Confrontation minis? Tips on shading?

[pogre]

Ahhh, that's what I was looking for. Thanks for the helpful links, Librarian, and thanks, KnowtheToe, for the specific methods.

For that "fuzzing the line boundaries so that you can't see brushstrokes" thing, has anyone attempted to use paint pens of various shades, and then brushing over it lightly with a smooth coat of the base color? What results have you met with? Which pens would you recommend?

As always, thanks for your help and comments!

In theory the paint pens should work, but thus far my experiments have failed.

The key to blending is the paint extender ktt mentioned above. For a truly awesome blend trying working a small area completely "wet". It takes some practice but the effect is worth it.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I find wet blending very difficult. I only use it when attempting NMM. I believe the key is using very small brush strokes so you can control the blending of colors.

 

[Dpulse303]

Hey there Indigo veil,i like the look of your minis,I paint fantasy and sci-fi minis have done for ages and will continue doing so for ages,any way to techniques... where to start,non poisonous paints are brilliant cos you can use your toungue as a mixing pallatte and in my experience saliva is a brilliant mixing medium use tiny tiny amounts of paint put a blob on the surface to be painted and then dab the brush on your tongue and then work the paint onto the surface in small circular strokes from the centre out ,the paint gradually dries so keep dabbing on your tongue and keep working it this can give you those faded subtle shade lines no need for pens or that stuff, if you want to shade up or down just apply a slightly lighter color and work that into your saliva paint mix no need for white to be added as it should mix on the mini,you have to paint fairly quickly aswell but this gives amazing results.also lighter and lighter drybrush shades on a flat area can have the same effect.dont be scared of using white as a final highlight coat either, on metal this looks way cool (light glints).Iwill post some pics of my minis at some point soon (when i get a digi camera)and you can see some of my stuff.good luck and keep it up!

 

[Indigo Veil]

Paint pen update.

Hey there Indigo veil,i like the look of your minis. . . .

Thanks. ^_^

any way to techniques... where to start,non poisonous paints are brilliant cos you can use your toungue as a mixing pallatte and in my experience saliva is a brilliant mixing medium. . . .you have to paint fairly quickly aswell but this gives amazing results.also lighter and lighter drybrush shades on a flat area can have the same effect.

;; Wow. I don't think I've ever thought to use saliva... ^_^

The "lighter and lighter" drybrush technique is something I've been using, but I sometimes have trouble with leaving brushstrokes behind, and that irritates me. ^,^;; I think I might have gotten around this at least a little bit, however, by diluting the consistency of the paint, and then by running a different, angled brush (or a fingertip, if the surface is wide enough) over the coat to lighten it for a gradient effect.

I've also discovered that paint pens are far more effort than they're worth. The more expensive paint pens have a consistent enough flow of paint, but the paint itself is much thicker than I'd like, and certainly far thicker than the coats I use to paint with. Pigma Micron pens aren't technically paint pens (as they use archival quality ink, rather than acrylic paint), and I'll play with those soon enough.

Has anyone else played with these yet...?

Again, thanks for all comments. ^_^