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Scottnissen

Ghoul
Apr 22, 2012
105
Anaheim
I have begun a series of how to paint guides much like the showcase of showing off your masterpieces this is to show off how you paint your undead. Do not be bashful feel free to share so we can catalog a good variety and mix of wonderful undead tutorials. Please leave the holy water and stakes at home.

Carpe Noctem's How to paint thread index

Im sorry if this has already been ask or it's in the wrong place, but how do you get your paint smooth? I've tried all sorts of things

Santa has Hijacked this thread.
 
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Raizi

Vampire Thrall
Oct 16, 2011
999
Some general tips: Always undercoat before painting. After that water the paints down and work in layers. Also take care of your brushes. A bad brush messes up everything.

[Edit: And most of all, be patient. You will not get a smooth result with just one brush stroke. Layers, layers, layers...]
 

Zephyr

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Mar 3, 2008
2,522
Rotterdam
On top of the above tips:
Don't ever paint out of the pot, use a dish or tile to spread the paint out on. Also take great care with whites as they are almost always more grainy than other paints.
 

desfer

Necromancer
Jun 13, 2010
801
Attiki, Atthens
The trick is to thin your paints. After basecoating take your time and shade/highlight your mini using thin layers, as Raizi said "layers, layers, layers" :tongue: Using glazes helps unify the colors and make everything look smoother. Also, don't drybrush. Drybrush is the first technique a painter learns, the first he has to forget. It's quick and easy, but even the most clean drybrush doesn't look half as good as a carefully painted model using blending and layering techniques. In the P&M articles section of CN there are many useful tutorials and guides. Some of them are a bit dificult to follow at first, but with a lot of practice i'm sure in the end you will have the results you desire.
 

woodster17

Skeleton
May 21, 2012
81
Milton Keynes, UK
Agree with all of the above, thin layers and lots of them, particularly for models that require one colour over a large area over the undercoat. Nothing worse than a thick and lumpy coat, particularly where skin and bone are involved. Darker colours you can somewhat get away with, but lighter ones certainly not.
 

Monkey's_Uncle

Black Knight
Layers as has been stated are the secret to smooth painting, I always find that a glaze (very, very thin wash) after you've highlighted helps blend the colours together and smooth things out.
Always water down your paints (except when dry brushing), as thick paints are lumpy and if you apply too many layers can obscure all the detail.

A quick tip: If you water your paints down really heavily they become semi-translucent, which will allow the layers underneath to show through slightly. This is good for things like skin where you want to paint veins on and have them appear as if they are under the skin.

I disagree with desfer though, Dry-brushing has it's place, but only really on fur and scenery. You won't get a smooth effect with dry-brushing, but don't be afraid to use it if you want a 'chalky' effect.
 

desfer

Necromancer
Jun 13, 2010
801
Attiki, Atthens
Monkey said:
I disagree with desfer though, Dry-brushing has it's place, but only really on fur and scenery. You won't get a smooth effect with dry-brushing, but don't be afraid to use it if you want a 'chalky' effect.

I don't understand how you disagree :tongue: I believe we said the same thing, hehe. Drybrushing leaves a chalky effect. We're talking about smoothness.
 

untitled_musketeer

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 9, 2010
1,426
Huddersfield
I think Desfer, Monkey's_Uncle was disagreeing with you saying it's the first tecknique learned and the first technique forgotten. It certainly does has its place.

The key to smooth blending as far as my expertise goes (I'm still by no means as smooth as I'd like to be) is patience. Secondly it requires thin paints and subtle transitions. People will say you need mediums and special thinning products but to be perfectly honest, water out tap is more than acceptable. If you do live in an area with harder water (water that is more chalky) than it has been suggested by others that de-ionised water for car batteries and kettles will help to smooth out blends. I have tried this method and I've not really noticed any difference myself. As for the paint, you need to aim for a consistency about the same thickness as full fat milk for your different mixes.

Now you've got thin paint start you need to learn how to mix. You're aiming to create very subtle colour changes to ultimately reach the colour you want to end up at. You need some sort of palette that will keep your mixes wet, and/or separate. Two options are available. You can either construct yourself a wet palette. I made mine using a plastic fast food container, some foam cleaning cloths and baking parchment. The second alternative is using an ice cube tray. This is great as it enable you to separate and compartmentalise your colours.

Onto painting. Start with a midtone and work down to your shadows. Don't go too dark at this stage because you can always tweak things. Then work back up through your midtone to your highlights. Make any adjustments to you shadows and then touch up highlights and/or extreme highlight. Finally unify the whole thing with a couple of thin glazes to soften the transitions and smooth everything out. Don't be afraid towater your glazes down. Just because they are thin, doesn't mean they couldn't be thinner!

And that, as far as I'm aware (I don't think I've missed anything) is that. Remember be patient. This si something I lack after a while and I'm sure that is what is primarily holding me back from the holy grail of uber-smooth blends. That, and cheap sable brushes!

Just remember, this is not a skill you want to roll out on hundreds of zombies, and it more suits centrepieces, characters and display models.

I hope this is useful in your quest. Others (looks at Dogmar and Redarmy xD) feel free to chip in!

All the best,

u_m
 

Elmir

Zombie
May 24, 2012
38
Buy an airbrush...

As silly as it may sound, an airbrush is the ultimate in term of thin layers... Try as I might, I never succeeded in matching the smoothness of my airbrush with a traditional brush.
 

woodster17

Skeleton
May 21, 2012
81
Milton Keynes, UK
Also, the new Lahmian Medium is exceptionally useful in the toolbox. Takes away any glossy effect and is really useful for techniques which involve wet paint such as blending. Much cheaper than purity seal spray too.
 

desfer

Necromancer
Jun 13, 2010
801
Attiki, Atthens
woodster17 said:
Also, the new Lahmian Medium is exceptionally useful in the toolbox. Takes away any glossy effect and is really useful for techniques which involve wet paint such as blending. Much cheaper than purity seal spray too.

Is Lahmian Medium a matte varnish? I thought it was something like Vallejo's glaze medium
 

untitled_musketeer

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 9, 2010
1,426
Huddersfield
It is clear medium. It does remove shine though so it's great on transfers and removing the gloss effects of paints and sprays etc. As for mixing paint, if you only used the medium you'd find yourself spending a lot of money on thinners. It makes great glazes out of most colours which can help to smooth out your blending once it's complete. It's also really useful in getting some really smooth metals. Ultimately though, water is your friend when using waterbased acrylics.
 

desfer

Necromancer
Jun 13, 2010
801
Attiki, Atthens
I've used Glaze Medium a lot, but haven't tried the citadel one yet. Good to know it's working.
Also, nothing can replace water :tongue:
 

untitled_musketeer

Vampire Count
True Blood
Aug 9, 2010
1,426
Huddersfield
I was browsing the CMON forum and stumbled across this. It might help in your quest. It was a post made by a member called Skraal.

'Skraal' said:
Well glazing is purely using your paints at such as consistency that they are in and of themselves almost translucent. You then go about applying glaze after glaze after glaze to build the colour up. Generally the technique is used to smooth the transitions between colours as using it for an entire model will mean you take AGES to paint it, however the smoothness of the paint job will be very very good. In my WIP thread, look at my Salamander Dreadnought, I'm glazing there to keep it as smooth as possible.

When glazing you want to have your paint diluted to about 75% to 35% or higher generally speaking. Thats water to paint %. Also you'll be painting with a damp brush not a wet one, that part is key so as to avoid tide marks and pooling. In essence if you paint a line on the model, by the tim your brush leaves the model the line is already dry, thats the type of dampness I'm talking about.

Layering on the other hand is where you have paint generally at a more concentrated state IE 50% to 50% or 60% to 40% water to paint ratio and instead of building up glaze after glaze to achieve a smooth colour or transition your aim is to allow part of the previous layer to show through. So, for example, if I paint a space marine shoulder pad, with a zenithal technique, I would want the bottom of the pad to be darker than the top. SO if I were to layer it, I would start with my darkest colour a and paint the entire shoulder pad. I would then take my first stage highlight b and paint the entire shoulder pad but this time leaving about 2 mm of the previous layer unpainted at the bottom of the pad. I would then repeat this with my next highlight c, this time starting on highlight b and leaving 2 mm of b showing and so on for all subsequent highlight stages.

If you've ever read a WD masterclass then they outline layering quite nicely and you'll be able to see what I mean with pictures. However the EM team will then go back to those 2 mm areas where the previous colour was left showing and glaze over them so as to smooth the transition.

In terms of how transparent you want your paints to be, that is personal preference and you'll need to experiment to see what works best for YOU, however I think I'd be safe in saying that the %'s I used above are about the average of most painters using these techniques. Personally I don't use mediums to thin my paint, only water. However I have used Vallejo's Glaze medium before and thats ok, but I tend to find that it makes drying time longer and when I glaze I want the described damp effect above not a longer drying time.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?49325-Tide-Marks-How-to-avoid-them-when-glazing


Very useful indeed. Even picked up a thing or two myself!

Cheers,

u_m
 

Dogmar

Varghulf
Aug 3, 2010
780
Thanks u_m for valuing my skills so high that I could add a lot to the already very good summary you have given. Honestly, having learned a lot of what I know from you and Redarmy I don't think there is anything to add. That's exactly the way I do it and that I've had success with in the past. However I'm currently experimenting with Lahmian Medium as a flow increase tool and it does work a treat. Things I have found out are: It does remove any kind of glossy finish if added to a colour and even to a finishing glaze if the former glossy effect was not too strong. It is very good for creating your own washes as it ties the pigments together so to speak and they tend to work just as well as regular GW washes. Be aware that it does make the paint flow into the recesses so don't overdo it on glazing mixtures. I have NOT found it to increase the drying time of colours all that much, you can try it, but usually water, patience and a swift hand to change brushes is everything you need for smooth blends and paint application in general. I tend to hold a second brush in my teeth at times so I can change brushes faster to blend colours on the model.

On a sidenote: Some painting-maniac at the local GW store recommended "Liquitex - Slow dry" as a flow increase medium. It is said to make paint dry at a very slow pace while not dilluting the colour. Take this with a grain of salt as I have not tried it myself, but if it does work it is great for display pieces and GD entries. Other than that I don't feel it is essential to have such a thing. It works without it in most cases.

Wow, this got longer than I initially thought it would be.

Cheers,

Dogmar
 

con-fusion

Grave Guard
May 17, 2012
263
Try thinning with vodka instead of tap water. That way, you don't have to worry about hard water.

Note: This post was sponsored by Brushlickers Anonymous.
 

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