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Hi all,

I’m trying to paint my Space Marines but I always have trouble with shading. I haven’t got the patience or skill to recess shade using the worlds smallest brush so I generally use a shade brush and smoother the miniature in the wash. I never get the look I’m going for, the colour becomes darker which is fine but it’s very blotchy all over.

Can anyone tell me if there’s a way of stopping the inconsistency all over the model, without having to spend hours on it?

Many thanks

I'm not the greatest painter, but this works for me:

Prime with black spray
Base coat with chosen colour (I use Kantor Blue)
All over shade with nuln oil
Re-apply base coat (Kantor Blue) but leaving the recesses
Highlight

Alternatively, it sounds like the new contrast paints might be exactly what you are looking for.

Thin your wash with medium - you can get lahmian medium at GW - and use that. It won’t go on as dark and you’ll find it a bit easier to recess shade as you won’t need the tiniest brush you own. You can go in around recesses with a medium brush quicker. Water will make blotchiness worse if you’re not careful but it will tend to grab recesses easier than straight out of the bottle.

Also go by a craft store to get a longer watercolor brush, it’ll hold more wash with a bigger well and they come in many shapes tips. You’ll be going back to reapply less often for smoother lines.

Never have a big drop forming on the tip either, that first swipe will be a big mess and that can be leading to your blotchiness as it dries unevenly.

Also make sure you dont apply too much wash letting it pool for long periods of time, because if its pooling too much it will go on to the surface that is not the recess, and if this pool is left too long i believe it leaves a blotchy look when you brush it away.

I think that's possibly why . it can happen when you glaze anyway.