Need leather help!

[jcichon]

I need some good mixes for doing rich brown leather. I just cant seem to find one that works for me. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[kathrynloch]

There are a variety of leather looks and appearances. I have two different washes/glazes that I use for leather. Worn leather can be shiny and dull in places. I use beastial brown for a base color then I have a mix of Liquitex brown ink with the Future floor polish (I used Mop n Glo - same stuff different brand) and Liquitex Matte Medium and of course water. Basically the Liquitex brown ink is a chocolate brown color. After I apply that I an go back and highlight with beastial brown. I also use Vallejo Leather Brown and this same wash. Then I have a wash mix with Winsor & Newton Peat Brown ink. I don't have the matte medium mixed in so it stays shiny. This mix is more of a dark reddish brown. I highlight with either beastial brown or leather brown. Both mixes work quite well to give me a nice variety of leather appearances.

 

[jcichon]

This is the type of look I am trying to achieve. Kathryn, thanks for your help but I try to avoid washes when I can. But how do you make your washes?

 

[kathrynloch]

I don't really have a set formula - I basically eyeball it. lol! But the matte medium additive is just to kill the shine I get from adding the Mop n Glo as a flow aid. The Windsor & Newton ink I just add distilled water to it.

 

[Einion]

I need some good mixes for doing rich brown leather.

Using what?

I just cant seem to find one that works for me. Any help would be appreciated!

What have you tried that didn't work and in what way(s) didn't it work? This is mainly a colour thing, so I presume you can't get quite the right colouring so that's why I asked the question above.

Einion

 

[jcichon]

Using what?


What have you tried that didn't work and in what way(s) didn't it work? This is mainly a colour thing, so I presume you can't get quite the right colouring so that's why I asked the question above.

Einion

Yes, it's a color thing. I just cant seem to find the right acrylic colors to get the results I want.

 

[Einion]

Yes, it's a color thing. I just cant seem to find the right acrylic colors to get the results I want.

So what have you tried that didn't work and can you describe how it looks wrong? Are your results too dull, too dark, too light, too contrasty, too orange, too red... there are many many ways a colour can be off, particularly since it can be more than one of these at the same time.

Other people might find it useful to know which paints you have to work with but to approach this more basically, the main thing to aim for initially is just an appropriate midtone. This is the easy bit, since any collection of paints will allow you to make it (even if you have to mix completely from scratch); if you're having difficulty in visualising what sort of colour this is it's not actually anything complicated, browns are just dull oranges or scarlets.

So if you need to you can mix a bit of yellow into a red, add a little blue to dull it down and then lighten with a touch of white if necessary.

Einion

 

[Wicksy]

If i'm trying for display (or at least my ability version of display) standard leather i like to used snakebite leather and shade with a nice dark brown like scorched brown with maybe a little blacked added for heavy shadow. A light flesh colour then works nicely for building up a subtle highlight.