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Author Topic: What Wash?  (Read 643 times)

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Offline Temperance

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What Wash?
« on: October 10, 2020, 06:05:29 PM »
Hey guys! Not a 40k related question, but I know we have some talented painters here (certainly compared to myself, at least), and I thought someone might be able to give a tip or two.

I'm looking to paint some 15mm (18, technically) Napoleonics (French, for now).

I don't want to go crazy on detail at that scale, because I lack both the skill and the patience, but I do want to try and make them turn out nicer than just one flat color per item. Specifically, I'm looking at the white (off-white, really) pants and the dark blue coats.

Finding an initial color seems pretty simple (I'd assume a good dark blue for the coat, and a good grey for the pants). Then I was thinking I'd go over each in a wash to get the recesses, followed up by the final color which I'd paint onto everything that wasn't recessed (and, if I ever wanted to go crazy, I could add a slightly brighter highlight on top of that... but that's a reach).

I'm not sure what a good wash is to apply to grey (with the end-goal of white), or to dark-blue (with the end-goal of a dark/medium blue though. Any advice?

Would I want to use a black wash for each, but then water the wash down even further before applying? Is a regular black wash ok without watering it down? Or should I use something more along the lines of brown.... agrax earth shade or what not?

Thanks for the tips, if you have any.


... also, if anyone has any idea on how to best prime 15mm? For 40k I put my minis on a box, ocassionally knocking them on their back or front to get coverage. At 15mm though, these guys are probably too small to do that without ruining the detail. Is the best way to do them in batches of 4-5 glued onto a stick? That probably gets me the most well-balanced coverage, but the idea of having to do that hundreds of times to prime everything (vs just spraying on a box) is pretty frightening. Should I just deal? Any better ideas?

Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: What Wash?
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2020, 06:37:46 PM »
Hi Temperance -

My suggestion:

Grey - Apothecary White Contrast Paint thinned with contrast medium 1:1

Blue - Vallejo Blue Wash

I'm not certain about priming 15mm as I've never done it before. I'm sure others have more informed opinions then me on that one :)
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Offline Temperance

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Re: What Wash?
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2020, 07:14:54 PM »
So just to clarify, you're meaning one might start with a grey and then wash it with the apothecary white contrast/medium mix (and start with a dark blue, washing with the Vallejo blue wash), right?

Also wondering - for mixed stuff like this (coats one is going to apply to a large part of -many- miniatures), do you continue mixing on the palate or have you tried to just get an empty dropper bottle (or whatever) and fill it with the desired mix (ie: a 20ml bottle filled with 1/2 apothecary white and 1/2 medium, in this instance).

Using an empty bottle seems much easier to me, but for some reason I can't articulate, it sort of feels like a strange idea I should avoid....
« Last Edit: October 10, 2020, 07:16:23 PM by Temperance »

Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: What Wash?
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2020, 07:23:38 PM »
So just to clarify, you're meaning one might start with a grey and then wash it with the apothecary white contrast/medium mix (and start with a dark blue, washing with the Vallejo blue wash), right?

Also wondering - for mixed stuff like this (coats one is going to apply to a large part of -many- miniatures), do you continue mixing on the palate or have you tried to just get an empty dropper bottle (or whatever) and fill it with the desired mix (ie: a 20ml bottle filled with 1/2 apothecary white and 1/2 medium, in this instance).

Using an empty bottle seems much easier to me, but for some reason I can't articulate, it sort of feels like a strange idea I should avoid....

I would build up to the lighter part of the grey just before it becomes the white you want, then use apothecary white. It's optional if you want to thin it really, as you just need to control how much you load your brush with and you'd probably be fine.

Vallejo blue wash can go straight over the dark blue once you base it.

I usually mix my paints by counting the brush loads lol. One brush of paint = one brush of medium, and so on. You can use an entire empty bottle, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not used to mixing large batches of paint, which I'm not either.
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Offline magenb

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Re: What Wash?
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2020, 04:24:29 PM »
If you undercoat with white primer, then you can use the Apothecary White Contrast Paint straight over it and skip painting the grey.

If you used black undercoat, then you will need a very light grey, (optional step: use a thin white paint over the light grey), then use the Apothecary White Contrast Paint. It just depends on how close to white you want it to get.

Blue washes... Drakenhof night shade if you want to stick with GW paints. Regardless of which one you use, I would recommend thinning the wash down even more given the 15mm scale.

 


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