Painting!
J. Magee
Hello all.
To all those veteran painters out, please help me. I just got my
citadel paint set but I got a problem. When I try to paint my minis,
the paints look thin and "weak" when I apply the paints to my minis.
I have tried to mix it with water, as the little manual said to do but
this even makes the paint look more weak. When I say weak I mean that
you can see through the paint to the undercoat below(no totatly see
through but you know what I mean). How can I make the paint strong
and rich where as I can just apply the paint in 1 or 2 coats without
applying 4+coats and making the paint look thick? Also, how can one
make the recesses of the miniature look dark and such? FInally, how
do you use highlights and washes?
Thanks in advance.
James
Paul Clegg
Well, I'm not a veteran yet, but I'm getting there... :)
If your paint is translucent (ie. see-through), it could be for any
of a number of reasons, but it sounds like your paints are just a
little thin.
Adding water REDUCES opacity (ie. not-see-through-ness), so you don't
want to add water if your paint is thin (you'll often hear 'thin your
paint with some water'). If your paint is thin to begin with, you may
just have to paint in several coats.
The other problem could be the paint you're using is naturally
translucent; dark blues often suffer this problem, and I've been told
the best way to fix that is to add just the slightest dab of opaque
white paint, which will help improve the coverage of the dark blue.
As for your other questions, I think you're asking the whole ball of
wax. :)
Basic practice, I believe, is that you paint an area a color slightly
darker than what you want, getting the color into the dark recesses.
You then slowly lighten the color, painting over the same area, but
not going as far 'down' into the recesses each time. The result is
that you get darker color in the nooks and crannies, lighter colors
on the outside. That's the hard way. :)
The 'tricks' are washing and drybrushing/highlighting. In this case,
you paint the base colors on, then you 'wash' darker colors into the
recesses to create the shadows.
To apply a 'wash', you water down the color you want to wash with, so
that it's very very watery. You then paint this wash onto the area
you want to darken, and the watery paint should collect in the
recessed areas, but be almost invisible on the outer areas. When it
dries, the darker colors will still be in the recesses, creating the
shadows.
Drybrushing is a way of highlighting; you take a lighter color, and
put it on a crappy brush (drybrushing can ruin your brushes quickly),
then wipe off almost all the paint on a paper towel or somesuch. You
then lightly flick the brush over the edges of the area to be painted.
The brush, being almost empty of paint, shouldn't leave paint on normal
flat surfaces, but the pointy, edgy bits should grab some of the
lighter paint out of the brush, and as a result, take on the lighter
color.
...Paul
--
My opinions may Paul Clegg, Onward Technologies, Inc.
not reflect those Software Engineer 313 Speen St. Ste 202
of my employer. pcl...@onwardtech.com Natick, MA 01760
http://www.onwardtech.com/ x225 Fax 508.651.0080 Voice 508.651.0070
Doug Burton
In article <5fn3sf$aue$1...@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>, lsu...@ibm.net wrote:
> Hello all.
>
> To all those veteran painters out, please help me. I just got my
> citadel paint set but I got a problem. When I try to paint my minis,
> the paints look thin and "weak" when I apply the paints to my minis.
> I have tried to mix it with water, as the little manual said to do but
> this even makes the paint look more weak. When I say weak I mean that
> you can see through the paint to the undercoat below(no totatly see
> through but you know what I mean). How can I make the paint strong
> and rich where as I can just apply the paint in 1 or 2 coats without
> applying 4+coats and making the paint look thick? Also, how can one
> make the recesses of the miniature look dark and such? FInally, how
> do you use highlights and washes?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> James
First off, I have to say that this is the reason I don't like using
citadel paints. I find them too thin and too hard to work with. They do
yield a nice result, but when you have to paint 2-4 coats on the figure I
find it a little time consuming. Normally I use Partha paints for their
creamy consistancy and their ability to provide a one coat coverage.
Another good paint is the paint drop system by global games. This has
some really cool and vibrant colors, comes in a unique bottle so it
doesn't dry out like bigger bottles have a tendency to, and is actually
quite inexpensive. (One question, I bought the white ink and wonder what
its use is....I have no idea....so any help here would be appreciated).
Make sure you undercoat the figure, this is really important. You
have the choice of white or black undercoats (gray in some cases). The
difference will affect how bright the figure will be. With Citadel paints
it's important to undercoat in white due to their translucency. On the
occasion I do use their paints I simply paint several coats on after each
drys.
I've found that the thinness of the paint is a result of the amount
of water in the paint (obviously) so my solution was to let some of the
paint dry out. Don't let it get hard and crusty, just let some of the
water evaporate out of it. Of course this is not a science so you'll
probably ruin more paint than you can "salvage" but the bottles that do
get the right consistancy work with one coat coverage. Beyond this, just
learn to paint several coats, though. Also, inks work quite nicely with
the paints. Citadel use to make a line of inks but have recently switched
to glazes and washes. I like the inks better since they were richer and
darker, however. Try global games for their line of inks, they are
comparable to the old citadel inks.
Now for painting a figure. If you want to paint a wizard with a deep
red cape, start of painting like you would dress him (skin, inner
clothing, outer clothing, etc). I start off painting the flesh a darker
color than I would normally want, such as warriors flesh (a partha color)
for a wizard. I then progessivly add white and work on the outer edges of
the skin, the highlights. I work this up to almost a pale flesh colour,
which is what I want for the figure in the first place. For the red cape
I normally take red, mix in a little black ink (just a dab) or black
paint, a touch of blue and purple and paint into the recesses. Work this
outwards until you get to the original red on the outer parts of the folds
of the clothing.
Remember when painting that tricks that work with one color won't
work with another. When painting a sword I always paint it black first
and then drybrush silver over it. This gives it a more realistic look.
However, this doesn't look as good for gold. Paint an item brown and then
drybrush gold over that and it looks better than if you had painted it
black. Invest in a cheap color wheel, or make one of your own. This
helps you decide what colors to use and what will work together. Hope
some of this helps.
Doug
Richard Lloyd
In article <5fn3sf$aue$1...@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>, "J. Magee"
<lsu...@ibm.net> writes
>Hello all.
>
>To all those veteran painters out, please help me. I just got my
>citadel paint set but I got a problem. When I try to paint my minis,
>the paints look thin and "weak" when I apply the paints to my minis.
>I have tried to mix it with water, as the little manual said to do but
>this even makes the paint look more weak. When I say weak I mean that
>you can see through the paint to the undercoat below(no totatly see
>through but you know what I mean). How can I make the paint strong
>and rich where as I can just apply the paint in 1 or 2 coats without
>applying 4+coats and making the paint look thick? Also, how can one
>make the recesses of the miniature look dark and such? FInally, how
>do you use highlights and washes?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>James
>
>
1/ A rarly have week paints. I have a black paint that is weak though
(my friend got it so he probably used some and topped it up with water).
I just stand the pot upside down instead of right way up. This makes the
thivker paint come to the top when you turn it over and use it. This has
a bad side effect though - paint gets under the rim of the lid so after
a while you will have to clean the rim otherwise the lid won't go on.
2/ Washes/shading - both the same really. Follow these steps:
a) open the pot
b) pick up your brush
c) put the tip of your brush into the wash.
d) pick up the minature
e) wipe the brush over the area that needs shading. Be careful not to
get it on other areas. These can be re painted but if you make a wash to
wet it tends to come back to life and mix with the paint.
Its easy when you get the hang of it, practace on some 'scrap minis'.
The gretchin in the boxed set are good (be careful, you are
experimenting on animals! Treat them in a humain way and don't waste
them just because you don't need them)
I use washes a lot so my minis have a bright, bold and clean look rather
than the painted look GW stores seem to prefer.
You may need to drybrush with the base colour again and the wash will
also darken the raised areas. Flesh wash makes them look like arabs so
you need to drybrush with bronzed flesh to get a flesh tone back. Leave
if you are painting talliarns.
3/ Highlighting - add white paint to the colour of the base coat and
drybrush. With black use very dark blue or pure white in very small
ammounts. Don't drybrush with this, just pint on to the edges. You will
probably whant to leave black and white if you are new.
Yellow makes a good highlight for green.
What is drybrushing? Dip your brush in the paint and wipe it all off on
some paper. This may seem daft but soom is still left in the brush. Wipe
back a forwards accross the area.
DANGER! This is slow, don't rush and use to much paint on the brush as
it will fail.
A few tips:
Concentrate on the base coat. A good base coated minature looks good.
Try to paint neatl and not over run into other areas.
Shade using washes, they are quick, effective and make the model look
bright and bold
Don't bother with a highlight! I only highlight character models
normally as it takes a lot of effert. If you use an ink you will not
need a highlight.
--
Richard Lloyd