Bones minis & KS paint set questions

[Canuck]

Hi,

 

I've bought a ton of the new Bones minis (plastics) and am thinking about getting the reaper KS (Kickstarter) paint sets 1,2 & 3. I'm a novice mini painter.

 

I have a few questions.

 

1) Are all of the KS paint sets acrylic or are some ink?

 

2) I see that the KS paint set 3 has a flesh wash and a black wash. These are just the normal acrylic paints watered down? What ratio?

 

3) What is the difference between ink and acrylic paints? It seems from tutorials that the dark recess shading washes are inks with water added to them. Are acrylics just as good for washes?

 

4) For dark recess shading with washes, do you always use black + the base color with added water? Is there a good table guide for wash color mixing and the ratio of paint to water?

 

5) How many drops are in each .5 oz bottle? How many paint drops on average are used per mini using popular colors like black or flesh if they get used on each mini?

 

Thanks

[vutpakdi]

1) Are all of the KS paint sets acrylic or are some ink?

They are acrylics.

 

2) I see that the KS paint set 3 has a flesh wash and a black wash. These are just the normal acrylic paints watered down? What ratio?

I believe that they are acrylics in a transparent, matte base.

 

3) What is the difference between ink and acrylic paints? It seems from tutorials that the dark recess shading washes are inks with water added to them. Are acrylics just as good for washes?

Inks are usually a liquid soluble dye in a water base. Acrylics are very finely ground pigments in a water (or alcohol) base with a medium. Either can be used for washes. I prefer acrylics since inks often dry shiny and can reactivate if they get wet again. It helps if the acrylics used for washes are more transparent than opaque, but isn't a requirement given the dilutions involved.

 

4) For dark recess shading with washes, do you always use black + the base color with added water? Is there a good table guide for wash color mixing and the ratio of paint to water?

It depends on the colors involved. For example, if I do a Ruddy Leather wash for Oiled Leather, I just use the Ruddy Leather. Also, using pure black rather than a warm brown or dark, dark blue, red, green etc can make things look a little muddy or stark.

 

Ratio depends on the colors involved. A decent starting point for not too far apart shades is 1:5 (paint to dilutant). More if there is a really big difference. For Brown Magic Wash, I use 1:4:4 ( brown liner, water, matte medium) or higher. It's easy to add another wash coat if the dilution was too much, but really hard to go the other direction.

 

Some people just use water. I like half water, half matte medium because the matte medium gives the wash some body so it sticks in the recesses better.

 

5) How many drops are in each .5 oz bottle? How many paint drops on average are used per mini using popular colors like black or flesh if they get used on each mini?

350-450? I forget. For a semi naked man sized mini, I'd expect to use no more than a few drops for a a couple of coats.

 

Ron

[Canuck]

Thank you for the tips Ron.

 

Do you normally do a wash for shading on each of your base colors on the mini? It seems like a must do technique for shading. And you would use a darker variant of the base color then? So a Gory Red on a Fresh Blood red color. Or Splattered Crimson on a Gory Red.

 

I guess that I will be picking up some matte medium for the wash mixing. The matte medium is a clear liquid which helps bond the wash right? So you generally recommend 1 part paint with 4 parts water with 4 parts matte medium for pretty much all washes?

[Ravenhex]

Number 5 made me think of "how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop"

I don't use a wash for every part of the mini, depends on color and part. I tend to wash armor since its tough to add depth to chain mail.

 

There is a section in the bottom of the forum with a post with tons of links to tutorials.

[vutpakdi]

Do you normally do a wash for shading on each of your base colors on the mini? It seems like a must do technique for shading. And you would use a darker variant of the base color then? So a Gory Red on a Fresh Blood red color. Or Splattered Crimson on a Gory Red.

It depends on the mini, how fast I'm working, and the effect that I want to achieve. I also mainly use washes for tabletop minis and chainmail, fur, and other like things. For more display level minis, I'll dilute the paint as if for a wash and the carefully apply the layers only where I want them to go.

 

For example, on the Bones demo Ghost mini, I used 3 washes: 1 Brown Magic Wash for the face/hands, the tombstone, and the base; 1 wash of Twilight Blue, and then a carefully applied wash of Midnight Blue. On the other hand, on some skeletons that I did recently, everything got a a Brown Magic Wash all over.

 

I guess that I will be picking up some matte medium for the wash mixing. The matte medium is a clear liquid which helps bond the wash right? So you generally recommend 1 part paint with 4 parts water with 4 parts matte medium for pretty much all washes?

The 1:4:4 ratio is only for the very dark washes (Brown Magic Wash and the other ones based on liner colors). Otherwise, at least to start, I do 1:3:3 to 1:2:2 depending on the colors involved. Also, for the matte medium, the artist type matte medium (Golden, etc) from Michaels or Hobby Lobby works just fine. Vallejo has a matte medium in their line, but the artist stuff is cheaper and works just as well.

 

Ron

[Baphomet69]

Say, what flavors do you suppose the new colors will be?

[Canuck]

Thanks for all the tips Ron, much appreciated.

[Arachne]

Say, what flavors do you suppose the new colors will be?

 

I, for one, hope they branch out into cocktail flavors. Margarita, strawberry daiquiri, White Russian...

[Inarah]

 

5) How many drops are in each .5 oz bottle? How many paint drops on average are used per mini using popular colors like black or flesh if they get used on each mini?

 

Let me put it like this, I started buying MS dropper bottles when they came out nearly ten years ago and to date I have had to replace ONE bottle of black paint. I paint about 100 minis a year. YMMV.

[Baphomet69]

Say, what flavors do you suppose the new colors will be?

 

I, for one, hope they branch out into cocktail flavors. Margarita, strawberry daiquiri, White Russian...

 

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