Weathering by sponge

[Fibonacci]

This is my favorite place when refering peoplr to paint additives:

http://www.liquitex.com/Mediums/

 

Browse through there and see what all is available.  A few things that are most commonly used in our part of the hobby include matte medium, flow aides, drying retarders and possibly varnishes.

 

Matte Medium is like a thinner that helps maintain paint opacity.  Note that the Ultra Matte Medium is not less glossy but more opaque. 

 

Flow Aide will help the paint flow.  Hello, Captian Obvious.  I love this stuff and use it along with matte medium and water to thin my paints.  My friend that taught me the most about painting would rather use plan distilled water. 

 

Drying retarders come in liquid and gel. Slow-Dri Blending Medium (the liquid) can make your paints a little more shiny which is why the gel is more commonly used.  As a side benifit,  the gel will give your paints a little more bite if you want to base coat right on the model without any primer.  As the name sugguests, use this when blending layers to help keep the first layer from drying out on you. Blending is beyond my ability but is you live in a dry climate you might like to try one of these. 

 

Varnishes should be familiar.  Paint them on or thin with water to airbrush with them.  I like to use brush on varnish for anything I plan to game with and then top it with a very light spray of Purity Seal.

 

For any one of these products, the smallest bottle you can find will cost 3 to 10 dollars depending on which and will last you several years.  W&N will make similar products.  Either brand is good and are staples for most artists. 

 

Anyway, so there's my sales pitch.  Add in a wet pallet and you have everything I use to get the best results from my old and shakey hands.

[Firepower]

I see a lot of folks using matte medium/varnish to thin their paints, and I haven't a clue why.

 

As for your mix of water, flow aid, paint and matte, what ratios are you using?  I think my super fine detail brushes will be a lot happier and live a lot longer if I can do my sharp edge highlights without the abuse of drying paint.

 

Also, to be clear, matte medium, or matte varnish?  I have a Gloss Medium and Varnish bottle from Liquitex that I use in my airbrush, but they also make a product that is simply Gloss Varnish.  I have no idea what the difference between the two is supposed to be.

[Fibonacci]

Matte Medium is what you mix with your paint.  Matte Varnish is what goes over the top of the finished model.

 

Medium is basicly paint with no pigment.  Matte is just a term to say it is flat and not glossy.  Matte Medium is a clear, flat paint but it will not give the hard protective coat that varnishes do. 

 

My thinning fluid mix is part flow aide and part medium.

If you follow the directions, Flow Aide is mixed at a 1:20 ratio with water before use; so you can see how a little goes a long way.  I mix it 1:10 with water to start with and then mix this preliminary step 1:1 with matte medium.

 

Well, that is the basic theory.  It is a little off in practice.  I have a 2oz bottle with a dropper I use to mix/store it in.  I start with 1 tablespoon of matte medium, 1/2 teaspoon of flowaide and then fill it the rest of the way with water.

 

I very seldom use Slow Dry and have not tried it in several years -- blending and I do not get along.  But if what you are wanting is to keep your paint wet on the brush, just use it 1:1 with paint and maybe a small dap of water to get the right consistancy.

[Firepower]

Unfortunately just plain water tends to fail.  If I use enough water to keep it from drying, it's too much water for the paint to go on properly. :verymad:

[DarkMark]

For a loose ratio I's say;

 

paint: water: drying retarder

1: 0,5-1:0,5

 

Naturally the paint in the first place will affect how much water (thinner) you'll want to add. Top painters like to paint a gazillion layers and tend to go mad thinning. Regular Joes like us want to achieve a decent coat in 2 or 3 layers. An old thick paint might need loads of water to bring it back to life where as a new pot might require very little thinning. This is why giving exact ratios is so hard: sometimes you just have to give it a go and see!

[DEL 707]

Thought I'd ask this here, rather then make a new thread.

 

Put my weathering project to 1 side at the moment, fancied a change from all that red.

This is my 1st attempt at a Salamander.

 

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff265/DarrenEa/Model%20Painting/Paintthinning.jpg

 

I used several loads of Citadel paint (can't be precise) of layer paint, then mixed in a brush full of W&N flow improver, I used this on the leg, you can see how streaky and thin it is.

 I added a few my brush loads of layer paint to the mix, then painted the foot.

 The leg and the foot, both only had 1 layer.

 

How much thinning down should a layer paint need? Getting confused with these Citadel paints since they changed their consistancy.

[Kaedes Nex]

Ideally, you should not be aiming for full coverage in a single layer, even with black. It's okay if it takes you 2 or 3 passes to get full coverage. If you're not using an airbrush, sometimes you have to go over a spot anywhere from 5 to 10 times just to get a solid coat, especially for colors like white over black.

[Warpedpath]

For a light Colour scheme, as for Salamanders, you also should try white primer, or at least a lighter base colour and one or two carefuly aplied washes, this keeps your number of needed coats for an even look lower than with black colour, plan b and a bit advanced is to use black primer, and "fog" the white from a 45° from above on the model( both advantaged of black and white primer, a better paintable surface and so on) if you use a bit more white its even more easy to paint light colours.

The problem with thining your paints is, some dilute it to much, some simply dont dilute at all,especialy in the begining.

My general advice would be to test it on a paper towel, if the paint a line on it and it flows to aprox. the doubled size its okay, more would be bad becaus the colour is to "flowy" and can obscur details, less can obscure details because it is too thick.
Simply put, one brushtip colour on one brushtip colour.

And please remove the mouldline on the right leg...or is it a (brush-) hair? doesnt matter, just remove it :)