Started painting some fatigues. I had to do a bit of mixing to get the right colour for Sigrid, but I'm pleased with the result. It doesn't really look as orangy as in this photo. The one thing that puzzles me is that sometimes the final result will be very glossy, while other times it's very dull. I'm using the same kind of enamel paint throughout! It doesn't really bother me, but it would be nice to have more control over this...

Enamels are often sold in "gloss" and "matte" versions. I would bet you somehow ended up with a mix of both types. (It's not always super apparent on the label which one you've got.)

Finished with the base colours for Sigrid. For the blonde hair I followed the advice given by Nam Nguyen in the "Painting Rosie" article. I'll try do do some touch-ups on the face after I've applied the wash, adding eyes (gulp) and trying to better define the lips.

Looking good, can't wait to see you use washes on the troops. If you want, you can give the red a thin wash of Badab Black and it will give you shading. Just a bit though, not too much.

 What's the general rule on deciding whether to use Devlan Mud or Badab Black to wash a specific part? I was under the impression that colours that lean toward red should be washed with Devlan Mud (reds, oranges, yellows, browns, creams) and other colours should be washed with Badab Black (grays, blues, greens). Is it not so? Why wash Sigrid's reddish fatigue with Badab Black instead of Devlan Mud, I'm still trying to understand the logic behind this whole thing.

 Also, you say "just a bit, not too much". Well, I was doing some tests on some ammo crates and my conclusion was a bit of a paradox: If I applied only a little bit of wash, spreading it around, it would quickly dry and wouldn't really flow much towards the recesses, so pretty much the whole surface became all smudged. Not very dark, but not clean at all, stained all over. If I applied a lot of wash, really allowing it to create pools on the surface, it would dry slowly, flowing towards the recesses and leaving the overall surface apparently cleaner and more uniform, however the recesses would be pitch black. What's the secret?

I'm really scared of ruining my painstaking base colour work when doing the washes. Though I do have a bit of a safety net. Since I painted with enamels, I think I could wipe off the wash with alcohol if it turns out ugly, without affecting the base colours, which are only soluble in paint thinner.

"Whatever works."

In this case, you're probably correct- Devlan Mud would most likely look better.

And you're correct about flooding it on as well. Washes work much better when flooded over the entire part you're washing, rather than sparingly applied. (Unless you can blend, in which case you can selectively apply washes in small amounts.) However, sometimes you don't want the big pools of wash. What I do in these situations is to apply it liberally, then quickly rinse the brush, tap it on a paper towel to get most of the water out, and then use the damp brush to wick away excess wash. Repeat the rinse-tap-wick process as needed. This works especially well on Space Marines armor, where you have large flat areas you don't want swimming in wash, but don't want the splotchy look you get from applying too little. Wiping it off all the large surfaces helps keep the armor from looking "dirty." It is a little wasteful on the wash, unfortunately, but the washes really do look better when flooded on and removed than sparingly applied.

Also, Devlan Mud looks good on greens too, depending on the look you're going for. Shading/highlighting with a color's complement can add a richness to the color that makes it "pop" a bit more. DM isn't particularly reddish, but it has enough to add a little life to darker greens that a black wash wouldn't.

 Thanks a lot for the advice.

 Well, here are the finished base colours for the Recon Grenadiers. This is the first time I've sorta stuck to the "official" colour scheme, cause I just thought it felt right for these guys. Pretty happy with the results:

The guns were painted with Gunbolt Metal, which SoRice sent me. It was my first time painting with acrylics, and wow, what a difference. It comes much thinner so I don't really need to dissolve it or anything, it flows well and dries really fast. This is nice, but it was also a bit distressing, as I'm used to having a little more time to wipe out mistakes, take off excess paint and so on. But the best aspect of it was really the fact that I could just stir the brush inside a glass with water and it would come out clean. No need to ruin it by rubbing it hard inside a vat of foul-smelling chemicals.....

I think he is talking about thinning the wash. At least, that's what I do. You can still put a lot of it on so it flows well, but just thin it out so it doesn't darken the model too much.

Your stuff is looking great! keep it up!

 Just add water to the wash? Is that it? Cool. What's a good proportion to thin it out without making it lose its properties?

You can also add a drop of flow aid or matte medium to the wash along with the water. I'd say 1:1:1. You can play with the ratios.

This might help you out as well, if you've not already seen it.

zuggzugg said:

Oh, don't start with the fancy fluids again!  I've already had enough difficulty getting my hands on the Citadel washes.

 lol ok. Well water should be good enough. All you need to do is make it so the wash doesn't darken the model so heavily. It should go on very thinly and it will give you a nice shade. Good luck!