Mixing inks and paints: advice sought

Flicking through some back issues of White Dwarf earlier I came across Andy Craig's tutorial on painting the brilliant Blood Bowl starplayer Lewdgrip Whiparm. Andy makes a lot of use of mixing inks and paints when washing (see below). All being well I'm going to experiment with these mixes tonight, but I was wondering if you guys had any tips on doing this? For example, would you go 50/50 ink and paint? Would you add water and if so would it be a third of water, ink and paint? Has anyone tried adding different mediums other than water? Any other tips? I'm using the 80's inks and paints but I've also got some modern W&N inks.
 

Attachments

  • WD117-008.jpg
    WD117-008.jpg
    298.9 KB · Views: 2,522
  • WD117-010.jpg
    WD117-010.jpg
    310.5 KB · Views: 2,522

Harry

Moderator
I mix inks and paints. Most of my washing is done with paints I use tons of water maybe 5 to 1 but you start to loose the brightness ... (OK if you want subtle) so you can mix with ink and keep it bright. Also it flows a bit better into the recesses and you don't get tide marks BUT if you mix with ink you start to get glossy. OK for an armour wash .... not so good for a cloth wash. But if you use a flat matt varnish you can kill all the glossyness at the end. The only reason I use more paint and water is because the inks can fill up the detail if used neat and the finished effect is less subtle. I have never used any fancy mediums to help it flow ... I just push it around with a brush a bit. :grin:
 

Asslessman

Member
Didn't know that tutorial but it might come in handy. From my "far from pro" perspective, here's what I can tell :

- Always add water to both paint or inks (never heard anyone saying he opposite). As a start, I would try with at least 50% of water, 25% of paint and 25% of ink juts to see. It really depends on the colours you're using but 50% of water is a very minimum to me.
- You can add PVA glue to help the wash go in the recesses (and gets rid of the glossy effect with inks)
- you can add (and I would very much advise it) matt medium which helps thinning down the paint with still a good coverage power (plus it's way easier to work with, a mix I use is a drop of matt medium, a drop of paint and 3-4 drops of water.

That being said, I'm far from being a good painter so our brush specialists here may have more pertinent views on the matter. ;)

And to be precise, I use all kinds of paints from first range of citadel to newest, PA and Vallejo. Inks are 1st and 2nd set citadel and some PA.
 

Orlygg

Member
In my view, experiment! All painters are different and you have to find your own way. Personally, I mix ink with paint to create different, brighter hues instead of watering down the paint to increase its fluidity. I also use inks as a standard colour wash for easy blending. Add your base colour and select your highlight. Wash over the base colour with the chosen ink (dark brown in very useful in this regard) and wait for it to dry. Then add a little of the ink you used as a wash to the highlight, and paint on the highlights themselves.

If you want to hear it from the pros Steve, just start a thread on the Oldhammer Community on Facebook and tag Tim or Andy into the conversation. They are really supportive with the advanced stuff like blending and ink washes.
 
Thanks for the advice all, looking forward to experimenting with these. James - great idea about the Facebook post - I'll try that now.
 

Blue in VT

Moderator
I think it also can depend on which inks you're talking about....and remember that modern inks are different than washes. My old citadel inks are great Super vibrant and cover well....also if they are too thick you can use a wet brush to re suspend them and move them around a bit more.....not tru with modern GW washes...never go back to adjust until they are dry....then you can only add more...not remove.

To that end...what inks are most people using these days? I have old citadel ones...some modern citadel washes and some reaper inks...

But yes...experimenting is the way to go...it can always go back in the stripping bucket!

Cheers,

Blue
 

Orlygg

Member
I use my trusty old Citadel inks from the '80s having bought three sets on eBay years back when they cost only a few quid! Thanks to the advice of Andy Craig and Tim Prow, I have also bough w&n inks from a craft shop to supplement this. Mostly browns, blacks, reds and yellows. Its early days, but you can create colours like nothing else on the market with a little experimentation!
 

ardyer

Member
Blue in VT":37r42fwz said:
I think it also can depend on which inks you're talking about....and remember that modern inks are different than washes. My old citadel inks are great Super vibrant and cover well....also if they are too thick you can use a wet brush to re suspend them and move them around a bit more.....not tru with modern GW washes...never go back to adjust until they are dry....then you can only add more...not remove.

To that end...what inks are most people using these days? I have old citadel ones...some modern citadel washes and some reaper inks...

But yes...experimenting is the way to go...it can always go back in the stripping bucket!

Cheers,

Blue

I use a mix of old GW, Vallejo, and Liquitex inks. But, I also use a lot of the new washes. Different tools for different goals.
 
Back
Top