Washes and paint thinning - Help please

[Sahatiel]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, but I've been lurking in the shadows for a while.

I have a rather frustrating problem with my painting. I am fairly new to the hobby, so it could very well just be me.

When I first started painting, I had a habit of using too much paint, so it would go on quite thickly. Given some time, I managed to work out a balance by using smaller brushes (so I couldn't put so much on).

I started painting about 18months ago, and looking back at those models, I wasn't satisfied - the paint still looked too thick.

So I started trying to dilute my colours (I use Citadel colours, because there really isn't a lot of range available where I live).

But I just can't get the right look on my GW models. Regardless of what I use to thin the paint (water or flow enhancer), and regardless of how much or how little time I take, I can't get the paint to look right. It always gets tiny bubbles in it, and leaves streaks or splotches. The same goes for inks.

I have tried a variety of brush types and paint consistencies, but nothing seems to work.

The really annoying thing is, I wanted to try a different technique on one of my Warmachine models, using only think coats and inks (the exception being highlights), and it worked beautifully. Inspired (thinking that my previous problems had just been lack of practice/bad technique) I tried the exact same thing on a space marine. To my disappointment, it turned out like every other marine I painted. Splotchy, uneven coats. Despite using even the same brushes.

Should I try a different brand of paint, or prime my GW models differently? I had thought perhaps since it is summer here, and it gets rather humid, that it was the weather effecting my results, but even with the air conditioner and de-humidifier going in my room, it wouldn't turn out properly...

Does anyone have any advice I could use?

[ToMaZ]

well, it could be your primer. Sometimes primers turn out grainy when dry. The rough texture shows through your thin layers and make the surface look bubbled.

Splotchy paint... well maybe some (finger)grease on your model could prevent thin layers from attaching to certain areas. Try fixing your mini on a pinvice or something else, so you can easily hold it while painting and not touch the miniature (too much) Other that I wouldn't really know what could cause it...

Streaky paint: old or bad brushes do this.

EDIT: and welcome ofcourse!! Have fun and enjoy your stay

[endrem]

Welcome on the boards.

Other thing you can try is to wash your figures prior to painting with soap.
As Tomaz said, simply touching them with greasy hand can become a problem, but some minis may stay covered with some factory lubricant/oil which also prevents the paint to stay on the surface. This usually causes the paint to chip off rather than bubbles, but who knows...

EDIT: Post some pictures, close-ups, maybe that helps to find the reason.

[LadyEyes]

My first question would be about your primer. Did you use the same primer (literally the same container) for both GW and PP minis? And under very similar conditions? (humid both times?) Also, is this happening on GW minis that are metal and plastic or just one or the other?

Most people use the consistency of milk as the basis for thinning paint. From there, you can adjust to thicker or thinner as you like. Much thinner will produce washes, though.

[Sahatiel]

They weren't sprayed with the same can, no. But they were both painted in airconditioning at the same temperature.

I think the problem is moreso with the GW plastics than the metals, though thinking back, I did have some similar problems with my librarian and vet. serges...

I do have some pictures of my marines and the warmachine guy, but the guy I painted the other night I got annoyed with and stripped. But the marine pictures show basically what happened to him, though it was worse on the last model with the inks.

Marines:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 490001.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 470001.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 460001.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 450001.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 440001.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 430001.jpg

I wish the macro setting on my camera was better, these are the best I could do.

Warmachine guy:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... 410001.jpg


The marines were sprayed black, undercoated with the solar macharius orane (GW Foundation) and then had 2/3 thin coats of Blazing orange. Paint job on the details and highlights are a bit dodgy because I wasn't happy with the base colours, and as a result wasn't really trying too hard.

[Skrit]

Must be fingergrease or mould release agent I believe...

Hot water should be enough and maybe a bit of dishsoap (and of course wash with water afterwards again!) should do the trick!

[Sahatiel]

Thanks - I'll give it a go. Will update when I see what happens

[endrem]

The reds are really strange (like on DSCN02440001).
I'm not sure what happened, but it seems you still use way too thick paint. Especially the edge highlights are very thick. When you paint you should not see any thickness of the paint. Here you practically see that the paint is a half millimeter thick.

When you use diluted paint, the paint has the chance to settle before it dries, so the brush strokes disappear, the surface gets even.

[Sahatiel]

Yeah, the paint is way too thick for my liking. One of the reasons I didn't diltute much is because the paint always got tiny little bubbles in it, and when the paint dries, I end up with little circles.

Also, the reds probably look strange because they are orange. Blazing Orange for the main colour and fiery orange for the highlights.

When I get better and more confident, I intend to strip all the marines and re-paint them. They look ok as a whole army together, so long as no-one looks too closely at the quality of painting...