WIP Acrylic Painting - what am I doing wrong ?

[fluid]

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all having a good weekend. So today I tried my first attempt at painting a figure. Using Vallejo acrylics I tried to put on a base coat. But as you can see in the pics, it didn't come out as I wanted or expected.

I used the "painting figures with model colour" guide by Mario Fuentes. As per, it says use a dilution ratio of 1 part paint to 1 part water for base coats. I did that. Then before applying the paint to the figure I removed the excess water by touching the side of the brush against a paper towel. However it seems like I'm doing something wrong. When painting the application was streaky and there did not seem to be enough coverage or depth to the paint. Instead of getting a nice good coverage for the base coat, it seemed almost translucent with the paint pooling to certain areas and the primer showing through. It felt like the paint was too diluted.

What you're seeing in the pics is after 2 coats. But I'm not happy, it's not even coverage like I've seen in posts by others who have applied a base coat.

I'm using vallejo acryclics, distilled water and good sable brushes. And I think my problem is coming down to dilution. Argh, its quite a bit frustrating. What am I doing wrong ?

 

[Andrew Craft]

Hi Fluid
From your pics it looks like the paint was pooling on the figure leaving those little ring shape marks, that's normally caused by too much paint on the brush. You need to wipe a bit off on the paper towel and don't think you'll wipe all the paint off even clean looking brushes leave good amounts of paint some times (I know you said you wiped the water off the edges of the brush but did you wipe the bristles off too cause you need to do that too). Personally I
would also add a tiny bit more water to the ratio probably another drop.
Hope that helps,
Andrew

 

[housecarl]

Silly question. Have you primed the figure?
Carl.

 

[Portal]

I use VMC's all of the time and they do take a couple of coats to get a nice smooth base coat. For a base coat I usually mix a 2 or 3 to one ratio of water to paint. More coats is preferable to thick paint that tends to go glossy.
One of the downsides of VMC's id they tend to split when mixed so now and again give then another stir.

 

[fluid]

Thanks guys. Yup the figure is primed. I'll try again and wipe off more paint before the application. And here I thought my mixture was over diluted (for base coat purposes). Thanks for the proper advice. I'll (1) dilute the same or a bit more, (2)1 and make sure to wipe the majority off the brush.

If this is a base coat and I have to dilute to that extent, how much do you guys use for shadows and highlights ?

I guess this is what everyone means when they say, have patience, haha

Thanks.

 

[fluid]

Alright... update. Tried the advice, and it came out a bit better. I think it might be my expectations of how it should look which is clouding my judgement. I'm still not getting that uniform consistent application. At times it comes of streaky and not like a nice consistent coverage over the area. So I guess what I'm trying to ask is... when applying the base coat it is supposed to come out perfectly flat and consistent like the paint on a car (for lack of better example) ?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Craft]

I have always found that some colours need more coats than others especially blues and reds. Try doing what you are doing with another colour on the figure I think you'll find that the amount of coats to get nice coverage varies from colour to colour. The other thing is it doesn't really matter how many coats it takes as long as your paint isn't too thick and going to clog up any small details.

 

[Meehan34]

You are asking the right questions they are just hard questions to answer. You are actually going to want to dillute even more for your highlights and shadows. For your basecoat keep adding the layers till it gives the coverage you are looking for. Do you live in the u.s or europe? The reason i ask is find a club or some painting workshops in your area. Keep asking questions we are all here to help you improve.

 

[ranchhand]

My mistake was trying to get the basecoat 100% opaque on the first go... Bad idea

Several thin coats should work

 

[Portal]

This is part of a post I made over on WAMP when a similar question was asked. This thread also goes into the various mediums used to help blending.

1:3 ratio paint to thinner (whatever you medium) make a nice base coat
1:6 makes a nice thin paint than you can move around and wetblend
1:10 makes a wash if you plonk a lot of paint on or a glaze(juice) if you control the amount that goes onto your brush
1:20 makes a filter when you can subtly change the appearance of a colour by adding two or more filters over the top of it. Filters work great with textures, for example red leather doesn't shade or highlight the same as red cloth so by using a colour filter you can change the highlights and shades without changing the base colour

 

[fluid]

Thanks for all the info guys. So I went ahead with the recommended dilution of 1 part paint to about 3-4 parts medium (water). And slowly built up the base coat. After 4 thin coats, I am finally happy with the result. I now have a nice solid coverage over the area. I think I panicked since on the first application the paint was not adhering to the primer but than when I went back for the second coat, I began to get the coverage I wanted and than the 3rd and 4th coats resulted as you see.

So when doing shadows and highligts, is it the same process.... dilute to the recommended ration but then remove most of the paint on the brush against a paper towel ? before applying to the figure.

Thanks

 

[housecarl]

I'd invest in some Tamiya X21 Flat base, or Reaper anti shine. That kills the sheen of colours like blue, yellow and red. As for shading and highlighting, this article explains it very well. http://www.mainlymedieval.com/ozpainters/viewtopic.php?t=49&start=0
Carl.

 

[Hans]

Whow..it's going nearly scientific. I never noted a mixing ratio, I simply learned it by dry and error. Nothing against this method with mixing ratios but I feel it will kept the painter constantly thinking about it during painting. Just make it until it fits, that's all. And never ever expect a perfect result with your first try. Make 100 attemps and you will get the feeling....

 

[housecarl]

I agree with you Hans, it's like everything practice.
Caarl.