[Shas'o Moufinn Mian]

Im trying to paint my battlesuit with citadel red gore, and it always ends up painting in patches. Is this the paints fault, or is it because of my inablility to paint well? And if it is due to my lack of skill, what should I do to make the paint more even?

 

[Gray Wolf]

Some paints are thiker than others. If you are applying a Base coat, you might want to add 2 parts water, one part paint to your mixture. Citadel is one of the best paints out there, but adding water will thin the paint out more evenly over the figure.

It is better to have your paint too thin rather than too thick.

 

[khariq]

Make sure you are undercoating with white, Red's don't show up well on black.

 

[Milkshake]

Yep, thin your paints, and do several coats....that way it's alot less blotchy, but it does take a bit of time.

 

[Jack Blood]

In addition to thinning the paint and multi coating, try using different basecoats. I personally have found a strong yellow base gives the best and most vivid red you can get but is not always tops if you want a darker red.

 

[WolfRaider]

Go to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or equvalent store and buy a bottle of flow enhancer for acrylic paint. Add it to your paint and you will be amazed at the improvement in flow and lack of brush marks. I add flow enhancer and acrylic thinner to all my paints and they are MUCH smoother.

 

[Gray Wolf]

WolfRaider, knows what he is talking about. Just put some flow enhancer in the pot and you no longer have to worry about thinnig your paints every time.

I on the other hand, would take that path, but I tend to like having control of how much I thin out my paints before it is put on the figure.

Just a matter of opinion.

 

[XV-88]

I don't thin my paints until I know ehat my project is. If you are getting streaky lines, then water it down to ink level, aplly a little bit on, and it wil spread to the edges of the panel. Don't use too much though!

 

[Jack Blood]

Also if you are getting streaks and patches and it is something like a flat panel you are painting then use a bigger brush.

I actually had a conversation in a GW store the other day with a member of staff when I was buying brushes. I bought a Standard and a Detail brush and the staff member just in passing said something along the lines of "I only ever use a fine detail brush personally..."

Probably after ten minutes of painting his FD brush looks more like a drybrush than anything else, still being dedicated to the hobby doesn't mean that he had to be any good at painting did it?

Use the right tool for the right job, if it is a large area use a large brush and the paint will cover more evenly without little tickle marks and without you having to damage your brush by overloading it. Remember there are very very few reasons to use a FD brush for anything slightly more reasons for using a detail brush and for average everyday painting, shading and highlighting a Standard brush is, well standard....

 

[Gray Wolf]

@WolfRaider
How many drops of flow enhancer would you recommend, putting in a 12ml pot?

 

[WolfRaider]

I use Liquitex brand flow aid. I add two drops per ml to every bottle of paint. I don't thin my paints until I use them either. When I do thin them I use my ready made thinning mix. Its made of one part water, four parts Liquitex airbrush medium, and one drop of Flow Aid per ml. I premix it in an airtight bottle with a nozzel (same bottle craft paints come in) and add it to the paint when I want to thin them.

 

[TzeentchPlayer]

I tend to thin the paints down almost to an ink consistency. Then prime your mini white and ink the mini with ink (not the inky consistency paint). Then you paint on several coats of very-thinned paint on your mini and it is as smooth as a babies bottom.

Here's an example, I prime one of my thousand sons white. I then use blue ink from citadel to make the mini blue, sort of like a blue primer. Then paint on a few coats of your extremely thinned down ultramarines blue (or in my case royal blue) and it is quite smooth.