Using Mediums


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 good for tying up colours and smoothing paint out as a final coat. 
  • it is also very good for thinning out GW's metallic paints

Contrast Medium:

  • used to thin down GW's range of contrast paints, they do advise not to use water with the paints but water is fine
  • I haven't really used this much, but I think I did try it with normal paint once and it didn't really work.
Glaze Medium:
  • The best (in my opinion) of Vallejo's range of mediums
  • it thins paint without killing the pigment
  • does not leave a sheen
Matt Medium:
  • This is a bit thicker than the glaze, I know some people use this instead of the glaze but I tend to use this in specific scenarios
  • There are some GW shade paints that are pigs and leave an awful sheen when they dry (I'm looking at you Carroburg Crimson!). Mix in some of this and you won't have that problem. 
  • It's also really good if you have a shine on your model once you've finished that you don't want.  Just mix with some water and apply as a thin wash and bye bye shine!
Thinner Medium: 
  • Same as the glaze and matt, but this isn't my favourite as it tends to whiten paints. It has quite a creamy texture and that actually gets added to the raw paint. So I don't really use this one at all...
Retarder Medium: 
  • Used to enable wet blending for a longer duration of time, however;
  • It is very gloopy!
  • I think I have used this twice now and I struggle to get on with it. It just seems to be very messy and I'd rather not bother.
Last but not least...

Water
  • available from any tap in your house
  • perfect for laying down base coats and blocking in colour
  • not good for working with white-based colours (we no likely water/tide marks!)
Obviously these comments are my own, from my own experiences of using these mediums. I am not advocating you go out and buy a load, the reason I have so many is that one of my local gaming shops just happen to have them and I wanted to try them out. 

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