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Hi everyone,

I recently started using an easy technique, using oilcolours and Q-Tips to create some fast and cool results following this amazing Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znrCqYFFl9Q

The basic idea is using bright acrylic colours washing them with oilcolours, let those dry and remove them from the elevated parts with a Q-Tip or something similar.


Now to my Question: This technique ist great for rank and file units, but I'm not sure how I could add more depth and detail to my HQ units. As far as I know you can't paint acrylics over oil so highlights are out of the question. Do you guys have any idea how to upgrade that technique?

you can use oil colours on your characters. its the exact same technique. just do your highlights first instead of after your washes.

thats the good thing about oil washes..you dont get any pesky tide marks because you can remove everything you dont need.

Once the oil is dry, you can do anything further you like. When in doubt, just slap on a clear coat inbetween.

queen_annes_revenge wrote:you can use oil colours on your characters. its the exact same technique. just do your highlights first instead of after your washes.

thats the good thing about oil washes..you dont get any pesky tide marks because you can remove everything you dont need.

Stephanius wrote:Once the oil is dry, you can do anything further you like. When in doubt, just slap on a clear coat inbetween.

Cool, thank you guys! I think I'll try a bit of both then. Basecolours - highlights - oilwashes - clearcote - final highlights

bear in mind that oils can take crazy time to dry, (if ever sometimes) so you need to be careful applying things over the top. I tend to have any oil based products as my very last step on most paint jobs.

if you havent already, you could try abteilung oils, which I believe are designed to dry much faster. 24 hours or so rather than weeks.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
bear in mind that oils can take crazy time to dry, (if ever sometimes) so you need to be careful applying things over the top. I tend to have any oil based products as my very last step on most paint jobs.

if you havent already, you could try abteilung oils, which I believe are designed to dry much faster. 24 hours or so rather than weeks.

Yeah, I know. I think mine dry in 4-7 days, but since I don't paint that often (sadly) this should be no problem.

Do you have experinece with the Abteilung oils? They were recommende to me quite often in the last couple of months

I've literally just picked a few up myself last week after seeing them constantly on scale model stuff. I got a couple of nice colours for making weathering stains. The smoke tone is very nice, and so is the starship filth.

well basicly 502 is an oil series ment for models/miniatures, not the canvas.

so it has a short dry time(toutch dry in 24H) compared to regular oil paint but you still need to wait some days before applying the final clearcoat.
the pigments they use are allso finer then "regular" oil paints.

the nice thing about oil is that unlike paint, if you mess up with oil you just wipe it clean with thinner or paper/cotton stick and start all over again.
ofc this means you MUST clearcoat between layers and steps mutch more ofhten then you normaly do.

moust use oils for shading and general "grime effect" but you can use oil paints for highlighting without any problems.
apply the paint whit a suitable brush and then use a 2nd bigger clean and dry brush to blend the paint/remove paint.

queen_annes_revenge wrote:I've literally just picked a few up myself last week after seeing them constantly on scale model stuff. I got a couple of nice colours for making weathering stains. The smoke tone is very nice, and so is the starship filth.

Nice, maybee I'll try to get some on sale as well!

FrozenDwarf wrote:well basicly 502 is an oil series ment for models/miniatures, not the canvas.

so it has a short dry time(toutch dry in 24H) compared to regular oil paint but you still need to wait some days before applying the final clearcoat.
the pigments they use are allso finer then "regular" oil paints.

the nice thing about oil is that unlike paint, if you mess up with oil you just wipe it clean with thinner or paper/cotton stick and start all over again.
ofc this means you MUST clearcoat between layers and steps mutch more ofhten then you normaly do.

moust use oils for shading and general "grime effect" but you can use oil paints for highlighting without any problems.
apply the paint whit a suitable brush and then use a 2nd bigger clean and dry brush to blend the paint/remove paint.

Yeah, I only use them as washes . How so you apply your clear cote? I don't own an airbrush so I'd have to use an brush or the GW rattle can

Id definitely use a spray clear coat, as that is less likely to disturb the oils.

Waaaghbert wrote:
How so you apply your clear cote? I don't own an airbrush so I'd have to use an brush or the GW rattle can

Same, i sold my AB, hardly ever used it and the cleaning was to me a hazzle. im rattlecan only now.
As queen informed me, use mat or satin clearcoats.

Monitorium from GW is satin, while army painter, vallejo and tamiya sells both gloss and matt.
all 4 sells rattlecans but vallejo allso sells them for AB.


Dont buy or try to use brush applyed varnish, result will never be good.

I sometimes use a brush on varnish before weathering. I use winsdor and newton matte. It's amazing. The flattest coat I've ever seen. It's meant for canvas painting, but the finish it gives is awesome. Perfect for weathering over.