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Okay, I'll admit it: I'm an old school painter. I've done things a certain way since the early '90s and while I'm happy with my paint jobs overall, I'm hoping to improve my techniques. I've been reading that lining with inks is considered to be a bit old fashioned. I've always lined and when I don't, the figures seem to look kind of incomplete and perhaps not so well defined. Are there alternate ways to make those sharp contrasts pop in lieu of lining?

If anyone is willing to help teach this old dog a new trick, I'd be very appreciative.

i'm an old school painter as well, but i've been workin' hard to incorporate some of the more recent changes in painting techniques...
first of all, i think that there are always minis that benefit from dark-lining, such as any mini with hard armor...
for the softer minis, with flowing clothes, lining can look too stark, especially in photos...

if you want a more subtle look, you just use your darkest shading color to define the details...
if you're working with enough contrast traditional dark-lining isn't necessary...

hope that helps...

cheers
jah

Using a softer wash can often achieve similar results than putting in the harder lines with an ink. The shading get accomplished and contrasts can be made. If you go light on the wash, you can keep adding more until you get the result you want. Its alot easier than wet blending or the other shading techniques, it wont win any Golden Daemons, but you can make an above average table top army in a reasonable amount of time.

I tend to think of what the object looks like and what would be a "natural" shade to apply a wash to get the recesses darker. I tend to like dark browns for steel to give that slight rust look. Works OK for red as well or sometimes a dark purple works as a wash.

If results are muddy looking I have picked up at an art store "flow aid" which can decide how wide the wash pools in cracks.

I tend to use my lining pens for tiny script now.