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Hello dakkadakka!!!

Ok so i like to think im an amateur painter, I base my models black then highlight the edges with a light blue and paint flames skulls and where needed and dry brush wings on the chests or things that need to be. i have a good I for detail and im getting better at painting.

Once i finish my latest set of models i will post them here. its only my 5th model so i think i have come a long way from the start haha

But now to what i want to ask.

I know the technique of washing is a fast easy and very effective way to add natural shadows to your models.
At what point do i want to wash my model? after i do a base, then wash then highlight? or base highlight then wash?
or should a wash be the last thing i do after i paint all details like flames skulls and dry brush.

Also how much black ink should i use for a wash for a normal model? i don't want to cover ll the details that i put into it.

additional info: models are based in chaos black, highlighted in lothern blue, crests and skulls are painted in bleached bone, dry brushed skull while or painted lead bleacher. flames are painted evil sun scarlet, with troll slayer orange.

As with all painting it's always all about thin layers. I'm sure different people have different techniques. I however usually go in this order. Prime, base coat, wash the shaded areas, do a second coat of base color, then highlight. Typically use black ink sparingly or watered down if your gonna do the shading last.

ty i was hoping some one would get back to me, when you mean areas of shade you mean around places like crests, seals joints, ect ect. then on the second base coat you touch it up so that the ink is only in the places it needs to be?

Exactly that! I wash the black ink into the areas that the light wouldn't fall into. Then use the second base coat to touch up the lines and make sure all everything is crisp. Sometimes Ill do the second coat as a dry brush technique.

I use oil based paint thinned with mineral spirits for washes. The kind oil painters use in a tube.

Not only can you just slather the model in it. It takes a long while to completely dry. So you can just take a q-tip dipped in mineral spirits, and remove any excess wash you don't want without disturbing the wash in the recesses.

Edited to add a link to the video where I learned this trick...
http://youtu.be/cP9cT3firLw

You can put it on at different stages depending on the effect you want. One technique is to excessively highlight the model, then wash it to shade it and also help blend the highlights together so they don't look too overdone. In that case you'd wash last. Another technique is to apply a basecoat, then a wash for shading, then highlight the raised areas with some really thinned down paint to make the edges pop a bit. You can also paint wash straight into the crevices rather than over all the surfaces if you like your base colour and don't want it tainted by the wash, but still want the shading effect. You can also use a wash to stain a model, which is what I do with some of my Tyranids, give them a coat of Devlan Mud and the Devlan Mud becomes the actual flesh colour.

So yeah, lots of options. As to how thick, again, depends what you want. If you want to lightly stain an area and add slight shading, you'd apply it thin, if you want to really darken an area and/or give some heavy shading, you'll apply it thicker. Some of my models I just use a big 1cm wide brush and dunk it in the wash and then slop it over the model, because if it's applied like that it gives a smoother finish and some really deep shading... but that's the effect I'm going for and may not use that technique on other models.

One piece of advice I'll give is try and not let the wash dry while you're still applying it to an area otherwise you'll end up with a blotchy look. Also use an appropriate brush size and stroke, if applying lightly into crevices use a standard sized brush, but if you want to coat the whole model in a wash or a large area, use a large brush, if you try and use a small brush to cover a large area you won't be able to get a smooth finish.

Dont just slop it on. put it where you want the shading. It does not just magicaly run into the areas that need shading. Dont let it pool either, you will get rings when it dries. I keep a seperate brush for my washes and dry brushing. Dont use ypour good brushes for this kind of work. They will last alot longer and keep a good point.

As the others have said, THIN THEM. Back when I started painting I globbed it on. One day I when I was reading up on how to improve my technique, I saw that one person stated that washing is where a lot of would be good paint jobs go awry because people don't thin them. Ever since then I've thinned my washes, and I've noticed a massive improvement in visual quality of my paint jobs.

ICleadpeople wrote:Dont just slop it on. put it where you want the shading. It does not just magicaly run into the areas that need shading. Dont let it pool either, you will get rings when it dries. I keep a seperate brush for my washes and dry brushing. Dont use ypour good brushes for this kind of work. They will last alot longer and keep a good point.

I'm gonna contradict you slightly and say, actually, yeah, it kinda does magically run into areas that need shading.

Slopping it on is one of many techniques, it may not give you the effect you want, or it may. If you want to slop it on, my advice is use a big brush, slop it on, and then before it dries remove any excess where you've applied too much (you can use a tissue gently to soak up excess) or pools which are in areas where you don't want it to pool (the wash mostly goes into the crevices, but often on large flat areas it pools where you don't want it). You can let it pool to a large extent, the rings mostly form when you allow the paint to shift while it's in the process of drying, a pool by itself won't form rings unless it's really deep and the shrinkage as it dries causes the paint to shift as it dries. The trick really is getting the layer of wash on the model and looking pretty BEFORE it starts to dry, hence why the "big brush" is an important part of the process.

But yeah, "slop it on" is a valid technique and if you look at my gallery, many of my models have been painted with that technique. Some I'm particularly proud of are my Cold One rider... the rider done with heavily slopped on Thraka Green wash followed by a Nuln oil wash only on the scales and the cold one itself done first with a slopped on Baal Red wash followed by a slightly less aggressively but none the less slopped on Leviathan purple, most other areas either have a decent layer of Devlan Mud or Nuln...
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-viewimage.jsp?i=396423
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/396422-COR2.html

Or my Imperial Guardsman, given a generous slopping of Nuln Oil...
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/385440-Imperial%20Guardsman%20snow%20base%20front.html

Or my Lizardmen in general (I have a tutorial on how I did the purple skinks)
http://lustria-online.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6951

Or my Zombies (wash slopped on with a mix of Agrax and Nuln)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-59981-27869_Vampire%20Counts.html

It's a valid technique, like anything it requires a bit of finesse to get it "right", but the starting point if you want to use that technique is to slop it on and work from there! The vast majority of those models I applied wash straight from the tin using a 1cm wide square head brush I bought from an art store, applied in broad strokes and then cleaned up with tissues, smaller brushes, or just using the big brush to move it around a bit, some of them didn't need much cleaning up at all after slopping it on.

It all just depends what effect you want to achieve. You might not want to slop it on, or you might.

I'm also gonna contradict what you said about brushes, it depends what you want to do. If you want to paint directly into the crevices to create shading, you would be better served using a good brush. Just clean it frequently because the wash gets drawn up the bristles and dries quickly so can ruin the brush if you don't clean it frequently.