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Realised recently I quite like drybrushing as a technique. Always seems to give a good effect especially on metallic parts to kits and is pretty simply to do.
Conversely I hate feathering. I find it quite difficult and time consuming :(

What techniques do you enjoy or try and avoid?

Hate Dry-brushing! Its a cheap way to was and highlight.


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I love airbrushing, I think it gives amazing effects for certain tasks, especially highlighting, shading, and blending for a lot of models.

I don't like edge highlighting - it's tedious.

I guess I'm still quite a newbie to the hobby. I really like washes as they can make the most mundane block colours look so much more sophisticated and deep. I think highlighting looks so good, but I'm struggling so much at the moment to get anywhere highlighting my own models.

Oil washes (or watercolor washes). Applying a wash without a binder (like acrylic based washes) over a gloss varnish surface means it can be cleaned off the high points of the model with a cotton swab with a bit of thinner (or water for the watercolor).

Of techniques I actually would use, I hate edge highlighting. I can never get it consistent and to look good.

Which sucks, because I am edge highlighting my Black Templars.

Drybrushing and washing I love as its really easy to get awesome looking results.
Anything that takes time/skill/patience I hate because I am lazy.

I personally don't like edge-highlighting. I'm more of a blending guy.

BAN wrote:
Drybrushing and washing I love as its really easy to get awesome looking results.
Anything that takes time/skill/patience I hate because I am lazy.

This, because I fail at art and still want decent looking units.

I realize I love black lining. In the old school, combine with bright colours kind of way:

X2 on "black lining"

it takes a lot of time/planning, but I love the look when every detail on my minis is outlined, makes it more visable and really highlights the colours.

other then that, I also like wet blending, edge highlights, and dry brushing! but not the whole model, just for some metallic things.

Other then that, id say my favorite method is freehand stuff, I love taking a nice large flatish part of the mini and making a mini portrait name text or picture of some sort on it

Washes are the holy grail of painting for me, so fast and efficient, and look good too. Devlan Mud is known as Miracle Wash for a reason.

Layering is good, but I like it subtle, not over-the-top. Same with Edge Highlighting.

The ones I hate are the pastel-colour schemes that seem to be more prevalent in the last couple of years, and the extreme highlighting that again is more common now.

Sponge weathering - the effort to reward ratio is fantastic.

I love oil washes. You can get a ton of cool effects with them for little effort, and they're very easy to play with once they're on the surface since they use a different binder and take a while to dry.

I like layering. It's something I've been focusing on lately now that I've got a fancy Raphael as my new toy. Thinning down just right and seeing those transitions sloooowly build up is so zen for me. It's less appealing when there's 20 guys to paint, though...

I dislike dry brushing in most situations. It's fantastic for doing things like rocks and for doing fur quickly. I've seen some drybrushing that looks amazing, I'm just not the one doing it. Mine looks like crap and I don't have any motivation to improve it.

I hate wet blending. I want to like it. I'm terrible at it and it's frustrating for me, and I can get better results with layering now anyway. I'm always super jealous when I see it done well.

I'm not a fan of OSL, i feel like people rarely use it well and generally just go to far with it and ends up looking poor

Evertras wrote:I love oil washes. You can get a ton of cool effects with them for little effort, and they're very easy to play with once they're on the surface since they use a different binder and take a while to dry.

...

I hate wet blending. I want to like it. I'm terrible at it and it's frustrating for me, and I can get better results with layering now anyway. I'm always super jealous when I see it done well.

Since you have thinner and work with oils already, might I suggest attempting wet blending with oil paints? You pretty much have unlimited drying time. A video:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lngw_dscf0001_creation

easysauce wrote:X2 on "black lining"

it takes a lot of time/planning, but I love the look when every detail on my minis is outlined, makes it more visable and really highlights the colours.

I find oils have reinvigorated my black lining. I do a light gloss varnish and let that dry. I mix up a very heavy black oil wash (nearly opaque) and quickly black line with it. Then I remove it from all the places I don't want it with cut down cotton swabs. Then I let it dry and clean it up with a thinner dampened cut down swab.

Agreed, Scott-S6, on the sponge weathering. I also use washes quite frequently, not just as intended, but also as dilute glazes to smooth transitions and intensify color saturation.

I'm finding myself using an airbrush more and more, as well, but primarily as an economical/efficient workhorse, not a fine art tool. It saves me money and aerosol stink on priming and varnishing and speeds up basecoating, but I don't use it for too much more than that - at least not at the moment. I'm not against smooth blends, it just doesn't really fit my painting style. Admittedly, I do dislike the powdery soft, extreme color shift, overtly airbrushed look that has gained traction, of late.

Wouldn't say I hate it, but I'm not a big fan of drybrushing, either. Again, I'm not against its use, I just don't particularly like doing it, or the results it gives me. I restrict its use to surfaces that more or less require it (God help you if you try to highlight fine fur or scales individually).

 frozenwastes wrote:

Evertras wrote:I love oil washes. You can get a ton of cool effects with them for little effort, and they're very easy to play with once they're on the surface since they use a different binder and take a while to dry.

...

I hate wet blending. I want to like it. I'm terrible at it and it's frustrating for me, and I can get better results with layering now anyway. I'm always super jealous when I see it done well.

Since you have thinner and work with oils already, might I suggest attempting wet blending with oil paints? You pretty much have unlimited drying time. A video:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lngw_dscf0001_creation

And this is why I love this forum. Will check that out! Thanks!

Really like the use of dry pigments for shading an weathering.