How do I paint pearl?

[ChrisLS]

OK, I am going to take the plunge, and try my hand at a serious painting competition. I had a fantastic inspiration from the Horus Rising book by Dan Abnett, so I have a burning need to paint a Luna Wolf captain.

 

Here's the trick - they are described as wearing "pearlescent" armor - I figure a white with deeper colors within. Any ideas on how to achieve this kind of effect well without resorting to scary enamels or other paints that could screw up my model?

 

My existing idea is to prime white, paint Shadow Grey and then highlight up through Space Wolves Grey to Skull White, though using Ice Blue somewhere in there is another possibility.

[StratoKhan]

Unfortunately I cannot see it as being very easy. Nacre, the surface coating of pearls, consists of several layers which all combine to give the pearl its luster. Pearls also come in a range of colours and their luster varies depending on the thickness of their nacre. Some pearls are also iridescent. I have never heard of a range of iridescent paints suitable for use with tabletop miniatures.

 

Unless you manage to convey a pearl's luster, or both the luster and iridescence of pearls, I cannot see your miniature having a pearl-like quality to its armour. Not in the true sense.

[pinkbunny]

im thinking a VERY slightly bluish VERY light grey, glazed with vernish a few times, then a few more with a SLIGHT greenish tint to the varnish would give you some results CLOSE to pearl

[Nicorex]

A company called Armory used to make some very cool looking pealized colors. I dont think they are still around though. but you can try a web search for them.. you might get lucky..

Other wise i would try priming white, a light coat of white. mix some ice blue, white and a hint of purple, then give it a nice glaze with a super thined down blue ink. then gloss coat. I would suggest a test mini.

this formula might be WAY wrong.

:P

[madscuzzy]

Vallejo sells something called metal medium, which is meant to be mixed with normal colours to get a metallic variant of it. The medium itself is a light warm white, and does look almost pearlish. You could try playing around with it. :P

[Chaptermaster Graymantle]

I actually use a pearlescent paint that I got at a local hobby shop on my models.

Undercoat with skull white paint, then clean up with ceveral layers of thinned white to get a smooth white, then I put on the pearlescent white. - The pearlescent is a bit thick though, so I tend to thin it out a bit.

The effect dosnt carry on to images, but it does provide an interesting effect and automatic highlights to true white.

 

I had no idea that the Luna Wolves used pearlescent armour.

Hm... Maybe thats why my DIY Chapter's geneseed is unknown. :P

[usernames are for wimps]

Maybe some kind of nail polish followed by several layers of glazes?

[ephrael]

Pactra paints makes a pearl white acrylic enamel which I have used to great effect. It is semi-transparent and givel a fantastic finish.

[Dr Death]

I would reccomend adding a couple of washes of Bleached bone as well. All Pearl that i've seen has a certain slightly cream aspect to it, rather than simply being white with blue and purple. I would reccommend adding equal amounts gloss varnish to every layer and wash and making your washes really really thin. I am afraid, to make this work, you really are going to have to put "the hours" in, building up the effect.

 

Dr Death

[Solamus]

Maybe some kind of nail polish followed by several layers of glazes?

 

Aye I'd have though something like that could maybe work.

 

If there's a pearlecent paint out there that would be better, of course, but I'm sure I've seen nail polishes that have the right effect (it's just a question of whether would work in other ways).

[Evil Homer]

Go to your local hobby store (Michaels, hobby lobby), find the isle with the craft paints. Once there you should several different additives. 1 will be pearlescent medium. Give it a whirl. The nice thing about using an additive is that you can apply it to any color.

 

EH

[ChrisLS]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'll try the ice blue to a white/bleached bone on my test model, and if that doesn't work out, I'll go with the Shadow/SW/Skull plan I'd had before.

 

I'll post when I have a decent pic of the scheme.

[Monkey Garage]

Ok, not really adding a whoooole lot here, and I'd be interested to see our local NMM magicians to give this a try.

 

In order to get a pearlized effect with normal paints you'll have to play with eye, play with "false" lighting. Those that paint NMM are already doing this, but no where near to the degree that a pearlized effect would require.

 

Getting the effect would require subtle uses of the various colors that can be seen within a pearl, and possibly a coat of non-pigmented metal paint. A clearcoat with metalic shavings in in.

 

I suppose the other possibility would be to just purchase a clearcoat that gives you a pearlized effect on the basecoat (my car has such a clear coat from the factory, so I know they are made)

 

I've never done NMM, but fooling around with this pearl effect holds some interest with me.... think I'll give it a try next week while the g/f is away, it will take a good amount of time to do, I think.

[-Q-]

I think that whenever presenting your work, especially in a competition, you should maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. I know there are certain painting techniques I do really well and others that drive me nuts. If I'm going to compete, I'm going to select a subject matter that will allow me to mostly work with those techniques I'm best at with very few areas where I have to struggle through my weaknesses.

 

Show yourself off with your painting work not a gimmick. "Inventing" the NMM equivalent of pearl isn't the best way to bang yourself into painting competitions. The concept of pearl will very likely be something that you think looks 'close enough' and the viewers will be confused by.

 

So my advice would be to go for a nice deep rich white, which in itself will be a test of your skill ;)

[Cptn. Palladorus]

Nail polish is what you want. No fancy painting techniques. Just get some pearl finish nail polish, it's easy to find and usually cheaper than Citadel paints. Put one coat on the mini, and if that's not shiny enough for you put a few coats of gloss varnish on.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention, I discovered this easy technique when I was trying to paint the crystal ball on my WHFB Empire Wizard of the Celestial Order. Instead it ended up looking like a ginormous pearl, and he accidentally became the centerpiece of the army. Test it out on some other model first and see if it's the look you're going for, but trust me it really does look that good.

[Romulas]

all else fails Ral Partha had made some perl paints in the past, i do not know if they still exist. the perl medium may be your best bet

 

-Rom

[mario]

Vallejo sells something called metal medium, which is meant to be mixed with normal colours to get a metallic variant of it. The medium itself is a light warm white, and does look almost pearlish. You could try playing around with it. :lol:

The metallic medium can be seen as a brighter and thicker Mithril Silver. If it can be dne wiht Mithril silver then the metalic medum could work too (just brighter). But there is nothing extra special about it although it is a good highlights colour for Mithril Silver.

[Boltman]

Delta Ceramcoat, paint available in arts and crafts store (Omer DeSerres in Canada has it) has a paint color called "Pearl white" It's shimering a bit, very pearlescent, and looks great in the pot. Never tried it on a model but I think it would definetly be worth your $1.50 (you get 5 times more than the GW pots too).

 

 

Boltman

[khalaek]

Nail polish is what you want. No fancy painting techniques. Just get some pearl finish nail polish, it's easy to find and usually cheaper than Citadel paints. Put one coat on the mini, and if that's not shiny enough for you put a few coats of gloss varnish on.

 

i thought nail polish melted plastic (slightly). but then again the undercoat might solve that problem. either way, i DEEPLY suggest painting a test model first (maybe a spare model you'll never use) first.

 

i really like this idea (and might try it myself), let us see some pics of what you end up with!

[Cptn. Palladorus]

My wizard was one of the old Heroquest ones where you got 8 characters in a plastic box for $8. I wasn't sure how a basecoat would affect the nail polish, so when I did my wizard with the black basecoat I just painted the nail polish straight onto the bare grey plastic. It didn't melt it at all. I would definitely say test it out on an old piece of sprue or other scrap beforehand though, just like with any new technique you might think up just to make sure it doesn't eat through your favorite model.

[Daeothar]

i thought nail polish melted plastic (slightly).

That'd be nailpolish remover. and not slightly either...

[Raziellycas]

add mithril to white in right combination can't be something like pearl? ^_^

[Badaab]

I did something similar to this (albeit in a very limited scope) with a non-board related contest entry...

 

When *I* think of pearls, I think of an oil slick, only white. So, for the bit above, I painted the model's pearl necklace white, and highlighted and shaded as normal (picking a cool white base, and working up). Then, for highlights, I added a pinkish tone to the paint, and painted this on from where my light source was (in this case- directly above). For the "shadows" I did the same, but came in from the bottom, opposite the highlights, and added a bluish tint to the paint. I left the "center" of the individual pearls the base color.This effect turned out much better than I had expected, and I would like to use it in the future, but have yet to find something larger for it (Emperor's Children, maybe?). Hopefully this little rant helps some.

 

-Joe

 

(and if I can find the pics I have of the model, I'll float along a link to one, although the model is in no way board-related or appropriate).

[Magnus the red]

i thought nail polish melted plastic (slightly).

That'd be nailpolish remover. and not slightly either...

 

hes right you know. When my sister spilt NPR on my termies it looked like they had nurgle rot. Which worked out quite well actually.

[StratoKhan]

Once I used it to strip paint, and ironically enough, I put an old plastic Plaguemarine in the pot of NPR for a day. It wasn't pretty. Now I know better.