Chalky paint

[Gapow]

I\'ve been trying to thin my paints down correctly as I always end up putting it on too thick.

I\'ve found it easier to layer etc using thinner paint, but I\'m getting a chalky effect, is this because I\'ve watered it down too much?

 

[Scherdy]

When I\'ve had certain colors turn out chalky, it has usually been too much water but people say that erring on the other side with not enough water can cause the chalky result as well.

Happy medium has got to be somewhere in there. Maybe some medium could bring that happiness? And making sure the paint it well mixed/shaken too?

 

[JojoTheFlamingMonkey]

From my experience, certain colors just are chalky. Nothing you can do to change the properties other than work around it. Typically these are brighter colors like whites, yellows, pastels, etc.

To work around this issue I use the lightest value for my base coat and layer on the shades from there.

If you don\'t mind me asking, what paints are you using?

 

[obsidianpainting]

To much paint on brush??? If its chalky i find that adding a little water helps. I have a special solution for when somethign is chalky when watered down and that is Reaper flow improver + water. Also, a little bit of dishoap could help. The reason why paint does this is because paint is made of pigmet + medium. and when its chalky it means the pigment is not evenly distributed throughout the medium when you apply it. This happens when you add water. SOOOO in effect.. adding too little water would not let the pigments flow too much created a chalky effect.. or... adding too much water will make it so the pigment is soo dispersed that it is chalky.... so really.. the best way is to just make a couple batches of paint, and add varying levels of water and test to see which works best for you. Also medium works really nice, (flow improver, matt medium) it helps suspend the pigment and makes it nice and even. But i have to say its probably too much stuff on your brush. however hard to tell without pics.

Cheerio, GARY!

 

[freakinacage]

try a wash of an appropriate coloured ink. it will help saturate the colour more

 

[Gapow]

I\'m using GW paints, the coulour in question was regal blue.

I did a base coat of midnight blue, then was layering the shoulder pad with regal blue. It looked quite nice, but when totally dried it look a bit chalky. A wash of asuremen blue made it look reall nice, and then I screwed it up trying to do lightning (Night Lords)

I think I\'ve just gone from one extreme to the other, I used to get streaks becaused the paint was too thick, now getting chalkiness due to too much water, guess I\'ll find the middle ground soon

 

[Ritual]

Another thing that can cause chalkiness is that if you apply next layer when the previous one isn\'t fully dried you can sort of \"rough up\" the previous layer when dragging the brush across it. When paint is really thin it\'s easier to break up the underlying layer as it isn\'t that strong.

 

[Avelorn]

I\'m never sure what to answer when people say \"my paint comes out chalky\" because I\'m not sure what they mean. Do you mean it dries patchy? Or that it gets a rough texture? If you mean it dries patchy it\'s probably because you have too much paint on the brush and haven\'t used enough layers. If it\'s texture it\'s probably because you have worked with half dried paint on either the brush or been too quick with applying a new layer. As someone mentioned some paints are more difficult then others but as freakinacage put it. A wash or what I would like to term a glaze of a good colour/gw wash that gives a nice finish can help remedy such issues. If you use very thin paint you can work on a surface very long as to perfect the blends, sometimes it happens quickly, often with recipes you\'ve used before, but sometimes it requires some hard work.

The times my blends come out rough are either that I rush things, haven\'t pre-prepared the surface enough or that the colour is of bad quality. The citadel range have very few such colours, therefore I use it a lot. The issue of the paint quality is more often shown through rough texture then a patchy finish.

 

[alextheartist]

Its when the surface has a chalky like dust appearace

 

[darklord]

another possibilty is one that happened to me. i used to get chalky paint, it stopped once i started filtering my water i use . maybe if you have hard water there that may be the cause? the limescale is in the water then onto the model

 

[Avelorn]

Originally posted by alextheartist
Its when the surface has a chalky like dust appearace

I think I understand what you are trying to explain and I have of course been reading these kinds of discussions before. But to me there are several interrelated things in this. A chalk doesn\'t produce an even colour (at least in one go) which is one issue. Secondly as a chalk produce a texturised, uneven, surface, which is another problem. Chalk also produces a very matt surface, but that is hardly an issue I think. I mean \"dust like\" how would you compare that to the effect you get from a weathering powder? That is indeed dust-like.. but that\'s hardly an issue either as it\'s more about what kind of effect you want. What would you term this:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=32153

Is this the effect you mean? Because this is what I call that the paint has dried patchy. Somehow I think people generally mean the above which is IMO more of a technical issue + preparation of the surface. If you continue to add layers it will help build a solid colour just as it did for Scottjames. But if the surface is texturised, that might happen for example if you are too quick in adding a new layer, the result can be harder to get rid of as the diluted paint tend to go into the textures you\'ve created. The issues can and often are interrelated to complicate matters, but not necessarily so.

So my issue with using \"chalk like\" is that we might be talking and discussing different things which might have different solutions. in this thread for example there are different solutions that are connected to different parts of this problem

 

[Einion]

Yeah, what\'s meant by chalky is a perennial problem in queries! There are at least three distinct issues, not all related, that this can usually refer to.

The very simplest is just lighter colours that are too dull (that\'s how it\'s usually meant by artists, especially if the paint is also matt) which doesn\'t have a thing to do with that sort of dusty, limescale-like effect that I usually visualise when I read the term.

Einion

 

[Gapow]

Sorry to clarify what I meant by chalky;

The paint dries quite matt (no biggie), but also appears a bit patchy, like colouring something with chalk. I have a smooth texture, so no issues with grainy paint (another technical term of debate i\'m sure)

 

[arogers907]

Like Ritual mentioned... I usually do this to myself when I brush stroke over a layer of paint that hasn\'t yet dried.

 

[Aliengod3]

Chalky paint is one evil demon. Like everyone said it is mainly certain colors. What I find that helps is to put a little bit of matte medium into the paint. it helps coat the paint more evenly and stops a chalkiness. I use Reaper Minis Brush On Sealer for this.

Also if you use a medium do not dilute too much because it will ruin the finish. I paint dilute and when I use mediums I usually have 2 parts water, 1 part medium, and one part paint.

 

[Donga]

I agree with Aliengod3, I have a dropper bottle with 1 part flow improver, 1 part matt medium, 3 parts water and a squirt of drying retarder. I live on Chalk hills with the hardest water known to mankind. I dilute with tapwater with NO chalkiness.

That\'s the way to do it