Tutorial ACRYLIC PAINT THINNER: what to use and how to use it

I don't use Mr. Thinner so I could be wrong, but I don't think it should be able to wash off the MSC (but then you wouldn't be able to wipe the faceup... so I am not sure), it will wipe acrylic off though.
I wouldn't paint on the head before sealing it though becuse it will probably stain. You can paint over watercolor pencil and use water to wipe the pencil off though. Painting over it might make is spread a bit though. Also, make sure to really wipe it all off because it is easy not to notice splotchs from the watercolor pencil.
Hope that helps!

 

thank you! i'll try and lightly do the draft with the watercolour pencils
also.. if i use white pencil.. will the splotch will be even more visible than eyebrow-coloured pencil? D: just wondering ><

 

If you're talking about Mr. Color Thinner, that is what I use to remove MSC, I have heard of someone using it to thin their acrylics, but I've never tried it myself.

As for painting on an unsealed head, I've done it myself lots of times and never had a staining problem, to be honest, I prefer it this way, it's easier to remove acrylic on an unsealed head than an MSC-coated head, if I make a mistake on a coated head, I have to remove all the MSC and start again from scratch.

It also might depend on the acrylics you use, I use Liquitex Heavy Body and they don't stain resin at all, I can't vouch for other brands tho.

 

i use mr colour thinner to remove faceups...and it does a very good job of it. i use mister retarder (retarder is the name of something that thins acrylic etc) and that works

and no, you cant remove watercolour pencil if you have acrylic over the top of it. i have no idea how that would make any sense

 

I have an acrylic paint thinner called floetrol that I've used for years. I don't really want to buy a new thinner, since i have a quart of the floetrol. I was wondering if anyone has ever even heard of it, or used it, and if it'd be safe for use in faceups?

Or if anyone science minded knew the compatibility with resin, as mostly that boggles my mind.

 

Yes it's Mr.Color thinner XD Someone suggested me to use it (especially if I'm using Mr.Color acrylics which I have some but never try yet) That's why I'm wondering if it'll remove the MSC coating @__@;

I'm such a noob with doing fine lines so I know I'm gonna mess up a lot with acrylics XDD; I saw some tutorials which they don't coat at all @_@ I'm kinda scared too try that XDD

Thank you! @_@ I'm kinda confused with the names for all these painting mediums XDD *not an art student and never pay attention during art classes back in junior high*

I assume that the acrylic's colour will outcolour (is that even a word? XD) the watercolour pencil draft and so..those tiny bits of the draft that has not been painted on will be at least removable? @_@

 

if watercolour pencil isnt painted on, then sure, that should be removable. acrylic itself will not budge with water, though, so anything beneath it is definitely staying there

 

I have a simple question, for thinning acrylic, will something just labeled as paint thinner work?

 

Hard to say. Acrylic can be thinned using just water, although it tends bead on resin. The best thing to thin acrylic would be a matte medium. I tend to associate paint thinner with oil paint; making me nervous to put it any where near resin.

 

How would you thin the acrylics with the matte though? D:
Or could you put like actual paint thinner in there...? haha
I'm used to pastels, but my mom wants me to look into using acrylics. I still have yet to do my first faceup ;w;
I should be able to do it soon though~

Oh, and for the gloss for the lips and such.
What would be recommended to use?
And do you have to thin it or anything..?

 

Do you really need Acrylic thinner/medium for faceups? Im not really too sure... is it ok if i just water down the acrylics with just water or will it make the pigment uneven?
Sorry this is a bit of a noob-ish question but i wasn't too sure

 

So far, I've done fine with just adding small drops of water until I get the acrylic the consistency that I want it. But if you use water to thin it too much, it WILL cause pigment issues. Either uneven pigment, or more translucent pigment instead of the opaque pigment the paint should have. Or possibly both. So if you're using water, just be careful and only add a tiny bit at a time to avoid those issues.

 

I've seen it mentioned that water will cause the paint to bead up on the resin. Water works well with acrylics when you're painting on a surface that absorbs the water (canvas, paper, cloth, etc). But resin doesn't actually abosrb water. It just beads and runs off. So paint mixed with it is going to do the same.

A small bottle of liquitex retarder isn't really too expensive, and works great as a thinner. I bought mine for about $5. Honestly, you only use a few drops so it lasts for a long time. Plus, it helps a lot with keeping the paint from drying. If you mess up, and realize areas are uneven, you can wipe it off with a wet cotton ball or Q-tip. Water with acrylics will dry super fast, so if you mess it up, you may have to risk doing a clean wipe. It's not a big deal if you do the paint first. But if you do any blushing between paint coats, you'll have to redo it (and if you're not careful, redo the whole thing).

 

Ooh, I have a question regarding this stuff. Is acrylic brush cleaner the same as acrylic thinner?

 

No, the thinner is used to thin the paint for use, so that you don't have to use it as thick as it comes in the bottle or tube. Brush cleaner is just that, used to clean the acrylic off the brushes you use or other surfaces that the acrylic comes in contact with and will basically break it down.

 

Ah, okay. Thanks Ayas-Shadow! The result for that could have been nasty xDD

I thought it was like turpentine for oils; you could thin the paint and clean your brushes with it.

 

I did my first face-up today and used water instead of a proper thinner, and it seemed to go alright. I didn't have problems with it beading on the surface.

 

the issue with using water with acrylics is, it wont have a stable paint film if you use too much water in it (i.e, the paint wont be even, you can get some parts opaque and some parts really thin within your brush stroke. like if you have ever painted with very cheap acrylics intended for children, you get the same effect because the paint is watered down) and the water evaporates faster than medium and so therell be more inconsistencies if you dont work quickly.
i dont know about beading so much but medium is your best bet unless youre only using small parts water. i /think/ that acrylic can stay even with i think it was 25 or 30 percent water in it, so if you are only using small parts water you should have no problem. but if you are going to use more best to use some kind of acrylic based medium.
(@ayas-shadow, actually with /both/ water and acrylic medium you lose opacity, not just with water)

 

Ah! Thanks for that...the last time I asked about it (never wanted to 'water down' my acrylics before I started doing face-ups for my dolls, so I didn't know anything about doing so) most people who responded said that the thinning mediums WOULDN'T cause the paints to lose opacity, and since I've not bought any to use yet as water's worked fine so far I have no personal experience and could only go off what I was told by others. ^-^ Thanks for the correction.

 

The problem I have had with using water to thin the paint is that I tend to get uneven tones. I use alcohol when I run out of thinner. You have to work fast since alcohol evaporates a lot faster than water, but something about it helps to keep the color consistent.

 

Water always made my paint seem really uneven and I found it had to make fine lines. I have also had the paint "bead" with the water and really didn't enjoy painting with it.

Medium seems to work just fine. My paint has a nice consistency and it goes on very nicely

 

I use water, and great quantities at that. I've never had any trouble, except for when it comes to cleaning a mistake, but usually I coat the head several times so I dont mess up the blushing if I do have a problem.

 

I use a medium called "brush and blend" with Golden Fluid Acrylics. It works really really well and I love it, since the fluid acrylics tend to dry out super fast on their own without it, but the consistency is perfect.

The brush medium wasn't expensive. The paints, however, are.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Acrylics aren't expensive. And contrary to popular belief, you don't have to use the most expensive ones to acheive great results.

I normally paint vinyl with them and I put enough water in them to make them the consistency of milk. I have some acrylic matte medium, but I only use it if I need to make the paint transparent.

 

^ but you do have to remember that, the more expensive the paint is the better it is. if you ever get an acrylic paint that you have to stir or shake up because it separates, it is generally low quality, so watch for that. ive seen people work miracles with low quality paint but it is very very difficult because of how inconsistent your material is from the start and adding anything to it or mixing only makes it more obvious.
that said, you are right than an expensive tool doesnt guarantee a high quality result, there is skill involved, but a low quality tool is not only much harder to work with but will more often than not give you a low quality result riddled with flaws and inconsistencies.
really just considering how low quality paints are made compared to high quality paints, you really do need high quality materials to get a high quality result (unless you are trying to get a specific effect like in abstracts or mixed media where you /dont/ want the paint to be consistent.. but usually not when youre painting a face).
cheap paints are made using less pigment or artificial pigments instead of real pigments (minerals), and other low quality materials, and usually they are watered down or mixed in with a white/translucent paint, thats why you can get the paint cheaper because its so much cheaper to make ^^ ;; these kind of paints are intended for children and amateurs as a cheap alternative to proffessional high quality paint so that they can just play around with it, thats why they can make it cheaply and poorly and inconsistently because these people are not really intending to have a quality result.
i just wanted to clear that bit up because, "contrary to popular belief," it's not a myth, it's a fact
also remember painting vinyl is a lot different from painting resin, at least, from my own experience.

and reitterating what was said before, medium isnt all that expensive. i use a gel medium when i paint with acrylic and it was about four dollars for a large tub of it, the stuff goes a long way and you get a better result than with water.its not like they make medium to trick you into using a more expensive product, but an acrylic based paint is /meant/ to work with acrylic based medium, watercolors are meant to work with water, and oil based paints are meant to work with an oil based medium.. thats why theyre called the same name, ne? @u@ ;;

 

Expensive paint doesn't nessarily mean it's guaranteed to be good paint, but cheapo paints will almost always be lacking in one department or other. I do a lot of miniature painting, and use acrylics almost exclusively, and I have to say it's very dependant on the paints in question. Some paints are formulated to be slightly translucent, while others are heavily pigmented, each characteristic of paint will yield different results depending on the way you use them. Some prefer more solid paints that dry quicker, or more liquid paints that don't break up as easily under heavy dilution. It all depends on how you paint and what style you want to achieve. In general though, most acrylics should work fine with water, but some won't. The best advice I can seriously impart is to find out what you're looking to do, and then with general advice on that style, test it to find a middle ground you're happy with.

It's a good chunk of trial and error, but it's the best way to figure things out IMO~

 

I hope someone can help me, but I went around to my local art store and I got something called "Liquitex Slow-Dri Blending Medium" that looks like this:


Can it work as a thinner? Or is it just a retarder? (Liquitex had so many products...@_@) I'm kind of iffy on using water after reading everyone's comments...

 

I think the Liquitex Slow-Dri Blending Medium can be used as a thinner, but it will also slow down the drying time by quite a bit. It seems similar to the Slow-Dri Gel Retarder I use, and mine works fine as a thinner as long as you're okay with the longer drying time.

The Gel I use is not quite as efficient as an actual thinning product because of its thickness, but it does a good job of adding translucency to the paint without changing the consistency too much. It looks like the stuff you bought might have a thinner, more fluid consistency though.

 

Most acrylic mediums will act as retarders anyways, but outright retarders can stop paint from drying if you use too much, so keep in mind when adding products to your paints. I personally prefer to use glaze medium, or an acrylic flat to cut my paints if I'm looking to cut it's opacity, but as this tends to slow the drying process, I tend to try to minimize it's use.

I'm painted as a hobby for 14-15 years now, and I've never had any problems using plain tap water... There are those who swear by their products and even some who insist on distilled water for painting... Maybe they can help, but in the end, plain water works just fine IMO~

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. I would also think
I would never attempt mixing water with acrylics, I think, instead, it would just be easier and cheaper to just buy the factory-watered-down acrylics like the Apple Barrel, Folk Art, Delta, etc. paints that go for about $1.99 a bottle.

But to each his own. Obviously the method has worked for some and obviously for some it hasn't. Then people get angry with me when I say you really have to try the methods for yourself.

Happy TrIAls!!

 

I used an acrylic retarder early on before I realized how sensitive Mr. Super Clear is to moisture. I coated the head not knowing that the paint was not yet dry and ended up with milky white spots in the MSC in the areas where I'd used paint with the Slow-Dri in it.
I switched to thinning paint with water but I have never been happy with the way the paint is laid unevenly when thinned that way. The very tail end of the line tends to bead up and leave a darker spot. I use Mr. Color thinner very sparingly now instead. I've found out the hard way that too much thinner turns the brush into a cleaning sponge and I end up wiping off the MSC underneath.

 

i went to our local hobbystore where i can buy acryl paint. last time my mother bought some noname acrylics( i don't know on which base they are) and i have DEKA Cristal arcyl color. they are on water base.
lately i import mr. color paint but the paint is so sticky i cannot work with it...
When i went to above mentioned store they told me i don't need any thinner because water will be fine - but she was wrong...

so does anybody know a thinner i can get (maybe even in germany) or by ebay?

 

Well, I'm quite frustrated right now with this whole thinner-retarder-water-whatever thing.

My arcryl paint comes in tubes, and it must be thinned, because it's quite thick otherwise. I tried to use water - but my lines were never thin enough and the paint lost most of its opacity (it's especially frustrating with the browns, that simply turn a reddish color. Not what I want to have on my black haired doll's face).

So I tried thinner and retarder and they are much closer to what I want, except for the fact that now my paint is perpetually diluted and there's no way to get a nice opaque color (pure black becomes mid to light grey and that's it).

So what should I do to get a nicely flowing paint with more opaque colors? I thin it down to the consistency of ink and I use pretty thin brushes (I know of a faceup artist who uses the same brushes and gets fabulous results so I don't think they are the reason of my failure).

I'm at my wit's edn because I feel that I got the hang of pastels, but I really can't get a good faceup if I can't master the eyebrow lines...

 

Can you use TAMIYA X-20A Acrylic Thinner to thin paints? I assume so, but the description says it's used with gloss. o.o

 

So far I've only used water to thin the tube paints I have but as I feel it doesn't work as well as I've seen others use thinner. So I want to try it myself. I have a problem with finding a thinner. The thing is that I don't know the exact word in finnish and I'm having trouble finding a working thinner to my acrylics. The art stores sell me all kinds of things but when I don't know the name of the thing I'm wanting it becomes a problem.

I've bought three different ones so far but they don't seem to work. They won't mix together well and the paint/"thinner" -mix has spots in it that won't blend in no matter how much you ruffle it. But then again I've never used a thinner with acrylics before so I don't know if it's meant to be like that? I hope not, because with the tests I made on a paper it didn't look nice and even. The strokes I made had spots in it.



These are what I used to demonstrate. (I photographed the wrong Tamiya bottle, I was supposed to take a picture of X-20 "Enamel Thinner" but this accidentally ended up in the photo)

Galleria Black Acrylic
Rembrandt Oxide Black Acrylic
Talens Acrylic Medium Mat
Talens Acrylic Retarder
Tamiya Color Enamel Paint X-20 Enamel Thinner

Picture of the things in use.
1 = Talens Acrylic Medium Mat with Rembrandt Acrylic
2 = Tamiya Color Enamel Paint with Rembrandt Acrylic
3 = Talens Acrylic Retarder with Rembrandt Acrylic
4 = Tamiya Color Enamel Paint with Galleria Acrylic
5 = Talens Acrylic Retarder with Galleria Acrylic

Tamiya seems to work out the best but it still has spots in the mixture that end up on the paper when I tried on it. Talens Acrylic Medium Mat is the worst, it's definately too thick to paint anything as delicate as eyelashes. Talens Acrylic Retarder is.. well very spotty as you can see in the pictures.

I tried to buy a Volks acrylics set that had two thinners in the package but they won't ship the items overseas for whatever reason so I try to cope with the things I got and what I can find here in Finland or from some shop that sells items overseas/other country for a good and reasonable price. (If someone can guide me to it please do so) I need guidance, please help me

 

I usually just use water and I haven't had many problems with it when I use enough. But does Windex really work? Its blue though.
Also, My craft/art store said that you thin acrylics with water and everytime I insisted that there are mediums and stuff, she kind of just brushed me off and kept insisting. :/ Bad service.

 

Does anyone know about this brand of acrylic paint thinner and whether or not it's worth purchasing?
http://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/Paint_and_Construction/TAM00081030/product.php

The description says something about being safe for resin.... so I figure someone here uses it/knows what it is.

 

MollyKerr: I bought a bottle of that thinner and "tried" to use it with Tamiya's own acrylics. They just didn't work for me. They didn't blend together at all no matter how much I mixed them up. But I don't know if I just had a bad bottle of the stuff. I doesn't cost really much so you should try using it. Tamiya's colors are great with my other thinner brand thought.

 

Okay I'll keep that in mind as I continue my endless search for face-up materials.

I tried out a paint called Lukas Cryl on my doll last night. It works very well and does not stain (I removed it easily with just a magic eraser). My biggest problem is that it dried way too fast (like I'd paint two eye lashes then go back to reload the brush and it would be hardened D: ) and didn't thin well (only tried water, want to try windex and official paint thinner). I figure that I should try a retarder (or whatever they call the stuff that makes paint moist) and a real thinner to get better results

 

Hey guys, I'm trying to figure out what kind of thinner to get, and I read retarder is a thinner as well? I'm not sure I understood correctly but I saw people talking about retarder to thin their acrylic paint and I'm confused. I thought we were supposed to use thinner?

Also, I have a question, because I will probably order from this page:
So far on this page, there are different kind of thinners. There are ZM Acrylic Color Thinner, TAMIYA X-20A Acrylic Thinner, and Mr. Color Thinner 50ml.
What's the difference between these 3? And is any of them better than the others?

 

I went to a local art supply store and asked about acrylic thinners and they pointed me towards Gamsol. Is this an acrylic thinner, really? I thought it was for oils. Is it safe to use with acrylics and on doll resin? If anyone has used it before please let me know.

*The stuff is supposedly odorless, making it non-hazardous.

 

Liquitex makes two different kinds of varnishes that can also be used as extenders for face-ups. One is gloss which is great for lips and eyes because it looks moist, while the other is matte which is good for brows and painted lashes. I recommend these two liquitex products because they both have UV protection in them as well as acting to thin your pigments. There are some cons to them however. You can over brush them. That means that they act differently as they dry and can continue to look milky or filmy if you mess with them too much.

I pencil my details so that I can brush over them with an additional color. I use watercolor pencils so the colors mix as I work. I do recommend working in layers and starting light. Usually, after I pencil, I start with paints that are super thin so I can see how the colors mix and for that I use a Multi-purpose acrylic polymer called GAC-100 by Golden. Golden makes acrylic pigments that are much smoother than liquitex and that come in little plastic containers with flip lids as well which allow you to dispense single drops and have little waste.

If you want to get the right effect on the face, you have to be mindful of what colors you pick as well. Some are transparent by nature, while others are opaque. That's why when you look on the shelf there are so many whites and blacks available. Each type has a different way of acting when being used and some issues that people are having with paint not offering coverage may be related to this. Both also react differently when you thin them.

I use plastic wrap over a flat surface, or over a Tupperware container with some water in it as a pallet to lessen absorption of the paint into my pallet as well. A lot of fine artists will go so far as to use metal cups in a Tupperware container that has water in the bottom of it to extend their paint's time and have less waste when they have a lot of paint on their plate for a project. You don't have to go this far if you are careful with how you work and work quickly as you don't need a lot of paint generally for BJDs.

I hope this is helpful to anyone who still had questions. I know a lot about paint, though I haven't been able to do a lot of face-ups, because most of my sculptural work uses similar techniques to those used on BJDs. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm always happy to share what I know about the products I've used and what I've had luck with

 

No, you cannot use retarder as a thinner since if you use more than a tiny drop of retarder the acrylic will never dry! The retarder is added to water that you moisturize the brush in.

 

*sigh* I really hope someone can help me with this, though I feel ridiculous for not being able to figure it out myself. I have Liquitex acrylics, a plastic palette, and Mr. Color Thinner, and just can't seem to get.. well, any result at all D: I keep trying different measures of paint to thinner and either end up with thick blobs of paint on my brush that don't spread at all, or thinner full of clumps of paint that haven't blended in. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm getting so frustrated!

 

Hmmm whatever happened to good old water for thinning down acrylics? Acrylics are water based - that's all they need-.
You can add mediums into acrylics to make them more shiny, textured etc but in general water is the best and cheapest solution . Try it and good luck

 

Probably too late but it's Mr Color Thinner. I used it with Golden Acrylics (heavy body, in the tubes) and it did exactly the same thing unless I thinned it out so much that it wasn't workable anyway.

I found water wasn't that great. It made the paint too translucent and weird. I'm not really sure what to get though, there's so many different things. Matte Medium, Flow Release, Flo-Aid.

 

Ok, guys

That tamiya thinner and mr. color thinner....will not work with normal acrylics.

The tamiya thinner is made to work with their own paints. It is a type of acrylic but not the same as normal acrylics. It's more toxic (you can smell it) and is developed for model painting. It's fine to use on your dolls but I prefer normal acrylics.

For mr.color thinner. there are two main types of paints that they produce. A waterbased acrylic paint similar to Tamiya and an oil based enamel. Volks sells the enamel type as far as I know. IT smells terrible and is very toxic. Obviously the thinners don't work with normal acrylics either.

This information is from model and garage kit building which was what I was into before dolls.

If you guys are looking for normal thinners, keep in mind they aren't always called thinners. They can be called extenders or in liquitex, case flo-aid

Retarders are not the same as thinners because retarders can be quite thick and goopy. In my experience, you do not mix a drop into your water....i've never heard of it used that way but to each their own. You mix a tiny bit into your paint and it extends dry time. That's why there can be confusion between extenders, thinners and retarders. The best thing to do is to read the product description. They will usually have info on what the product is for on the product pages of online stores.

If you can't find thinners at your local art store, look for them online. There are a lot of online art stores that are willing to cater to your needs. They cost less than the Tamiya and mr. color you guys are all looking at. Just because Volks sells them does not mean they are the product for you. Volks also produces resin garage kits. It's fine to use the toxic paints if you are careful and you have the right set up. However it's easier and cheaper to use normal art supplies instead of pricier specialized hobby supplies.

EDIT:

And for suggestions, I use a really cheap extender (thinner but in acrylics you rarely come across a product marketed as "thinner") from PLAID otherwise known as "folk art" . It looks like water but is slightly thicker, and will thin out your paint as well as extend dry time.

I've also tried liquitex flo-aid which works well. I do not recommend golden retarder or thinner or whatever they call it. But I do like their paints.

 

Invie - I didn't buy it because it was on Volks it was recommended in a video I saw by a respectable faceup artist (though they're not doing faceups anymore). The video seems to have gone now though so I don't know who it was. I am going to keep my bottle for cleaning airbrushes when I eventually get some (I used to use it for removing faceups but the smell was just awful and made me dizzy, and I used it outside!).

With flo-aid though, it says you have to add water. Is it not possible to just add a drop of pure flo-aid to acrylics without the water? I don't really want to dilute it with water because then I feel like I'm just using water again.

 

yah, the stuff is super toxic so i'm not sure if you want to spray it through your airbrush to clean it (small drops of the stuff in the air is not good). It might be fine if you used a respirator and small amounts to wipe down the airbrush parts tho. Stuff that makes you dizzy is not good for you.

For the flo aid, I would have a small bit in a palette and dip my brush in it and mix with the paint. However, there are several factors in the way I paint that means I already have more water in my paint than most ppl which is why I dont add extra water.

1. I use a wet palette (sta-wet) where the palette paper is on top of a wet sponge. The water in the sponge keeps the paper wet and lets the acrylic paint stay out longer without drying up. At the same time the water often leaches up into the paint through the paper making it slightly more watery.
2. I pick up water in my brush every time I wash it. The water inevitably goes into the paint.
3. I use Golden Fluid acrylics. The paints are very thin. I don't really need to thin them down that much.

It's ok to use a little water in your acrylics. It's just that if you use too much the paint beads in thin lines and you have a jagged line. I think it's fine if you mix a 50/50 solution of the flo aid and water and use that with your paint. Otherwise it's a lot pricier to use that much product.

Of course you can try just using flo-aid if you like. Personally the way I paint, it would take too long to dry if I use too much retarder/extender/thinner. If I make one stroke and I like it I like for it to dry before I make a second stroke next to it in case the second stroke is not good and I want to wipe it off without wiping the first stroke.

Flo-aid isn't my favorite since I have a cheaper extender that I like that works better for me. And I mean, it's much cheaper. I also have an almost full bottle of flo-aid because i really like my cheap extender that much more.

 

Ah. I heard people saying it could be used to clean airbrushes effectively.

And the cheap extender I can't get over in the UK unless I want to spend £10 on it, which ends up costing more than the flow-aid.

 

Which extended do you use?