Thin paint?

I've been diluting my paint with water, but can't help but feel I'm doing it wrong. Does anyone have a thinning agent they swear by?

I use water with a tiny drop of Windsor and Newton flow improver added to the pot. I don't think it actually makes a huge difference really.

In terms of thinning paints I think it depends what you are trying to do. For example... a thin wash is great just defining shapes and adding that extra shadow (particularly on light basecoats), a thicker is great for adding layers of colour or deeper shadows (glazes are also useful both thinned right down and virtually straight from the pot - dependent on use).

With regular colours a brush dipped in the pot is usually more than enough water (IMO) for basecoats. Of course it depends f you are using the quicker 'slap it on' method I prefer or 'a thousand thin blended layers to win a golden demon'. I find significant thinning (beyond a simple dip) is useful when you are trying to get blended highlights (it helps you move the paint on the surface more easily and give a quick sense of a colour gradient)

I think the main thing is try different things, find what works for you and steal ideas and advice from people who know how to paint (e.g. really good painting blogs, how to paint minis books, coolminiornot etc - rather than a blagger like me!).

Hope this helps

Cheers Laney

I use Vallejo Matte Medium, really handy to thin your paints and to create your own washes. That was my main use of it before the GW washes appeared a few years ago. The advantage of the medium above normal water is that it thins the paint without causing it to break down. You can achieve a greater
transparency effect for building your paint layers.

I use Vallejo Thinner / Dillutant.

I find that for most uses, using GW paint, I thin it 1 - 1. Great cowerage and control.

At the moment I actually uses Vallejo's Air for everything as they have great pigment, and come "pre-thinned".

But as master Laney said: Try out different things and learn! I found (find) the proces long and hard, but just today I found some of my minis from about a year back, and I could actually see the improvements I've done the last 10-12 months. This was done mainly by looking and asking at this forum, looking at models by Laney, Narcissus (even one or two by Mord), and several others. If you see something you like, or would be able to do: Ask how it is done, and I'm confident you will get more answers that you could actually use for a long time

This applies to paint thinning, painting, and building - even playing with your dolls from time to time

I use Liquitex FloAid (have to mix it with i think it's half water to prep it.
Get like enough to last you the rest of your painting career in one bottle too.

I also use SloDri from liquitex if im doing something that is a gradual blend.

Both these are made for arcylic paints so it works with our paint as well.

I saw some stuff about matt medium being used to make washes a while back ago you use some kinda a water based ink and floaid in it I think.

Lots of things to look at, thanks for the replies. I'm working on my first vehicle (tau devilfish) and all the smooth surfaces are really making me aware of the visibility of my brush strokes.

I use just a couple of droplets of water. It suffices for most needs. However, I actually use a wet pallet contrary to what most people use which is a dry pallet or straight from the bottles.

Ill take your regular run on the mill tupperware container and place a dish sponge inside. Fill the tupperware with water until the sponge is full of water and starts to float a little bit. Then place a piece of parchment paper on top, cut to fit just on top of the sponge. This is the key, always use parchment paper, as it allows a little bit of moisture through. This will keep paints wet on the paper which will not allow wet blending of colorsl. This way you can get the color schemes you want before you even touch the brush to the model. If you need to revitalize the paint just dip your brush in the water next to the sponge and apply to the droplet of paint.

Somewhere in this forum I've got a picture of my wet pallet. I'll go see if I can find it.

DoZer wrote:

Ill take your regular run on the mill tupperware container and place a dish sponge inside. Fill the tupperware with water until the sponge is full of water and starts to float a little bit. Then place a piece of parchment paper on top, cut to fit just on top of the sponge. This is the key, always use parchment paper, as it allows a little bit of moisture through.

This is actually exactly what I've been using. The issue that I've trying to resolve is where I have paint...separating? on the palette after sitting over night. I can mix it back up, but it doesn't seem to come back to normal.

s4dfish wrote:

DoZer wrote:

Ill take your regular run on the mill tupperware container and place a dish sponge inside. Fill the tupperware with water until the sponge is full of water and starts to float a little bit. Then place a piece of parchment paper on top, cut to fit just on top of the sponge. This is the key, always use parchment paper, as it allows a little bit of moisture through.

This is actually exactly what I've been using. The issue that I've trying to resolve is where I have paint...separating? on the palette after sitting over night. I can mix it back up, but it doesn't seem to come back to normal.

In all honesty I only put down what intend to use at that time. Trying to revitalize what you've got down later on is a bad idea. However if you've got a color scheme you like I would get some empty paint dropper bottles and mix a bottle of it. You can get them from reaper. I think it comes in a pack of three.