Ork Expansion

Whilst recently I have been applying a zenithal highlight to minis after the priming stage, for this project I am not going to be doing this.  Given that the aim is to blend these additions into an existing army, I’m attempting to remember the stages used previously and replicate these as best I can and I definitely didn’t use a zenithal highlight back then.

So why create an entry just to point out that I’m not going to be using a technique?

Well, I recently learned something interesting/useful and thought it would be a good opportunity to pass this information on.  It also seems somewhat topical as the subject of inks has been mentioned in a couple of recent Weekenders.

A number of months ago I watched a Goobertown video on airbrushing acrylic inks, including white.  Soon after, I found myself in a Hobbycraft store which stocks Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Inks and so I picked up a few to experiment with.   I had a play, particularly with the white in a hope to achieve a zenithal highlight and had terrible results; the finish was splotchy and the more I tried the ink ran into the recesses rather than giving the desired effect.

Was the pressure too high/too low, had I diluted too much/too little, was it my airbrush, was their something else, was I just completely and utterly useless?  I couldn’t work it out.

It was sometime later that I was listening to Paint Bravely the Podcast (featuring Brent from Goobertown) when the subject of inks came up again and in particular the strange phenomenon that is how terrible the white Daler Rowney FW acrylic ink is.  Apparently it is a known issue with the white but the other colours are fine.

I’ve since switched to the Liquitex Professional Acrylic Ink for whites and it behaves exactly as expected.

Thankfully the guys on the Weekender keep referencing the Liquitex version which is the one to go for; don’t be tempted to try the Daler Rowney!