How to avoid the paint getting chalky?

[Tabris_]

After a long hiatus i'm back to miniature painting and i'm continuing a project that i started loooooooooooong ago. Look at this horse, i've being basecoating the saddle but the result is terrible, i have spots or chalky results don't matter how much i "unload" the brush in a paper towel before bringing it to the mini, what can the problem be?

I'm using Beasty Brown darkened with a little Black, both from Vallejo Game Color (i don't have a darker brown to use right now). I'm using distilled water for diluting.

 

[gohkm]

Chalky paint can be caused by over-dilution. White is particularly prone to this, when the pigment and solvent dissociate. Reducing your paint dilution may work, or switch over to an 'opaque' type of paint. I haven't had this problem for a while, ever since I switched over to P3 paints, so my memory is a bit fuzzy on how to fix this.

Some commentary from a more experienced painter would be most appreciated.

 

[archreptile]

Well I'm far from an expert but in my humble opinion chalkiness results from 2 things:
1. Colour choice - trying to blend from one colour to a vastly different colour (and pretty much anything to white is a problem.
2. Dilution
I've been battling a lot with chalkiness and aside from colour choice which I cant help with, the best solution seems to be layers. In fact, it seems to be for me at the moment (trying to improve blending like everyone else here) that chalkiness is almost good as it means I'm diluting enough (well maybe slightly too much). So I do layer after layer after layer and just when you think its never going to get better the chalkiness improves.
Just my 2 cents worth but I bet if you take that same paint with the same dilution and put 50 layers on the whole thing the chalkiness will disappear.
Course you might throw yourself out the window after 50 layers but thats a risk we all take everyday with this hobby.
Cheers,
D

 

[Einion]

Basecoating is often best done with the paint slightly less diluted than if you were starting in on layered highlights or shadows - so the paint is diluted just enough for it to spread well (to around the consistency of cream).

Einion