"Advice for painting 6mm French" Topic

Hello all,
I'm about to start in on my French army, this will be my first and I'm not to sure about how to proceed.

I normally prime black, followed by a heavy dry brush of the main color and then pick out details. I'm not to sure how this'll work though.

Any tips, suggestions or even tutorials that could help me out?

Thanks
Ken

Here are some links

TMP Link to painting 6mmBritish

TMP link

TMP link to painting 6mm French

TMP link

You should find that painting usually gets a little easier afer you have done a few units YOu will discover your own methods and a level of acceptance as to how much detail you wish to include.

Thanks for the links, some good information in them.

and if you want buttons on a kurtka try;

TMP link

Try dark brown as a compromise in priming. Have switched to it and find it a bit less harsh and actually a bit more pleasing to the eye than black (of course, metal armor and chain-mail still need black)

I agree with ancientsgamer. But keep in mind, the smaller the figure, the brighter the color (I am painting my 3mm Russians in a Park Green, priming with a medium green.) So you can get away with a great effect with little effort. The dark undercoat with red really works well. With blue, you are going to need quite a contrast. So paint with a medium blue if priming black or very dark blue, then a quick dry brush across with a lighter blue. If it is too light, blackwash, let dry, and try again.

On another note, when it comes to the faces, use a two tone, four point approach. Paint the face a leather brown, then a dot on each cheek, nose, and chin with light flesh. This is one of the coolest tricks I picked up years ago for 10/6mm figs. (Oh, and paint faces first at this scale…you can get the faces done in no time, and are one of the easiest parts to paint in 6mm.)

ilodic.

Try sampling a couple of different methods and see what you like.

I undercoat in white (to bring out the colours) and then block paint. However, that suits me, as I am happy with the a bit of Army Painter muck brushed on to provide a bit of shading. But, then again, I am a rubbish painter.

I find that figures undercoated in black just look like dark blobs from more than a foot or two away.

Ilodic is right that you should use paints that are a shade or two lighter than the proper colours. They will look right on the table. I also find it best to use acrylic varnishes, as oil – based varnishes seem to end up too thick at this scale.

The main thing to remember is that, in this scale, you are painting for mass effect, rather than individual beauty.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I've been painting 6mm celts and romans for awhile now TMP link

I normally paint from a black base, drybrush a mid brown over the whole figure then block paint the main colors. After I'm all done I wash with a brown ink to shade everything. For ancients this gives them a slight grubby look which I thinks works.

I don't think this method will work or look that good with French Napoleonic figures. I want them to be nice and clean with bright colors.

I'm definitely gonna use ilodic's method for faces, I think that'll look a lot better than mine.