What Painting Method do you Use and Why?

[panzerkaput 33942xp 0]

After listening to the UHH from @sundancer and @avernos last night and on of the chats was about improving your painting style, knowledge and method, it got me wondering too. Personally I see my style improve over the years from drybrush and washes in my early days to the Triad system of painting of dark, middle and light colour as championed by the likes of Kevin Dallimore, Steve Dean and the Foundry Painting System.

I like this system but by jolly you need a lot of painted to do it full justice. I was wondering why syles do other people use, I am not after with the best system, thats really down to personal taste and time, but rather I am interested in what others use as their method/style?

That also brings me onto the question of paints too and which paints suit which style of painting, again I know it is a personal taste thing, I personally love Vallejo Model Colour range and also Game Colour range too but I am happy with any paint, but what you do use and why? Thank you for indulging me.

[sundancer 42933xp 1]

Well, you have heard my opinion on it. 😉

Regarding “how to up your paint game” I think Sorastro has a good method. First get them to a good TT standard and then add stuff (advanced technique) See here: https://sorastro.com/

Regarding paints: Excluding the old G’Wullu paintset I have I started with many Vallejo paints but since I got my FLGS to stock paints I went for Armypainter. Because it’s what’s there and doesn’t need to be ordered. Now that my FLGS is no more I’ll be going back to Vallejo should I need more paints in the future. (At my painting pace currently that will be 2030 or so). For my Airbrush however it’s Vallejo only because I did hear on several videos regarding airbrushing: stay with on brand because cleaner and thinner are made “for that” brands paint. Don’t know if there is anything to it but it makes buying easier.

Hth

[panzerkaput 33942xp 0]

I agree about Sorastro’s method being good for fast and great looking results.

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of AP paints, they dont work as they should do for me.

Vallejo paints I love, they flow well, thin well and suit my style of painting well

[blinky465 17028xp 2]

Contrast Paints have been a game changer for me. They’d made painting minis fun again for a start. My system now is black primer, white zenith, then block in using contrast paints. If anywhere needs darkening down (or needs super-fine details picking out) slap on a bit of Nuln oil if necessary (I rarely use it now). Now use the natural highlights from the contrast paints to identify your “high points” and paint them with a lighter colour.

Here’s Alice (and little Alice) I’m currently painting to demonstrate the technique. I’ve yet to put the brightest (off-white) highlights on some of the very edges, but this is very close to finished.

Contrast is everything (not contrast paints, nitwit, colour contrast). Dark darks and bright highlights.

It’s a crude system and I don’t even bother trying to blend shades (seriously, how long do you think we’ve all got to paint our little tiny bits of plastic?). But the end result can be quite pleasing.

Painting faces makes a massive difference. I never used to, and just relied on some wash in the eye sockets to get the idea across. But getting a line of white inside a ring of black and a well placed dot for a pupil makes such a difference.

 

And why?

It’s a reasonable “halfway house” for me between the “basic” base-coat, wash and highlight system and the more advanced/impressive  “Eavy Metal” style of cartoon-like painting that pulled me into the hobby in the late 80s. Models can still take 4-5 hours each but I actually quite like most of the minis I complete now (rather than go “meh, it’s alright, I’ll somehow make the next one better”).

 

[panzerkaput 33942xp 0]

I like that style as it takes the best of Contract Paint and with a little effort bring it up to the next level very easily. I really like the contrast and the effect as it looks very neat and I see Coat d’Arms paints too 😀

 

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

I’ll be honest, most of my Coat d’Arms paints are used as painting handles! I use Army Painter for most layering, and have quite a few Citadel colours as well as a load of contrast paints. I’m not loyal to any particular brand but Army Painter is my go to range simply because I like dropper bottles ?

[seldon9 12954xp 1]

TL:DR
Zenithal prime + tint for fast, good looking results.
When batch painting, maybe pick a feature or two to try out a new technique.
Choose one miniature from your force to put most effort into. Try out new techniques on this figure.

This is a difficult question to answer. Normally when I’m painting a force I pick a technique or two I’d like to practice and find a way to work that into the miniatures. For the rest of the details I’ll cut as many corners as I can.

For batch painting I’d agree that Sorastro provides a really good guide to getting minis painted fast but to a good standard. I followed his method to paint up a Star Wars Legion Clone Wars core box. I didn’t particularly like painting those minis and saw no point in trying harder.

Generally I zenithal prime with an airbrush. Then contrast paint or wash the bits I don’t consider features. I’ll pick one or two details I’ll try to make stand out, usually with a view to trying out a technique. It depends on the minis and what I think will work (and what I’ve been watching on youtube / OTT). For example, I painted an Anglo Dane warband and contrast painted most parts of the figures. I put the time into painting their faces and tried out freehanding the shields. See here.

It’s hard to find a balance of improving as a painter (if that’s what you want to do) and not taking too long to complete a force. So I like to pick a figure or two I’m going to put more effort into. Usually the leader. How much effort depends on the time I have. I think it’s a good idea to get a mini that really inspires you to try something new. Minis you’re not bothered about are a chore.

This all really adds up to zenithal prime + tint for fast, good looking results and then keep trying new things. It’s hard to say with which methods you’ll be able to best express your ideas. I know people who’ve painted for years but refuse to drybrush. I don’t find it that hard. On the right figure I find overbrushing lets me get a result very quickly. I used it for terrain but found I can get a results I’m happy with pretty quickly. A couple of examples: golems and warlord base. You have to experiment to find what works for you.

[seldon9 12954xp 1]

Sorry I forgot to mention paints used. I’m using ScaleColor mainly with both brush and airbrush. I find them a bit easier to thin for glazing than Vallejo. But there’s not much in it. I still use GW contrast, shade and technical paints. I want to push on with oils next. I’ve not used them much.

[torros 23816xp 1]

For 2mm I use black undercoat, block colours a black enamel wash as it gets into the crevices better than acrylic washes then a few highlights to pick out a few raised areas

For 6mm,10 and 15mm  I  use block colours and a W&N nut brown wash. No need for highlighting.  I’ve used a black future wash on 10mm before and it works well

For 28mm I block colour and AP dip as I just want them on the table

 

I use mostly Vajello but have started using Instar recently and find the nice to use. Their matte varnish is fantastic

[darkvoivod 7112xp 1]

Nothing improved my paintgame more than learning colour-theory.
Once I started playing with limited pallets and using contrasting colours in shades and highlights my results improved tremendously.

Shading a colour with another colour that returns somewhere else in the model ties it together so much and can create the perfect cold/warm/natural or popping look you are looking for.

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

Would love to hear more about this – I tried numerous colour theory lessons, but always found them a bit “dry”. Some examples would be great – what if I’ve painted my mini in, say, yellow. Does that mean purple for shading (I understand purple is opposite yellow on the colour wheel) and then also purple for spot/accent colours? When I tried using contrasting/complimentary colours, my minis ended up looking like rainbow unicorns!

[darkvoivod 7112xp 1]

Not sure if I’d be the best instructor. But digging up an artisans colour wheel somewhere would be a good start.

First thing is not to overdo it on the shading/highlighting. You add just enough of the adjusting colour to change the hue. That means that you can definitely shade yellow with purple, but you don’t add so much purple to the yellow that it no longer registers as yellow (meaning very little, as purple is a very strong colour and any yellow is easily outdone).

Some knowledge would include complimentary colours, which are colours that are close to each other on the wheel, contrasting, which are opposites and know the difference between warm and cold colours. Including huge parts of the latter on the model can clash, creating an inconsistant tone, depending on what you’re going for.
Red and blue are basically polar opposites. If you shade both with the same purple, you can make the model look easier on the eye. Seeing as when you mix red and blue, you get purple, you could even use them to shade eachother.
With this knowledge: you can also use colours on the cold side of the colour wheel to make a model look colder, which often fits darker themes. Even if you give a chaos warrior a red bright red cape: shading with blue can create a more sinister look. Than use white to highlight, careful to not get to pink and get a nice de-saturated look. I maybe would even use a light bone or even an elven skin colour
Remaining close to red and shading with ‘redder’purple, will retain the red’s colour value. Make it pop with yellow and it will be nice, birght and heroic.

Using the same colour for differen parts of the model allows you to use high contrast while the model still feels as one whole. I’ve painted a model in a turquise kimono with a reddish sash, opposites again, but using the same blue to shade and the same yellow to highlight, it becomes a lovely piece.

You can also experiment with shading with black for a de-saturaten and natural look if the material requires it. Even browns (Not that some browns do have a reddish hue). Use whites for the same, or grey (some greys have a blueish hue).

The weird thing is I’ve concluded, you can basically mix anything: You can shade yellow with green, blue, purple, red, brown or black for instance. They just all create a different effect. That might make it more confusing, but you just have to learn what effect you want for your model.
Green will make it maybe a bit sickly, maybe fit for some nurgle mini’s
Red will make the colour really vibrant and warm. Good for rich clothes or flowers
Purple and blue will cool the yellow. Making it easier if combined with a cooler scheme.
Brown and black will de-saturate it and create more natural feels. Good for many plants or subdued clothing.

I’m not an expert painter and this is just at the top of my head. If you experiment a bit, you’ll get a feel for it. I mix al lot of paints these days. If I use anything strait out of the bottle it’s the base coat, but even that’s rare. Hope this helps.

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 1]

Color primers and washes, before basecoats.

I do assembly line painting, but spray primer usually doesn’t save me time vs. brush-on colored primers, particularly since I may do the priming in the middle of the night. Color primers with the caps don’t have the clogging problems of eyedroppers, and are cheaper per ounce than hobby paints, since colored primers are sold in larger containers. For advanced tabletop, you don’t need more than six or so colored primers. Washes (Army Painter Ink from the eyedroppers) are easy to use compared to paints.

If you remember the 80/20 rule, colored primers and washes are the 20% of the work that results in 80% of the results. The last 20% is conventional hobby paints. I still haven’t tried contrast paints, but the total cost of the paints puts me off, since I’ve sunk so much money on conventional hobby paints already. I figure I’ll pick up contrast paints if they ever go at a deep discount. As irritating as it is to have thousands of unpainted miniatures (including boardgames), I’m not sure what campaign boardgame I’ll be playing once CoVid is over, so am okay with a slower pace of painting.

[trewets 4782xp 1]

Personally my paint style is a cross between spray colour primer and block colours with Acrylic washes to “shade” and a few highlights,but dry brushing has its place,as do oil paints/washes.Contrast can give some very good effects( resent experiment over silver gave a very good candy colour for blue,with shade already done.)

Just mix and match things to get the effect you want if you know the technique,and if you have time experiment ,some of the best things I have learned this way!

Patience and time are very good tools.

It does not matter what anyone else thinks if you are happy with what you have achieved and have given your best.We all improve over time and effort.

Good luck and happy painting it is for FUN right?

 

[sirhumphreyrtd 3331xp 2]

Have to admit I used to go for the “triad method” but around 18 months ago got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis that has effected my hands so now its going back to block colours, washes and highlight. Most of my painting is for gaming so it works for the table. I have also started using some “acrylic paint” pens that are good for picking out lace etc.

Paints wise I still use Foundry (I bought the original sets when they first came out and most are still going strong), Vallejo and Army Painter. Army painter for washes mainly and if you are doing WW2 figures the Military Shader was a revelation.

Also if anyone else has issues with there hands I would recommend  wrapping brush handles to increase the diameter, I use Oyumaru instant moulding compound that was recommended to me on the site and can be molded into a comfortable grip.

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