I started painting up my Deathwatch marines this week, wanting to try some new techniques on them for once.
After undercoating them black, I had a go at painting the first edge highlights with Thunderhawk Blue. As you can see in the photos below, I am not used to this technique and my first attempts were pretty heavy handed.
I decided they looked like crap and repainted them black to cover it up. I decided to do the first highlight with a drybrush of Thunderhawk Blue. I was much happier with this when it was done.
I then had another go at the second edge highlight, this time with Fenrisian Grey. I think it worked better than the first time, but I'm still not entirely happy with it. It still loos far too messy for me.
For the second marine, I thinned the paint a lot more and took more time over the model. I think this has improved it a little.
Anyone got any advice for improving this technique for my marines?
My suggestions would be along the lines of 1) make sure the paint is appropriately thinned, which you seem to be doing, 2) don't overload the brush with paint, but more importantly, 3) use the side of the brush wherever possible, perpendicular to the edge you're highlighting, that way it should just catch the very sharpest part of the edge.
ReplyDeleteCheers Nick, will give that a try! I was inspired by your efforts with the Dusk Knights to take more time on each model, try and make a decent elite force.
DeleteJust as Nick said, use the side of the brush to run against the edges where you have sharp edges. You'll get a very smooth and thin edge highlight that way.
DeleteFor the areas where you can't run the edge of the brush, like the top of the knee pads, and smaller details, it's just a matter of practice. The improvement is already obvious in your attempts, so you'll nail it soon enough.
Yeah, I think its going to take practice. Fortunately, I have about another 40 marines to paint!
DeleteAlso might be worth a third stage, start with dark reaper, then thunderhawk blue, and use the fenrisian just on the odd corner and extreme points. I completely understand where you are with this, I painted up a kill team of raven guard and did not enjoy the edge highlighting!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Black armour can be a pain. I never went to this much effort with my Ravenwing, just a quick drybrush highlight with grey.
DeleteWhen it goes right, I think black can be the most rewarding colour to highlight, but there's no doubt it's probably the most difficult to do well (except white, it's a right bugger to get highlights to show up on white ;) ).
ReplyDeleteAlun is right too, start the highlights nice and dark and save the bright parts for the very edges.
Not done much with black or power armour as my main painting is guard, but My advice would be to finish the models. As they stand its hard to see how they will look with all the other details on.
ReplyDeleteI've made a bit more progress since I did this, so should hopefully have a completed Marine at the weekend.
DeleteIf you want some advice on highlighting accuracy, I did write this article http://tabletopapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/how-to-be-better-painter-improve-your.html
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think you're going in the right direction - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you finish off the other details on them as the highlight will blend in better and the imperfections will be less stark and obvious. Learning to use the side of the brush can also speed things up and give a good finish like Nick suggested; just don't load too much paint onto it when you do it or the edge will be uneven and lumpy when you paint it on as the colour transfers from brush to model. Highlighting cleanly is also a matter of practice and like most things it'll take time to get the best results, so keep on plugging.
If you're still not entirely happy, a wash of Nuln Oil can go some way to blending the colours back into the black again.
The ultimate cheat for painting black is the airbrush though as it allows such smooth blending. I'm not saying you need to think about it now, but a coat of black and well placed grey highlights can give great depth - the only downside is that painting those edge highlights is going to be necessary whatever you do!
Thanks for the link, very useful info! I have finished one of the models in full before starting the rest (pics to follow soon). You are right, it doesn't look as garish with everything else there.
DeleteI find that a light grey drybrush works well, though thunderhark blue will work. Then paint the rest of the details on the model. Once you've done this, either go over just some parts of the black with an edge highlight. Or pick bits out with battle damage. The danger with black is it can look to highlighted sometimes.
ReplyDelete