Paint Term Glossary

[Jen]

After spending a short time poking around the boards, it occurred to me that a centralized glossary of painting terms and abbreviations commonly used here might be helpful to new painters and people new to the boards. Most of the information is available if you look around enough, but collecting it all in one easy to find place might be a nice resource. If this exists already and I just haven't found it, so much the better!

 

Some terms that I think might be good to include, to illustrate what I'm thinking:

 

Blend

Blackline

Drybrush

Glaze

Ink

NMM

OSL

Wash

 

etc.

 

The glossary would contain a sentence or two for each term to indicate what it is, not detailed instructions on how to do it.

 

Does anybody else think this would be helpful?

[Joe Kutz]

I think one of the big problems with a glossary regarding painting terms is that it can be a bit hard to actually pin anything down. Explaining things like NMM referring to Non-Metallic Metals or OSL being Object Source Lighting (and even the exact terminology on those changes a bit from person to person) is pretty easy...however, even something as simple as Ink can cause some contention. Some people are very strict in what they consider inks...others include stuff which is really a watered down paint (and you can actually buy inks in both flavors).

 

You also have multiple terms for the same process...wetbrushing/overbrushing. Blending, layering, veils...all can refer to the same thing...though sometimes they don't. Even terms that have a long standing history in traditional art are used differently from time to time when used by mini painters.

 

Anywho, it is a good idea - but much like standard scales...I don't know how feasible a unified paint glossary would actually be.

[Helltown]

After spending a short time poking around the boards, it occurred to me that a centralized glossary of painting terms and abbreviations commonly used here might be helpful to new painters and people new to the boards. Most of the information is available if you look around enough, but collecting it all in one easy to find place might be a nice resource. If this exists already and I just haven't found it, so much the better!

 

Some terms that I think might be good to include, to illustrate what I'm thinking:

 

Blend

Blackline

Drybrush

Glaze

Ink

NMM

OSL

Wash

 

etc.

 

The glossary would contain a sentence or two for each term to indicate what it is, not detailed instructions on how to do it.

 

Does anybody else think this would be helpful?

 

Absolutely! While some of the techniques might draw debate for execution, but the terms themselves are easy enough to explain I can think of a few more that could be added as well:

 

SENMM

Demi-Metallics

Complementary Colors

[Mortiana27]

as a newbie ... YES, I'd love to see a glossary!

[orcsoul]

Gotta admit that in spite of the difficulties already raised in doing something like this... I'm all for it... centralized knowledge, even if there is multiple methods of explaining or defining something and it only touches one of them, is a good thing.

[Madog Barfog]

How's this for an idea - I can host the glossary on my website. We could start with a single list of clicakble terms, and each term would open its own page with a few example pictures.

 

We could even cross-link similar terms, such as washing & glazing.

 

I could coordinate all of this if I could get a few people to send me pictures and write a sentence or 2 as definitions.

 

In case you don't know, my website is http://www.hacklopedia.com

 

The hardest part will be to get people to actually send me anything.

 

"Yeah, that's a great idea , I can't wait for someone else to do it."

[orcsoul]

"Yeah, that's a great idea , I can't wait for someone else to do it."

[Sparrow's Tail]

Great idea,

 

Are you going to include Brush licker too?

[Helltown]

This is shaping up nicely, glad to see it got pinned as well

[fieldarchy]

I asked Kit to pin it so it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. If there's anything else you would like defined just post away.

[Jen]

Paint Journal

[Sparrow's Tail]

Hey y'all,

I know when I got back into minis after quite a lay off I was unfamiliar with "pinning" parts together; especially how to get them to flawlessly line up (I know I saw a tutorial or article on this since but... you know).

 

I was also unfamiliar with "green stuff" "brown stuff" and all the other epoxy putties and good glues and how to use them correctly and such.

 

"Sealing" minis and recommended products and good hardware store facsimilies would be helpful perhaps. Also perhaps the names of the most common types of brushes that are used, size numbers and proper names. I know I just go and look for the type of brush I want without knowing what it's proper name is. The names of good synthetic brissles vrs natural etc. pros and cons of each.

 

I remember I used to call excess metal on the mini, slag or flash, and the art of removing it was termed fettling.

 

cheers

[Cerridwyn1st]

Additional notes on two-part epoxies:

 

Brown stuff, Green Stuff and White Stuff are all made by the same company, Polymetic Systems. The correct name for the products is Kneadatite. Brown Stuff is an aluminium mix that cure very hard. Green stuff is not as stiff but can be easily carved once it is cured. White Stuff is flexible when cured, which makes it inadiquate for most modeling uses.

 

Procreate is a fairly new product; it has been on the market about two years now. When you see "Greens" that are actually grey, the've been sculpted with Procreate.

 

Apoxysculpt comes in a wide variety of colors, though the most common are white and grey. It is water soluble, so the curing time can be extended by kneading in a little water. It also comes in a paste form.

 

In all cases, sculpting materials are usually too soft when first mixed to be easily sculpted. It is best to allow the products to cure about 30 minutes before sculpting.

 

Often sculptors will different products, achieving something with properties of both. It can also be done to "stretch" an expensive material with a less expensive one. An example would be mixing Apoxysculpt and Kneadatite, then using this to "bulk up" the sculpt. Finer details would be added later with Kneadatite.

[celestialkin]

Hi.

 

I am not sure if this is the right place or thread to ask this, but can anyone define/explain how to "thin" a paint, or wash, or whatever?

 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Joe Kutz]

Probably not the right place - but that is what we have moderators for...they can split it off if they feel it is appropriate.

 

Proper thinning depends a lot on what specific technique you are looking to do.

 

If you are looking for just generic thinning - I normally put a drop or two of paint in a pallete well and follow that with a drop or two of thinning gunk. I just use whatever brush I will be painting with to mix them. The exact quantity of paint to thinner will depend on your painting tastes as well as the paints being used. Some that I use are as high as four or five drops of thinner to a single drop of paint - others are the exact opposite.

 

When I am making a wash - I want it to be a lot thinner and flow better. For this I use a gunk mixture that has a little more flow improver than my normal gunk. I will also generally use more gunk than I do when thinning my paints normally. The exact amount will depend a bit on the paints I am using. For example a yellow wash doesn't need thinned nearly as much as a dark brown or white wash - it already doesn't cover very well...so thinning it too much will make it imperceivable.

 

When I am making a glaze, I normally use a bit more acrylic base than normal. I want my glaze to behave like a normal paint - I just don't want the pigment to be as dense. If I were to just thin it to the right point - it would end up being a wash and harder to control. By adding the clear acrylic to the mix - the viscosity remains the same as normal thinned paint, but the pigments are diluted enough that I can glaze over other colors in order to shade, highlight or do other effects.

 

Airbrushing is another type of mixture and another type of thinner - here it depends on which paints, which brush and what I am doing. Primer and clear coats get thinned differently than the paints I use for doing detail work. When I want to do something like a camo pattern, it gets handled differently yet again.

 

The best advice I can give you is to grab some paints and sit down with a half dozen minis and just start playing with it. See what consistency you like to use for doing details. Try a few different gunk mixtures to see whether any of them dry out to fast or to slowly where you are. Play around with glazes, washes and dry brushing to see how they work for you. Don't worry about what things look like - you need to understand the paint before you can paint with it. When you are done - you can strip the paint and start again for real.

____________

 

Two words are marked in the above mess - gunk and you. Gunk is sort of a generic term for a mix of stuff used for thinning. Everyone has there own favorite formula for doing different things. Various local situations will effect the best mixture for where you are. For example, I live at a higher altitude with a very low humidity. If I look at paint for too long it will dry out up here, so my gunk mixture has a bit more drying retarder than it did a few years ago when I was in Florida on the coast. For the most part though gunk will contain 3 different things depending on what you want to do:

1. Thinner - Usually water, though some paints require an alcohol thinner or an acryl thinner. In all likelihood you will be dealing with water unless you get into some of the more exotic paints (Japanese model paints are some of the most common alcohol based paints). If you have really hard water, you might want to use distilled water over tap water - though many do not have any problems with tap water.
   
2. Flow Improver - Does what it says it does. Again, the exact amount will vary a bit depending on what you want to do. This comes in handy when you want to get into all the nooks and crannies of some crazy sculpted chain mail. Saves your brush bristles from jabbing into those crevices. Also normally leads to a smoother paint coat overall. Too much though can be a bad thing. There are several brands you can purchase - alcohol works as well (so does a drop of dish washing detergent - though I wouldn't recommend it on minis).
   
3. Drying Retarder - again no mystery on what this does. If you are trying to wet blend or if you find your paint is drying too fast, add more drying retarder. Don't be surprised though if you add too much that it takes a day or so for the paint to dry.
   

 

In addition to these, there are a lot of more exotic things to add. I already mentioned adding a clear acrylic to the gunk at times - while this is useful when making glazes it is also useful if you find your paints are frosting when thinned. Other things are ammonia (in the form of Windex) for airbrushing, matting agents and other special finish additives (pearls, candies...). Start with those first three though and try out different mixtures. If you do a search for "Gunk" you should end up with a lot of different recipes.

 

The most important word above though is you. What you like and how you work will determine what you need to do to get the results you want. I can almost guarantee that no one on these forums paint like I do - so my specific methods will not work for most of them. However by looking at what other people do, trying out a new technique you might find something that works for you. Take what works and leave the rest. Unlike a lot of other things, there is no right or wrong way to paint - it is really all about what works for you.