mixing paint and water

A couple of bits of advice, if you are using high quality paints, I suggest using a thinning medium rather than water, it gives good results. I use Vallejo and I get mine at miniature market. Another thing I like to use is a wet palette. I also got mine at miniature market (I swear I am not affiliated with them, but it is a great site/store), but it's essentially a piece of paper on top of a wet sponge, keeps the paint moist and you can mix colors easily.

That depends on a lot of stuff. Paint brand, metallic/nonmetallic, distilled or tap water, temperature, etc.

The cheap craft paints are terrible to work with, very chalky and clumpy, though they work better with primer. The expensive hobby paints are more forgiving.

All I do is leave my brush a little damp before loading it with paint, I don't do any external mixing. The dampness is enough to get rid of brushstrokes because it helps the paint self-level. Its basically watering down on the fly.

So yeah, its trial and error. Its frustrating getting to where you need to be. It helps if you see someone paint in person, to get a real feel for whats going on. Videos don't give you the tactile part of it, which was important for me anyway.

And eyes are just hard! Try a fine tipped brush to do the white parts, then switch to super sharp colored pencils or fine tip markers for the irises/eyelashes.

Thanks. I think ill try just wet brush and paint from the tub tonight. I'm redoing my classics collection raphael's eyes because they were looking down. Also a nightmare getting paint off - I've read alcohol helps. I assume it's some alcohol you have to go buy somewhere and not just vodka eh? (I am just full of dumb questions, yes sir)