Learning from the master

[skavengear]

is anyone available that could teach/show me the proper way to paint good models? id like to look at my box of blood angels and see more colors than grey plastic and black primer. last ting i painted ended in disaster...

[the_trooper]

Painting well comes with practice.  Trying different techniques and seeing which work best together are key.

While I'm not a great painter, my stuff looks decent from arms length which is good enough for me (table top quality).

My suggestion right off the bat?  Pick up some devlan mud  wash and black wash from BG.  Take one of your test models and apply the basic colors.  If you are going standard Blood Angles, coat the whole model in red (or whatever your base color is) then pick out the Aquila with gold (or whatever) then pick out the eyes with a green (or whatever), pick out some random details and then coat it with  either Devlan Mud or the Black wash.

Once the wash dries, I will be surprised if you are not happy with the results.

GW washes make even the most terrible painters like myself not annoy the better painters at the store with our eye sores.  

Seriously, I use no advanced techniques and I'm sure the better painters are annoyed how little effort I put into my models.

Here is evidence of the magic of washes:
My Death Guard:

and
My Berserker Ogryn

[skavengear]

those look sick rich. im pretty sure those arent eye sores

[the_trooper]

The plague marines started off as primer white with the hoses, back packs, rotted parts and other incidentals picked out. (Thanks Paul!  )

Then came the mud.

On the ogryn, GW foundation paint Talarn Flesh, Vallejo's Khaki on the cloth, bolt gun metal on the metal bits then some random brass to break it all up.  Then came the mud on the non-organic parts.  Ogryn flesh wash on the flesh to give it depth and shadow, almost like a suntan.

The washes also help with kind of loosely painted stuff where as some things overlapped with paint, the washes shadowed it in such a way that it mattered little.

If I wanted to do a "table top" quality marine army again, I would just spray the models with an air brush to get even coats, then pick out details here and there, then wash.  If I wanted to go even further, dry brush or highlight with a complimentary color.   You could do an army box in a weekend that way.

[the_trooper]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy with the way the models have come out.

I just feel like it's cheating with how easy it is now with the new washes.

[Rob S]

By the way Dave, if you're doing red as your main color I'd recommend Badab Black wash over Devlan Mud.  The Mud doesn't work as well with red as the black does, I've found.

[skavengear]

my main color would be red. i just dont get the dry brush thing. what is "wet brushing"? do i dip the brush in water then paint? that may be my problem i did it all dry brusing. as for the wash, id probablly do the black maybe brown for a few like death company. then i just spray varnish?

[the_trooper]

I have no idea how to varnish properly (I probably should) since I never tried it.

Dry brushing is when you dip the bush in paint then wipe it off.  The end result is having so little paint on the brush that is only hits where the brush contacts.   Literally, you should be clearing all visible paint off the brush by drying it off on a towel (long strokes).  Once you see no more color coming off, try it on a model. You will see what I mean when you do.

Wet brushing isn't really a term (that I have heard used).  Overbrushing, I believe it's called, is one where you just glob the paint on and move it around quickly so you don't have to hit the pot again.  It does work but requires a bit of practice so you don't cover up the details.

You can water down your paints a bit but I no longer do unless they are drying out.  Controlled overbrushing is the fastest way to be honest but even then, watering it down and then going over the model quickly will prove for a quick and easy base coat.

[jhobin]

It really is a wonder what those wash's can do. Generally it works best on organic type model's or cloth i.e. guardsman, kroot, bugs etc.

Rich is right on. I used washes on my vespid's because I wanted something quick to paint them because I will not be using them a lot and wanted them table ready.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/44166-Tau%2C%20Test%20Vespid.html

This is a combo of washes and paint, all the flesh is wash

[Battleground]

If you're interested, Dave, we tend to paint on Tuesday nights at the store. If you come by and bring your painting supplies I'd be happy to give you some pointers on little things you can do to improve.