Acrylic color intensity

[D.Lesko]

Hi guys. I am currently working on my first arcylic figure: http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11959 and have a few questions about the arcylics. Ive built up both the shadows and highlights to a decent point but the figure just doesn't have any "pop". Im having trouble with the color intensity, especially with the highlights. I just cant seem to get the color to that point where it seems finished (im having a hard time describing this). I keep laying the highlight color on and i don't see much of a difference. I have been using a mix of 1:10 paint to water. Should i lower the ratio to 1:5? Could it be that i am overdiluting the mixture? I don't want to make a mistake. Thanks guys, i hope that made sense.

 

[geaugan]

Hi Dave: I also just started trying to switch over to acrylics. I jsut read a very good tutorial on layering and the author suggests diutions of:

base coat 1:1
layering: 2:1
wash: 5:1
glaze: 10:1

Thats water to paint

Larry

 

[Kyle]

Dave,

That ratio chart that Larry gave you is a great tip. If I'm going to play with dilutions and color strength, I do it on the back side of a figure. That way, if you get it a bit wrong, you can correct it a bit less stressfully. It's one big experiment--even if you "over highlight," you can always pull the color back with a more diluted mix of washes. There really isn't one perfect formula with acrylics, because so much is about repetition and laying one wash over another, etc. As I said before, I'm only a year into this, and the mistake I tend to make is to under shade and under highlight. It is a bit scary to push the contrasts, but you'll get it right.

Keep it up,

Kyle

 

[frank h]

Hi Dave
Its not a bad thing to overdo the highlights make them really bright
Then tone them back with thin washes of base colour
you can let this go over the shadows as well to pull the whole thing together
its how I work

Hope its of some help

Frank

 

[Javi Mendez]

Hi Dave,

Let the acrylic dry before painting again over it. Otherwise, you would polish it and will get a rather shiny finish.

Cheers,

Javi