Chest of Colors forum

Ok, everyone has been saying dilution of paints is key and i've been doing that, i find when i dilute it does make transitions of blends a heck of alot easier to do, but a problem i have been getting is that whenever i do a high dilution for smooth blends it leaves a glossy sheen on the model.

Heres a couple of my examples:

[rimg]https://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1214 ... fb1.th.jpg[/rimg]

and

https://www.coolminiornot.com/135999

i apologise for the poor photos but my main lamp is broken so been using the flash on my camera for a while. But they both show that glossy effect over the parts where i diluted my paints quite a bit and use lots of layers. Other than possibly using a matt varnish over those areas, anyone have any suggestions? Oh and im primarily using games workshop paints so im not sure how well they cope with just tap water as a diluent.

well, why no dullcoat? aiming for french golden demon? ^^

like trov said, use a dullcoat like Testor's or brush on some matt varnish

well i think my question was more so that i can understand the paints a bit better, plus i've never actually used varnish before so its worth a try. Oneday i will enter the golden demon awards but i think at my level i'd barely scrape a rust bucket award ! but onward and upward ! <runs off and looks for an old decrepit well, a brush and some varnish>

Try the dulcoat. You can also add Vallejo Matt Varnish to your dilution process.

hmm, never really occured to using varnish in my dilution, i suppose that would help considerably, i was just always under the impression that varnish shouldn't be used with a decent brush, much like glue lol

You coming back into painting real quick mate!

Keep this up!:)

If you check out any of the tank modeling mags you will see that they use varnish at several different stages of painting. Same thing with the large figure kit painters. Its a great trick.

@Darkson Designs: moreover they use different varnishes at different stages:
- flat before applying pigments
- satin/glossy before applying decals
- glossy beofre applying washes
and more...



@Trovarion:

yeah I know exactly what you are talking about arctica...I have noticed the same thing when I am painting with very dilute GW or P3 paints. I don't know why it happens though...I am curious about that as well. Some sort of property of the pigment or medium used in the paint I guess, that makes it behave that way when spread so thinly.

Using dullcote can help, although I also find that there is a slight sheen that occurs with the dullcote as well, which is sometimes annoying for me. One method that seems to work, is to use a very very dilute glaze or two over the problem area using VMC paint - they are super flat, and in my experience, even a very thin layer over the surface seems to kill off the shine very quickly and easily, without much discernible difference to the colour.