Painting and shading advice

[Terry37]

I have found most, if not all inks or washes are too heavy out of the bottle. I use an acrylic extender to thin my washes. The thinner I want it, the more extender I add. The extender serves two purposes. First it thins the wash and second it slows the drying time to allow the wash to settle into the figure better. True I have to usually wait over night before I can do any highlights, but it's worth it to me.

I do not use a wash on dark blues, dark grays or dark browns as it just turns them black. Those I shade by hand.

Terry

[Fenton]

I have used AP dip on 10mm but I do thin it down first

They do need another Matt varnish spray

[Subedai]

Black with block colour then a single highlight or in some cases a drybrush -feathers etc- brown magic wash then varnish. Job done.

MickS

[Leman]

Ok, I know the Peter Pig forum deals mainly with 15mm figures, but one of the members,  who goes under the moniker of Lurkio, has produced some very good painting guides for WWI figures. Click on the Square Bashing bit and this will bring up the site with its child boards. Click on the child board labelled Tutorials.

[Glorfindel]

>>Another option is to undercoat in white and then apply a dark wash
>>(I use 'Badab Black').   This really brings out the detail, adds a black
>>line effect and also provides brighter colours that can be dulled by a
>>black u/c.

Here are a few examples using War of the Spanish Succession figures to give
you an idea.   I think this approach works particularly well for the Horse &
Musket era when a lot of Regiments wore light grey :











Phil

[toxicpixie]

They pop very nicely! Is that a white under coat then just a black wash for the "grey" units?

[Glorfindel]

>>They pop very nicely! Is that a white under coat then just a black wash for the "grey" units?

I used the same method for all of these figures - white undercoat followed by black wash.
This automatically provides the colour for the dark recesses / edges and the rest of the figure is
then painted as normal.   The difference is that you can actually see the detail (compared with a
black u/c) and it leaves colours so much brighter.   It was an expirement to start with but I'm
really happy with the results. 



Phil

[toxicpixie]

Good stuff! I especially like the blue, that pops really nicely

[Terry37]

Phil, I too like the look of your figures. And for that time period you really want the colors to show and you have succeeded!

Terry

[Womble67]

Some good advice in this topic. I mainly prime in white then block paint wash highlight. But im also happy  priming in black and block painting and highlighting.

Take care

Andy