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Alright guys, I've asked about this before and didn't get a usable answer. Now that I'm nearly finished with my howling banshee exarch I want to ask again.

I painted up a guardian in black and white scheme, and when finished a covered him in badab and it looked terrible. It made the white look splotched and ugly.

So what did I do wrong?

I'm thinking that maybe I need to hit the crevices and edges and be careful not to hit the flat surfaces. Still I feel like the edges will look odd with a wash.

If I ruin another figure I'm going to cry. I wash my Imperial guard and ogre kingdom figures and it looks great, but eldar seem determined not to let washes touch them without issue.

A pic would help but the best thing I can think of is to thinnly paint over the white again but don't paint the deep parts where the wash has hit heaviest.

This is easy enough to avoid by simply diluiting your washes down and applying layers till you get the desired effect.
Also, straight black wash on white paint is going to be iffy at best.
My friend did his with Delvan Mud wash watered down 3:1 and did a single layer.

Your problem is that you tried to wash the entire mini with black over white... Washes work best when targeted to areas you wish to shade, they can be slathered on, but generally you only do this with darker models where you don't mind splotches over everything.

Yeah I'd post a pic but I'm working from my phone so that's currently impoosible.

Hmmm never thought to water down a wash, I'll give that a try.

Also if this helps, the exarch is bleached bone mostly with blood red hair, goblin green mask, some black and undecided color for spear blade.

Extra question, what do you put badab on? Declan seems to be a universal answer to most wash needs.

+1 to watering them down, it might take a few washes to get the disired effect but you wont leave a mess like you are geting at the moment.
Also when you say covering them, you would be better to not cover them, but only paint the wash onto the recesses, i find when washing a bright colour like that to simply wash the whole area can ruin the look of it.

Aha! Watering some devlan down did the trick! I'm not altogether happy with the paint job (eldar sure like to carry a bunch of stuff on them), it's tabletop quality and the wash looks good now!

Thanks a ton guys

The trick to washes is to apply them like paint, ie where you want the effect to take place, not a blob and slop...I think washes are one of the most mis-used and poorly applied product in the gaming world. Take a look at a few of these images;











All of the shadows on these models were done with a wash. The trick is not just "thin it down with water" but also in how you apply it. Basically to "wet blend" your washes to use them in creating contrast and shadow you need the following;

A damp paper towel
Brush for wash application
Brush for blending
Clean water.

Apply the wash where you want it to be, work in small areas and work quickly. After the initial application, take your blending brush and dip it in the clean water and drag it once or twice across the paper towel to wick away excess water, then working around the edges of the wash, blend the wash in to the surrounding area, clean off your brush on the damp paper towel periodically to avoid spreading the wash to far out from the shadow. Work in layers and keep building the shadows until you have reached to point of depth that you are looking for.

Ashton

That makes a ton of sense. I've been wondering for a while how you blend colors, and it looks like I finally see how. I'll try the technique on the next figure I do and see what I can manage.

Thanks! I'll be saving those instructions in a .doc file for sure.

Necroshea wrote:That makes a ton of sense. I've been wondering for a while how you blend colors, and it looks like I finally see how. I'll try the technique on the next figure I do and see what I can manage.

Thanks! I'll be saving those instructions in a .doc file for sure.

Make sure you practice on something first....this is merely one tool that I use, I also use a lot of airbrushing and oil paints, so don't be in a rush and don't expect perfect results your first go around.

Ashton

Spray a light gloss coat before washing, it directs the wash into crevices without staining the light colors. Then hit it with some matte when its dry

Necroshea wrote:That makes a ton of sense. I've been wondering for a while how you blend colors, and it looks like I finally see how. I'll try the technique on the next figure I do and see what I can manage.

Thanks! I'll be saving those instructions in a .doc file for sure.

That is one of many ways you can blend colors.
There are ways to thin your paints down to a degree that any paint color you want can be made into a 'wash' of sorts.

Note that when you're using washes, don't overload and understand that when the wash dries, it'll usually be noticeably lighter.

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As an aside, one of the best ways I've found to 'paint' white and shade it is to not even use white at all for a base coat. Use a barely off-white color such as Vallejo's Deck Tan or Reaper's Ghost White. Then you can feel free to apply a really thin dose of any wash you prefer, then make thicker highlights of the base color again. Finally highlight with a pure and actual white.