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washing question


icemantis99

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Hey, I just got into painting recently, so sorry if this is a newbie question.

I'm trying to do washing/drybrushing work, and every time I try to wash, it just stains the whole miniture, like it was another layer of basecoat. I've tried thinner and thinner wash mixes, but it just either stains everything. It touches or is so watery it runs everywhere, discoloring other parts of the job ( a facewash getting on clothing or hair, or vice versa). Am I missing something? Every tutorial i can find says to washthe whole basecoat.thanks for your time!

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One solution that you may find is to add a drop of matte medium to your wash. The wash then retains the transparency of a wash, but the matte medium thickens the wash to a consistency that is more like paint (giving you more control). Vallejo and Reaper both sell matte medium in dropper bottles as part of their respective paint lines, or you may also be able to get some from an art supply store.

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If the wash is getting everywhere then in my experience you have too much wash on the brush. Take a paper towel and dab the paint brush on it after you dip it in the wash. This will take off the majority of the wash. Also before you wash anything you need to be absolutely certain that the previous layers of paint are COMPLETELY dry. A wash is designed to go over a full color of paint. Its not really designed to be precision placed in a crevice. If you want to have the original colors over the wash here is my suggestion. Base coat the color you want, wash over the base coat, then do two highlights. First highlight is a repeat of the base coat color making sure you stay out of the deeper recesses, and the second highlight is just on the higher portions of the area. This will give you the nice base color you want with deeper recesses, and good high points. I hope this helps.

Here is a tutorial I did on horse flesh that demonstrates this exact procedure. Its in 4 parts so I'll link the channel.

Chris's Tutorial on painting Horses

Edited by ChrisM
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To me it also sounds like you're loading up to much wash on the brush. If you're looking at trying to be a bit more precise I'd recommend putting a drop of wash on your pallet and using the tip of the brush to apply it thinner and more acurately.

If you're more interested in precission try using inks to get into little nooks and crannies. Also... Don't confuse washes for Inks. They are both thin but have very different properties and uses.

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It does sounds like you have too much paint loaded on your brush. A wash should "stain" the paint underneath, but only in the area you apply it.

I wouldn't run out and buy Matte Medium just yet. If you are starting out, try and keep it simple. Have a look at this excellent tutorial on the Reaper site, its called How to Blend, but olliekickflip is really talking about washing/juicing technique.

http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32050&st=0

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It does sounds like you have too much paint loaded on your brush. A wash should "stain" the paint underneath, but only in the area you apply it.

I wouldn't run out and buy Matte Medium just yet. If you are starting out, try and keep it simple. Have a look at this excellent tutorial on the Reaper site, its called How to Blend, but olliekickflip is really talking about washing/juicing technique.

http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32050&st=0

While the article you attach is full of excellent helpful information, I would hardly describe the techniques it describes as "simple" in comparison with the expedient of acquiring a bottle of matte medium and adding a drop to your wash...!

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  • 1 month later...

My M.O. is to mix up a wash and do a "precision" wash.

First the wash

1 part paint

3 parts matte medium

4 parts water

This makes a wash that has decent flow and isn't too transparent.

Now I wash, starting at the bottom (where the shading goes) and pulling the wash up 1/2 to 2/3 of the way into the top (or highlight areas.)

The big thing with this is to let the wash dry before going back to the next step. Which is usually another wash, this one pulled not quite as far as the first wash.

After all of your washes have dried, then you can go on to whatever steps you have remaining.

If you're new, you may wish to pick up some minis that you won't be gaming with to experiment with. If you screw up, who cares? Most LGS's will have a selction of minis outside of what you'll be using in-game, and stores with a bigger selection will often have some fairly inexpensive choices to work on.

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Always have a piece of toilettpapper beside you. Then if you have to much colour on your pencil, use the apper to soak it off. There is nothing wrong in mixing like 1 part colour and 10 parts water. If it gets to thin you can always either mix in more colour or apply agains when the first coat has dried up.

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