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Does any one have a decent run down of Vallejo basing recipes? I've fallen into a bit of a mess where I started airbrushing so much that most of my colours don't fit together as a coherent batch. I have cool darks, warm mediums and cool lights, it makes trying to get together a good basing recipe a nightmare. Rather than keep struggling, I want to simply pick up whatever paints I need to make basing a simple 3 bottom affair and be done with it.

What kind of base are you trying to do?

I'm open to anything. As I said, my colours don't go well together, I need to start fresh and everything from desert to mud to rock would be nice.

Maybe an example of your work would be useful. We can't really help unless we have something to go on.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Maybe an example of your work would be useful. We can't really help unless we have something to go on.

My work isn't important here. I just want something like this.

To paint red
Vallejo Dark red
Vallejo Medium red
Vallejo Red highlight.

That's it. Simply the combos that work for each basing type.

 BrokenColony wrote:

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Maybe an example of your work would be useful. We can't really help unless we have something to go on.

My work isn't important here. I just want something like this.

To paint red
Vallejo Dark red
Vallejo Medium red
Vallejo Red highlight.

That's it. Simply the combos that work for each basing type.

I think you just answered you own question. Get yourself a wet palette and add black or white to your red to taste. The problem with Vallejo (which I love btw) is that their colors seem to have a large variance of finish which might be where you are getting your issue. Stick with one base color and adjust accordingly.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:

 BrokenColony wrote:

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Maybe an example of your work would be useful. We can't really help unless we have something to go on.

My work isn't important here. I just want something like this.

To paint red
Vallejo Dark red
Vallejo Medium red
Vallejo Red highlight.

That's it. Simply the combos that work for each basing type.

I think you just answered you own question. Get yourself a wet palette and add black or white to your red to taste. The problem with Vallejo (which I love btw) is that their colors seem to have a large variance of finish which might be where you are getting your issue. Stick with one base color and adjust accordingly.

Wouldn't that have him highlighting red with pink? He may have to use a bit of yellow for warmth.

Red can be highlighted with pink, it can also be shaded with brown. I think the issue is that there are a ton of combinations and no one will list them all.

Additionally, i tend to mix shades now

When I first read the OP I thought you were talking about painting the models base. So you mean a chart that gives examples of shade and highlight colours? Something like this?

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?26388-P3-Base-Shade-Highlight-Chart&p=385255&viewfull=1#post385255

I'm not aware of a similar chart for Vallejo (and I'm not even sure how good that P3 one is as I don't own many P3 paints).

I think your best bet is just to pick your mid tone and mix your shades and highlights. There's a lot of ways you can paint each colour, so you'll have to spend a bit of time learning and experimenting.

For highlighting you can mix in white or light beige or light grey or a pale yellow or a light flesh tone. For shades you can mix in a black or dark grey or dark brown or a complimentary colour. Doing a wash with a complimentary colour can give interesting results for shading.

You can also use filters so if you think your shade/mid/highlight colours are clashing too much, use a filter to tie them together more. The filter could be the same as the mid tone if you don't want to alter the look too much, or a grey filter if you want to wash out the colours, or a black or dark brown filter if you want to darken them down.

Some techniques work better on some colours than others and it all depends what sort of effect you want.

Picking colours is tough, mixing your own shades and highlights is one thing you can do in order to better understand colours, but it's still tough. My lack of artistic ability to pick colours far outweighs my lack of technical skill in actually applying the paint and is why my own models are never going to look terribly good no matter how much I practice

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
When I first read the OP I thought you were talking about painting the models base. So you mean a chart that gives examples of shade and highlight colours?

Heh, literally something I didn't even consider the OP meant - seems obvious now too, welp.

kb_lock wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
When I first read the OP I thought you were talking about painting the models base. So you mean a chart that gives examples of shade and highlight colours?

Heh, literally something I didn't even consider the OP meant - seems obvious now too, welp.

No, this is about painting bases. I'm not sure how it's so difficult to understand.

If you start painting an army you want all the bases so match, so you cover them all in sand, prime the army, paint the model and it's time to base them. No one should be basing models with custom mixes every time, so I want to figure out what works right out of the bottle together. The finish isn't that important since you should be gloss varnishing then matte coating models either way.

Having a guide for new painters who aren't using GW paints would also be useful. Most people use GW paints exclusively or a mix of everything so it's hard to find all the ranges you need to follow tutorials.

It is so difficult because the question is as asinine as "how long is a piece of string". What do you want your bases to look like? That simple starting point will turn your request from "how do i cook food" to the infinitely more useful "how do i cook a roast chicken"

There are huge differences in simply the act of painting certain bases that the actual paint colours are almost meaningless.

To further disappoint you, I general use whatever blends well and make a note of the blend.

Eh, ok then, I didn't understand what you meant.

There is no way of getting around trying out IMHO.

You can watch some Youtube tutorials that will typically list paints (Next Level Painting, Buypainted, etc... )

In general I find you can make any transition by mixing in the airbrush pot (drop some paint into the AB, block the tip with your finger and let some air go until you see the paint bubbling). This gives the smoothest transitions.

For my current DKOK army the earth base color combo is: Prime Black, German Camo Dark Brown, drybrush with German Camo Pale Brown, Wash with Agrax Earth Shade.
On those bases I add tree stumps, barbed wire, craters filled with muddy water, and other random bits.

Get a color wheel.

Then pick out complimentary colors - this helps TREMENDOUSLY.

Just google "color theory" and either buy a color wheel, or just look at one online.

Otherwise, with confusing (remember, people cant read context that is not there, only the words on the page) posts and vague requirements will not get you what you want.

Best of luck.

I used this fow desert guide to get my basing scheme. I went with the brown sand one for my Tyranids and it looks good.

Reaper Triads will sort ya out..

 durecellrabbit wrote:
I used this fow desert guide to get my basing scheme. I went with the brown sand one for my Tyranids and it looks good.

That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the help.

kb_lock wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
When I first read the OP I thought you were talking about painting the models base. So you mean a chart that gives examples of shade and highlight colours?

Heh, literally something I didn't even consider the OP meant - seems obvious now too, welp.

>< I read it as bases for miniatures had something all written up, re read it decided he meant basing as in base + mid + hl and deleted it LOL

now I'm just

Anyway, two things: Eons of Battle does great youtube quick basing tutorials - lots of 'em. And also

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

take whatever type paints are called for in tutorials you search for, translate via above chart into paint of your choice. Done.