Battle damage critique

[pawl]

Ahoy!

I'm in the process of teaching myself to paint again after a long hiatus, and I'm trying a battle damage effect for the first time.

I watched a few tutorials and decided on a relatively simple brown/highlight approach, but I'm not entirely sure it works. Basically what I'm hoping for is a little critique, and maybe some advice.

 

My 'clean' scheme is something like this:

 

 

My battle damage test looks like this (please ignore the highlighting on the leg - it was rushed so I could see the damage better!)

 

So, what do we think? Does it work? Should I stick with the cleaner look?

I'm concerned about being able to paint consistently thin enough lines to represent scratches, given that my brush control isn't great. I'm also however concerned that the clean look would look strange if a model has (for example) wounds that would require blood, as it would be at odds with undamaged armour. Would I also then have to consider things like weathering to match bases? It's a lot to consider!

[ranulf the revenant]

Looks good to me. Your brush control will improve the more you do it. You could also mix it up with sponging for batte damage to save some time, and I think a weathering step at the end would help tie everything together as well. But I'm relearning how to paint at the moment as well, so there might be better advice out there

Edited May 1, 2020 by ranulf the revenant

[Quantum]

Your technique is great, but are you sure you want to use brown colors for battle damage? From a distance they might end up looking as mud stains instead. Personally I use a metallic color to give the impression of bare plasteel from which the paint is scraped off by the hit.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Quantum

[pawl]

Thanks guys!

 

@ranulf

Haven't played with a sponge yet, but I was hesitant to simply because it felt like I would lose some of the control I (think I) have with a brush. Annoyingly I don't have any proper test models at the minute, as my mountain of plastic isn't at the house I'm locked down in.

 

@quantum

I thought that brown might be less distracting than silver. This was the video I was basing it on - around the 5/5:30 mark. This also suggests that a non-metallic colour would make more sense? Either way the damage looking like mud did occur to me too! =[

[Rik Lightstar]

Love the colour scheme, the purple is really nice.

 

For the damage:

-If you stick with brown then go for an urban or ice (or similar non-brown) basing scheme so it doesn't look so much like mud.

-Sponges work well because they give you a more random distribution than you're ever likely to get by brush.

-A mixture of scratches and chips with the lower edge highlighted or not gives the impression of differing depths.

-Where you do highlight the lower edge you likely want to go lighter than your "clean" edge highlight colour. With your scheme that may mean dialling back your current main highlight tone a little.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Rik

[pawl]

Love the colour scheme, the purple is really nice.

 

For the damage:

-If you stick with brown then go for an urban or ice (or similar non-brown) basing scheme so it doesn't look so much like mud.

-Sponges work well because they give you a more random distribution than you're ever likely to get by brush.

-A mixture of scratches and chips with the lower edge highlighted or not gives the impression of differing depths.

-Where you do highlight the lower edge you likely want to go lighter than your "clean" edge highlight colour. With your scheme that may mean dialling back your current main highlight tone a little.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Rik

Thanks! I'm still trying to work it out, but it's starting to come together.

 

I was planning on an urban basing scheme, just need to be able to get materials together. Lack of availability online is a problem still, not just for paints!

I'll have to give a sponge a go later if I get my stuff out. Would be easier if I had a couple of test models to hand, but I'll try out both black and brown.

 

I've actually been wanting to get a less harsh highlight, but I'm struggling to find paints that will work (really don't want to have to mix every time, because I know it wouldn't be consistent).

My main colour is P3 Beaten Purple. Xereus Purple is too close to be noticable as a highlight, while Genestealer Purple is a touch brighter than I would like. If anyone knows of something in the middle please let me know!

[MegaVolt87]

Looks fine.My only suggestion would be to glaze the extreme edge highlights on the armour plates with a purple wash/ink to blend them as they are conflicting with the chips as you used the same light purple. Or make the chip with the browns, but highlight with leadbelcher instead of the  light purple for the chipping. So- dark brown > light brown > leadbelcher. 

[Lorenzen]

There are a few issues with the highlight placement, colour and size.

 

With this type of weather you generally only want to highlight the lower edge as this tricks the eye into thinking it has depth so on areas like the foot & knee where you have highlighted the top this doesn't work.

 

The orange in some of the brown also doesnt add anything to the model as it looks lighter than the surrounding area so you again lose a sense of depth because of that and it confuses the eye

 

If you reduce the size of the scratches and chips they will look nicer too & if you are finding this to be awkward try painting the highlight 1st and then the darker section of the scratch, it will allow you more control over the size of the highlight.

 

Dark brown will be fine on purple as long as its "dark enough" just dont use pure black.. scratches can look similar to the bases colour & will look like scratches if they are small enough,

 

And I agree with Rik on dialling back the highlight a bit, add a little pink to warm it up or mix in some of the base colour just to tone it down a bit

 

(Couple of pics below to show what I mean and that I'm not just blowing hot air)

 

 

 

 

 

[Lorenzen]

*double post* Edited May 16, 2020 by Lorenzen

[pawl]

There are a few issues with the highlight placement, colour and size.

 

With this type of weather you generally only want to highlight the lower edge as this tricks the eye into thinking it has depth so on areas like the foot & knee where you have highlighted the top this doesn't work.

What would you suggest for areas where the damage would overlap the highlights on the armour? Is it better to simply leave them unhighlighted?

 

 

The orange in some of the brown also doesnt add anything to the model as it looks lighter than the surrounding area so you again lose a sense of depth because of that and it confuses the eye

No disagreement here at all. As a trial it definitely didn't work. With larger areas of damage is it better to leave them 'flat', or is stippling/sponging better to break the colour up?

 

 

If you reduce the size of the scratches and chips they will look nicer too & if you are finding this to be awkward try painting the highlight 1st and then the darker section of the scratch, it will allow you more control over the size of the highlight.

To be honest that's simply down to my brush control and (lack of) skill level. Neatly painting fine lines is something that so far eludes me, as the completed image in the OP shows!

 

 

Dark brown will be fine on purple as long as its "dark enough" just dont use pure black.. scratches can look similar to the bases colour & will look like scratches if they are small enough,

 

And I agree with Rik on dialling back the highlight a bit, add a little pink to warm it up or mix in some of the base colour just to tone it down a bit

The highlight colour is an annoyance for me too. My base is P3 Beaten Purple, and the highlights Citadel Genestealer Purple. I've yet to find anything between the two in colours (Citadel Xereus Purple is almost identical to the P3), and I'm loathe to custom mix because I wouldn't be able to keep consistency. I'm going to try a base colour glaze over the highlights to see if it will help. Should I be glazing the scratch highlights too?

 

 

Also, your work is very impressive!

[Lorenzen]

If it overlaps the highlight the whole scratch dark bit and highlight should still follow the same principle, if you look at the 3rd picture I posted on the right leg there is a scratch that cuts through the highlight on the edge of the armour panel.

 

Larger areas of battle damage in general I'd avoid but if you do decide to do them I'd say to make the area where the paint is missing look a little more textured & mottled by mixing little bits of black and orange into the brown you are using (nothing too drastic just a little bit to break up how flat it would be otherwise)

 

Painting thin lines neatly does take time & is why I suggest swapping which way round you do the scratches, dark paint covers better when thin than lighter paints and is easier to control.

As boring as this advice is, thin your paints a little more than you are & where you can use the side of the brush, I generally find if you are having to put much pressure on the brush tip to get paint off it is too thick/too dry

 

Highlight wise i would suggest vallejo royal purple as a subtle broad highlight for xereus to at least ease the transition to genestealer purple. If you want to glaze the xereus over the highlights do it over the ones for the scratches too, you want them to tie in with the highlights

 

:)

[pawl]

[Lorenzen]

Yeah I'd avoid them if it was me, if that was 1:1 scale its be a enormous chunk of paint smashed off!

 

The royal purple is model colour, it's still very close to xereus but just helps add a bit more depth to the purple (if you do decide to start mixing paints a mix of mostly royal purple with a little bit of genestealer inside the royal thick highlight would help too)

 

Did a quick leg using, xereus as the base, naggaroth night as a shadow (almost wash consistency) thick highlight with royal and edges with genestealer, battle damage is scale 75 black leather because it's what I had on my desk (it's a purpley brown kinda colour) just to help show some of what I mean. (If i wanted to add a bit more shine I'd mix a light grey with genestealer and do some dot highlights just to bring out some of the edges etc)

 

 

Keep working at it & I look forward to seeing you improve

[pawl]

A fair point!

 

I love how you turn up and just casually drop a better version of my scheme!

[Lorenzen]

It was literally just the brown inhad to hand I'd normally use vmc german camo brown for chipping etc.

 

It is most likely just because its thinner, It can be pretty damn thin and still lay down paint on the model It should come off the brush with next to no pressure but not flood the area if that makes sense

[pawl]

This stuff?

 

Does indeed! As an aside (yes, another question!), is it worth using thinning mediums? In the past I've only used water, but I have some Vallejo glaze medium in my cart because I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out.

Edited May 16, 2020 by pawl

[Lorenzen]

Yeah thats the stuff, it's a really nice dark brown and covers super well.

 

I just use water to thin my paints I've never really liked adding extra mediums other than for thinning for airbrushing