Need help with Kaple style scratches

[Viperidae]

Hi there,

I'm sure we've all seen Kaple's work:

Kaple's stuff

 

So, I thought I'd have a go at those scratches as described on a black basecoat (which my marines are). Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I like the effect, whether I've got it looking how it's meant to (are the dots too big), or whether my marines now look like they had a fight with a white noodle-monster.

 

I'm thinking of trying the same technique using various shades of silver metallics. Would that work better? Anyone else tried this technique over a black basecoat?

 

Sorry for the bad pics, have to be at work in 30mins and didn't have time for the usual setup.

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0039.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0040.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0041.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0042.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0045.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0046.jpg

 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~huber99/RIMG0047.jpg

 

edit: DOH! Lousy geocities and their data limit! Trying to fix this, gimme a sec... THERE WE GO!

[Artimis Vergadin]

Ok heres how:

50/50 Dark Flesh Chaos Black

Dark Flesh

50/50 Dark Flesh Bleached Bone

 

That's actually more Cyril style, I do believe that Kaple has his own guide right there on his Website? Lemme dig for the link.

 

Artimis

[Viperidae]

Yeah I read his recipie and made an attempt to put it into effect but I'm not sure if it looks right.

 

Cool recipie, I might try that out, I just think generally the brown either doesn't show up or is too bright to be a chip or scratch deeper than the surface it's on. The effect doesn't seem to work.

[mario]

Here are the two articles:

- http://kaple.dk/?page=tutorials&id=81

- http://coolminiornot.com/article/aid/288

 

The main problem is that you don't have enough brush control. When using that technique you need to emulate a 3d effect on a 2d surface.

 

What you could try:

The brown that you use for the depth of the scratches is your only option (sort of) for black. As your marine is black you don't have anything darker/less saturated to shade the black. So using the brownish colour to simulate rust that is accumulating where the protective layers are missing is the only thing that can add depth to the scrath. That makes your black basecoat a problem. THe solution here would be to use more layers of brown and orange to simulate the diffrent depths and rust in the scratch. Places where the water would collect more often should be more rusty and the parts of a scratch where the rust is exposed (near the edge) should be less rusty. Your scratches just look like paint applied with a brush, and that brings us to the next problem.

 

Brush control is missing. When painting scratches you are micropainting. And for that to look good you need to have much control so that whatever you are painting doesn't look like bits of paint but like whatever you are trying to paint. This goes for your shading as well as for the white specular highlights. Light wouldn't reflect like that (see the white on the gauntlet on the second picture). These lines need to be thin and in relation to your miniature's scale. Using pure white for a black armoured marine doesn't work that good. Try Bleached Bon or a similiar off white for that small scale and dark armour. And learn where to place the white highlights. You put them semi-consistently on the lower edge of the scratches and that kills the illusion too.

 

And never forget to think about where you put the scratches. Try to find some ligical solution for the placement. Even if the scratches are supposed to be random you need some greater logic to back it up.

 

Here is an example of what would not work. You have a marine in a squad of ten and all the guys have scratches that are appled on the front of the armour (where the enemy fire comes from). Just this one guy has all his scratches on the back of his armour or his back pack. There might be a logical solution for that but it won't help with suspension of disbelief.

 

If you want it to look better then first paint the basic shsading colour (baescoat) and use that to establish the form of the scratch. How big is it, what type or weapon caused it, where on the armour is it located, these types of questions. Then use the "white" for the speculat highlights next. Where is your light source? That will show you where to place the white highlights. For a basic light source and a convex or flat area your highlights will be directly under the scratch. Now you are finished with the basic form of your scratch. Now the real work starts. Add depth to the scratch with different/more shading and rust. While you aredoing that you can remove little bits of your white highlights so it doesn't look that fake. And then you can use your underlying basecolour to change the white highlights from below the scratch. That gives you two tools to work on the white if it got too thick or if you don't like any bit of it for anything reason.