Topic: Citadel paints + pallet+thinner

[zerut92]

so just tonight i finally went out to buy a pallet and some paint thinner, but now as i get ready to paint i just realized.....1) how do i get the paint from the citadel container to my pallet? 2) how much thinner do i put in?

[SkullyChaos]

Me personally, I use an old brush to take "dollops" o' paint to my palette. I use my 1:1 or whatever for mixing based off the "dollop" from that brush.
Then to get water/thiner/whatever to the palette to mix it, I use a drinking straw. I put the end in whatever, with my finger placed over the other end, I create a vacuum or whatever it is called, and can then move it to the palette as well and then remove my finger to add water/thiner/whatever. Its ghetto, but it works.
You could also get a eyedropper at your local Walgreen's/CVS/Walmart/drug store. Whatever works for you.

[MoonMan]

I keep a box of toothpicks handy - they're great for transferring paint (and mixing it, too). For the thinner, I use an eyedropper-type bottle as mentioned in another post. Before I got the bottle, I was using a small straw, which worked well but was pretty time consuming.

As for the amount, you'll need to play with it a bit depending on the type of paint and the effect you want, but I almost always go for a roughly 80-85% paint, 15-20% thinner mix on the palette; you really don't need much thinner for small dollops of paint.

[Dux Aurelius Elysius]

Each thinner is formulated differently.  It should state the recommended dilution level on the side of it's container.  To be frank I rarely worry about the concentration that much, as long as you don't over do it just putting a drop elsewhere on your palette and mixing to satisfaction with a brush should be fine.

As for how paint gets onto the palette, from my Vallejo they come with a dropper and from my GW paints a brush does the job just fine.

What thinner did you get and what paints are you using it with?

[zerut92]

well im currently using mostly citadel, but i was picking up the pallet and thinner and i found some generic acrylic paint decently sized acrylic paint, for a buck so i picked up some to see what it was like, the thinner itself looks like another pretty generic brand from Leow Cornell, if that helps at all

[Dux Aurelius Elysius]

No, not really.  Thinner is a very broad term.  Does it look like option 1 or 2?  If 2, you've bought oil thinner which isn't designed for acrylic paints and it's going to be of any real use.  If 1, the product isn't designed to thin paint but just clean brushes and probably isn't going to be of any help.  As far as I can tell Leow Cornell don't sell anything else that would be described as thinner, but then they're not a brand I've ever seen here in the UK.  The only thing I'd suggest going for when buying a "thinner" for use with acrylic paints would be flow improver or fluid retarder.  Most other things, IMO, are just pissing into the wind and water does just fine.  Also, usually when you see "generic acrylic paint decently size for a buck" it's because the pigment size and binder quality are designed for canvas work and not fine enough for use on 28mm models.  There's a reason companies like GW and Vallejo can get away with charging an arm and a leg for the tiny little bottles they sell.

[Tritium Glowstick]

Aurelius is absolutely 100% right on all of that. I will add that leow cornell products are fairly cheap and mass produced to make up for the demand from their wal-mart contract. Their white synthetic brushes above size 0 are a really good value, but very little else they sell is worth it.

I picked up a big tub of retarder gel for 10 bucks at a Utrecht and it should last me forever. That's probably what you're looking for. Just find a higher class art supply store, but avoid the ones near college campuses, they tend to jack up the prices on things that are required for art classes.

Retarder gel is absolutely a must-have if you've ever had issues getting a nice smooth coat of a bright color across a large area. Painting a wave serpent yellow without it is absolutely infuriating and just too time consuming.

Flow improver is great for when you're using tiny brushes to do a small detail and the tip keeps drying out even though the brush is full of paint and adding more water would make the detail work impossible.