"Bronze Statues" Topic

Does anyone have any recommendations on techniques or web sites for painting bronze statues like this one:

link

It looks like a very white green over a blackish green. Color recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John

Martin,

Well, if you want to paint a statue of that size I don`t know how to do it, but a smaller one can be black primered, then you should drybrush the figure with that green that you see (probbably green and grey or white, just mix and look).
That`s an easy and fast way.

Ramiro

well i can tell you how to patinate it with chemicals to get that kind of effect.......lol. you need some copper nitrate, ammonium chloride, a few other things and about 5 days!........

if you want to 'cheat' paint it, check out a DIY store for some 'verdigris' paint that is used to make junk objects look like weather beaten bronze and copper.

alternatively do as Ramiro suggests and use various stages of olive/aqua over a dark primer

Sally :0

Don't use DIY patina products, they are *way* too thick and would obscure the detail on a mini. (I ought to know, my wife loves verdigris, and I've patinaed gutters, lighting fixtures, mailboxes, planters, dang near anything that would stand still long enough.) Basically, you paint the piece copper, then apply the patina chemicals as a wash. More applications of the patina wash increases the verdigris effect, but also builds up on whatever you're patina-ing. On something as delicate as a mini, you'd quickly wind up with an undetailed lump of verdigris.

Instead, use paint to achieve the same effect.

Paint the statue dark bronze, seal it with Future, apply a thin coat of custom-mixed dark verdigris green oil (tube) paint, then wipe most of the oil paint off before it dries. This will leave a nice dark green in the recesses. The drybrush with a light verdigris green acryllic paint. Give it a light drybrush for moderate verdigris, heavy for heavy verdigris. Use progressively lighter drybrushes on the highlights. In this case, a chalky drybrushed look isn't a bad thing, for a heavily weathered statue.

Add some white "pigeon splats" on the tops of the head and shoulders, and you can even add some miniature pigeons (look for bird familiars from Ral Partha, Reaper, etc.) for real verisimilitude.

Alternative paint method that works well.

Prime white then wash all over with dark green ink. Then paint roughly all over with a blue/green colour (e.g. GW "scaly green") then add some white to it and paint this on in random patches. Now dry brush the whole model with a dark bronze metallic (e.g. GW "tin bitz") then highlight sparingly with a gold metallic. Add Pidgeon Poop to taste...

I'd go the same way as MetalMutt but a simpler version:

Prime white
Apply green then grey heavy wash
A very light green (green heavily mixed with white) as dry brush.

Thanks for the advice. I forgot about the pigeon splats...that's a must!

I find the following simple method works well:
1. Undercoat black
2. Heavy drybrush (covering most of the figure) with a light grey/green (Liquitex Baltic Green is good)
3. Light drybrush with bronze metallic