Thinning the Vallejo Paints...

[Dad4]

'Morning again....

As I start working these fleshtones is there a "tried and true" method/consistency for thinning the colors I'm using? A friend of mine who is an excellent figure/vignette guy gave me a step by step method of applying the different tones, but I question my "thinning ratio". Is this just a "find what works for you" technique? (Which is fine...just need a little more advice). I am really getting my mileage outta this site.

Brian

 

[housecarl]

This may help Brian.
I generally use just past coloured water.
Be sure to unload your brush on some tissue though.
You don't want to flood the area.

 

[frank h]

Hi
Keep your paint thin build up in layers of colour
sometimes a slow process but the results will be well worth it
also if you find you are not happy with an area
easy to correct or paint over with white and start again

Frank

 

[zane666]

maybe practice on a piece of flat plastic first, like a marg lid or something.

regards Zane

 

[Ferris]

I found that getting the dilution right is key to working with acrylics.
For the ground layers it should be diluted such that you get an opaque covering layer after about 3 coats. Should be about 50/50 thinning.
For blending higher dilution is used. It can be so thin that you only notice an effect after a few layers or passes. These thin mixes smooth out previous hard edges; I find this phase of acrylic painting very pleasing, as the result really comes alive by it.

Be sure to let every layer/pass dry fully, or you get a glossy effect. Using a hair drier after each pass allows you to keep working.

Last essential tip was already mentioned: Unload your brush on some kitchen towel before using. You should get a line of paint, without water buildup. This is especially important at high degrees of dilution.

To test the paint coverage before applying the brush to the figure, I first try the brush on a piece of plastic painted matte black.

One thing that bugs me every time is the gradual unmixing of water and paint. I keep an old small brush close by to periodically mix the thinned paint.

It all requires some practice, but you'll get the hang of it after a while.

Cheers
Adrian

 

[Dad4]

Thanks guys...great stuff that I will use next painting session. Do any of you use drying retardent? Being an old oils man for years blending seemed to be the word of the day. Now I kinda notice that when using acrylics it's more layering than blending. My thought was to add some retardent to the "layers" so some blending also takes place. This info is gold for me and I appreciate everyone's advice and patience.

Brian

 

[housecarl]

This is good stuff Brian.
After saying thin your paint right down, with this added to your water you can blend fairly opaque paint.
Obviously wet on dry, but not with the ease that you could with oils.

 

[Ferris]

Using retarder is a matter of personal preference. It is not needed to get perfectly smooth blending with acrylics.

Transitions in acrylics are indeed done with layers, creating a kind of 'steps' in the paint, but at high dilution the eye doesn't perceive those steps.
One blending method is to first define highlights and shadows at a dilution at which you can see the steps, and then go over them with highly thinned intermediate mixes to tone them down. This can result in perfect blends, without retarder.

But again, just try different methods and keep what works for you. Exploring is part of the fun.

Cheers
Adrian

 

[MarquisMini]

I use distilled water.
for base a figure I use a ratio of one drop of paint , one drop of water.
for light I use one drop of paint, 5 drops of water
for shadows I use one drop of paint,8 of water for thinning.
If you are mixing two paints, use one drop of each and reference above ,bu t in general, just try the thinning of the paint as you like, some painters like more watery others prefer a little less.
Regards

 

[Alex]

Vallejo for me is ratio of 1:1 for everything
But i use a wet palette and i mix every lights and shadows on the palette, getting a rainbow for the darkest to the lightest