Seems the "Anchor" code doesn't work anymore Thantos.
Unfortunately, my current paint collection probably wouldn't work for any of the tutorials, but they're definately a useful and insightful read ^_^
2.
Advanced Human Flesh
Awesomeness: * * * */5
Difficulty: * * */5 (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304777.jpg)
Flesh and faces can be quite daunting for painters. And this is because it has alot of depth to it as opposed to like a plate of powerarmour or a lasgun.
Due to this depth the only real solution is lots of overlapping layers to create an artificial depth. Im sorry there is no way around it, a coat of bronzed flesh and a wash is just not going to do here, young iniate. ;) Here is a tutorial on how to paint decent fleshtones my way. (I will do a basic flesh method later).
What you need:Brushes; basecoat brush, standard brush, detail brush, and fine detail brush (the detail brush is what we will be using mostly here). Don't use synthetic brushes, the Games workshop ones are great quality and value for how they perform. I'd recommend them to any mini painter. ;)
Arclyic Medium. Its not essential but its going to make your life easier. Its cheap and its sold in art stores. Used for thinning paints and making your own washes.
Pallet. A pallet can be any clean surface that you mix paint on, I use a segmented plastic pallet, you can use a tile, old plate, piece of plastic or even the pallet that Games Workshop sells.
Water. A water pot of fresh tap water to water down and dilute your paints. You should never be applying paint directly from the pot >:(, I know it covers well, I know watering down paints seems like a lot of hassle, but watering down paints means you can achieve much better quality miniatures and the sooner you get into the habit of doing so, the better.
Kitchen Roll. A piece of kitchen roll folded into 4 is perfect for wiping away excess paint on your brush, applying a saturated brush to the miniature will make the paint run where you don't want it, pool in the recesses and generally make you have less control over it.
Foam from a Blister Pack A couple of pieces of these are perfect for drying you brush with after you have washed it in your water.
Miniature. Something with flesh i guess would be good here.
Method:Ok so dont get put of by the amount of steps here. They are quick ad easy, i promise.
For this mini i added in a small amount of liche purple to each stage for my flesh - this is because my guy is chaos and needs an evil unhealthy look to him ;) This is why your results may vary.
Prime your mini. As you do normally. I use grey (CdA grey primer:Tamiya flat base:Flow enhancer 70:25:5). If you are primeing in black now is the time to paint your areas of flesh grey (doesn't have to be perfect coverage).
Ok now i just painted everything apart from the flesh on my part that im painting.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304748.jpg)
With your basecoat brush, basecoat all the flesh in VMC Foul Green (GW Jade green:Goblin green 50:50) Yes you read correctly - green. Look at your colour wheel. We basecoat in this because green is dead opposite our pink fleshtones on the wheel. It is a complimentary colour and will contrast drastically when placed alongside pink. This contrast will give the illusion of greater depth. (Its the same reason that you can shade gold with purple. Look at your colour wheel iniate! :P)
I added some flow enhancer into this to make it cover better. To be honest the green doesnt have to be exact, goblin green will do.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304749.jpg)
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSMOKIN'!" - The Mask ::)
Ok we can now roughly add a bit of brown to certain raised areas. We do this by wetbrushing (drybrushing without the dry part) Reaper Ghoul Skin: VMC Foul green 70:30 over the flesh. Knarlock green will do. As long as its a bit darker and browner. Hurry hurry, nobody is going to see this part at the end stage anyway ;)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304751.jpg)
Right so we have a nice contrasting base. Now lets mix up GW/CdA Dwarf Flesh:GW red gore 75:25, mix this with acrylic medium [or water] and glaze the flesh lightly about 3 times. (Let it dry in between).
We are still being rough, still using our basecoat brush here.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304754.jpg)
Time to start adding extreme shades. Water down Reaper Dark Shadow/ GW scorched brown:GW red gore 80:20 and use a standard brush to paint it into the darkest recesses of the face (eyes, nose, ears, mouth, lines... my guy has lots of lines...)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304755.jpg)
Let that dry and repeat with a lighter shade, slightly more heavy, but more dilute - of Reaper ghoul flesh/ GW Snakebite leather:Knarlock green:scorched brown 70:5:25.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304756.jpg)
Ok so now we are going to bring all the colours together a bit more. Wash everything in a light (watered down) wash of GW devlan mud.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304757.jpg)
So now for a bit of actually painting that takes some care. Its been very rough and non precise up until now.
Highlight time! Detail brush out! Pick out all raised areas of the flesh with GW/CdA Dwarf Flesh:GW Red gore 90:10. Have a watered mix as always. Ignore where areas of shadow would be. Just highlight everything raised.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304758.jpg)
Looking a bit better now? :P
Another highlight now, just apply again with the detail brush like before. Dwarf Flesh: VMC Light flesh/ GW Elf flesh.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304762.jpg)
And with same colours again 60:40 now. But if we really want to make it look nice we are going to add this highlight in streaks following the contours of the characters muscles.
Check the pictures first.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304764.jpg) (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304765.jpg)
This only really works on such characters as the one i am painting, it would look odd on a female high elf for example. Imagine you have taken the skin off your character, follow those muscle lines.
(http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_64/11497266411Cr3zt.jpg)
Or you can always just highlight normally.
Now we need to bring those highlight together again (especially the last one). Wash your flesh with Dwarf Flesh mixed with acrylic medium or water to make a wash. Simples.
Ok We are going to focus on shadows now, artificial ones created by the lighting on the character. Make a load of your previous "dwarf flesh wash" on your pallet. Now add in some shadow grey to a part of this. Shade this mix under the chin, eye sockets, under mouth, nose. Where natural shadow would fall from top-down zenith lighting.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304766.jpg)
Starting to get subtle now, these images will look pretty similar. =/
Use the same dwarf flesh wash mix and add in Reaper Linen white (GW Bleached bone:Skull white 50:50 will do). Now hit the areas of artificial highlights. Nose tip, brows, cheekbones, Chin, ear tips.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304768.jpg)
Again with the same wash mix, add in red gore, wash over the lips (not too much or your character will look like they are in drag). Add in below they eyes of certain characters (once who are old or half dead), the ears and the nostrils.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304769.jpg)
Lastly with the same mix, add in GW adeptus battlegrey. Then mix this 50:50 wtih GW badab black.
Use a stippeling brush (wow these things have a use? :o) or an old brush with the bristles half cut off.
To stipple areas of stubble lightly where they would occur.
Paint the eyes your normal method. (I did, Reaper Linen white, Babdab black wash, red gore iris, blazing orange iris highlights, chaos black pupil, Light badab black wash)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304770.jpg)
My guy is quite ruddy, pink and flushed because i added a bit more red gore into that method than stated. Along with Liche purple in most stages to create the chaosy tone ;)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304777.jpg) (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304780.jpg) (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304783.jpg) (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304779.jpg)
Conclusion: This method is one way of painting flesh using a contrasting colours technique. Of Course its not suitable for all types of mini (elves for example will need to modify this method)
Although this mini i also painted using a pretty similar method on the flesh:
Spoiler
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304726.jpg)
It also takes about an hour. I will post up two more flesh tutorials soon that cover more basic fleshtones. And Female / Elf fleshtones.
[anchor]post_edgehighlights[/anchor]
3.Edge highlights
Awesomeness: **/5
Difficulty: */5(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304822.jpg)
Extreme edge highlighting is
the main way of jazzing up those solid pieces of armour or other hard coloured surfaces. It adds good depth and definition to the areas which is needed at 28mm scale.
Basically, if you are not doing this on your crisis battlesuits, I'm going to shoot you in the head with my plasma pistol, regardless of you skill level. ;)
This is just one type of highlighting, i will cover blended highlights in another post.
What you need:Brushes; basecoat brush and a standard brush ( perhaps a detail brush if the part you are highlighting is very small or intricate). Don't use synthetic brushes, the Games workshop ones are great quality and value for how they perform. I'd recommend them to any mini painter. ;)
Pallet. A pallet can be any clean surface that you mix paint on, I use a segmented plastic pallet, you can use a tile, old plate, piece of plastic or even the pallet that Games Workshop sells.
Water. A water pot of fresh tap water to water down and dilute your paints. You should never be applying paint directly from the pot , I know it covers well, I know watering down paints seems like a lot of hassle, but watering down paints means you can achieve much better quality miniatures and the sooner you get into the habit of doing so, the better.
Kitchen Roll. A piece of kitchen roll folded into 4 is perfect for wiping away excess paint on your brush, applying a saturated brush to the miniature will make the paint run where you don't want it, pool in the recesses and generally make you have less control over it.
Foam from a Blister Pack A couple of pieces of these are perfect for drying you brush with after you have washed it in your water.
Miniature. Something with armour, easily accessible hard edges. You can even practise on a piece of sprue.
Method:So we have our mini. We have undercoated in black/white/grey and we are ready to start.
Take your basecoat brush and basecoat the area with the main colour. So if you are painting Ultramarines, Ultramarines blue.
Im painting a hatch from my drop pod i need to finish. So i basecoated in GW adeptus battlegrey. Foundation paints are good as you only need one coat.
Remember to water down your paints in your pallet.
Let this dry.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304812.jpg)
Ok so now we are going to pick a highlight colour. For my grey, i picked codex grey, see picture above.
Your highlight colour should be once stage lighter than what your basecolour is. For citadel paints you can check the chart below.
[INSERT CITADEL SHADE AND HIGHLIGHT CHART!]
So get your standard brush and mix up some of your highlight colour with a very small amount of water (don't overdo it). And load your brush.
Load your brush NOT like below.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304813.jpg)
Use the kitchen roll to wipe away excess paint, until your brush has no nasty blob on the end and looks like the one loaded below.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304814.jpg)
Much better no? ;)
Ok so now to the actual highlighting. Take your brush and run the SIDE of the brush gently along the edge in soft sweeps. You can always go over it twice to build up the layers, but putting too much on in one go makes it look awful.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304815.jpg)
That's basically it. Simple no? (Nothing like the last post, no? :P) You can even take the next colour up and highlight again for even more definition. (So in my case fortress grey)
Make sure you highlight all the sharp edges. Obtuse edges should be left until last, highlight them with even less paint on your brush to make it easier.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304816.jpg)
Ive highlighted the horizontal decking parts too now.
And you are done.
Highlighting works well when used with Shading. Ill cover shading later. ;)
A tip when choosing your highlight colour: If you dont have a suitable paint to highlight with, mix a little bleached bone into your basecoat colour to make a perfect colour to highlight with(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304822.jpg) (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e146/Eddievedda/40k/S7304823.jpg)
ConclusionVery easy once you get the hang of it. The hardest part is loading you brush with just the right amount of paint. Once you get that right, its simple. ;)
I will cover drybrushed highlights in the drybrushing section, and blended highlights in another section later.