Ladies and Gentlemen of the Forum, and Fenton.

I'm currently working on my 1970s TV/Film/SF mix, and came across the Pendraken bug. I was, in my mind, going to paint it red, and yet it seems to have come out blue and yellow. The SF tanks came out green - which was a surprise as I was going for a blue/red/black camouflage.

Which leads me to ask, without a uniform guide, how much planning do you do on a paint job?

None!

I play fantasy so am only limited by what looks good / right.

I will often, however, change the colour of a unit mid-job if it doesn't work.

Firstly thank you for acknowledging that I am a cut a above the rest  of the forum members  at least I think that's what you thinking

When it comes to non uniformed troops I pic about 10 troops and then pick a few different colours and go for it..I then change some of the colours for the next batch etc...I suppose what I end with troops that look different to each other but with some semblance of an overall colour scheme

When I used to have time to paint.....

I'd totally agree with Gareth...If it looks good/right...go with what you're comfortable with.
With fantasy/sci-fi .....I usually went with something that worked well 'for me'...so that usually involved red/orange/yellow and black combinations.

Try complementary colours on a chart...They usually work really well.......You might find red & green..or...orange/yellow & blue are pleasing to the eye.
Have an experiment Matey.

Cheers - Phil

For sci fi I either go stormtrooper white with hard black lines, but also I am Quite a massivefan of field grey armour plates, with green and black wash, then highlight. But under that I do buff, brown wash, buff highlights, then white and cerulian blue DPM streaks on soft fabrics. Then visors red tinted with black.

Fantasy I like contrasts, so deep blues with undiluted blue ink washes, contrachecked or half with pure white. Green and blacks, or purple and white, as that doesn't look to GW dark elves.

Irregular troops will be mix of natural (ish) muted shades, but those muted shades come from long campaigning days so can be faded and muddy.

Modern: Most importantly, what looks right to you. I love Berlin camo, but not for green fields. Think where the action is happening, there is a reason why khaki and field grey becomes popular..

But most of all does it look right to you? Rule of cool!

Quote from: mad lemmey on 01 February 2014, 08:49:08 PM
But most of all does it look right to you?

Agreed

But what I was asking is do you say "oh, they'll look nice in pink and blue", and they end up in pink and blue, or do you sit there with some figures and a range of paints and basically go eenie-meenie-minie-mo and wing it? It's not just fantasy/sf it's any non-uniformed troops or even civillians.

Quote from: Fenton on 01 February 2014, 08:21:42 PM
Firstly thank you for acknowledging that I am a cut a above the rest  of the forum members  at least I think that's what you thinking

Yes, if you like. 

I really go with what feels right...

personally I plan everything so I have an idea how it should look. sometimes it doesn't work and you change but there is always a plan. Just winging it doesn't work for me

I tend to decide upon a colour scheme in advance, made up of 3-4 main colours, which gives the figures/unit a unified look. Details such as belts, small pouches etc can vary. Their 'opponents' would then have a quite different look so that they stood out on the table, if that makes sense?

Quote from: fsn on 01 February 2014, 07:38:03 PM

I'm currently working on my 1970s TV/Film/SF mix, and came across the Pendraken bug. I was, in my mind, going to paint it red, and yet it seems to have come out blue and yellow. The SF tanks came out green - which was a surprise as I was going for a blue/red/black camouflage.

You don't have problems with traffic-lights too, do you? 

Mostly I rely on the "whatever one comes to hand first" method.

A bit like Steve I tend to have a colour theme in mind, which I on occasion have used a colour wheel or tried on a photoshop stooge to get the right mix of 2 or 3 main colours.   So for example when I painted my French 100YW army I wanted them to be predominsntly "blue and yellow" whilst my English was "red and green". I made a photo shop dummy and tried different shades and placements to get the look I wanted. On the key units I stuck pretty religiously to my choices to get a uniform look and them progressively ignored this for more ragtag militias (perhaps just throwing in the occasional blue feather or jerkin of the same hue to tie them in).. It made sure that the majority of the army have a bias towards these colours, but with enough variation to not look too uniform.

Ill try and post a pic later to demonstrate my point,

Cheers,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

So for example the blue and yellow "theme" of the French came from the Kings flag...so in my scheme the king has the most blue and yellow:



Followed by the Knights:



Then 3 of units using occasional bits of the same blue or yellow, or a similar but not identical yellow so they are different enough to make the whole army look like it follows the theme without being uniform. You can see in the case of the mounted skirmisher it is just one cape that is blue:







and the 5 units together, showing the colour theme:



Hope this helps to explain?

Cheers,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models