I dunno what tricks I use but i got to say, I sacrifice displayability for simplicity.
I dont often under coat! in saying that I am more likely to under coat metal figures. does anyone else find metal figures loose paint easier than plastics ?
You need to plan your colours carefully, scab red that has... well... clotted to a thick texture goes lovely over the plastic grey. Actually most of my paints are so old they have this clotted texture... i get excelent coverage but end up using a lot of saliva or water as I paint, mostly to stop my brushes drying too fast. I avoid yellow as i have to paint white first.
Marines are great but buy the appropriate colour spray.
Chentnut ink can shade EVERYTHING. Dont use it exclusively as you night as well start dipping your figures in a similar colour of polyurethan wood stain. I havent tried this but once the Genestealer brood lord is released i am definately going to break out my 50 something stealers and make me a pure bread army =]
Ork flesh is two tone, dark angels green followed by wet brush of snot green.
Leather is two tone, scorched brown followed by snakebite leather.
White is almost always painted straight over black, with a highlight of white, that is to say white doesnt apply smoothly or with good coverage so try and get a nice, ahhh, mottled patern and then make some parts whiter with a second coat.
Reds are either Scab or blood red base with a was of chestnut ink. If i dont want the laminated look I will wetbrush the original red back onto the larger areas of folds.
Black is a one colour job, I dont highlight black unless it is shiny like latex black. I prefer actual lighting to add the highlights to the black, this may sound uber lazy but think about it. Black reflects very little if any light, and the only time it will reflect is when it is a high gloss material. Some leathers, PVC or latex
, laqured armour plates, oil.
Metal is two tone, Tinbitz followed by chainmail or boltgun metal. the only time i would do it different is elf armour, and even then only high elves. Dark Elves should (IMHO) wear laqured armour, they always make me think of Robert Jordans Wheel of Time, the Sean Chan.
As you can see, I dont mess around with 3 watered down coats to get a flawless smooth finish, i only spend lots of time building up highlights on characters on models I am REALY going to enjoy painting.
My Mentor Kev, (I like to think of him as that) could paint models with JUST the base colour, he used a variety of paints from Humbrol, Tamia, Citidel and anything else that worked. He is an Uber tidy painter and knew when to add highlights and shading mostly on skin and fur only. You may think argh only base colours but his figures looked cleaner and more alive than ANYTHING I have ever seen gamesworkshop come out with.
Less is more, Less will always be more because of the fertile imaginations planted in the head of any wargammer. The human brain is great at filling in what it expects to see.
For Emxalpe tihs lnie of witrnig is Gbibresih, hewoevr you can siltl raed it.
All you needed to see in the above sentence was the first and last letters I can scramble the letters between and most people will read it just fine.
GW and most orthodox modelers will swear by 3 base coats and 30 degrees of shading, I say treat your models lik poetry and give people enough to stimulate their minds. Most people will be more impressed because then looking at your figures is a more interactive process, on some levels they are painting the rest of the model for you without even picking up a brush.
Other tricks like the whole keeping the arms and heads off, they only work on some figures, it would be pointless on skeletons and hard to pull off on skaven where the fur joins up, Marines and Orks have a physical seam along these joins and marines have shoulder pads so I would recommend painting them seperate also.
You also got to remember, and please dont take it the wrong way. I been in this hobby for longer than some people have been alive, 10 years ago I met Kev (I wonder where he is these days) 15 years ago it took me a 20 hours to paint 1 figure, 18 years ago I had 2 dozen tamia paints and 5 humbrol paints and kept painting and stripping the same 20 something grenadeer figures. The more you do it the faster you get, since starting with GW figures I think the longest break from painting I have had has been nearly a year.
I got to say, most of the best ideas and techniques I have picked up recently have been from people far younger than me, who have been doing it a far shorter time. Old dogs need to learn new tricks, and i can benefit as much from your tips and tricks as you can from mine.
At the moment the two painters I admire the most are Stu and another friend Aaron Henderson, both of you have such beautiful attention to detail and wonderful grasps of colours, highlighting and shading. They acheive a display quality that SHOULD be in magazines. I can try and do that but it never comes out that good.
So please reply back with tips i have missed or forgotten, or just with things that work for you... If you want my opinion on how I would paint something just ask. I can never have all the ideas but together WE can.
, laqured armour plates, oil.
