Curious. I thought washes...as in an Ink wash were to sink into detail crevices, creating shadow and 'raising' surface detail...being DARKER than the underlying colours.
However, never having tried them, the colour chart for Vallejo washes, (and, yes, I know colour charts are not a reliable indicator), appear to be of a LIGHTER colour...as in a HIGHLIGHT for drybrushing.
Is there a difference in the use of the Vallejo washes, or am I just being dense?
A dark wash for shadow, followed by a light wash to highlight would seem perfect! But life ain't like that! lol.   

I suppose it depends on what the underlying colour is?  They all create shadows though, we use the black one as a wash over bare metal on all of the web photo figures.  If you put a black wash on a black or very dark grey base, you'd barely be able to see any difference.

Can't comment on this as I use The Army Painter shading inks.

I find the Vallejo washes quite sludgy - they always need to be thinned to an appropriate consistency, which frankly is a bit of a pain.

Also I find the Vallejo wash 'stains' more than say (the old) GW or (current) CdA washes.

Different coloured washes like different coloured inks are for different coloured basecoats.

It's possible the lighter colours are intended for glaze painting - layering many, many layers of thin wash to obtain a fully shaded effect.

But in that case why do they also have a specific glaze range?

Windsor & Newton or B&Q acrylic fence wash...

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 01 May 2016, 12:55:43 AM
A dark wash for shadow, followed by a light wash to highlight would seem perfect! But life ain't like that! lol.   

Surely a wash gets into the nooks and crannies, so a light wash to highlight seems counter intuitive. 

Interested to hear of the alternatives as I have found the Vallejo a bit of a pain with the thinning required.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 01 May 2016, 07:39:50 AM
Windsor & Newton or B&Q acrylic fence wash...

I used to swear by W&N Peat Brown but these days for the crisp pop effect I'm looking for it's just not dark/dense enough - it's just a little too much on the red side as well

These days I stick to CdA - nearly always the Black though 

I've banged on about this dozens of times before..... ...Sorry

But the best washes WERE the Rotring artist colour inks. (But I'm going back well over a decade now)
But sadly not available any more. (Unless anyone knows differently.....I keep looking, without success.)

Cheers - Phil

I had one problem with Windsor and Newton Peat Brown ink; when I came to varnish with brush applied acrylic it revitalised the ink, which then got into the varnish and the pop effect was lost. I haven't found this happen with the AP inks.

Quote from: Leman on 01 May 2016, 10:53:04 AM

I had one problem with Windsor and Newton Peat Brown ink; when I came to varnish with brush applied acrylic it revitalised the ink, which then got into the varnish and the pop effect was lost. I haven't found this happen with the AP inks.

You have to let Winsor & Newton inks dry thoroughly before you highlight/varnish them or it will 'lift'. At least 24 hours is required, longer if you can manage.

However I tend to use Army Painter acrylic inks (soft tone preferred) as they can be varnished the same day.

Jim

Hello Techno

Quote from: Techno on 01 May 2016, 10:29:54 AM
I've banged on about this dozens of times before..... ...Sorry

But the best washes WERE the Rotring artist colour inks. (But I'm going back well over a decade now)
But sadly not available any more. (Unless anyone knows differently.....I keep looking, without success.)

Cheers - Phil

I had a friend that swore by Koh I Noor inks. I haven't tried them myself and to paraphrase Groucho - I refuse to acknowledge any person that would have me as a friend . Still might be worth feting rather than hanging around looking for extinct stock.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

You're almost certainly right, Grumps....
I've now got just under two years when I just might have time to start painting again.....
At the moment there's not an ice cream in Hell's chance. 

Cheers - Phil

A little research on the interweb shows that Rotring inks are no more, but the Koh I Noor are very good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Koh-i-noor-Colored-Drawing-Inks-141731/dp/B0080R3BDS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462103857&sr=8-1&keywords=koh+i+noor+inks

I use Windsor and Newton, mix of 1 part black to 5 brown.

Agrax Earthshade ... I know, I know ... EE and all that ... welcome to the Dark Side