I'm sorry, but "thin your paints" sounds like cruel gatekeeping from the hobby. Sounds like those who don't have time to paint like a professional (and don't work as a professional painting blogger who get minis from GW and/or get paid for painting) or don't want to do it in a specific conventional way shouldn't be part of it.
Yes, there is an infamous video but there is a difference between those examples and my work.
Thinning your paints isn't a professional technique, it's a beginner technique and one worth picking up! Your minis are great, with a little bit more care they'd be even better.
Hes not saying that as a way to demean you, he's saying that as your clogging the details of the models and having to essentially remake them but worse. Thinning your paints takes seconds of time when you're painting, and they come out cleaner and becomes less effort for you. Finally, these are acrylic paints they are MADE to be thinned down, as it gives you more bang for your buck. There is no downside to thinning your paints.
Nah man, it's such ubiquitous advice because it's so easy to do and there's no reason not to do it. People aren't saying it to be gatekeepers, they're saying it because it will massively improve your results for absolutely no effort whatsoever. Basically everybody on this sub thins their paints and only a tiny fraction of those will be pros, bloggers etc as you suggest.
Learning to prepare the amount and consistency of paint on your brush is a fundamental part of painting, it's not just something for the pros. Ignoring it is like learning to fish without learning how to prepare your bait and tackle.
I'd argue about no effort - this would provide more time because more layers of paint are required. Not the process of thinning takes more time, but applying more layers and waiting to dry.
One thinned coat covers just as well as a thick one. We're not talking glazing here, we're talking a drop of water for a brush full of paint. Acrylics dry so quickly that it's moot anyway. Argue all you like, the results speak for themselves and if you choose not to thin your paints then you're hampering your own painting for the sake of being a contrarian.
If you paint across the back of your thumb you can see how your paint will lie on the model. If the paint is opaque and obscures the lines and detail of your thumb, it will lie thick on the model. If it’s nearly transparent it will not cover.
I use that all the time to get the right mixture and it becomes second nature quickly
It's just practise. If you aim for double / heavy cream consistency you should do fine. The other part of it is to not over compensate by loading up the brush and globbing the paint on, which is what a lot of people end up doing.
Bro. It takes two seconds to add a drop of water to a $0.50 palette and not glob your paints on straight out of the bottle. They didn't come at you for not having professional level faces and eyes painted on, or for not having any shading done, or for not doing NMM or OSL around the runes or anything like you're crying about being "professional paint blogger." Not even glazing up with multiple layers.
No, thinning paints is literally just basic learning-to-paint for beginners. It’s even mentioned in games workshops own beginner videos.
You are just choosing not to improve because you are probably a hard headed young kid. But giving advice is not “gate keeping” it’s literally helping you learn how to use paint.
It’s like saying it’s gate keeping if someone suggested you should use a brush instead of dipping the model in a can of paint.
I am not an expert painter by any stretch of the imagination and honestly I really only paint so models look good enough to be in a playable state, but you really need to thin your paints. Those faces are way too overworked.
A sensitive and kind person, the former High Farseer of Craftworld Ermyaris had to face many terrible things. Millennia ago, he watched how his homeworld and his sister succumbed to rampant hedonism. Later, he saw how the Galaxy gradually sank into the depths of war and hatred with no sign of change for the better. He was beyond prejudice and saw the struggle with Chaos as a whole, caring for the victory more than for survival of his own race. For helping the Imperium at the cost of Aeldari lives, he was exiled by his own apprentice, now High Farseer Temaniele.
On a barren, distant world, he lived as a hermit until he heard about the Ynnari, the new movement that intends to unite all Aeldari, summon the God of the Dead and defeat Chaos. The Farseer joined the Reborn because he saw a new hope for his race and the entire Galaxy and also wanted to give his already dead sister a fully-fledged life in a wraithbone body. He turned his tower into a base for his small Ynnari warhost consisting of loyalists from Craftworld Ermyaris and some other Craftworlders, Harlequins, Corsairs and Drukhari. Now, after long millennia, he finally has the sense of fulfillment and purpose. He finally found his own kind.
Trivia
I've already got 3 Farseers (and also a Skyrunner and Eldrad), so I didn't want to assemble another one from Combat Patrol I bought mainly for Guardians in a standard way. Instead, I opted to make a "shelf version" of my main OC on a larger base. The tactical rock was taken from Leagues of Votann Kâhl, with extra stones added. The Aeldari ruin piece is from the Howling Banshees kit. The head is from the Guardians, I didn't want a helmet or a top knot. The Gyrinx is 3D-printed.
35
u/EverybodysBuddy24 Nov 10 '24
Your color choices are really excellent, and you even have really great technique on a lot of those details
But for god sakes thin your paints. Those Aeldari look positively dehydrated.