LunchBox Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 PART 1 STARTING OFF - Building the basecoat *You'll have to forgive the brevity of this one...I spent about 4 hours today making this a nice pretty tutorial, just to have my computer eat the entire thing...AFTER I saved it. Because of this, I have to break this into a few parts. This is a basic tutorial on using glazes to achieve smooth blends, and add color to an area beyond the basic basecoat/shade, highlight. Through each section, there is a brief description, followed by a picture showing the technique and/or results. Glazing is a very simple technique, but it does have a learning curve. Glazing is adding paint to water, and applying it in a controlled manner over a surface. A wash is more akin to adding water to paint, and is less controllable. Below, you'll see I have displayed the paint and coloration in 3 forms: True Color, straight out of the bottle; Wash, where I dilluted the paint roughly 4:1 (water/paint); and a glaze, which is hard to determine a realistic ratio, but it should look like slightly dirtied water, with only a haze of your color in to cloud it. As you travel the "glazing learning curve", you will discover through practive and experimentation that there is no specific ratio, and you will adjust the level of dillution to fit your needs. You will also learn how much of that water to take out of the brush before applying the glaze; that just comes with practice. It should also be noted that a high quality white (or light gray depending on what you're about to do) is an absolute must. Cheap primer WILL ruin the effects of glazes. Below are the basic colors I'll use to paint a knee pad on this Space Marine's armor. Personally I prefer Reaper Master Series paints, and they formulate and sell most of their colors in "triads". This is nice because you have your basic, core colors in hand. As we'll see a little later, you can (and should) branch off from the "core-3" at certain times to define your own highlights, shades, and nuances. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut1.jpg This is a single glaze of Dark Elf Flesh. As you can see, it doesn't change much, just adds a slight hue. However, look at how much softer the knee pad is now compared to the leg that is only primed white. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut2.jpg Here I am after 5 glazes over the entire surface. The key is smooth and even coverage. You want your glazes to cover the entire surface they're intended for, and fall into the recesses and cracks. Think about white: it is the reflection of all colors, and the absorption of none. Conversly, black is the reflection of no colors, and the absorption of all colors. Instead of going back and 'black-lining' everything, just let your colors fall into the cracks. It makes sense that if black absorbs the colors around it, all of your colors run into an area you were going to paint black. Thus, you get a true, dark colors composed of all the colors you already used, and you don't have to spend extra time lining, then touching up. These glazes were added with a downward stroke toward the shadow. Always glaze your shades toward the 'dark' side. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut3.jpg 10 glazes...it's important to really consider your ligh source here. Mine is 10 o'clock, so my shadows and shades should intensify toward 4 o'clock. At this point you can really see the natural shape coming through, and the shades and highlights forming to guide you through the rest of the piece. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut4.jpg I was going to leave this out and just fix it, but I would be doing you a disservice. This "boo-boo" could possibly be caused by a propellant bubble in the primer. However, most of the time, it's due to inadvertently touching the model, and transferring the natural oils from your hands. We all know water and oil don't mix, so the water based paint flows away from the affected area. This leaves a spot of bare primer, and intense "tide lines" around it, where the paint was finally able to stick. Now, go back up and look at the boo-boo as it forms in the previous pictures. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut5.jpg RESIST the temptation to slap some paint on it, and keep moving. Those tide lines have raised edges and will destroy any glaze you put over it. This is part of the learning curve with glazes. Every painter out there reading this that uses glazes is shaking their head "yep" right now, because we all learned it the hard way; by ruining a piece. To fix this, moisten some 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and gently rub the spot away, making sure to dissolve those tide lines. This "scrubs" off the oil patch, and smoothes down the raised surface of the tide lines. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut6.jpg To fill in the color, wash the original color back in, then glaze it back to smoothness. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut7.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 9, 2008 Author Share Posted August 9, 2008 PART 2 SHADING Since I got the boo-boo spot fixed, it's time to get back to work. I glazed Dark Elf Shadow down the bottom half of the pad, as demonstrated by the little 2-color diagram to the right of the pad. When you see that goofy little diagram, it's telling you where to apply the glazes, just remember, for shades, you drag the brush toward the darkest edge, (and highlights toward the lightest edge). http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut8.jpg Since we've built a strong base, the shading doesn't take long. At this point, I decided to add a little color, and spice it up a bit. I chose RMS Deep Red because is dillutes to a soft. rosey color. This will be a good transition hue for the dark to median shades, help define the color, and make it more interesting to look at. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut9.jpg I only added 2 glazes of the RMS Deep Red, as not to over-do it. Unfortunately, little hue shifts and subtle nuances don't generally photograph well, and need to be seen in person to fully appreciate. But, it does smoothen the transition by adding a little color, and giving the eye something else to notice...if that makes sense. I started the glazes about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way "up" the pad. You don't really want to get it on the areas to be highlighted, but no biggie if you do. However, go ahead and drag the accent color down all the way through the shades. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut10.jpg To finish off the shading, I chose RMS Walnut Brown, as it's not harsh like the red and orangy browns, and it won't "dumb down" the color like gray-browns. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut11.jpg All it takes is a few glazes, down toward the bottom. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut12.jpg The shading is now done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 9, 2008 Author Share Posted August 9, 2008 PART 3 HIGHLIGHTING As you can see, a lot of the highlighting has already been laid down...we just need to smooth it out. I glazed on 5 layers of Dark Elf Highlight, dragging the brush toward the lightest edge, at 10 o'clock. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut13.jpg Here we are after 10 glazes...it looks like the color is dulling down a bit, but it's more about smoothing it out at this point...as it lightens of course. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut14.jpg After I've maxed out my core-3 highlight, it's time to bring it home. For this, I chose RMS Creamy Ivory, because it has a subtle rosey undertone, and a pale yellow, natural highlight. I'll mix this to my Dark Elf Highlight to lighten up toward the top. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut15.jpg Since I concentrated the highlights toward the top, and focussed on smoothness, it only takes a few highlight glazes to bring it up to where we want it. I started by adding a little ivory, then a little more in the later glazes. If we wanted to, we could take it up to prure Creamy Ivory, and even lighter. But, since this is a knee pad, we cannot expose it to the same brightness we would a shoulder pad. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut16.jpg FINAL TOUCHES: I polished this one off by glazing an ultra thin RMS Clear Yellow strip just below the rim of the pad...but be warned; yellow is a VERY strong color, and must be over-thinned, and most of the paint wiped off the brush by touching it to a dry towel. This touch added a natural light reflection, and draws the eye up the model. This also made it appear as if I'd edged the top rim, but naturally, without the harsh, and unrealistic method of edge-lining. I also applied a very thin line of RMS Dark Elf Highlight on the bottom edges of the knee pad, because those areas would naturally catch some reflection off armor, and the ground. The metal studs were dabbed with Games Workshop Chainmail, then dotted with RMS Dark Elf Flesh, dilluted to the consistency of a wash. After that dried, I did the same, but with the Dark Elf Shadow dilluted to nearly a glaze. I now need to go back and touch a little Chainmail to the studs, and it'll be done! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/lunchboxmtbr/Glaze%20Tutorial/tut17.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigismund Himself Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Awesome tuts, Lunchbox :tu: Can we add this to the Librarium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Good tutorial, and nice photos. :tu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurglespuss Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 great tutorial, but admitedly, it must take for bloody ever! :tu: I will however try it out in the future :> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slah Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 excellent tutorial. If I were to try it out, is there any "type" of miniature you would recommend trying it out on? Should it be one with a lot of cloth, or metal or skin? What effect do you think would be easiest to try out for for my first go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starks333 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 excellent tutorial. If I were to try it out, is there any "type" of miniature you would recommend trying it out on? Should it be one with a lot of cloth, or metal or skin? What effect do you think would be easiest to try out for for my first go? the bets minis to practice on are LOTR minis, they are super simple figs so you dont need to fiddle with colours or silly details...just cloth, skin, maybe metals, and the odd detail they are also more realistic sculpt wise, so when placing highlights and shadows you can create a nicer effect as for taking forever, you could blend the marine torso in an afternoon when you get good, and there are ways to speed it up even more the main thing is learn to blend smooth and the rest comes ...you wont be able to do any nice effects without blending...so blend from a colour to a colour its a higher contrast and forces you to blend smoother...for example red to blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baal Dropout Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Excellent tut :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 9, 2008 Author Share Posted August 9, 2008 Awesome tuts, Lunchbox :) Can we add this to the Librarium? That would be fine. great tutorial, but admitedly, it must take for bloody ever! :D I will however try it out in the future :> In the original write up, I put the time at the end. The knee pad took about an hour. However, it's not about time when trying to improve. As I'm sure Starks will agree, it takes as long as it takes to get it right...with practice, you become more efficient. I usually work on two areas, or 2 figs at once, between layers while they dry. excellent tutorial. If I were to try it out, is there any "type" of miniature you would recommend trying it out on? Should it be one with a lot of cloth, or metal or skin? What effect do you think would be easiest to try out for for my first go? Like Starks said, LOTR minis are simple enough for practice. Marine armor can get tricky, because you're essentially dealing with cylinders of armor. That means you have to control your color vertically and horizontally. If you want to practice on something board appropriate, I'd say go for a couple of scouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wienas Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I see that a lot of great painters typically use the RMS paints. Are these paints so much better than the others (GW, P3, Vallejo, etc.), that everyone should be using them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sons of Corax Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Amazing tutorial Lunchbox! I was wondering what kind of primer do you use? And where can you get those RMS paints at? -Sunny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cl4d Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 www.thewarstore.com sells them and the official website too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 10, 2008 Author Share Posted August 10, 2008 I see that a lot of great painters typically use the RMS paints. Are these paints so much better than the others (GW, P3, Vallejo, etc.), that everyone should be using them? Actually, most of the big dogs use P3's, and Vallejo Model Color. I know Jeremie loves them, but very few of the top painters really use them...maybe they haven't caught on yet. It's a preference thing...my mentor, Starks333 hates them, but he's a silly Canadian. It's really a personal preference thing...I have Reaper's HQ an hour from the house, and got hooked on them earlier this year. Amazing tutorial Lunchbox! I was wondering what kind of primer do you use? And where can you get those RMS paints at? -Sunny I use a Rustoleum white primer...it's their high end one, about $5 usd at the hardware shop. It's virtually identical to GW's white...it goes on just as smooth, and it's hard to chip or scratch. As you can probably tell from the tutorial, even after sanding it it is still in tact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sons of Corax Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I saw that. :P So where can I gety the stuff? Wal-mart, Home Depot? -Sunny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigger-than-Jesus Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Is GW white decent enough for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starks333 Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 some of the best known fantasy painters use GW paints...but also use some P3s vallejos and other brands to suit their specific needs...jeremie bonamant(bragon) allan carrasco(allanc) mathieu lalain(mathieul), laurent exposito(werwolf) and so forth use lots of GW in their painting GW are top quality, and their white and black, and metallic paints are the best of any range...so dont feel you need to run out and switch brands...the paint isnt a thing to hold you back as much as the technique...its the colours that make the difference except in the case of black/white and metallics..GWs are simply better quality(their black is actual black where as most are off blacks, white has finer pigment than other ranges and metallics more flakes) I myself prefer GW colours especially the browns...i like the way they go on and how they work..P3 i also use, but im less fond of their satin finish unless used specifically for a texture effect...i also cant thin some colours down as much which bothers me(their whites and some other colours breakdown or have too large a pigment) i also have vallejo model colour, some colours are handy but i despise the fact they separate so much as for reaper im not a fan because the colours are pretty meh in general, the paint is a little annoying to use compared to other brands, its more prone to streaking and breaking down when thinned a lot...its always best to use a mix of the colours you like best no matter what brand they are from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 10, 2008 Author Share Posted August 10, 2008 ...dont feel you need to run out and switch brands...the paint isnt a thing to hold you back as much as the technique... *Key point here ...as for reaper im not a fan because the colours are pretty meh in general, the paint is a little annoying to use compared to other brands, its more prone to streaking and breaking down when thinned a lot...its always best to use a mix of the colours you like best no matter what brand they are from RMS paints do have a learning curve...the first few hours I used them, I didn't like them at all, but once I figured them out, I loved them. The "breaking down" was a problem they had with the base for early batches, and they have corrected it now. The other nice thing is they will (generally) happily exchange any colors that do not perform. The color selection is very good; I have personally have about 130 different colors of RMS, and about another 30-40 of various other brands. The RMS paints suit a certain pallet that some like, and some don't. GW paints are generally excellent, they just didn't suit my personal pallet tastes. Like Starks said though...the brand of paint is not the key here, it's the technique. Although I love the RMS paints, I would not suggest that anyone run out and replace their entire selection, especially based off one online tutorial. If you like, browse their colors, and order a few colors, or a triad you like...play with them, and see what you think. As for the metallics...GW is the best, and every other paint manufacturer knows it...and most will freely admit it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigger-than-Jesus Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Aside from the paints you used in the tut how muted are RMS paints? I really like the finish you got on yours, I like GW, but most of their colours are too vivid for my tastes. Sorry,forgot to ask earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starks333 Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Aside from the paints you used in the tut how muted are RMS paints? I really like the finish you got on yours, I like GW, but most of their colours are too vivid for my tastes. Sorry,forgot to ask earlier a lot of RMS paints are greyed, which is why they can be more lifeless, some arent, but in general they are, vallejo has more neutral tones, reaper are slightly more fantasy GW have saturation which is excellent because like light colours you can always darken, you can always desaturate saturated colours, but you cant saturate desaturated ones its important to have both saturates and desaturates because they are required to paint each other :no:....if anyone knows of where i can get a hot pink and a couple other bright colours like that, i would love to know (i have a feeling reaper does...) Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigger-than-Jesus Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Ah right, I prefer muted, greyish colours as they're not too bright, which is an issue for me with GW paint. I'll give them a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GumbaFish Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Great tutorial LB it certainly gave me some things to think about. Just to echo what others have said I also started using RMS paints a while ago and I like many of their colors, but a lot of them are certainly greyish /blueish and muted but since I am painting grey space marines at the moment it suits me rather well. I personally love buying new paints and experimenting and use all sorts of brands, just a matter of finding which you like instead of thinking one is superior to another. Of course except for GW silvers in particular, they are the bees knees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morning Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Now, do you just do this for the leader/special models, or do you do a diluted form of this to your rank and file as well. I was just wondering if there is a way to make this a bit faster, but still look decent for the mass group of marines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunchBox Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Now, do you just do this for the leader/special models, or do you do a diluted form of this to your rank and file as well. I was just wondering if there is a way to make this a bit faster, but still look decent for the mass group of marines? I do this for everything I paint, whether it's a 15 point Marine, or a 200 point character. Also, ya'll should know that these techniques do not show well on the table top. The detail is too fine to grab someone's attention from across the room, and the colors are too realistic to really "pop" out there. That being the case, if you were thinking about doing an army like this for tournament purposes (winning best painted army), you will want to make sure you have loads of eye-catching conversions to get people up close to look at them. Again, and I don't mean this in a snarky way, but if anyone reading this is concerned about the time it will take, then it probably isn't the best technique to explore right now. Glazing like this is all about taking your time. Like I said before, sometimes everything will kind of finish itself...like the face on this guy only took 20 minutes. I have another model that I'm currently working on that I've spent at least an hour and a half on, and it's still not "right". My suggestion would be to play around with it a bit, and it will start "clicking" with practice, and experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starks333 Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 " these techniques do not show well on the table top." actually thats incorrect...these techniques work fine for tabletop, you simply need to adapt them to fit your needs.....tabletop is about contrast so you can see them from a bit of a distance, so up the contrast a bit(there are ways) and the marines will still show up very nicely you can speed the techniques up but using a less dilute paint to build a base coat and slap on your highlights and such, and use the diluted layers to blend them together...you can get an entire marine blended to a high TT standard in about 20mins once you get good(assuming its only a single colour) the main point that needs to be made is this technique is not something that can only be done this way...there are many ways to use it, you just need to extrapolate...this technique is glazing to blend...so simply adjust some parameters and you can smoothen, speed, slow, harshen your blends by adjusting the consistency of the paint however as mentioned it is important to know that you CAN NOT improve if your goal is to simply pump out quick models....you will never allow yourself to explore the world of painting and the vast amounts of possibilities that are available if you are simply after the goal of "lets get it done for the table so i can play" and finally, just to balance the last point(caps for emphasis) YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE ARTISTICALLY INCLINED TO BE ABLE TO PAINT AWESOME MINIATURES JUST PATIENCE AND HARD WORK ;) good luck to everyone, I'll leave the rest of questions and comments to lunchie! Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.