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I am burning with frustration. Any support is welcomed support.

I know this is a niche question.. But does anyone have any advice on how they would approach painting this for new painters?




Painting the barding of the horses is my problem; it's like trying to paint on a flat, texture-less surface (like a piece of paper).

Everything I do looks bad. Not nearly as good as the goblins, dwarves, and wood elves I've painted.

Anyone have a suggestion?

Painting banners and large parts of flat cloth is the most annoying part of fantasy. Is the problem that you can get a good, solid colour or that you're finding it hard to give it shading and highlights?

If you're trying to drybrush, then stop. Find a tutorial and practice highlighting.

There are a number of tutes for painting horses (by GW) - I think the last one might still be on the website. It may have been done for LOTR, but the techniques are the same.

Myself, I paint large expanses of 'fabric' by using a cel-shading technique (make it look like a comic) - as these things are meant to be seen from arms' length away, and that kind of exaggeration works with it.

Thanks to all who responded!

lalabox wrote:Painting banners and large parts of flat cloth is the most annoying part of fantasy. Is the problem that you can get a good, solid colour or that you're finding it hard to give it shading and highlights?

Thanks for the commiseration. I spent many hours developing a good colour combination (several nifty mixes of necron abyss, regal, and ice blues) to represent the highlights. However, my specific problem is, as you said, it is very difficult for me to give it shading and highlights. I seem to do just fine painting neat, layered lines on many figures; I'm even learning to blend a bit! However, I find the barding on these Bretonnian horses to be strangely difficult.

Zip Napalm wrote:If you're trying to drybrush, then stop. Find a tutorial and practice highlighting.

I'm not, thanks, but in frustration I did try it on my 6th horse. You can imagine how well it turned out!

chromedog wrote:Myself, I paint large expanses of 'fabric' by using a cel-shading technique (make it look like a comic) - as these things are meant to be seen from arms' length away, and that kind of exaggeration works with it.

That sounds neat; do you have any pictures, or better yet, can you describe how you perform your technique to me? Thanks!

When all else fails:

1. Foundation of preferable colour
2. Preferable colour
3. Wash of preferable colour
4. Highlights using colour in 2.
5. Extreme highlights of lighter preferable colour.

No shots of my fantasy stuff, alas as I stopped playing it back in '95 and was using a film camera back then.

I'll see if I can dig up which WD (it was in the 2008-9 period iirc) had a tutorial for horses in it.

First of all, unless you want a white horse, give it a black undercoat. I know people say white undercoat for bright colors and dark for earthy colors, but using this method a dark undercoat is really the best for all schemes unless you're going for a white final product.

Then pick a really dark version of what you want the finishing color to be. Use bestial brown for a tan horse for example. Or midnight blue for a blue cloth. At this point your horse looks like crap but don't get discouraged.

Work your way up using progressively lighter versions of the color (or shades mixed with white) on the raised areas. If there is a fold in the cloth or the horse's hide, leave the gap un-highlighted. After about two to three layers of progressively lighter paint it should be looking pretty good. On the second to last layer use the color you were shooting for. The last layer should be just barely lighter than your desired color to highlight ridges, edges, etc but don't go overboard or it'll look spotty.

The only time you should drybrush is on chainmail or on the horse's hair (like the mane, tail, hooves) after you've done the previous steps. Or if you want the cloth to look worn you can very very softly drybrush parts of it. Don't use it as your main technique though. I'm not sure how drybrushing got to be so popular, I've found its really only effective as a finishing touch to give the model a battle worn look.

If you want a white horse or cloth, do either fortress grey -> codex grey -> white or do tan (I use testors brand just make sure it's totally dry before painting over since it's oil based) -> bleached bone -> white or whatever equivalent you find works. Gray will give a colder look (I use it for things like banshees or dwarf beards) but for horses I prefer the tan undercolors. With white there will obviously be no final highlighting, you just end on the white step.

Good luck!

For Bretonnian barding, I generally start with a darker shade (say, space wolves grey for 'white') over the primer, then the main color (eggshell or antique white) over the majority of the area, leaving the grey in the shadows and folds. Then use a highlight color (pure white) only on edges and tallest parts of the barding. Works good for tabletop use, and I imagine it can be refined for more sophisticated uses with practice.

Thanks to every one of you! Your advice is both helpful and encouraging.

The most important thing to do is practice, practice, practice. After all, the paint comes off broad, flat surfaces easy enough, start with the barding and if you don't like the way it looks, strip it back down an restart.

It can be frustrating, yes. But it will make you a better painter in the end.

Perhaps you could concentrate on making a colourful and intricate pattern at the expense of highlighting and shading. Highlighting and shading is more noticable on things that are all a single colour rather than many different colours. There are lots of books of heraldry for inspiration. Good luck whatever you decide to do.