Shading for olive green

[ShinyRhino]

I'm working on some Scouts with cloaks, and want the cloaks to be an olive drab sort of green. When it comes to shading for these, do I want to use a brown tone or a black tone?

I'm either planning to use a GW wash in the deep areas to darken the basecoat or mixing a slightly darker version of the basecoat to apply as a layer.

If I go the wash route, I have Thraka Green, Devlan Mud, or Badab Black as options. Thraka Green feels like it's a little too vibrant for this purpose, though I have used it for shading reds. I'm concerned that Badab might be too dark, and that Devlan will just come off as dirty instead of shadowed.

I can also just mix black or a deep brown in with the olive drab paint and layer/blend it into the shadows.

 

Any suggestions from the color theory masters?

[Captain Hwarang]

Wouldn't say I'm a color theory master, but I'm imagining a color somewhere close to Catachan green for your olive green. Is that close?

 

If that's what you're starting with, Thraka green will have little to no effect, as Catachan green is already darker than that wash.

 

If you haven't started yet, I would do something like:

 

Orkshide Shade basecoat

Badab Black wash

Orkhide shade layer

Catachan Green Layer

Gretchin green highlights

Then you might even want to take it up to Rotting Flesh for an extreme highlight.

 

If you've already got the layer of olive down, I would still use badab black instead of devlan mud, and then follow something close to those layering steps above. Hope that helps.

 

If worse comes to worse, just try each one out on two separate guys, and re-basecoat the one you don't like.

 

-CH

[winterdyne]

I'd shade with a black/brown/green mix. It's a good idea to glaze the shading in rather than splosh wash, you'll find this gives a cleaner finish.

 

Typically, I base in the olive, shade down with the mix by glazing it in. Glaze back with the olive to smooth things out, then glaze on highlights (usually by adding a grey or beige to the olive). Shouldn't need more than four mixes; base, shade, highlight, then perhaps extremes.

[ShinyRhino]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I'll give those ideas a go.