Painting SYW Austrians

[Last Hussar]

Austria- Coat, White.
Waistcoat, White
Breeches for German units...
yep, White

the turnbacks, cuffs and lapels are coloured, but what's the best way of bringing some relief/shadow/etc to the white?

[nikharwood]

Starting from black undercoat give them a heavy-ish overbrush with a mid-grey: this will give some depth & shading to build up from. I'd also go for multiple gradations from that grey, moving to pure white in probably 3 layers - with very thin paint.

If you want to do it quicker - do mid-grey overbrush; mix that 50:50 with white for first highlight, then final highlight of pure white: I'd wash with very thin black ink and then re-highlight.

You could do a couple of test figures to see which you like best.

Hope that helps!

[Last Hussar]

Cheers.

The white highlights- is this drybrushing, or a little more pigment than that?

I'm not a great painter, and many techniques I can't really get from reading the way many people write on the web- there is an assumption of jargon. 

My usual finish to a figure is immerse in water, put a drop of watered down black on the figure when I 'undrown' it, then soak off the water with a corner of kitchen towel.

[nikharwood]

Final highlights here - I'd go with painting them rather than drybrush: more controlled...

As for inking / washing: my advice is don't *ever* let that be your last stage: a simple final light-touch highlight will 'lift' those figures...

Let me know if you want any of the jargon explained - I'm sure we can translate it!

[Fenton]

I bought some of the SYW Prussians some time ago, but sadly gave up..Mainly because I got fed up with all the packs and bed rolls etc on the back of the figure ( these were advancing figures)...Maybe its time to go back and have another go

[Last Hussar]

I've been painting over 25 years and never really mastered the techniques- my painting has improved, but I look at your stuff Nik, and think 'why bother?'

Part of the reason I like 10mm, especially Pendraken, is I find it forgiving of my failure- easier than 25mm, which surprised many I tell- My romans look good, especially on the other side of the table(!) (note to self, play myopic people)

'Overbrush' would be what? Or is it the "proper" word for 'get the main coat of paint on'?  Also how do you highlight with out flooding- I don't have the skill to paint along the folds.

[Luddite]

There are many 'whites', and the type of white you get depends on the shading colour.

Note i always use black undercoat.

If you want a crisp, clean white;

Basecoat white (Foundry White 33C is good)
Wash with a mid tone or ice blue
Brush highligh with white

However, most historical whites were actually more a sort of tan-calico, so;

Basecoat white
Wash with Games Workshop Ogryn Flesh ink (mixed 50:50 with water)
Brush highligh with white

If you aren't confident with washes;

Basecoat with Games Workshop bleached bone
Highlight with white

[Gunhit]

My 2 pence 

I use for 15mm figures and smaller a mid-grey undercoat. Black soaks up to much colour at this scale I find and mid-grey especially for H&M periods is a good base colour for Helmets, blanket rolls, breeches, gaiters etc.

For Austrians all you need then is add the facing colours, brown the musket and flesh to skin and let dry. I then add a brown wash to the whole figure followed by a thin black wash to items such as Helmet, gaiters, cartridge case etc. After that re-apply the base colours again and highlight until your happy with the result. i usually do two on top of the base colour.

Adrian

[nikharwood]

All good advice & techniques 

'Overbrush' is a 'wetbrush' - as opposed to a 'drybrush'...for me, there are three definitions (although gradations within these  ) - from heaviest to lightest:

1 - paint: when I know I'm going to actually slap down the pigment

2 - wetbrush: when I'm going to want good coverage - majority on raised detail: about half the paint of above

3 - drybrush: when I'm going to want to leave a trace on raised detail: *very* little paint left on the brush

Hope this helps!

[lentulus]

Basecoat with Games Workshop bleached bone
Highlight with white

Trying that now, and it works pretty well.  I have been avoiding a pure white, using a couple of ceramcoat off-whites.  Like bleached bone, they look very white on the figure but nothing like white when next to white.