"How to get brighter colors?" Topic

At cons and friends armies I've seen a lot of heavily blackwashed figures. So dark that, at least to me, they are indistinguishable from each other and from opponents troops except when held directly against my eyeball. (Personal admission: I've had some retina surgery, so don't take me as reflective of the general population).

How to get brighter colors? I want to clearly distinguish nationality and troop type from4 feet away. I want my troops to look sharp, especially general stands and banners. What is the best method? Would inks be helpful?

I've gone to lighter washes from Secret Weapon, using different washes for different colors. I then re-paint highlights of the original color after the wash dries.

Much better, much brighter, while still getting texture.

FWIW, white primer gives brighter colors, as well.

Quit trying to imitate Dallimore. He doesn't paint figures for wargaming. He paints figures for advertising photography, where there is so much light dumped on the target that you'd go blind trying to light your gaming table that way.

Use white or gray primer and forget the fancy washes.

Really simple, prime white. Forget dipping in dark stains or using darker washes.

Use white primer to bring out the color and stop using washes. Never use black primer – that involves a completely different method of painting.

Sometimes white primer makes the figures look too bright, so I usually use light grey primer.

Use a two tone shade and highlight to make the color stand out. The triad system isn't necessary but you can use it if you prefer.

Stop using washes.

Jim

Yup, prime white. Or drybrush your black primed figures in white before you start adding colors on.

At the risk of saying stuff you already know…

Prime white

Expensive paints have more and better pigment. Cheap paints for dark colors can be fine, but for certain light colors you need better paint.

When washing do not dip or use the 4 inch house-paint brush. Use a small, lightly loaded brush and only touch the crevices.

You don't need to wash with black. Wash with grey or brown, or even a darker shade of the primary color. If something if painted yellow wash with a medium brown, if it's painted medium green wash with hunter green, medium blue gets navy blue, etc.

I always prime white, and let my GW washes down with Lahmian medium or water – I rarely use them full strength.

Prime white for bright

I prime in black for armour/dark colours but prime in white for reds/yellows/etc.

I do use washes but carefully – for example, I almost never wash light green with a green wash; I use a watered down sepia

Never use a wash as a final step. Always highlight after a wash.

I love Jim's figure painting! But I do use washes. I do a lot of layers of thin paint to blend the colors to be where I want them to be. I like gray as a primer, but I also like black. My world is not parade clean, there's dirt.

Matthew

I always prime white (craft paint). I don't use washes (except for skin tone), not that great of a painter anyway.

It's taken me years to understand that figures that pop under my bench light and optivisor when put on the table fade into the terrain. A friend taught me to exaggerate the highlights. They need to look over the top when you're painting them. On the table they will look right, but still have that pop. I prime in dark gray (getting hard to find) and drybrush white. This gives me variation of shadow and midtones, then I find the highlight color that feels right, put it back and move to the next lighter shade

Black primer, Dalimore method, no washes.

White primer and remember that some paints dry darker so try a lighter shade at first.

Although I always prime white I still paint my figures quite dark overall as the real uniforms were darker and of less saturated colour than miniatures are often painted. The brightest figures I tend to see are those that have been primed black and the painter has gone over the top (in my view) to compensate for the light killing effects of the black undercoat.

Really if you want brighter figures you have to choose brighter paint colours – there are masses out there. Using neat Vallejo, assuming you choose bright colours, will result in very bright figures even over black.

Whilst it is true that a white primer gives you a brighter result than a black does, if you use the same paint, the black undercoat doesn't stop you achieving very bright colours per se. You may find a white undercoat quite unforgiving (unlike black) it just depends how accurate you are with your brush.

I'll have to add that I mix almost all my colours and purposefully choose to desaturate them (the opposite of what you want to do) so using a white primer doesn't have to mean that the figures are bright.

The Dallimore method is priming black. You dont get brighter colours by having lighter colours, you get them by having more contrast.

So prime black and then exagerate the highlights. At 10cm the figure will look like a pointilist picture, at 1 metre the colours will pop! If you use washes, always highlight over the washed colours.

@unready
Lots of great advise already from really good sources. If you're just getting started, don't be too hard on yourself. Your painting style and technique will develop over time.

My advise. Prime white and paint figures in a brighter shade paint than you really want. Then after you wash and tone them down you can go back with the original color and highlight. Saves you from having to buy a lot of different shades of the same color. Experiment with different color washes. I use GW/Citadel. It's a quick and easy technique when painting lots of uniform figures like Napoleonic's, ACW or WW2. Hold your figures out at arms length to see if you're getting the effect you want.

Figures popping verus disappearing into the terrain can also be hugely affected by the color of the terrain mat or cloth used.

Darker colors of mats will definitely make the figures disappear into the table. Lighter colors make the figures stand out much more.

Tom