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?