Optimise painting and shading

[Timotheus]

Hey there. Right now I'm in the process of trying to step up my painting game with the aim of getting more minis painted in less time with decent results. In the past I painted minis trying to stick to the 'Eavy Metal instructions to get as close to their look as possible which resulted in countless hours per mini layering paint layer over paint layer with some shading here and there. The outcome was quite nice but it more and more fueled my painting aversion as it simply was too time consuming and laborious while I builded and converted the models a lot faster following a jam of unpainted models.

 

TL;DR

 

After some research and reflection I decided to change some main points in my style of painting:

 

1. Use main colours that are available as spray cans.

 

2. Use as little layers and colours as possible.

 

3. One shade all over the model.

 

I'm quite happy with the outcome right now but am still trying to improve. So I read that using a varnish before shading improves the flowing ability of the shade so that it flows easier in the recesses without darkening the raised parts so much. Diluting the Shade with Lahmian Medium adds to this effect. I tried both but I'm still not 100% sure if the extra work really is worth the quite subliminal effect. I'm curious how you guys handle it or whatever your thoughts on these processes are. Also I have a couple of questions on this topic:

 

1. I read that gloss varnish is better for optimising the shading process than matt varnish. Can you guys confirm this and why is this? Also I guess it is better to use spray varnish than out of the pot while at least GW only have matt varnish as spray available?

 

2. I read that the (for me) new gloss shades from GW are better for optimising the shading process than the regular shades. Can you guys confirm this and why is this? I thought the only difference would be the gloss finish but a lot of people say they flow easier than the regular ones...

 

3. I'm still undecided wether I highlight the colours before or after the (diluted) shade. Highlighting before results in a very nice homogenous look all over the model but which also looks a little flat and vice versa. How do you guys handle this?

 

I'm thankful for any tips or input... :)

 

PS: How am I supposed to use Army Painter spray cans correctly? When I use them from a distance like Citadel sprays the paint gets really grainy while getting closer results in an ugly thick coat screwing all details... :O

[Wassa]

You don't have to use colours that they have cans for. Buy a cheap airbrush and compressor (£30 total) and then you can base it in any colour.

 

Shading all over depends on your army/models. Some are fine to shade the whole model (daemons, tyranids) due to the number of recesses, while some have more paneled things (primaris marines, vehicles) where shading all over can look messy. I still tend to shade marines all over, but then give the model a heavy dry brushing of the base colour to tidy up the non recessed bits.

[Aarik]

So gloss varnish definitely does make a difference.  Matte varnish has more of a "grain" to it, apparently.  Whereas gloss is much smoother, which helps the wash flow into the recesses.

 

If you're painting Space Marines, I would highly recommend looking into oil paint pin washes.  They will save you a lot of time in the long run.  And invest in an airbrush too.  The up-front investment of the money and time spent figuring it out will be well worth it.

 

The "optimized" workflow that I would recommend is:

 

Airbrush whole mini with dark version of the armor color (e.g. dark blue)

Hit the mini with the mid-tone armor color from above (e.g. blue)

Spray the "high points" of the mini (top of helmet, tops of knees, toes, tops of arms, etc.) with the light version of the armor color (e.g. light blue)

Paint details (shoulder pad rims, chest eagle, metal bits, etc.)

Gloss varnish

Use oil pin wash in the recesses

Give everything one bright, clean edge highlight, but only on the most important edges

Matte varnish

 

(You can do the shoulder pads a separate color by leaving them off when building the model and spraying them separately.)

 

I think this saves a LOT of time with unnecessary layering and multiple edge highlights, but still gives a good look.

[Rik Lightstar]

I think the BIG thing here that you haven't said but have kinda hinted at might well be the way you're applying your washes.

 

With a gloss coat down (sprayed or airbrushed ideally) this will help you to control where your washes are going, use a brush with a decent point to it and a large "belly" so it will hold a fair amount of your chosen wash. Then apply it to the recesses, it should then "contract" in on itself and give more accurate placement.

 

If you're covering the entire model in wash then varnish and medium will only haven a small impact on the effect.

 

A varnish of any kind will give a less suitable surface for any paints (including washes) to adhere to, meaning the surface tension will work to draw the paint together before it dries. Gloss varnish seems to work better for this, but satin and matt should also work.

 

Rik

[Arkhanist]

1. I read that gloss varnish is better for optimising the shading process than matt varnish. Can you guys confirm this and why is this? Also I guess it is better to use spray varnish than out of the pot while at least GW only have matt varnish as spray available?

 

 

 

True. Matt varnish has a matting agent in it (as normal paint does) which has a very slight texture to the surface - this is what scatters light reflections so it appears matt. Gloss doesn't, so looks shiny. The smoothness of gloss means shades stick a bit less and flow into crevices a bit better. This makes pin-washing significantly easier - i.e. applying a small amount of wash against a hard crevice so capillary action pulls it along to fill it. I spray with an airbrush, but a srpaycan works just as well. Brushing works too, but takes longer.

 

2. I read that the (for me) new gloss shades from GW are better for optimising the shading process than the regular shades. Can you guys confirm this and why is this? I thought the only difference would be the gloss finish but a lot of people say they flow easier than the regular ones...

 

 

True. The GW gloss shades flow better into recesses than the normal ones, noticeably so. Removing the matting agent clearly has some aspect on flow, though whether that's a direct effect or because they used a different medium that's gloss is unknown. I find using either the gloss shade or pre gloss varnishing has about the same effect, the two combined don't make much more difference.

 

3. I'm still undecided wether I highlight the colours before or after the (diluted) shade. Highlighting before results in a very nice homogenous look all over the model but which also looks a little flat and vice versa. How do you guys handle this?

 

I do use highlight then shade quite a lot, though mainly with shades appropriate to the colour rather than an allover shade as it blends the colours together. The trick is to highlight up to a lighter colour than you normally would if you shade first; the wash ties it together somewhat similarly to a glaze. You can do the highlights in stages still of course, with more stages giving a smoother progression as opposed to a single bright one. Quality vs speed etc, but it's worth doing extra work on focal areas, such as the face, and dominant areas such as a cloak, which tricks the eye into thinking you've put in more work overall than you have.

 

Quick tip for AP cans; use em them at recommended distance (no more than 20cm) and do light, fast passes - don't leave the can pointed at the mini, you should be sweeping past it. Once a 'side' is done, turn to the next section, either back/front or back/left side/front/right side depending upon the model.

 

For your particular approach with a single all over wash, have a look at army painters quickshade tins. It's oil based, so shades signifcantly more evenly and smoothly than acrylic washes without the usual coffee staining of slopping on acrylic washes. When I use it (for bulk painting hordes, like zombies) I brush it on with a big old crappy size 8 flat brush, top to bottom, then use a crappy smaller brush (size 2 or so) to suck up any pools and wipe the brush on scrap paper, then just clean both brushes with soap and water before it dries. It has its limits - space marines, for example, never work that well with all-over shading - but for anything with texture it works suprisingly nicely.

 

For more general speed painting tips, check out midwinter mini's series on speed painting blackstone fortress minis. You don't have to take it quite his extremes (he uses only 12 paints!) and I think a little more effort on the shade step would improve the result noticeably, but he demos cracking out characters and entire groups in an hour or two.

 

[MegaVolt87]

If you don't like pin washing, do a heavy wash and re-apply the layer colour. Base, layer, heavy wash, layer again. I would recommend one highlight to your method, it really helps enhance the model a lot. Even a simple edge highlight with Dark reaper for black helps a lot. Easy way to do directional highlighting from light sources, get a lamp with a daylight globe, angle the light direction to desired direction, only highlight where light falls/ catches. Its paint by numbers that way and you avoid the more cartoony highlight every edge look GW dose with their models. Its a style not for everyone how GW do it.