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I wanted to know, how does one achieve this level of precision when applying a "cracked glass" effect on power swords?

http://www.miniaturesfan.ru/published/publicdata/U73067/attachments/SC/products_pictures/m990184a_99120101085_BASanguinaryGuard4_873x627_enl.jpg

I have a bottle of Humbrol "Maskol" and tried to apply it to a separate power sword to paint on it but it just went all over the power sword like it was a shade or something, would the Vallejo masking fluid be better?

Now, I'm not an expert, and a beginner painter at best, but I believe people generally just paint that on very carefully with a thin brush. I haven't seen anyone use masking fluid for that before.

I know that it is a technique similar to painting faux marble (which we often had to apply to wooden panels where I used to work - until last year).

You have a base color (the black) that has a fair degree of retarder put in it.

And then you paint over the still wet black with the thin tendrils of the lighter color.

Then, for the faux marble, not sure about the energy tendrils, but when it is almost dry, but still slightly workable, you take a feathering brush and lightly go over the whole thing.

This will give the initial "blur" to your "energy tendrils"/veins in the marble.

Then, you just shade as normal with the light-effect colors over that, maybe concentrating some dry-brushing or blending around the tendrils.

For doing faux marble, we had a special brush for doing the veins/tendrils, but I doubt they make them for something this small (It was basically like a pen-striping liner brush, crossed with a filbert that had been cut at a diagonal).

Doing the "energy swords" was before my time, but I did used to do faux marble all the time on dioramas and the older Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds Alters for the Swamp Demons and the Undead. And the Faux Marble doesn't look too terribly different from the energy sword look, save that the faux marble had a few more colors in the veins (marble is usually two or three colored).

I should look into this... I have some starship engines that could use this look.

MB

Lev73 wrote:
I wanted to know, how does one achieve this level of precision when applying a "cracked glass" effect on power swords?

http://www.miniaturesfan.ru/published/publicdata/U73067/attachments/SC/products_pictures/m990184a_99120101085_BASanguinaryGuard4_873x627_enl.jpg

I have a bottle of Humbrol "Maskol" and tried to apply it to a separate power sword to paint on it but it just went all over the power sword like it was a shade or something, would the Vallejo masking fluid be better?

You don't use liquid masks to paint that effect.

The lightening is done after you paint the sword and directly on top of the previous paint.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

You don't use liquid masks to paint that effect.

The lightening is done after you paint the sword and directly on top of the previous paint.

What I meant was that I used the liquid mask to make the lightning effect, but the mask itself seemed like a shade, it wouldn't form thin lines where I told it to.

I'll mess around with some of my other power swords and just improve my freehand, then. Thanks everyone.

Lev73 wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

You don't use liquid masks to paint that effect.

The lightening is done after you paint the sword and directly on top of the previous paint.

What I meant was that I used the liquid mask to make the lightning effect, but the mask itself seemed like a shade, it wouldn't form thin lines where I told it to.

I'll mess around with some of my other power swords and just improve my freehand, then. Thanks everyone.

I understand what you meant, but using liquid mask isn't how to go about replicating the effect you are after. Paint the sword how you want it to look underneath and then paint the lightening effect over top of the already painted sword.

Liquid mask is for temporarily covering areas you don't want painted. What is your reasoning for using a liquid mask?

you seem confused mate..why would you want thin lines of masking fluid? its meant to be painted over bits you dont want the next layer of paint to touch. the effect youre talking about, as mentioned above, is done freehand with a fine brush, paint and a steady hand. no masking fluid involved at all

BeAfraid wrote:
I know that it is a technique similar to painting faux marble (which we often had to apply to wooden panels where I used to work - until last year).

You have a base color (the black) that has a fair degree of retarder put in it.

And then you paint over the still wet black with the thin tendrils of the lighter color.

Then, for the faux marble, not sure about the energy tendrils, but when it is almost dry, but still slightly workable, you take a feathering brush and lightly go over the whole thing.

This will give the initial "blur" to your "energy tendrils"/veins in the marble.

Then, you just shade as normal with the light-effect colors over that, maybe concentrating some dry-brushing or blending around the tendrils.

For doing faux marble, we had a special brush for doing the veins/tendrils, but I doubt they make them for something this small (It was basically like a pen-striping liner brush, crossed with a filbert that had been cut at a diagonal).

Doing the "energy swords" was before my time, but I did used to do faux marble all the time on dioramas and the older Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds Alters for the Swamp Demons and the Undead. And the Faux Marble doesn't look too terribly different from the energy sword look, save that the faux marble had a few more colors in the veins (marble is usually two or three colored).

I should look into this... I have some starship engines that could use this look.

MB

Thanks so much for the step by step advice, the internet has so many variations that don't really get what I was going for, hopefully I can capture the effect nice and neatly

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
I understand what you meant, but using liquid mask isn't how to go about replicating the effect you are after. Paint the sword how you want it to look underneath and then paint the lightening effect over top of the already painted sword.

Liquid mask is for temporarily covering areas you don't want painted. What is your reasoning for using a liquid mask?

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
you seem confused mate..why would you want thin lines of masking fluid?

To cover areas I don't want painted. I didn't want the masking fluid to form the effect itself, I wanted to airbrush the thing a very bright blue color as a base, then cover some of the lines to get the effect with the fluid, then paint on the darker color, so I could assure all the lines are evenly strongly colored and I don't have to go back and repaint them and have it look uneven, but unfortunately that doesn't seem possible.

An alternative to try is to paint your low highlights up to a mid blue for the sword, then add the crackles in a pale blue or white, maybe the edge effect paint. Once dry glaze back with a dark blue ink and repeat, finishing with the brightest and fewest glazes closest to the energy source. The multiple glazes should layer up to a rich blue tone over the base colours. I started something similar on my marine sergeant but I tend to underplay things a bit, this could probably do with some more white layers adding!

IIRC from one of those WD painting things.

It was based black

Then lines of a dark blue in lighting pattern, then thinner lighter blue within the inside of that blue line

then white near the thicker parts and corners and other areas you wana draw attention to. nothing to special about it.

Click the image for full size view:


i suspect the paints are outdated because this was a very old page, but the method is sound.

Good luck with your attempts!

 Buttery Commissar wrote:

i suspect the paints are outdated because this was a very old page, but the method is sound.

Good luck with your attempts!

Just what I was looking for, thanks.

I have used Mr Hobby liquid mask to paint hard edged flame jobs before. It doesn't really work if you need lines that are less than 1mm thick. You also end up destroying a lot of brushes because it goes rubbery in the bristles as you paint and doesn't come out.

For lightning, doing it by hand I think is the way to go because the lines are so thin that if you do half a dozen layers gradually building up the colour, you won't notice the transitions anyway. You also want the centre of the line to be bright and the edges of the line to be dark, something you can't really do with masking liquid and airbrushing anyway.

I do it sort of like Desubot says. Here is an example:



So, what I do is start with a color that is close to the sword's color, to sketch out the lightning (or cracks, whatever). This way, I can correct it easily if I don't like the fork.

I layer over it (completely) with a fairly dark blue. Then, using a finer brush, I layer a light blue (like Temple Guard), leaving a little of the previous still bleeding out of the edges. I repeat the same thing with the same brush, but painting a finer line, with a very light color (like Baharroth Blue), and finally, I accentuate certain points with White Scar.

It is not hard to do at all, but you do have to have a steady hand -- basically, the same skill you need to acquire for any amount of freehand.

On my example above, probably the scariest thing to do was the line down the center of the sword, because at that point, everything is done; if you mess up the white line, BOOM, start over. And, unlike the rest of it, that line must be perfectly straight. Notice how it goes from white at the top to black at the bottom, too -- which would be very easy to do, except when you have to get it right in 1 shot.

Lev73 wrote:

 Buttery Commissar wrote:

i suspect the paints are outdated because this was a very old page, but the method is sound.

Good luck with your attempts!

Just what I was looking for, thanks.

No worries!
I chopped these pages out of my heap of WD and stuck them in a box file, there's a lot of neat little bits in there. First time it's ever been useful.

To do very fine lines you need to get the consistency of your paint right. It might be helpful to mix in a drop of retarder and/or flow-aid so the paint flows easily off the brush tip. You can do some astoundingly fine lines without too much difficulty if you get the mixture right. And I really do mean razor thin. Then your problem will be not being able to see properly, and you'll have to buy more lamps...

Nah thats not how you do it mate.. Get a thin brush and do gradually thinner layers working upto white for your lightning lines eg.. Kantor blue sword, thin teclis blue lines, thinner light teclis blue lines, pure white lines in the centre for the lightning. No quick tekkers here pal.. Lots of practice and a steady hand