Help needed with washing [pics]

[Kalidane]

I\'m having tremendous difficulty getting my washing to come out right.

A couple of kindly volunteers have stepped forward to be experimented upon. Trying for a metallic result in the brass region with tonal contrast provided by the black under-wash.

Exhibit A (after black wash):

Exhibit B (after colour washes)

Two very different minis, with neither really what I\'m looking for.

On left was sprayed black
painted mithril silver
washed with black paint+magic wash
then 2x washed with blazing orange+magic wash.

On right was matt varnish+future+a little black paint
painted mithril silver
washed with black paint+magic wash
then 2x washed with blazing orange+magic wash (1:12 then 1:8).
washed with blazing orange+black paint+magic wash (1:1:8)

The body of the shoulder pads are not participating in this process.

Would I be right in saying Lefty needed to lighten up on the black wash early on? He\'s very muddy and in a bad way. At least he actually has some colour though.

Righty on the other hand is clean as heck to the degree of outright refusing to take colour. I\'m wonder if the undercoat has given a toothless starting point, thusly dashing all hope.

Where is it all going wrong guys?? It feels a bit pointless trying anything further as I don\'t know why Righty wont take colour.

I\'m sure Lefty can be improved with a silver drybrush and further washing but he\'s of lesser importance as I don\'t want to use spray primer.

Medic!!

 

[.sam.]

how about trying a brass colour as the basecoat like tin bits or brazen brass then doing a black wash over that ???

and with the washes try and do mulitple washes instead of one that might help.

hope this helps

 

[Ritual]

What you should be doing here is not wash, but glaze. Use less paint on the brush and stretch a very thin layer of very paint over the surface. Repeat this MANY times.

If you use the wash approach you have no control over what the result will be when the wash dries. You can end up with either a very blotchy finish, or that the wash simply runs off and don\'t actually do much, except leave a few blotches and tide marks behind.

You should always aim to have as much control over what\'s happening as possible. Use as little paint as possible, and do things in small steps repeated until you\'re happy with the result.

 

[Kalidane]

Ah I totally overlooked addressing the easy option. Quite a reasonable question to ask!

Two reasons for wanting to go with the mithril silver base:

GW discontinued Brazen Brass. I learned of this the week after deciding to paint a small army this colour. This week I\'m switching to P3 and Reaper MS; mithril silver is the sole GW paint I will ever buy again. Sick of years of crappy paint pots and now this...

I\'m trying to build upon the \'Viva Metallica\' method seen over at the bolterandchainsword forums. More specifically, I want to learn a method to get a desired effect, much more than I want any single effect itself.

If I can\'t get a breakthrough on this I\'ll play with paint+metallic medium, but a wash method is the real goal.


I had begun to wonder if a glaze was actually what I should be working with. Magnifique I\'ll have a crack at that now!

 

[Ritual]

Glazes and washes are similar in that you basically use the same type of paint (i.e. the paint have basically the same properties in each case). The difference is in the application of the paint. Glazes = little amount of paint stretched thin over a surface, like a filter. Washes = applied liberally to allow paint to flow into recesses.

 

[Kalidane]

Early test results agree with you

I think tried with too much pigment in the latest testing - about 1:4 paint:magic wash. Will try something with just flowaid/extender and slowdry and lower ratio of paint. Don\'t think I like the water element all that much.

I meant to test on just a single leg but got carried away and hit the whole thing with a couple of glazes.

Almost there I think.

Time to get another couple test subjects and strip these fellas.

Thanks for the help so far