In this post I hope to help those who are struggling to understand what 'thin your paints!' actually means. Figuring this out myself was actually something I discovered by accident and may happen the same for you. A happy accident of course. I was attempting a satin effect on my Lady Olynder model (which did not work by the way!) however, the effect I ended up with was actually far better for the mini. I was basically thinned my paints down to watercolour paint consistency, and layered them up. This isn't a quick method and happens without you realising, because it is so slow, but it is very effective. This follows on from the 'mediums' post and as you can see in the picture above I have tried to provide some examples of paint mixed with these mediums and different types of paint.  1 - this is Mephiston Red straight out of the pot. You can see how thick and pigment heavy this paint is and I never recommend you use this paint in its non-diluted ...

This was supposed to be part of the 'Thinning Your Paints' post but ended up being bigger than planned so I've left it on its own post. Hopefully this will be of use if you are considering using something other than water! This is only a small selection of what is available out there. So I advise you to explore and experiment and of course, have fun! Using Mediums Although water is more than sufficient to thin your paints with, I only use it when I'm blocking in colours on a mini. When I get down to the nitty-gritty of the actual paint job my go to medium is Vallejo's 'Glaze Medium'. 3rd one along from the left in the picture above. As you can see from the picture I have quite a few mediums! Here's a run down of them: Lahmian Medium: used to thin paints without actually watering down the pigment in the paint.  I'm not a big fan of this one as I find it makes the paint go a bit gloopy and does have a bit of sheen on it,  it is very goo...

Another post for #whitebeltpainting that new painters should take into consideration, I know I certainly didn't think about some of these when I started again last year. I actually thought I would end up with more don't's than do's but I have ended up with more positives which is good! I will keep adding to the list as I think of things but these are what I've encountered so far, hopefully they will help you too. Do: Exercise! Our hobby is a sedentary activity (note the irony in that sentence...). Take breaks often and do some exercise, go for a walk, go to the gym, find something you enjoy. Your back and neck will thank you. Use a wet palette as soon as you can. You do not need a super-duper swanky purpose made one. I have been using a Tupperware box, kitchen roll (you can use a sponge, I didn't get on with these) and baking paper for a year and it still works fine for me. Get a colour wheel, either RYB or CMY or both! Watch plenty of YouTube vi...

This is something I wanted to do following the #whitebeltpainting created by @agreatguy_paints on Instagram. This post will mainly focus on preparing for painting competitions, seeing as this is what my main focus is and the area I am trying to work on improving. As and when I think of them as I progress through my paintings. These will also appear in my stories as a saved highlight (when I get round to it). So, without further ado... Painting Tip #1 - plan your colour scheme This may seem a little superfluous to the overall painting of your mini, but I always need to have a plan of some sorts in place before I start painting. Even if it's just picking two colours off the colour wheel as a starting point: 'I want the main colour on this mini to be green'.  If you haven't already, get a colour wheel. Either one you can have in your hand or there are plenty of apps for this.  Get to grips with a little colour theory. You don't need to go nuts on this,...