Vote For The August Painting Contest Winner!

Whoever is 'Bones' where are your tutorial videos so I can learn from you? haha

Gravnos

Great work everyone these are wonderful. Takuma by Bones is putting me to shame.

Gravnos

Takuma killed it!

100% on thinning in airbrush with Vallejo Flow improver It’s what I use primarily when airbrushing, but I just use tap with a brush and wet palette.

Derrick Hunt

Get a bottle of distilled water. That's it. If you are gonna use anything else for thinning, start watching NJM (not just mecha) videos and invest in some oil paints.

Niels Korteling

I mostly agree with you, Derrick, but I've lived in some places with some pretty hard water, plus I use an airbrush for parts of my painting, so I'm just in the habit of using distilled water. A gallon of the stuff is less than a dollar and lasts forever, so I don't see any reason not to use it. The reason I mix in the airbrush thinner even when brush painting though is that adding too much water can start to break down the acrylic medium in your paints, making them glossy at first, and basically useless if you keep going. Vellejo Airbrush Thinner doesn't have this problem. There have been times when I've thinned my paints 12/1 additives/paint to get the effect I was going for, and it just wouldn't have worked if half of that was water. Three to four parts water to one part paint is about my limit with my paints. Also, yes: wet palette

DreadPirateLynx

I agree with this. Even with artist acrylics the pigment load should be high enough to thin for consistency even if you can't glaze well with it. Just water should be fine... tap is totally fine unless you have extremely hard water. Do not use spirits with acrylics. Also Wet Palette, it will help maintain that consistency longer.

Derrick Hunt

I would strongly suggest steering away from mineral spirits to thin acrylic paints; they just don't work well together as mineral spirits are meant to thin oil-based paints while acrylic paints are water-based. I tend to use some combination of distilled water and Vallejo airbrush thinner to thin my paints to the consistency I'm looking for (typically 1/1 water/thinner), glaze medium to make my colors more transparent when desired, and Vellejo airbrush flow improver to create custom washes. Varying the ratios of these different additives and the paint can create a whole range of interesting effects.

DreadPirateLynx

Thank you so much! So I think part of the problem is I tried skimping and bought Arteza acrylic canvas paints. I just got a 60 piece Army Painter mega pack today and plan on thinning those even based on feedback from another couple of painters and you now. I bought some mineral spirits to experiment between that and water as a thinning medium. I actually didn’t pay attention and didn’t even know I had entered here but now I’m glad I accidentally did because I don’t think I’d have the confidence to do so knowingly and I really appreciate the feedback.

Seconded. One of the most important and overlooked lessons is THIN YOUR PAINTS! Any and every mini painting Youtuber and online teacher includes this as one of their first tips.

Rob Mann

Hey Petrolfox: a friendly word of advice, because you show promise. Your colors are nice and vibrant, and your understanding of color theory seems solid. It also appears that you mostly understand where and how to shade and highlight, and your brush control looks to be quite good. The one piece of advice I can give you that will take your painting to the next level is that your paints are too thick, which is why it looks "gloopy" and textured. Simply by thinning your paints down so that they flow nicely off your brush tip, you could very well be a contender in the next painting competition you enter.

DreadPirateLynx