"What a difference a wash makes." Topic

Last night I painted the not-Mal Reynolds fig from GZG's Free Trader Crew Pack A link

I took pics before and after the wash stage:

and after:

What wash did you use?

I used Citadel's "Nuln Oil". It's black. I did touch up the face, as after the wash dried it looked too dirty, and he looked like he was wearing eye shadow. :)

I see all the little things I'd like to fix in a pic this size, I have to keep reminding myself he's only 18mm tall in real life, and a) I'd not see it on the actual fig, and b) I'll never get a brush small enough to fix things. :)

Turned out very well in my opinion.

My painting style is identical to what you did here. Base coat and a wash. With 15mm figs, I don't stress the small details either.

Not to criticize – because this is why I like washes too – but because you took such close up pictures it really points this out: notice the holster strap on the leg in the before and after shot. Before the wash you can see that the strap color drifted over the line, and in another place did not fully cover the strap, but after the wash that little mistake actually looks like a great shading job.

@blooddave: Looks really nice!

As a former user of the *magic* devlan mud, I'd like to offer some advice…

I would suggest using Army Painter Strong Tone. I think the slightly lighter wash would work really well, and I think it works better than even devlan mud did.

Pretty much every miniature I paint, I paint in the same way you've showcased. After I paint the base colors, I use army painter strong tone all over, then I highlight (the base colors again, then slightly lighter, etc).

I've used GW paints for years, but their most recent change has, unfortunately, turned me off of their paints. I'm slowly (as my old GW paint deplenish) switch to a mix of Army Painter paints, and, more so, Vallejo Game color paints.

@Dale – I know – the wash covers all the little mistakes. I love it. If I was a D&D character, I'd have a Dexterity around 7, so that leg strap paint job is about as good as it gets. I need a "cover" for my 15mm mistakes. :)

Hey, it's MrHarold from the Gruntz forum! Hi! I've heard of the Army Painter Strong Tone before. I'll have to check it out.

Hey, it's MrHarold from the Gruntz forum! Hi! I've heard of the Army Painter Strong Tone before. I'll have to check it out.

thewarstore.com is where I got it from, and it's a good price too!

I would recommend the 2ml Ink bottles (about $3 USD apiece), not the $30 USD cans of smelly varnish with the same name. The latter requires mineral spirits or similar to clean the brushes and dries super glossy. The former is water based, still pools nicely, and won't give you a headache.

Thanks Dale! I watched a video for the cans, and "super glossy" is exactly what I thought. Good tip!

Don't get me wrong, you can get rid of the shine. But the inks are so nice. They do stain the color a little, like the Nuln Oil did, but for the most part they pool the way you want them to.

A couple of things about using the Citadel Shades: Nuln Oil is what you want to use on cool colors. For warm colors (like the model here) you want a brown shade.

Also, diluting with the Lamian Medium (about 1:1) makes the wash work a little better on 15s.

What he said, the lamian medium is a must have and I feel gives the GW product the edge over other washes. The most important thing though is that you got them painted, well done.

I totally changed my painting style about 18 months ago, I simply had too much painting to do.

I used to dry brush everything, which would leave a rough and heavy black 'lining'.

Now I block paint and the paint on Army Painter Dark Tone, works really well for me and it is a lot quicker.

I do do touch up highlights if needed but mainly it's not.

There are some examples on my blog

link

I used to use GW Badab Black wash but as you can see it comes out quite dark which did need highlighting evrytime.

Yes, I was suggesting the bottles too, never used the dip can thing.

I've dipped and washed* and I think they both have their place.

For mass, production line painting, the dip is a great boon – see this set of WIP's here: link

All of the miniatures (with just a couple of legacy figures that I had already painted or who were donated to me) featured in those pages were dipped using the smelly stuff, as were almost all of the vehicles (use in a well ventilated area, dip wearing disposable latex gloves etc). That's almost 200 figures and 50 vehicles…

But, as an alternative, some vehicles were dipped using Future/Clear with ink in it. And some of these vehicles link were painted with the Future/Clear with ink AND the Army Painter ink/wash. So I go both ways…

My opinion is that they all have their place and – when used correctly – can look really good.

But – as has been observed – using washes and dips means that the stuff actually gets painted. The important thing for me is that it has increased my productivity by about 500%!!

John T
Ex Black undercoat dry brushing man

* And my wife only complains occasionally…

Washes, I like GW's, are great !!!

Meiczyslaw: I understand where you are coming from, but I like the look of the black wash better. It's more "comic book", I understand, but these are Sci-Fi, and they are really small. If I was painting 25mm, or painting historics, I would use a brown. I use a brown on my terrain and bases. But it doesn't "pop" enough for me on 15mm people.

Thanks for tip about the Lamian Medium! I picked some up yesterday, and today I used it with the Nuln Oil wash, and it looks great! I'l post a pic after I spray it with Dullcote.

I have Army Painter Dark Tone (bottle) on the way from thewarstore.com. Thanks for that tip also, so many great tips in this thread!

About the Strong Tone $30 USD dollar varnish can…

It's basically this with twice the price tag:

link

I use this:

Cool. Personally I use magic wash.

Here's the wash I did following the tips about mixing it with Lamian Medium. I really like how the wash got into the gun details.

I understand where you are coming from, but I like the look of the black wash better.

I figured I'd mention it because you'd gone almost completely with warm colors on the first figure.

Also, I agree with the choice of black if you're only doing one wash on a figure with a mix of warm and cool colors. Black shadow on a red shirt is less jarring than a brown shadow on a gray shirt.

we refer to delvan mud as "skill in a bottle"

we refer to delvan mud as "skill in a bottle"

Back when Polly S still existed, Ogre Dark Brown was the One True Color.

Funny how these traditions continue.

How many people still believe in "cursed dice"?

-Eli

I pretty much put a wash on all 15mm. It just brings something about them to life and makes them look better.