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+1 Nemesor! I would love to know how to do awesomeness like that! Great work as per usual. I sighed in sadness as I saw the WIP Harlequin, I'll never do something like that ;-)

Looking great the 'lord looks better now you've sorted the helmet thing.

D

I'm back from my hols now, slightly tanned (read: one giant freckle, and more red than tanned), and I had more than a few ideas while I was away, so hopefully they'll see the light of day soon-ish.

@Urien and Nemesor - would be happy to do a tutorial/step by step - give me some time to unpack and stuff, and I'll try and get that to you tomorrow sometime : )

Yay, you're back! hope you had fun and relaxed like a boss? hurry and unpack and break out the brushes dude!

Relaxation was high on the agenda, it was great (apart from an unexpected visit from my bad back, but I shook that off as quickly as I was able). Painting duties resume as soon as I can ; )

Glad you relaxed Finnan :-) not quite so good about the bad back though! mind you, a bad back's better than a bad back,crack &sack wax!

oh, you had to go there! lol
yeah, a bad back is definitely better than the second option!

Love that orange and black scheme, very striking,

Okay, as requested by Nemesor and Urien, here's (hopefully) and in-depth walkthrough/tutorial on how I do my blending.

So, I guess starting at the beginning would be a good place to start.
I undercoat in white - I understand that you can get brighter colours form this - as opposed to undercoating in black - but I have to admit that the main reason I undercoat in white is because I can see what I'm doing! I tried undercoating in black, and I just couldn't see a thing! Having said that, the thought of trying to get a bright yellow on a black undercoat sends shivers down my spine. So, Lesson No.1: think about your colours. If you want brights, trying to get them bright from the start on a black base is going to be HARD, so go white.

I know what you're going to say - a lot of my shading these days is on the dark grey basecoat. Yes, they are, but they're never going to be as bright as they would be if they were on white. I've noticed with Hawks Turquoise in particular that its a very dark colour going on the black, but nice and bright on white - use this to your advantage and save yourself some work! Lesson No.2: have at least a little plan in your head about what your going to do and make things easy for yourself! It also helps to know your materials. I know that sounds stupid, and I guess it's taken me a while to build up this knowledge, but I know that reds and yellows are fairly translucent (see through) paints, while blues tend to be more opaque (not see through). Getting a nice crisp yellow is much harder work than getting a crisp blue because of the materials, not because of your technique.

Lesson No.3: Brushes. I use small brushes - not the GW Fine Detail brush; I use that for my basing. I buy mine from an Art store, and I go for general/Watercolour brushes - quite a small amount of bristles and a sharp point. I use 000 (triple zero) for most of my stuff, and a 0000 for fine freehanding. I use synthetic brushes, I've never been a fan of sable (like the GW brushes), I just find them too soft, and they do tend to suck up more paint than I actually want. The synthetics are just easier to use in my experience, and are easier to control the paint with. There's nothing wrong with the GW brushes, they're just a bit too chunky for my liking.

Lesson No.4: Basecoating. I don't seem to be using washes much these days - it's just a bit too random in how it dries and I don't think I'm a fan of the new ones. Because of that, instead of doing a basecoat in a mid-tone and then giving it a wash to get the shadows, I basecoat in my darkest tone, and just highlight up from there. It takes longer, I know, and would be a pain in the neck if you're after a quick painting technique, but there you go.
To put it in terms of the Inquisition Ranger and my craftworld Eldar, I basecoated in Charadon Granite, and then gave it an even wash to darken it up a bit - it's NOT black as a result, it's still dark grey. I do this instead of just painting it black because it gives it a bit of softness.
For the craftworld colours, for the yellow, I basecoat the whole of the areas I want yellow in orange.

Lesson No.5: Blending.
I thin my paints down A LOT. I do this a) because it makes them easier to control and b) it makes them last a lot longer and I'm quite cheap ; )
By a lot, I mean 1:3 paint:water as a minimum. If I want a really smooth blend, I'll thin it further. Why do this? By thinning the paint down, it spreads the pigment out - it's still the same colour/brightness, but it's just spread out over a greater area, so you need more of it to build up a solid block of that colour. This means that if you go wrong and it goes somewhere you don't want it, it's unlikely it'll show up, and it's not a disaster. It also allows you to build up lots of thin layers of colour, and get a really smooth gradient from one colour to another. The current GW painting technique is basically an optical illusion. By having a base tone, a mid tone and a highlight, basically your eye is tricked into seeing a blend. If you look closely, a lot of the time, you can see where one colour starts and another begins. By thinning your paints down and doing lots of thin layers, you're doing the same trick, but you're having a lot more transitions so it looks smoother as a result.
When I start blending, I generally can't see any results, it takes a couple of layers to see the colours - it takes a little while, but it's worth it. Once I can see the colour building up, I can start covering less and less area in it, so the transition starts to build up. In terms of the Ranger, my first highlight colour on his coat is Warlock Purple, and for the craftworld, Scab Red - you can't even really see it in the shot or in the flesh because it's so dark, but the eye does register it, and it helps to blend the colours that go on top of it. GW painting is kind of easy - the lower the part of the model, the darker it needs to be. The higher or further out from the model's core, the lighter it needs to be (generally!). For fabric, this means that the higher parts of the folds are going to be lighter. GW painting is a forced perspective - TECHNICALLY, we should be able to paint our models with one colour and the natural shadows do the work for us, but we don't do that, we push it by actively painting on deeper and lighter tones. So, I start my brush stroke where I want it to be darkest and finish where I want it lightest - I do this because there's more pigment at the end of the stroke than at the start, so with the ranger, I'd start in the folds and end up at the highest points. After that, it's just a matter of being patient and taking your time while the layers build up. I've said earlier in the blog that when I do the swords for my Eldar, it takes about 30+ layers to go from the blue to the white - sounds like a stupid number, but because the paint is watered down and so thin, it's quicker to dry, so 30 layers on a sword only takes about 5 minutes. The thinner the paint, the smoother the transition so it's really up to you how much time you want to invest in your models and the result you want to get.
After that, it's just a matter of working your way up through the colours to your highlight. Hopefully Hangfire won't mind me mention him here. He and I talked about painting a while ago and I kind of surprised him when I said about how I highlight. I do it with COLOUR, not by TINTING.

Lesson No.6: Colour Theory.
Shade = colour (red, green, blue etc).
Tone = more black in that colour.
Tint = more white in that colour.
GW highlights by adding white to their mid shades - they're creating a tint. (Pink is a tint of red. It's red with white in it. Pink's the only tint with it's own name... other tints are just called light blue, or light green). Technically black and white don't exist - black is just the darkest tone of a shade, and white is just the lightest tint. Black paints/pigments are usually just a really dark green, blue or brown - they just LOOK black. Nothing wrong with just adding white to lighten up a colour, but it does create a light, pastel aesthetic. I don't do that, I shade and highlight with colour.
In my Craftworld colours, I don't highlight the orange basecoat by adding white to the orange, I use yellow, the next colour in the spectrum. That means that if I want red, I'd basecoat in a dark red or even purple, have red as my mid shade and highlight with orange or even yellow. There's no white in there so it comes out a lot stronger and brighter. For blues, I'd basecoat in a dark blue or purple, have blue as the mid shade and go for a lighter SHADE as the highlight, or mix in some green.
I think this is one of the reasons some of my models look quite different - it's just that I use a different method/aesthetic to the GW one.

I suppose it all boils down to that I achieve my blending by using a small brush, thin layers and working with the properties of the paint to create an optical illusion. It's not hugely skilful but rather than a willingness to be patient and have good wrist strength and control. So no Nemesor, I don't use an airbrush lol. Urien - I used to think that I couldn't do Harlequins justice (and to a certain extent I still can't as I can't do the diamonds as neatly as I would like), but that doesn't mean that if I was VERY careful, I COULD do it - don't do yourself a disservice!

I hope that makes sense, and actually helps! If it doesn't, I'll give it another go!


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for a more visual lesson, check this out:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/364790.page

Wow, that was great! Thanks for putting the effort into that, Finnan! I certainly learned a lot

I really love the colour scheme you've got going. The Dark Reaper conversion is really, really nice.
The Wraith Lords are excellent. The blue sword is a perfect contrast for the orange and black.

Thanks kizzdougs, glad you like it

No worries Rawson, hope it's actually helpful! Always glad to explain what I'm doing, I just hope I'm not incoherant when I do!

Jaw ---> Floor... again.

Damn finnan. This is one of my favourite threads on Dakka, always a joy to read up on it.

Glad you enjoy it Elrikr, I hadn't really considered it before, but I really enjoy doing it, so I guess it's a win/win : )

Have you painted anything else other than Eldar, recently? I'd love to see what you would do with a Marine or perhaps a Dwarf Lord.

I haven't, no, I've been in Eldar-mode for a long time now!
The Warhammer Forge Fimir, wolf rats and Curs'd Ettin do keep catching my eye though. I might have to have a bit of a shopping spree at Games Day. I'd like to do the Ettin all black and frost-bitten with some tattoos... It's silly, haven't gotten this Golden Demon out of the way yet and I'm already thinking about next year's!

Thanks for that tut Finnan, really enlightening. I certainly learned something.

D

just a teeny-tiny update really, I did a bit of painting yesterday and went into work today as it was results day (although I only managed about 10 minutes worth of 'work' and spent the rest of the time chatting!). I promise to get my painting act together!
Strange as it sounds, I don't have a tv, so I don't watch too much, and only if I know the show, or it's been recommended to me. However, I did have a tv in my hotel room last week, so I binged on rubbish tv - hurrah! On one show about overhauling cars or something, they did ghost stripes - stripes in a colour pretty close to the main colour block, and I thought that that would be a cool idea to steal for my Eldar : )
So I've given it a go on my Troupe Master - fairly strong still as I get the hand of it. I wanted a bit of a kick on his coat, so double stripes like on some of the Warlocks and the Farseer, in orange for the lining of his coat, and then a contrasting colour on the back. They've come out not too bad I think, although I wouldn't say no to making the stripes on the back a bit more noticeably orange/yellow on the highlight. The red stripes don't show up too well in the shot (hence wanting to orange them up a bit)

Now that's a bit different isn't it! :-) and it works really well! it's great to see a technique that is essentially subtle make such a big impact on the mini, I am impressed! and it's funny because you were the inspiration for me when I wanted to do something special on my DC dreadnought :-) so I actually tried some freehand (it's not finished yet, only w.i.p pics) and it's a 'similar' thing to what you've done lol a grey design on black washed down to nearly black and then highlighted up, I wanted a sort of wallpaper or curtain style look to it? after seeing this latest offering from you I am eager to try other colours now! perhaps on my termie captain I can muck around with some red designs? who knows? but as long as you keep showing us inspiring and original artwork i'll always be thinking about what's next! :-)

Glad you like : ) - it's odd how there's stuff we don't even consider and then it suddenly pops up!
I don't think I've quite got the colours right yet, but it'll take some practice. I think the trick will be to have the colours REALLY close to each other so they look more delicate.

I think the trick will be to have the colours REALLY close to each other so they look more delicate

Agreed! I think it will also have an effect as to what colours you are using the technique on? I think it will look quite striking on turquoise or even browns and of course the orange you are playing with currently, I would be interested to see this done on the inside of a wood elf cloak except make the design into a floral/vine type image, almost like a rather strikimg satin shirt with embossed feathers I own (pictures on demand )

it'd be a matter of doing it on a model that has enough flat space to do it on I suppose...
I like the idea of the feathers... /demands pictures ; )

it'd be a matter of doing it on a model that has enough flat space to do it on I suppose...
I like the idea of the feathers... /demands pictures ; )

How about we both have an attempt even roughly to see how it 'could' look on different colours? it'd give me something to work on in between spamming your thread with images of me in my brown satin embossed shirt and brown skin tight flares... oooooh yeah

don't know what I'd even attempt it on really. I do have a Falcon that's semi-started, but I'd have to think about how to do it and still have it fit into my craftworld scheme... maybe on a Ranger? They've got some flat spaces... Research needed I think. I need to have a look at the Thor stuff again.

Skin tight AND flared - ooh, yeah baby! If they were polyester, that might push me over the edge
... I now have an image of a totally pimped-out nerdfest... it burns!!
; )

Never one to back down from a challenge, I decided to go with a Ranger because of the flatness offered by his coat. Not 100% in line with my craftworld aesthetic, but that's not such a huge issue for the purposes of the experiment.
I've drawn the design on with pencil first, because trying to just doing with no guidelines would be too messy I think.
The next step is to think about colours...
I could go for my usual Charadon base for the coat, and then go darker for the stripes. The potential problem with that would be that I might not be able to get much depth on the overlapping of the pattern.
I could go dark for the coat and lighter for the stripes, but still in greys.

I just think that I'd have to do the stripes first (and separately) from the background of the coat, just so I've got them done and defined... this is already making my head hurt.


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okay... not a total failure, but I think to do this technique the trick will have to be to start with quite a light basecoat colour and have the ghosting a shade or two darker. With the greys I'm trying on the Ranger, it's just all too dark, and the definition is going... I can't help thinking that it'd be easier to do in yellows, oranges and reds.
I've also just done the stripes flat, and have started the base colour flat - I have no idea how I'm going to do the highlighting neatly... I think it would probably be best to do the coat flat, so all the shading and highlighting and then do the ghosting over the top in really thin layers so that the highlighting shows through - that means translucent paints rather than opaque... are the greys just too heavy and opaque?

pics of the experiment... I don't mind the front too much, but the back's a mess. I know it's unfinished and the white it very distracting, but I don't think it's working.

Never trust an experiment until it's complete, you never know what happy accidents can happen along the way.

So far, the pattern as drawn in pencil looked really good and had just the right mix of simplicity and intermingling of lines. Granted the white is distracting but I think that if you push through, once you add adding more colour in there, the whole composition will really come together, quite possibly in a way that you hadn't planned. In short, keep on it

Thanks Dark_Gear : )
I just can't help feeling that I'm using the wrong technique, and that it might have been a mistake to have the stripes overlapping as that adds more complexity...

Not to bad Finnan?!?!?! Its F@(king beautiful! Love the dark red ghost stripes, they look great! As for that tutorial, it was great too. The thing about how tints dont really work was really useful, but unfortunatelly for my shading, it requires patience. If only I could grow a patience tree... Ill give it a go anyway! Well done and thanks

A semi-busy day it seems as good progress has been made - but bugger me it's been hot! I generally don't like painting when it's hot because it makes the paint dry that much quicker, and that can lead to streaks and thicker paint, but I coped ; )

More work on the Troupe Master - legs are done and attached, and weapons are in progress. I want to do a few more coats of Gryphs Sepia on them, and maybe a wash of black too, then I can start highlighting back up to a nice bright gold. Then it's just the blade and the hair left to do.
I have to admit, he's looking fairly cool at the moment, I just hope i don't cock it up!

Also, attempt no.2 at the ghost striping experiment, and this one has gone much, much better. I think it's gone better because:
I did the base of the coat before I even attempted the stripes, and this gave me a guide to where the light and shade was going to go.
I also limited my palette to two shades of grey and black. This worked MUCH better than trying to work with Charadon as well. I think one of the problems yesterday was that I was working with cool AND warm greys, and it just looked messy as a result. Today I was just using cool greys, and they worked much better with each other.
No overlapping shading on the stripes - simple is better; a simpler pattern for the stripes too.
I still haven't cracked this, but progress has certainly been made : )