Learning to Paint with a Wet Palette

[Ragequit]

Decided to finally try a wet palette..
Asking for advice.

The halberd guy done with 1 dip of paint mixed with water on dry baking paper.. I had to dip the paint 5 times though.

Drummer done with 1 dip of paint in wet palette.
It only has 1 coat so far, is that how it should look before I do second coat?
Asking to make sure I am on the right path

Cheers everyone

[Vasshpit]

Forgive me but what do you mean by "dip"?

[Ragequit]

Not sure what the correct term is, dip brush in paint bottle then put it on the baking paper

[Overread]

*not a painting pro by any stretch of the imagination*

 

When you are adding water to thin the paint the amount you add varies a little depending on the paint. In general what you are aiming for is the paint to be a bit like milk in consistency. When you paint it on the model you might find that it doesn't cover fully with the pigment and that is fine. What you're aiming for is a thin single coat of paint over the model. The thinning down means the paint will flow smoother and when you come to add a second coat over the top you won't dull your details. The second coat will generally reinforce the first and the colour should come through stronger.

If you've painted over and gotten a single coat which covers the model and it doesn't need to have more colour added then you don't need to do a second layer. This might mean that you've not quite thinned your paint enough. 

 

So in general only add a second layer of the same colour if you need to, if it doesn't need it don't bother with it, move onto the next step. 

This video might help

 

Note one thing he neglects to say in this video which he has in previous ones is that when he's putting paint on the brush before painting you can roll the end of the brush against the pallet. The idea being to spread the paint over the whole of the brush surface without overloading the brush with a thick drop of paint that you can't control. 

[Ragequit]

Never said I was a pro and thus the reason for posting a question.

I have seen that video and many others but without going out to a store or having any friends with an interest in the hobby, I don’t really have a way to ensure I am doing the right thing.

I have painted a few things without a wet palette to a “playable” standard but it is very paint costly ie using a lot of “dips”

I just wanted to make sure what I am doing now is right..

[Overread]

Ahh no my ** bit was talking about myself not you Essentially saying that my advice will only go "so far" before I run out of viable tips and information. 

[Kirjava13]

Good grief, your models look that nice and you're still worried you're not doing it right?!?

[Ragequit]

43 minutes ago, Overread said:

Ahh no my ** bit was talking about myself not you Essentially saying that my advice will only go "so far" before I run out of viable tips and information. 

Oh sorry, I can get a bit defensive..

problem with the videos is they skip after applying paint straight away and you don’t see how the paint really looks on the miniature at the time via photos/videos

39 minutes ago, Kirjava13 said:

Good grief, your models look that nice and you're still worried you're not doing it right?!?

Thanks.. Now I feel like I am bragging?

I had a store manager told me his grandmother did a better job so I don’t really have much faith in my abilities..

guess I should retitle to “Learning with Wet Palette”

[Overread]

I think the essence of the wet pallet isn't so much that its changing your paint as its applied to the model as you are still thinning it down the same with water. The key to the wet pallet is the ability to retain moisture in the paint for longer, as such it doesn't dry out on the pallet so you can use less paint to paint more models over a longer period of time.

I'm also given to understand that it helps with blending of colours in general over a standard pallet. 

But for application of paint to the model its about the same.

 

 

[Kirjava13]

2 hours ago, Ragequit said:

I had a store manager told me his grandmother did a better job

That guy ought not to be running a store where 50% of his job is to be encouraging and not depress people out of the hobby.

Unless his grandmother is a Golden Demon winner, in which case he is probably technically correct but still a douche.

[Gaz Taylor]

8 hours ago, Ragequit said:

guess I should retitle to “Learning with Wet Palette”

Done ?

That store manager doesn’t sound very good if they are saying that!!

I think what you have been doing looks great. All a wet palette is, is a way of keeping your paint wet longer. Works for some people and others it doesn’t. It’s just another tool to use with painting and you need to see if it works for you. From the pictures it looks like it is ?

[Ragequit]

Thanks

It was annoying me that I had to dip the bottle several times to only complete the chest and arms causing me to get frustrated and take long breaks out.

Definitely see the benefit of a wet palette and from the comments, sounds like I am doing it right.

More practice and patience it is ?

[Tzaangor Management]

To echo the above: it's all about practice and doing what works for you. 

I too use the dip method, although in my mind I had called them 'brushfuls', but I also mix my light colours with Lahmian Medium and only use water with my darker ones. This works for me, in a hard water area and I use roughly one dip of water / medium to two of paint. That is very rough though and it's almost all by eye and feel I'm afraid, hence the practice.

I've got a lot more practice to do, so no expert here either by any means, but a wet palette was integral to me improving, by helping me keep the paint at the right consistency for longer.

[RuneBrush]

Sorry, this post is a little rambly!

I use a wet palette on occasions, normally when working with lighter colours such as ones for flesh.  A wet palette can do a few things for you, firstly it should "wick" water through the sheet so that you can easily thin your paint down* - need it a little thinner?  Draw some out of the main pool of paint and "mix" it on the sheet to pull some more water through - it's much more accurate than trying to add water from a brush.  A wet palette can also prevent paint drying out as quickly - it's basically sat on water which keeps it moist and reduces the temperature.  This is the main reason I'll flick over to a wet palette, it prevents my paint drying out quickly, plus if you've a decent container you can put a lid on it and keep that paint for your next session - though as a word of warning quite a few GW paints separate over time so may well be unusable for a second session.

For me personally I only use a wet palette if I know I need to mix up a lot of colours and need to keep them alive for longer than my normal plastic palette, so if I'm painting the face on a model for example.  For rank and file models with paint that hasn't been mixed, it's a lot less faff to just thin the paint down on a regular palette (or palette paper) and use the right sized brush, especially if you're working with multiple models.

One of the key questions when thinning is what you're trying to achieve - are you adding liquid to make the paint flow better or are you adding it for a specific technique such as blending, glazing etc.

There also isn't a magic thickness of paint.  When applying a base colour, you want to aim for full coverage in a couple of passes - though might need to go over an area a third or forth time to just sort out the finish or any patchiness.  The base colour of Mephiston Red I applied on Nagadron's armour recently took probably 5 or 6 thin layers because I wanted it super smooth, whereas the same colour on some skeleton banners I did in two because I was applying a wash to it.  Metallics are also tricky as if you apply too much water they lose their lustre.  Each paint is going to give you different effects too, I only ever add the tiniest of amounts of water to Leadbelcher or Retributor Armour, but quite a bit more to Zandri Dust (normally with a bit of Lahmian too).

However, going back to your original comment, I'd suggest looking at transferring your GW paints over to dropper bottles.  This reduces the faff with getting paint out of the pot by a huge amount.

* This is dependant upon having the right kind of baking paper

[Phil D]

13 hours ago, Tzaangor Management said:

To echo the above: it's all about practice and doing what works for you. 

I too use the dip method, although in my mind I had called them 'brushfuls', but I also mix my light colours with Lahmian Medium and only use water with my darker ones. This works for me, in a hard water area and I use roughly one dip of water / medium to two of paint. That is very rough though and it's almost all by eye and feel I'm afraid, hence the practice.

I've got a lot more practice to do, so no expert here either by any means, but a wet palette was integral to me improving, by helping me keep the paint at the right consistency for longer.

Also not a pro painter and still learning (I'm not sure what a wet or dry palette is!).

In my experience I thin the paint initially to get it to the right consistency and then add water as I paint if I feel it is drying out. In summer I can use more water than in winter because the air is warmer and drier.  I find that some colours need more water than others, but again it's all what feels right. Metallics seem to need less water all round. If you add too much water you can always add more paint to thicken it up a bit.

This is just my experience in the last year that I have been painting and please don't take it as gospel truth. As has been said before, practice, practice, practice. Using thin coats allows you to go back and touch up/repaint if it all goes horribly wrong.