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Hello,

Somewhere online I saw a tip that one can shade surfaces with complementary colored inks for good effect.

I have a miniature that has a textured, pale green armor, and one that has a terra-cotta red armor. I was thinking about buying red ink for the former and green ink for the latter to shade them with. Is this a common and/or effective shading technique?

And what would one choose for a charcoal grey?

Thanks!

I shade my Death Guard that way. They are green and I pinwash them with a very red sepia ink. Though, frankly I am color blind so I can't really tell the difference XD

Yes it works very well.

Depends on what hue that grey is.

To expand on that, colors are described on 4 scales.

Hue is the rainbow.

Tints are adding white

Tones are adding grey.

Shades are adding black.

Most greys are actually some kind of really dark shade/tone of blue. But I have also seen brownish greys (oranges and yellows and reds that are just muddy they become brown and then blackish grey).

A lot of times it's near impossible to tell what color the greys are until you paint it right next to another opposing grey to see the differences. Also they often get so dark that to shade them with anything but black is almost pointless.

It's this grey: http://www.thewarstore.com/Vallejo-Game-Color-Extra-Opaque-17ml-Heavy-Charcoal.html

I don't remember that being in the lineup back in the day when I was a regular Vallejo buyer, honestly. Comes out a fairly nice and even color. Black is ever a tricky one, and honestly I've avoided using it much on miniatures since I did my first Black Templars back in...2002 or so.

So, it sounds like I should pick up these inks and give them a try. I have not really painted miniatures - especially 28mm ones - in quite many years and it is a bit sad how badly the ones I'm working on now (Wargames Factory Ashigaru and Samurai) have come out! Need a lot more practice before I even try and touch ones I care about. Funny, just before I heard this technique spoken on at all, I was wondering when on earth anyone would use *red* ink.

So do you use it straight or do you really need to water it down a bunch?

I mean... my computer scren is going to show that color differently from every other computer screen. Right now I would say it's a little greenish blue but that really means nothing since my system is corrupting it.

Renaissance artists developed the technique actually. They would paint the complimentary color onto the shadowed areas before painting over it with the color they actually wanted it to be. They believed the technique added depth and layers to the skin tones and fabrics.


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It depends on the companies product for how they behave and what you need to do. Different companys inks and washes behave in slightly different ways. I only really use GW washes so far so I can't help with anyone else ink products. Though I am pretty sure I will be using some army painter inks before too long.

 Lance845 wrote:
I mean... my computer scren is going to show that color differently from every other computer screen. Right now I would say it's a little greenish blue but that really means nothing since my system is corrupting it.

Sorry, I only meant to indicate that that was the specific name of the color used, in case you were personally familiar with it.

I'll try and get to my FLGS tomorrow and pick up said inks; I'll start very thin and work with it from there.