Paint thickness suggestions

One thing I'm having problem with is knowing when my paint is thin enough.

 

It's either just on the side of too thick or it's very watery. I've tried changing the number of drops of thinner and I'm just not finding the sweet spot.

 

What sort of consistency do you look for generally?

Not too thick that it is clumping but just thin enough that it still has strong pigments.

Not too thick that it is clumping but just thin enough that it still has strong pigments.

 

By strong pigment do you mean consistent color coverage or do you mean that it still primarily is the color and when dry is definitely visible?

 

Because, I've gotten reasonable colors with very thin paint, but I will often have to do two or three layers of the same color to get the coverage I want by that particular color.

 

And by too thick I mean it spreads well, but still feels like the color is almost too bold, even when layered.

Not too thick that it is clumping but just thin enough that it still has strong pigments.

 

By strong pigment do you mean consistent color coverage or do you mean that it still primarily is the color and when dry is definitely visible?

 

Because, I've gotten reasonable colors with very thin paint, but I will often have to do two or three layers of the same color to get the coverage I want by that particular color.

 

And by too thick I mean it spreads well, but still feels like the color is almost too bold, even when layered.

 

By pigmented I meant the paint still has it's original colour and that it covers evenly on the vinyl. If the paint is too thin it will not give you an even spread throughout the line. I hope that makes sense, I can take some photos to show you what I mean when I have time. I don't like layering my colours if I can help it because that adds thickness. But sometimes, it can't be helped because of the nature of the paint or if you want to get a particular colour.

 

Airi's faceup was done in 2 layers. First, a layer of brown and a very diluted black on top to darken it just a bit.

 

If you are having problems with coverage I would suggest switching paints or try not to thin it out too much. If it's covering well but the colour is too bold than either switch your paint colour. Or, you can do what I do, let the paint dry and scrub it off lightly to get that thinned out colour. (Airi's light brown eyebrows were done this way because I did not have the right colour).

No, that makes sense. And I'm doing my work in 2 layers for the main acrylic work.

 

In this picture you can see though how getting an inconsistent consistency has caused me problems. If you look at the kohl you can see in the top eyelashes I was struggling to keep the paint at the thickness I wanted though I wasn't adding any more thinner after I started. I was using a mix of black and the peach-brown blend I had used as the first layer. But, it would vary between being too dark to being a sort of grey sheen.

 

I'm using the volks paints but not the skin tones set.

 

That's an interesting idea of rubbing part of the paint off after it's dry. Did you do that with a cloth or an eraser?