Almost 4 years in the hobby now and I've had some shy painting attempts. now I think I am ready to give it another shot. my first attempts were neither bad nor good, let's just say I was not that much encouraged to post my work.

it is hard for me to get GW paints both because of no hobby centers in Egypt and it's very costy to buy it from overseas. So I have to use whatever paints I find in the market here. mainly:

- Pebeo:
http://www.art-paints.com/Paints/Acryli ... Paint.html
- Morocolors:
http://www.morocolor.it/PRODUCTS/Acrili ... fault.aspx
- Feviacryl

awkward problem is that some shades does not exist so I have to mix every now and then to get proper color. time consuming and many times frustrating.

but the major problem is that it seems that I can't get paint texture right. some of those paints are very thick and some are paste and I find it hard to know how to reach the proper texture. especially with the pebeo metallic colors which are thick paste.

I could use any advice/ideas, please help!

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Well, most paints are either enamel or acrylic. The acrylics (like GW) uses are all water based, so thinning them down is easy.
Enamels, on the other hand, are oil based. They need special enamel thinners, which most paint manufacturers offer with their enamel paints. They are sometimes used as brush cleaners, but also for airbrush work. I use them every so often to reclaim a paint pot that has dried out.

For either one, the method of thinning paints down is fairly simple:
Get an eydropper and a box of strong toothpicks for stirring. Use the dropper to put in a small amount of your thinner (since you're talking about acrylics, this will be ordinary tap water) and stir it in until the thickness is to your liking. If you feel it is not thinning down enough, add some more water, but be careful to not add too much. Any extra water will gradually soak into the paint.

Always be careful not to mix the water in by shaking the pot. For whatever reason, acrylics bubble when water is mixed in that way - I found that out on one of the TT special features, actually.
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I forgot to mention that, with enamel paints, you have to be careful to not put in too much thinner, because that can ruin the enamel. There's no such worry with acrylics, or at least I've never seen it.

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I'm guessing those are artist tube acryllics or similar... used mostly for canvas paintings and that sort of thing. Those are usually very thick... much more that what we are used to from GW or Vallejo.

I don't really have any experience with using those paints for minis but can't you just take a tiny amount of paint from the tube and then add small bits of water until you have something that you can work with in a miniature?

Also, dont stick to GW. Look for other hobby/modelling stores (like trains, tanks and planes model kits). They are a really popular hobby all around the world so there's probably a few in Egypt too. They usually have a selection of paints more suited to this sort of thing.

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Thanks guys!

they are acrylic paints not enamel, so I'm using tap water. and yes they are multipurpose paints including glass, fabric and plastic (as written on the containers)

usually the normal colors need to be thinned with water to be milk thick texture, it's sometime hard to get the right thickness but I try to work my way through. but the metallic colors are very thick paste. I experimented a lot with them and tried different water ratio, but they dissolve very hard and texture becomes more like water than milk (if you know what I mean) as if its particles float into the water.

I am still looking around for any hobby stores but the ones I found so far are artistic shops as you mentioned. I don't have a problem using any paint brand as long as I can use it for miniature painting. what I am doing now is experimenting with whatever paints I can get to see if it works.

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OFTENTIME,THE SHADOWS SERVE NOT ONLY TO CONCEAL THOSE WHO WISH TO DO EVIL,BUT ALSO PROTECT THOSE WHO SEEK TO DO GOOD

I have several tubes of Pebeo High Viscosity Studio Acrylic. I unfortunately don't find it very useful on miniatures. The paint has very nice, dense pigment, but it is not hard-wearing at all and rubs off raised areas very easily - it would rub off when I was trying to drybrush a lighter shade over it - it's made for canvas, not miniature figures, after all.

As a result, I now only use it for scenery, since it's a lot cheaper than "proper" model paint, and I've already got it so I may as well use it up.

It might work for finer detail areas that won't be handled if you're also able to varnish/spray coat the areas after every layer or two.

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scipio.au AKA Azazelx.

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My miniatures painting blog.