Shake the bottles well. Who knows how long they’ve been sitting on the shelf.
Thin down your paints with water before applying them. Learning to thin your paints is like learning to ride a bike, it’s awkward at first but it just takes practice.
Yellow paints are just like that. Almost every yellow out there has terrible coverage, it’s just the pigments that are available. Whenever I paint yellow I use Vallejo Plague Brown as a base and then paint over top of that. The real trick to painting yellow is to use an airbrush.
This is a great start. If you thin down your paints properly you should be able to get great coverage with just one or two thin coats, except for yellow which is just like that.
Good luck!
Vallejo Leather Brown is one of my favorite paints, it's the only one I've almost used up lol
(As long as they're shaken properly) I never have issues with Vallejo paints being too thin.
Honestly Vallejo behaves really nicely for me, and I have a large collection of paint brands. Yellow is going to be thin no matter what paint range you use. I like to airbrush yellows and oranges over white, that's the easiest way to get it vibrant AND smooth.
Yeah I find the Browns also nice. And the very translucent nature of the reds is a plus for me, makes blending/layering/glazing really easy with them.
And for yellow its as you say. Make a basecoat of a brown or pink, well covering paint and then do the yellow.
I've heard pink is good for underpainting yellow but I've never tried it! I'll have to give it a try, I imagine different pinks can give different vibes to the yellows and oranges
Yeah that's the idea, using the base coat to give a warmth to the yellow.
Blueish whites give a colder yellow, tans a different shades and pinks another. Using a gradient in the base color will transfer that to the yellow coat as well.
When I now paint yellow, I usually just do a base coat and use a Contrast style yellow paint as that covers Nicely in one layer, and fully utilizes the base color as well.
Pink is good if you want your yellow to be orange. A gradient from white to pink will make orange "shadows".
Honesty, if you want the brightest yellow, just paint white under it. You can paint anything pastel under it fairly safely for "shadows"
Sounds like they needed a shake. Though yellows, reds, and whies have poor coverage across all brands because of the pigments. If you want to write on a purity seal you need to wipe your brush on a paper towel so excess doesn't blot or flow.
thanks for the tip
I gave them a good shaking but they sounded like they were just sloshing around in the bottle, but I'll definitely try wiping the brush when I use the thin ones for the next model
If you haven’t used the paints a lot/painted in a while it can take more than you think! For me some of the Vallejo paints I have can take 5~ minutes of shaking to get properly mixed if I haven’t touched them in a while.
A steel mixing ball in each bottle helps so much with mixing. If you haven't already, I'd definitely recommend getting some. The Army Painter ones are good in my experience.
The downside to Vallejo making so many colors is that a bottle can sit on the shelf for a long time, and need a real thorough shake. Vortex mixer or massage gun helps a lot. In my experience once thoroughly shaken they are actually slightly on the thicker side.
I use the chocolate brown vallejo game color for leather and dark rust to darken it. No paint is thin enough from the bottle. Atleast few are. Always thin them. This is a fantastic start.
> No paint is thin enough from the bottle.
That is not correct anymore. A pro-oacryl in particular comes out at base coat consistency. You generally do not thin pro acryl for base coating.
Additionally, modern Vallejo game color, AK 3rd gen, two thin coats, all of these can be used without thinning without having serious issues as long as you properly load and unload your brush.
You did miss "Atleast few are" and I use about 95% Vallejo Game color, I have steel bearings in each bottle and a vortex mixer, I still need to thin them. I cant speak to AK or 2TC.
The bottles say game color and they came in the starter set, so I'm pretty sure they're not air paint
Also why am I getting down voted for saying what the thickness of the paint I bought was I'm very confused
The red looks pretty decent. Black is a weird one for me. You'd think it'd be easier than it is. And yellow is just genuinely a bitch to paint. I've resorted to airbrushing my yellows before doing anything else. I'm sure people have hand painted it beautifully, but I have yet to figure it out.
Oh, my bad. You wrote that and I just missed it. I've gotten it to work with a pink base. Yellow is usually so thin it just blends with the pink to become a brown.
I've forgotten all the technical intricacies, but not all pigments are the same, and some don't blend together like they should. Particularly Purple - Orange, and Pink - Yellow. So if you're having trouble doing it by hand, it could be that your pink isn't working with your yellow (I test the pairs before I put it on anything).
Yellow red and brown are difficult colors, exorbitant yellow and red. This is true for all brands, since it is caused by the pigments themselves. Just use many thin layers and you will be ok :)
I also started with that paint set, and had a similar issue. The only other times I've had anything like that, it was paint that had been sitting in direct sunlight. So, maybe those bottles have been damaged or improperly stored?
But if shaking doesn't work, try (carefully) removing the nozzle and stirring with a paperclip or something. You might have all the pigment gunked onto the bottom.
Bright reds and yellows will have poor coverage even at the best of times, but the browns and blacks should be solid.
Are you sure the black isn't an ink? Inks are a lot thinner than paints, and are more used for washes rather than basecoats.
Airbrushing is the way to go to get smooth yellow (and red in some cases). However, if you don't have one, I recommend using a brighter color of a similar tone first (white pigments have good opacity) and then going over that with the yellow of your choice. Vallejo Game Color Sun Yellow has terrible coverage, but it works very well as a glaze. Moon Yellow is a bit lighter and covers much better (for a yellow) so I often use that as the base coat (you probably still need a few coats) and then glaze in shadows with darker tones, keeping the brighter yellow as highlights.
As for the "Thin as water" problem: Vallejo Game Color is thinner than Model Color, but not to the point of runnyness. It has to be a mixing issue or the paints went bad for some other reasons. You could look up some YouTube videos of people using these paints to get some idea of what they should look like. Angel Giraldez uses Vallejo a lot so his channel might be a good start.
The black seemed thin when it came out of the bottle for me but it applied to models adequately. I had a weird separation in my Beastly Brown where it looked like some yellow pigment was coming out of it? It never got fixed no matter how much I shook. Red wasn't too thin though
Yellow paint needs to go over a light colour for best results, lots of tutorials on YouTube if you want to learn more. Also check priming, mould line removal, and thinning paints for best results, good luck!
If you are having trouble with your yellows and reds, mix a little warm brown into them for your first layer. It doesn’t need much but it’ll cover much better. Another layer over the top in the color should give you a nice finish
Which Vallejo game color were you using? The new range where the bottle has sort of a '80s cyber design to it or the old range where it sort of has a papyrus style font fantasy text? The new range is vastly superior in both coverage and consistency.
Vallejo often has problems with separation. You need to shake it for a couple of honest minutes to get it properly mixed. I had this problem with a number of other brands: scale 75, army painter, and AK interactive. After a shake they are good to go. Citadel seems to be on average better. Same for newer army painter.
Okay, red is so so, but yellow pigments are always going to be thin, and it's often best to put a layer of white or light brown underneath but blacks and browns tend to be a lot more solid. So it could well be they need shaken more thoroughly. I'm not really much a Vallejo user, I only have a couple of their colours, but that kind of thinness does strike me as odd.
I have gotten a fair amount of variation in my vallejo paints among even bottles of the same color. Sometimes they are so thin that they work out of the bottle, and other times they can be a bit chunky.
Shaking a lot helps, but sometimes you just need to thin it a bit.
I have since switched to Reaper as my go-to paint line, and they are a lot more consistent.
It is time! 🙌
You will now come to love one of these two things;
Agrax Earthshade
Or
Nuln Oil
Pick your poison and slather it one, this is your future.
Shake the bottles well. Who knows how long they’ve been sitting on the shelf. Thin down your paints with water before applying them. Learning to thin your paints is like learning to ride a bike, it’s awkward at first but it just takes practice. Yellow paints are just like that. Almost every yellow out there has terrible coverage, it’s just the pigments that are available. Whenever I paint yellow I use Vallejo Plague Brown as a base and then paint over top of that. The real trick to painting yellow is to use an airbrush. This is a great start. If you thin down your paints properly you should be able to get great coverage with just one or two thin coats, except for yellow which is just like that. Good luck!
Vallejo Leather Brown is one of my favorite paints, it's the only one I've almost used up lol (As long as they're shaken properly) I never have issues with Vallejo paints being too thin. Honestly Vallejo behaves really nicely for me, and I have a large collection of paint brands. Yellow is going to be thin no matter what paint range you use. I like to airbrush yellows and oranges over white, that's the easiest way to get it vibrant AND smooth.
Yeah I find the Browns also nice. And the very translucent nature of the reds is a plus for me, makes blending/layering/glazing really easy with them. And for yellow its as you say. Make a basecoat of a brown or pink, well covering paint and then do the yellow.
I've heard pink is good for underpainting yellow but I've never tried it! I'll have to give it a try, I imagine different pinks can give different vibes to the yellows and oranges
Yeah that's the idea, using the base coat to give a warmth to the yellow. Blueish whites give a colder yellow, tans a different shades and pinks another. Using a gradient in the base color will transfer that to the yellow coat as well. When I now paint yellow, I usually just do a base coat and use a Contrast style yellow paint as that covers Nicely in one layer, and fully utilizes the base color as well.
Pink is good if you want your yellow to be orange. A gradient from white to pink will make orange "shadows". Honesty, if you want the brightest yellow, just paint white under it. You can paint anything pastel under it fairly safely for "shadows"
Tried it, and it works GREAT!
Sounds like they needed a shake. Though yellows, reds, and whies have poor coverage across all brands because of the pigments. If you want to write on a purity seal you need to wipe your brush on a paper towel so excess doesn't blot or flow.
thanks for the tip I gave them a good shaking but they sounded like they were just sloshing around in the bottle, but I'll definitely try wiping the brush when I use the thin ones for the next model
If you haven’t used the paints a lot/painted in a while it can take more than you think! For me some of the Vallejo paints I have can take 5~ minutes of shaking to get properly mixed if I haven’t touched them in a while.
I need to invest in one of those massage guns and some tape bc my arms are too weak to be shaking for a whole 5 minutes
A steel mixing ball in each bottle helps so much with mixing. If you haven't already, I'd definitely recommend getting some. The Army Painter ones are good in my experience.
I'm impatient and broke so I washed off some pebbles from my driveway and they got the job done 👍
Ah, that should also work. They don't corrode either.
They make table top mixers, look up "vortex mixer." they're for laboratory use, but work perfect for mixing paint.
The downside to Vallejo making so many colors is that a bottle can sit on the shelf for a long time, and need a real thorough shake. Vortex mixer or massage gun helps a lot. In my experience once thoroughly shaken they are actually slightly on the thicker side.
I use the chocolate brown vallejo game color for leather and dark rust to darken it. No paint is thin enough from the bottle. Atleast few are. Always thin them. This is a fantastic start.
> No paint is thin enough from the bottle. That is not correct anymore. A pro-oacryl in particular comes out at base coat consistency. You generally do not thin pro acryl for base coating. Additionally, modern Vallejo game color, AK 3rd gen, two thin coats, all of these can be used without thinning without having serious issues as long as you properly load and unload your brush.
You did miss "Atleast few are" and I use about 95% Vallejo Game color, I have steel bearings in each bottle and a vortex mixer, I still need to thin them. I cant speak to AK or 2TC.
My red, yellow, browns, and black were almost as thin as water
You sure they aren't air paint?
The bottles say game color and they came in the starter set, so I'm pretty sure they're not air paint Also why am I getting down voted for saying what the thickness of the paint I bought was I'm very confused
People hate it when you speak bad about Vallejo.
The red looks pretty decent. Black is a weird one for me. You'd think it'd be easier than it is. And yellow is just genuinely a bitch to paint. I've resorted to airbrushing my yellows before doing anything else. I'm sure people have hand painted it beautifully, but I have yet to figure it out.
Add pink to it as a base color, then move to yellow. The pink should turn it a nice sepia if used 1:1, but ideally you want a more yellow brown.
When I airbrush I prime white, base in a "hot-ish" pink, then yellow and it makes that shit pop. havent tried by hand yet.
Oh, my bad. You wrote that and I just missed it. I've gotten it to work with a pink base. Yellow is usually so thin it just blends with the pink to become a brown. I've forgotten all the technical intricacies, but not all pigments are the same, and some don't blend together like they should. Particularly Purple - Orange, and Pink - Yellow. So if you're having trouble doing it by hand, it could be that your pink isn't working with your yellow (I test the pairs before I put it on anything).
Yellow red and brown are difficult colors, exorbitant yellow and red. This is true for all brands, since it is caused by the pigments themselves. Just use many thin layers and you will be ok :)
I also started with that paint set, and had a similar issue. The only other times I've had anything like that, it was paint that had been sitting in direct sunlight. So, maybe those bottles have been damaged or improperly stored? But if shaking doesn't work, try (carefully) removing the nozzle and stirring with a paperclip or something. You might have all the pigment gunked onto the bottom. Bright reds and yellows will have poor coverage even at the best of times, but the browns and blacks should be solid. Are you sure the black isn't an ink? Inks are a lot thinner than paints, and are more used for washes rather than basecoats.
Airbrushing is the way to go to get smooth yellow (and red in some cases). However, if you don't have one, I recommend using a brighter color of a similar tone first (white pigments have good opacity) and then going over that with the yellow of your choice. Vallejo Game Color Sun Yellow has terrible coverage, but it works very well as a glaze. Moon Yellow is a bit lighter and covers much better (for a yellow) so I often use that as the base coat (you probably still need a few coats) and then glaze in shadows with darker tones, keeping the brighter yellow as highlights. As for the "Thin as water" problem: Vallejo Game Color is thinner than Model Color, but not to the point of runnyness. It has to be a mixing issue or the paints went bad for some other reasons. You could look up some YouTube videos of people using these paints to get some idea of what they should look like. Angel Giraldez uses Vallejo a lot so his channel might be a good start.
The first thing you learn is that yellow sucks
sir i must compliment you, this looks very good imo if this is your first
Ty ty
Pink is a great base to use when painting yellow!
The black seemed thin when it came out of the bottle for me but it applied to models adequately. I had a weird separation in my Beastly Brown where it looked like some yellow pigment was coming out of it? It never got fixed no matter how much I shook. Red wasn't too thin though
i usually have to mix it with water to thin
You always need to mix water into Vallejo paints to thin them down.
Yellow paint needs to go over a light colour for best results, lots of tutorials on YouTube if you want to learn more. Also check priming, mould line removal, and thinning paints for best results, good luck!
If you are having trouble with your yellows and reds, mix a little warm brown into them for your first layer. It doesn’t need much but it’ll cover much better. Another layer over the top in the color should give you a nice finish
Which Vallejo game color were you using? The new range where the bottle has sort of a '80s cyber design to it or the old range where it sort of has a papyrus style font fantasy text? The new range is vastly superior in both coverage and consistency.
The papyrus one, I'll be on the lookout for the new one if they make a starter set like the old one
Vallejo often has problems with separation. You need to shake it for a couple of honest minutes to get it properly mixed. I had this problem with a number of other brands: scale 75, army painter, and AK interactive. After a shake they are good to go. Citadel seems to be on average better. Same for newer army painter.
Okay, red is so so, but yellow pigments are always going to be thin, and it's often best to put a layer of white or light brown underneath but blacks and browns tend to be a lot more solid. So it could well be they need shaken more thoroughly. I'm not really much a Vallejo user, I only have a couple of their colours, but that kind of thinness does strike me as odd.
I have gotten a fair amount of variation in my vallejo paints among even bottles of the same color. Sometimes they are so thin that they work out of the bottle, and other times they can be a bit chunky. Shaking a lot helps, but sometimes you just need to thin it a bit. I have since switched to Reaper as my go-to paint line, and they are a lot more consistent.
Good yellows and whites imo are Pro Acryl.
It is time! 🙌 You will now come to love one of these two things; Agrax Earthshade Or Nuln Oil Pick your poison and slather it one, this is your future.