I like to think of figure painting as five stages: prep, base, wash,
drybrush and spot.
Prep
These tips assume the use of acrylic, water based paints.
Games Workshop puts out an excellent line of acrylics in its Citadel paint line, as does
Ral Partha. Art stores also carry extensive selections of acrylic inks that work very
well, but can be a tad pricey.
Nylon brushes formulated specially for acrylics work best. Sable and other natural hair
brushes really take a beating from acrylics, plus I do not find them 'stiff' enough for
applying acrylic paints. Get #10/0 and #5/0 spotterbrushes, and a #2 fan brush for
applying paints to large surfaces.
It is a good idea to wash plastic models in warm, soapy water and thoroughly rinse and dry
them. Some residual products from the plastic molding process can make it difficult for
paints to flow smoothly onto the surface.
Flashing can be removed with a sharp knife and jeweler's files. A small, fine file makes
life easier when trimming pewter. It doesn't take much pressure to file pewter, so use a
light touch when starting.
Next, prime the model with white. There are primers specially formulated to adhere to
pewter, but in a pinch you can use plain old white. Without priming, they grey of the
pewter or plastic will show through many colors giving a dirty appearance. Acrylic
primers, and especially acrylic whites,should always be slightly thinned or else they will
cake up while you areapplying them instead of giving a smooth, uniform coat. You can use a
dab ofwater, but arylic 'extender', which extends the drying time, works best.
Base
Next, apply the base colors to the model. The colors should be selected
to compliment the next stage (wash) so you should decide on the base and wash colors at
this time. It is best illustrated with an example. I am painting elf sword masters. For
the armor, I select a base color of silver and a wash color of black. For the gauntlets,
epaulets andbreastplate I select light brown as the base and dark brown as the wash (I
want to simulate leather.) For the face i use flesh as the base and dark brown as the
wash. For the hair I use yellow as the base and dark brown as the wash. For the robe I use
off white as the base and light grey as the wash.
I now proceed to paint on all the base colors. Assume the model is
naked and 'dress' it by painting on the base colors in the order you would put on the
clothes. This minimizes the times a stray brushstroke will place a color where it doesn't
belong.
Wash
A wash is a thin paint that washes into the nooks and
crevaces of the model and tints the flat areas. It adds dramatic depth to miniatures.
Prepare a wash by adding 2 parts thinner to 1 part paint. Again, acrylic 'extender' is
ideal for this. Water works too but tends to give a 'spotty' appearance. Dip your brush
into the wash and dab it onto the model. You should hold the model surface horizontal so
the paint washes smoothly off high surfaces and into the crack and low points of the
surface. Let the wash dry. You can always add a 2nd and 3rd wash if the initial wash was
too light.
When trying to decide on a wash color, first determine if the base color is 'warm', like
red and yellow, or 'cool', like green and blue. Dark brown makes a fine wash for warm
colors. Black does a good job on cooler colors. For cool colors, you can also select
darker shades of the color. For example, light green as the base and dark green as the
wash. This usually does not work very well for warm colors.
Drybrush
Just as wash adds depth to the low areas of a model,
drybrush is used to add height to model edges. The technique itself if simple. Take an old
brush and dip it into the paint, then wipe the brush across a paper towel until only a
faint line of paint comes off the brush. Now gently brush across an edge or hipoint of the
model. You repeat this to build up hilites on the model.
Going back to the example of the sword master, I based the gauntlets with light brown and
then washed with dark brown. I can now drybrush the edges with light brown to bring out
even more detail. You can also drybrush sections of flat surfaces to add the illusion of
reflected light, but it takes a light hand and some practice to get a good effect.
Some colors are a bit transparent and so do not drybrush very well. For example, flesh
colors. The face based in flesh and then washed in dark brown will lack detail in the high
areas like nose, eyebrows and cheekbones. Drybrushing directly with flesh would require
many layers to overcome the dark brown wash. What you should do is first drybrush with
white. White acrylics hide dark colors very well. Now lightly drybrush the white hilites
with flesh and you have a dramatic looking face.
Spot
Spotting is the direct application of paint to low and high
areas of the model in order to increase depth and detail. For example, I may paint the
inner folds of a white robe with dary grey, or edge a black sword with a streak of white
along the cutting edge. Most models look great without spotting, but if you have a talent
for it, spotting can really add extra excitement.
In the example of the sword masters, I can spot the bottom edge of each tiny plate of the
armor with a dab of white. It sounds tedious but it actually takes very little time to do
with some practice, and the effect is well worth the time, IMO.
Odds and Ends
When your model is completed, you should protect the paint job with a
thinned coat of acrylic matte varnish. There are many sources of information for
decorating the base on which the model is mounted. Everyone has their favorite technique
and color scheme. Most involve glueing fine sand to the base then painting and
drybrushing. There is a technique called glazing which has a variety of uses, so keep an
eye out for information on it when perusing modelling books.
Carmen