chalky

[crazyboyae1]

yup that was one of my biggest problems when i started out blending. also make sure to use a very small amount of paint. no pooling or running allowed! try it! it takes a lot longer tho, because what your seeing as chalkiness sometimes is tide marks left from pooling paint.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Originally posted by scottjames
I\'ve actually done three or four coats of each of four different highlight shades, getting closer to the edge of the armour with each shade, watching the film of paint dry as I brush it on ... yet closeup it\'s hard to tell I\'ve done that!! Where is the strong and beautiful change in colour that I see on other painters\' models? =)

I think this could be your problem. I personally haven\'t tried this extremely thin layered effect, but everything I have read talks about 10s 50s and 100s of layers, definately not 4. It\'s also often pointed out that you won\'t notice a visible difference with just one layer.

Again I note I haven\'t tried this yet, but read about it a ton, so I could be totally off here.

 

[DarkStar]

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by DarkStar
You need additive to your paint if thinning that far.

No, you don\'t need to, it just helps - I don\'t get tide marks and I thin with water only about 99.9% of the time.

If you read further in my post,I comment on the item that there are indeed painters that use no additives.

Regarding the stabbing of brush strokes, I would also recommend not stabbing as you can create an unwanted texture effect by doing that as the paint builds up repetitively. Good for certain things but preferably you\'d want to practice smooth strokes, in one direction, and once the paint is down on the piece, leave it to settle and dry as you can introduce brush stroke/unwanted texture by messing with it while drying.

Unless you\'re feathering or wet blending but those are techniques which stand on their own right and have different approaches.

I looked at your pics and I\'m thinking that you should try a couple things mentioned here, adding some kind of surface tension breaker to pure water would be a good start, see if it helps. Flow aid from the various manufacturers is a good item to have. Wouldn\'t recommend using Floor wax such as Future although it\'s used often by people for the same purpose, it has side effects you\'d be better off without, proper acrylic Flow aid is much better.

 

[scottjames]

Right, I tried lots of layers and I do think it looks much better. You can actually just keep painting because it dries almost as soon as it\'s brushed down.

Thanks for your help, everybody. I will be trying some thinning mediums when I can get hold of something.

I\'m going to get the practice in with this. Really feel I made some progress tonight. =)

 

[crazyboyae1]

yup the part thats blended does look alot better. practice practice, and (i do this when im rushing) try not to rush the final line highlight. water that down to and blend it as if you were doing to normally but just really make it waterd down too, but whipe off all the paint. after serveal. meby ten thin damp glazes of the light color on the edge, the color will start to show. the result will be a sharp line that is blended in at the same time! but it all comes with practice!!!

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by DarkStar
If you read further in my post,I comment on the item that there are indeed painters that use no additives.

Achem, then why did you make a statement that was an absolute? Why did you start off with it?

Prescriptive advice - you must do this, you can\'t do this - in addition to rarely being correct anyway is just bound to cause a problem. You never know if someone is going to take away from a long thread that one bit that was just a throwaway line, hence me wanting to highlight it specifically.

And incidentally I don\'t think painters who use just water are that rare. Depending on which groups you ask the question in it could actually be the majority! (In case anyone is curious I\'m basing this on polls from other forums where water alone was way in the lead - the proportion can even be as high as the sum of all the other options.)

Einion

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by scottjames
Right, I tried lots of layers and I do think it looks much better. You can actually just keep painting because it dries almost as soon as it\'s brushed down.

That\'s the ticket

The same four colours applied in many layers can work really well while applied a little too \'quickly\' the results won\'t look anything like the same. Knowing you can apply ten, twelve really thin coats of one colour before moving on to the next without it taking an excessive amount of time is a big step.

BTW, in case you don\'t know you can speed up drying with a hairdryer if you ever have the need. Doesn\'t harm the paint at all.

Einion

 

[scottjames]

Thanks for the help!

 

[awong]

I was wondering if anyone had this issue with specific paint lines?
I\'m using mostly Vallejo Model Color and I\'ve noticed some of their colors seem to separate out pretty quickly...could that also account for some of the chalkiness I\'m getting?
Does anyone find one brand better with extreme thinning than others?
Thanks
AW

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by Einion
And incidentally I don\'t think painters who use just water are that rare. Depending on which groups you ask the question in it could actually be the majority! (In case anyone is curious I\'m basing this on polls from other forums where water alone was way in the lead - the proportion can even be as high as the sum of all the other options.)

I use only water. And it has worked out pretty well for me...

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by awong
I was wondering if anyone had this issue with specific paint lines?
I\'m using mostly Vallejo Model Color and I\'ve noticed some of their colors seem to separate out pretty quickly...could that also account for some of the chalkiness I\'m getting?
Does anyone find one brand better with extreme thinning than others?
Thanks
AW

I use Model Color a lot and it takes thinning very, very well thanks to having a lot of pigment. The separation thing that certain colours suffer from is no big deal... When it happens, just stir it a bit so that it \"comes together\" again.