Hello guys!
New WH40K player here. My son is interested in it and I must admit I was eyeing this hobby for a while as well. We've been dabbling in the hobby for a little over a year, although the actual time spent to date would only be maybe a couple of month's worth. School, life, and other hobbies took up most of our free time. However, with the coming summer break, we've decided to re-open this hobby and learn and play a bit more in-depth this time. In line with this, I purchased a Tau army for myself and am in the process of painting it, as well as finishing some units and a tank for my son's Space Marines army. Which brings me to my biggest, most annoying problem: painting the "details."
I'm not too sure if I'm using the right term, but what I am referring to is those depressions/lines intended to give a bit of detail or depth to the mini. Like the lines on the Tau Fire Warrior leg armor. The method I come across most often is using washes to get pigment into the crevices --- and this is the bit I hate the most. I know I'm not the best painter, so I'm not aiming for Golden Demon standard, heck, I'd be grateful to be even halfway competent compared to the pics I see here! But that doesn't mean I am content with just slapping paint on, putting some sand on the base, and playing with a "tabletop standard" mini. I like to put in a bit of effort --- I've heard of the "three feet" rule, but I'd rather maybe "three inches."
Anyway, long-winded intro aside, my painting process is as follows: Prime white, basecoat, wash, clean up, base.
I am happy with how my priming technique goes, and I find basecoating rather relaxing. When it comes to applying the wash, this is where I get frustrated the most. I've tried applying it in globs, or using a fine 0 or 000 paintbrush to just allow it to flow into the lines. When applying another layer of paint, I find it very difficult to 1) clean up the mess from the wash, 2) not put paint on the crevices/lines, and 3) stop myself from doing things over-and-over fixing small errors then making another error to fix.
So, I've tried an old trick a friend showed me when I was younger --- using a fine-tipped pen to "draw" the lines. He used to do this on Gundam models, but at that time, we weren't concerned about shading or anything, just getting the colors right. Currently, I've tried a 0.05 black pen on my Tau Fire Warrior, and I must say it looks great! Nice and clean lines, easy to fix, easy to re-apply, and so on. My only beef is that it "stands out" too much; I wonder if I should apply a very thinned-down coat of [insert name of brown/yellow paint here] just to mute the "black" a bit?
Please note that I am not concerned about shading and the like, but even then, would obviously need something to bring out the lines and details on the minis. I've not had much success with washes even after 30+ Space Marines, but I do see the benefit of washes for things like Dreadnought legs, tank armor plating, etc. It is the finer details on the smaller minis that I have the most problem.
I wonder if anyone here uses this same method, or at least has an experience with it? I'd love to hear some feedback, compare notes, etc.
Thanks!
New WH40K player here. My son is interested in it and I must admit I was eyeing this hobby for a while as well. We've been dabbling in the hobby for a little over a year, although the actual time spent to date would only be maybe a couple of month's worth. School, life, and other hobbies took up most of our free time. However, with the coming summer break, we've decided to re-open this hobby and learn and play a bit more in-depth this time. In line with this, I purchased a Tau army for myself and am in the process of painting it, as well as finishing some units and a tank for my son's Space Marines army. Which brings me to my biggest, most annoying problem: painting the "details."
I'm not too sure if I'm using the right term, but what I am referring to is those depressions/lines intended to give a bit of detail or depth to the mini. Like the lines on the Tau Fire Warrior leg armor. The method I come across most often is using washes to get pigment into the crevices --- and this is the bit I hate the most. I know I'm not the best painter, so I'm not aiming for Golden Demon standard, heck, I'd be grateful to be even halfway competent compared to the pics I see here! But that doesn't mean I am content with just slapping paint on, putting some sand on the base, and playing with a "tabletop standard" mini. I like to put in a bit of effort --- I've heard of the "three feet" rule, but I'd rather maybe "three inches."
Anyway, long-winded intro aside, my painting process is as follows: Prime white, basecoat, wash, clean up, base.
I am happy with how my priming technique goes, and I find basecoating rather relaxing. When it comes to applying the wash, this is where I get frustrated the most. I've tried applying it in globs, or using a fine 0 or 000 paintbrush to just allow it to flow into the lines. When applying another layer of paint, I find it very difficult to 1) clean up the mess from the wash, 2) not put paint on the crevices/lines, and 3) stop myself from doing things over-and-over fixing small errors then making another error to fix.
So, I've tried an old trick a friend showed me when I was younger --- using a fine-tipped pen to "draw" the lines. He used to do this on Gundam models, but at that time, we weren't concerned about shading or anything, just getting the colors right. Currently, I've tried a 0.05 black pen on my Tau Fire Warrior, and I must say it looks great! Nice and clean lines, easy to fix, easy to re-apply, and so on. My only beef is that it "stands out" too much; I wonder if I should apply a very thinned-down coat of [insert name of brown/yellow paint here] just to mute the "black" a bit?
Please note that I am not concerned about shading and the like, but even then, would obviously need something to bring out the lines and details on the minis. I've not had much success with washes even after 30+ Space Marines, but I do see the benefit of washes for things like Dreadnought legs, tank armor plating, etc. It is the finer details on the smaller minis that I have the most problem.
I wonder if anyone here uses this same method, or at least has an experience with it? I'd love to hear some feedback, compare notes, etc.
Thanks!
