 
B

bakalla

Member
Yes, maybe it\'s extender i wanted.. but the store i was in didn\'t have any.

I tried mixing the retarder on a 1:3 ratio with the paint, and then adding a few drops of water, maybe 1:2 ratio. It seemed to work pretty well and it certainly dried slower :)
 
Valander

Valander

Member
Thinning Vallejos

Someone else mentioned it, but I\'ll mention it again and provide a link:

Figure Painting with Vallejo Acrylics

This article simply rocks! :)

On a side note, I\'ve found that the \"Magic Wash\" works great with Vallejos. Magic Wash is 25% Future Floor Wax and 75% distilled water. Straight distilled water works great, too.

I tend to do at least 1:1 thinning (paint:water) for base coats and such, but have been known to go as high as 1:7 or so for doing hilights. Part of the key for using paint this thin (as mentioned in the article) is to keep a damp cloth nearby, and lightly touch your loaded brush on it. This pulls out the excess moisture, and allows the paint to flow in a more controlled manner.

I\'ve used Retarder as well, and haven\'t seen my IQ go down yet (at least, not that any of my friends notice--they call me retarded anyway ;) ). It definitely helps slow the drying time, but too much makes it take too long to dry.

Hope this helps!
 
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Tiderius

Guest
Hmm, question, while we\'re on the topic of dilution/highlighting. For this I\'ll just say I\'m using 1 : 5 (paint/water) for highlights and I have 3 shades of highlight.

Would I want to apply the same shade a few times or just once?
(havent tried this yet, still waiting on my desk and lamps, etc)
 
Valander

Valander

Member
Originally posted by Tiderius
Hmm, question, while we\'re on the topic of dilution/highlighting. For this I\'ll just say I\'m using 1 : 5 (paint/water) for highlights and I have 3 shades of highlight.

Would I want to apply the same shade a few times or just once?
(havent tried this yet, still waiting on my desk and lamps, etc)
Click to expand...

Well, it kinda depends. ;)

Usually, I find that it works for me to do only one really thin coat, and just keep going a touch lighter and cover smaller and smaller sections until I get the result I want.

You can do the same shade in multiple layers, too, to get a very similar effect. Thin paint tends to only tint what\'s underneath it, so if you keep tinting, you\'ll eventually get it so that the thin color is more solid. You can do this to achieve what I like to call \"faux blending\" (as opposed to \"wet blending\").
 
T

Tiderius

Guest
Ok thanks, now I see where I am confused.

Is it even worth using multiple colors/layers of highlight if you\'re using 1 : 5 ratio paint/water? Or just keep making the color darker and darker but each time painting a smaller line?
 
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