\"Rackham-Style\" painting

[Xtapl]

I\'ve been trying for months, and I feel like I\'m a pretty decent painter, but I can\'t seem to get the hang of this style of painting.

Is it the brushes?
Is it the paints?
Am I just a chimpanzee over here?

I feel like the style is more layered than blended, but when I try that, it doesn\'t look right. Then I try to blend more, and that doesn\'t look right, either.

Anyone have a simple step-by-step guide that I could follow to practice the technique? I always felt like a good painter, but trying to learn a whole new style is making me feel sucky.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I\'m doing a Rackham Wolfen right now. The Rackham sculpts are really dramatic and well defined. It seems that if there is a Rackham style it would be to accentuate the well \'definedness\'. Having good dark shadows and well defined edges and breaks between parts.

 

[Levdir]

That\'s reassuring for me...I just got some Rackham minis and the few things I do well when it comes to painting is shading and layer-blended highlighting.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

As far as layered vs blending vs whatever, I would say dont worry about it. Do what YOU do. That is where you truley shine. I paint on canvas and tend to be rather agressive with it. I like having brush strokes show. I am doing the Rackham Wolfen in such a way that I can use that to my advantage. Be you, the world dosnt need another clone.

 

[Ritual]

I agree with Shawn, don\'t worry too much if you can\'t get the right look. There\'s nothing wrong with trying to learn Rackham\'s tecniques, but try to adapt them to your own style as Shawn suggested.

I tried to learn \'The Rackham style\', but I wasn\'t really happy with the results when I compared them to Rackham\'s photos. Then I began to hear from people that I had a distinctive style they could recognise.

 

[Klute]

I second what Shawn said.
Also remember that no matter how good you are you are trying to emulate some of the worlds best miniature painters in Arkaal and Cheeba etc....if you are trying to achieve the look of the shop jobs.

As for style to use
NMM is most definitely the way to go
Fluid seemless blending between colours,even different ones
Perfect freehand on robes etc.
I beleive most of the Rackham paintjobs have a dark sullen look to them.Very moody.

 

[Hieronymus]

Rackham-frakham , gol-durned long eared galoot! I hates that rabbit...:bouncy::bouncy:

 

[Levdir]

Originally posted by Klute
I believe most of the Rackham paintjobs have a dark sullen look to them. Very moody.

I have to disagree here, at least partially. Lots of Rackham\'s showpieces are quite colourful, even in places where I personally would have used darker tones (the Dirz models on display on their site are a good example). Dark, moody colourschemes seem restricted to their Undead range (and maybe the evil Wolfen, whatever they\'re called), and there it\'s wonderfully executed. The Dwarfs of Tir-Na-Bog are quite cheery, in fact

 

[Ritual]

I think the older minis are more colourful, whereas the newer stuff is generally darker.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

The Rackham guys, while being good, have shown us THEIR style. Dont deny us the excitment of seeint YOUR style.

 

[Levdir]

Hear hear. Do what works for you.

 

[Klute]

Hey guys.......what I mean is the mood of the pieces seem dark,and of course there are ones that arn\'t.
Feel free to point me in the direction of a Rackham figure that is not moody?


I sometimes wear bright clothes and Im a right miserable bastard

 

[Modderrhu]

It\'s a common thing to paint Dark Elf shades in darker colours than the rest of a Dark Elf army. But to get the mood and the obscurity, I found that mixing 1:1 of a neutral grey with my intended colour, the entire mood of the minis was dulled. Aye, the colours are still there, and seem fairly vibrant, but it\'s the mood of the minis that gets affected. I\'d not be surprised if this is the sort of thing that Rackham do aswell.

This is definitely something I\'d try if I was going to go about emulating the Rackham style. And being a simple formulaic thing, it\'s not really going to impact of painting style or technique, is it?

 

[Spacemunkie]

Glazes. Lots and lots of glazes of stupidly thinned down paint.

Seems to be how they build up all those layers of different colours and get them to blend.

Try putting down a basecoat layer, then blending the darker tones up with those glazes. Let each one dry, then put on another, perhaps slightly altering the tone/hue with each successive layer.

I\'d wager that the paint or inks used would be no more than tinted water - almost like watercolour painting.....

 

[Levdir]

Originally posted by Klute
Feel free to point me in the direction of a Rackham figure that is not moody?

Take a gander at these here minis:
http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/images_produits/NAMU01.jpg
http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/images_produits/LIGM01.jpg
I\'ll grant you that Rackham\'s line is, on the whole, somewhat grim; but this ins\'t always the case!