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Sharon Newhoff

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Oct 17, 2002, 9:11:19 PM10/17/02
to
Ok. This is gonna sound stupid but I've got a couple dumb questions.
First off is there a "better" brand of white / black that goes well
together if you wanted to do a black and white model (say like a
halloween type skeleton or etc.)? I know with like automotive paints,
white paint has a "shade or hue" of another color in it usually so it's
very difficult to "match" up with some colors if you wanted a straight 2
color scheme with the white. Secondly, is there a "secret" to painting
white if you're using it for one of 2 main colors? What about shading /
inking / washing etc. a black and white figure like this? I'm not an
expert painter (yet...hehe) and I've never really painted a figure just
using black and white so this is new to me and I'd rather not completely
destroy the paint job if I can help it. Thanks for any help!

Karyth Teel

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Oct 18, 2002, 3:49:10 AM10/18/02
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"Sharon Newhoff" <snew...@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:3DAF5FB7...@kc.rr.com...
My advice would depend on the nature of the figure. If it's meant to look
like the driven snow, then it is best to paint an off-white, with pure white
drybrushed on top. If this is meant to look like the white parts of a
uniform that has seen some wear, then using a very light grey undercoat,
wash grey, then dryrush offwhite. this will look white without looking like
a new sneaker.

If you're painting bone, that's a whole other story, one that is better
answered here:
http://www.paintingclinic.com/operations/operation.htm
Pick a method, and see how it works.

As for using white as part of a paint scheme, I doubt that the small surface
area, combined with undercoating, will allow much of the hue to show
through. There are warm whites and cool whites though, and it's hard to see
which is which in the store. It's a cop-out, but it never hurts to try a
few brands of white to get one that works. Personally, when I need a bright
white, I used Artists Acrylics, namely the Winsor & Newton Galeria. A tube
should run you about 2 bucks, and it'll last you forever. It's a bit
thick, which makes it ideal for drybrushing too.

I hope that helps,

Karyth Teel


Sharon Newhoff

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Oct 18, 2002, 8:22:23 AM10/18/02
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Well this should sufficiently screw you up. I'm trying to paint a "gothic anime
angel" so to speak. White skin but I want it to look more "angelic / powdery"
and then black corset / black thigh high boots, black elbow high gloves and
black hair. So there's going to be a fair amount of white especially her face ,
arms etc. I don't want her to look nasty undead though just more of a white /
black goth look. Any suggestions based on that if it hasnt confused you. hehe.

John Hwang

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Oct 18, 2002, 12:21:08 PM10/18/02
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Sharon Newhoff snew...@kc.rr.com wrote:
>Ok. This is gonna sound stupid but I've got a couple dumb questions.
>First off is there a "better" brand of white / black that goes well
>together if you wanted to do a black and white model (say like a
>halloween type skeleton or etc.)?

Not particularly. Black and white are pretty straightforward as far as
painting goes. However, the key thing is not to paint with *pure* black or
white except as deep shadow or highlight, respectively. I can't stress this
enough. Use an off-black and an off-white instead.

Personally, I for off-blacks, I prefer the Floquil/Polly S/Polly Scale range of
acrylics. They have about a half-dozen off-black colors. For off-white, I'm
using the old GW "Elf Grey", now Coat D'Arms.

>I know with like automotive paints, white paint has a "shade or hue" of
another
>color in it usually so it's very difficult to "match" up with some colors if
you
>wanted a straight 2 color scheme with the white.

Greys tend to have a bit of a purplish cast, due to a bit of blue to cool it,
and a bit of red to warm it. Knowing whether you're using a cool bluish, warm
reddish, or muddy brownish black or white is useful in getting the contrasts
correct.

>Secondly, is there a "secret" to painting
>white if you're using it for one of 2 main colors?

Yes. Use off-white for white, and basecoat the white with grey.

>What about shading /
>inking / washing etc. a black and white figure like this?

Black washes will generally do fine, tho depending on effect, a grey wash will
be good.

>I'm not an expert painter (yet...hehe) and I've never really painted a figure
>just using black and white so this is new to me and I'd rather not completely
>destroy the paint job if I can help it. Thanks for any help!

Good luck.
--
--- John Hwang "JohnHw...@cs.com.no.com"
\-|-/
| A.K.D. F.E.M.C.
| Horned Blood Cross Terror LED Speed Jagd Destiny

Markham J Eggleton

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Oct 18, 2002, 4:12:30 PM10/18/02
to

"Sharon Newhoff" <snew...@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:3DAFFCF4...@kc.rr.com...

> Well this should sufficiently screw you up. I'm trying to paint a "gothic
anime
> angel" so to speak. White skin but I want it to look more "angelic /
powdery"
> and then black corset / black thigh high boots, black elbow high gloves
and
> black hair. So there's going to be a fair amount of white especially her
face ,
> arms etc. I don't want her to look nasty undead though just more of a
white /
> black goth look. Any suggestions based on that if it hasnt confused you.
hehe.
>
Goth tends to be a very stark look (speaking as a former goth), so for the
white I'd suggest a base coat of the darkest brown you can find, then use a
severe grade-change to bleached bone or possibly ice blue (depending on the
feel - bone for warmth, blue for coldth). Then gradual changes in shade up
to almost (but not completely total) white. The best source material is the
Sandman comics (the Neil Gaiman Endless ones) as some of the artwork in
these uses some good techniques for getting across the starky gothness.

For the black, use a black ink wash over either midnight blue (again, the
cold option) or almost black red (for the warm and inviting approach). I'd
also consider a few tiny flashes of colour to emphasise the overall contrast
of the figure/image. If you're going for the warm look than a good
complementary colour is scarlet, while a strong blue would work well with
the cold approach.

For the flesh, a good matt varnish would be almost de rigueur, as this will
give the impression of heavy make-up, while on the boots especially, and
possibly on the corset, a satin varnish would give a leathery feel to the
textiles.

I know that there are probably some people out there who might disagree with
these suggestions but it's the way I'd do it. (So there!)

Have fun

MJE


Robert Singers

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Oct 18, 2002, 6:00:24 PM10/18/02
to
"Sharon Newhoff" wrote

> Well this should sufficiently screw you up. I'm trying to paint a "gothic
anime
> angel" so to speak. White skin but I want it to look more "angelic / powdery"
> and then black corset / black thigh high boots, black elbow high gloves and
> black hair. So there's going to be a fair amount of white especially her face
,
> arms etc. I don't want her to look nasty undead though just more of a white /
> black goth look. Any suggestions based on that if it hasnt confused you.
hehe.

I would suggest not top posting, reading the FAQ at http://www.rgmw.org and
painting in the palest flesh colours and then using a diluted wash of blue ink.
Check out the vampire here http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/yodabob/ for an
example.


Andy

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Oct 19, 2002, 4:53:17 AM10/19/02
to
johnhw...@cs.com.no.com (John Hwang) wrote in message news:<20021018122108...@mb-ch.news.cs.com>...

<<>>
> Personally, I for off-blacks, I prefer the Floquil/Polly S/Polly Scale range of
> acrylics. They have about a half-dozen off-black colors. For off-white, I'm
> using the old GW "Elf Grey", now Coat D'Arms.

I generally use cheap inscribe/andreas acrylics ( not the US
Andrea/Vallejo ) but where quality counts I reckon Liquitex are the
best.

For the highlighting on whites to look REALLY white, technically, you
need contrast and hence the off-white business.

For this project, I would suggest a blue-white mid tone, but you could
go the warm way and add a little brown.

Highlights to bright white are best done with titanium white. No
that's not a daft-based-on-nuthin name like citadel use. Titanium
whites use titanium... oxide or some such...


>
> >I know with like automotive paints, white paint has a "shade or hue" of
> another
> >color in it usually so it's very difficult to "match" up with some colors if
> you
> >wanted a straight 2 color scheme with the white.
>
> Greys tend to have a bit of a purplish cast, due to a bit of blue to cool it,
> and a bit of red to warm it. Knowing whether you're using a cool bluish, warm
> reddish, or muddy brownish black or white is useful in getting the contrasts
> correct.

In painting, that blue + red + black is called a neutral.
If you look at a lot of oil paintings of scenery... the ones don't
look unnaturally crisp will likely have a haze in the distance and
neutral tones will be used for trees and such like back there.


>
> >Secondly, is there a "secret" to painting
> >white if you're using it for one of 2 main colors?
>
> Yes. Use off-white for white, and basecoat the white with grey.

Ummmm...
I'd go for white undercoat every time with a figure is going to have
bright colours. Otherwise you have to work harder to get bright
white.


>
> >What about shading /
> >inking / washing etc. a black and white figure like this?
>
> Black washes will generally do fine, tho depending on effect, a grey wash will
> be good.

I'd never use a black wash... there again I'd never dip.
For deep shadows, liquitex payne's grey ( blue + black ) thinned +
johnsons Kleer ( gloss acrylic varnish ) so it'll go on thin and even.


>
> >I'm not an expert painter (yet...hehe) and I've never really painted a figure
> >just using black and white so this is new to me and I'd rather not completely
> >destroy the paint job if I can help it. Thanks for any help!

Just straight black and white might not be so good.
On a figure mainly black and white, if you have a small area of
different colour this will grab the viewer's attention.
Give it red eyes, eg, and it'll look pretty weird and anyone will
immediately look straight at them.

People are also used to seeing make-up on girls.
So eye shadow and such like all look appropriate.

Inks...
Some random thoughts.

Staining technique.
There's a technique some people use on 15mils.
Undercoat white.
Use un-thinned ink to block in all colours other than black belts
(usually we're talking naps or other uniforms ).
Dot on any details
That's it...

You can mix ink and acrylic paints for staining, although if you use
the likes of liquitex they already have the properties you're after
there.
Stains work best over a pre-shaded figure, IMO.
Some people are happy to slap lead on the table straight stained over
pre-shade but I prefer to use the technique as a basis with lo-lights
and hi-lights emphasised.

Artist acrylic inks are at least as good as citadel and far cheaper.

Printers ink is quite expensive ( ~ 4 quid a little pot ) but is good
for metallics.
Artist metallic acrylic ink has particularly fine particles - these
are usually metal kind of plated onto silicate iirc.


>
> Good luck.
Definitely.

HTH

Regards,
Andy O'Neill
www.wargamer.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm
or, for no javascript and a faster load...
www.wargamer.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sitemap.htm

John Hwang

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Oct 22, 2002, 12:03:44 AM10/22/02
to
ao...@lycos.co.uk (Andy) wrote:
>johnhw...@cs.com.no.com (John Hwang) wrote ...

>For the highlighting on whites to look REALLY white,
>technically, you need contrast and hence the off-white
>business.

Or you "cheat" and use a wee bit of blue. :)

>> >Secondly, is there a "secret" to painting
>> >white if you're using it for one of 2 main colors?
>>
>> Yes. Use off-white for white, and basecoat the white
>> with grey.
>
>Ummmm...
>I'd go for white undercoat every time with a figure is going
>to have bright colours. Otherwise you have to work harder
>to get bright white.

Given that I *never* want a "bright" white or "bright" colors, I'll continue to
undercoat my whites with grey. :P

Note that I'm going for a more "scale" or "realistic" approach in painting.

>> >What about shading /
>> >inking / washing etc. a black and white figure like this?
>>
>> Black washes will generally do fine, tho depending on
>> effect, a grey wash will be good.
>
>I'd never use a black wash...

I do this all the time, with off-black washes as backup or for particular
effects. For his "black and white" project, the harshness of a true black wash
is appropriate.

>there again I'd never dip.

Not without highlighting afterwards...

>Stains work best over a pre-shaded figure, IMO.

Agree. I've used this technique a few times, and it's always come out rather
nicely.

robD

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Oct 24, 2002, 4:46:42 AM10/24/02
to

Sharon Newhoff <snew...@kc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:3DAF5FB7...@kc.rr.com...

Inscribe does a good black they call raven (code 1732) 59 ml bottle
and i have been using
Anitasall purpose acrylic white (code 11001 ) again in 59ml bottles (very
smooth with excelent coverage)

water down well for washes , the more you wet them out the more opaque a
wash you will get

99p a bottle frome the local colemans the stationers

Rob D


Lane Shutt

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Oct 25, 2002, 1:49:33 PM10/25/02
to
Sharon Newhoff wrote:
>
> Well this should sufficiently screw you up. I'm trying to paint
> a "gothic anime angel" so to speak. White skin but I want it to
> look more "angelic / powdery"
> I don't want her to look nasty undead though just more of a
> white / black goth look. Any suggestions based on that if it
> hasnt confused you. hehe.


Try a base color of Elf Flesh.
Wash lightly with a mix of Chestnut and Yelow ink.
Drybrush heavily with a mix of Elf Flesh and White.
Work up to pure white as highlight.

The pale flesh, toned down wash and very pale highlights
would give the impression of a (super)naturaly fair skin
rather than heavily made up.

--
Lane Shutt

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