Thankfully, Army Painter has a mixing guide pdf on their website that you can download and save and it will show you how to mix different colors to get lighter or completely different hues. Some highlights can be achieved by simply mixing the color with white paint or a mixing medium while others need to be mixed with several different colors. This is when you’d need to mix one or more paints to get that perfect color and intensity. Or, maybe you want to add a highlight in a few areas and realize that the highlight color has not already been included in the set. Sometimes you notice that a color you need to paint on your miniature is not a color that has been included in the set of paints you have. You want to avoid the end product looking splotchy so thinning the product helps the flow of the wash which in turn allows you to paint an even coat with a good consistency. Thinning your wash is also helpful when you’re painting a large surface area. If you thin out the wash and use a thinner brush, you can add more wash in places you want a darker color and less in places where you want the color to be more muted or lighter. Even though washes are already pretty thin, sometimes they are too dark for the part of the miniature you are painting.įor instance, skin tone is something that typically has a lot of variances in color and most washes will not account for that in their mix. Thinning it out with a medium also helps you to blend better and relatively easily. This helps to evenly distribute the pigment in the wash better and allows you to use a thinner brush for more control over your shading.
You don’t need to thin out your army painter washes, but if you struggling with the wash and you want more control of the movement of the liquid then you can thin it with an acrylic medium.