Beautiful colours Ares B, he really does have a Smaug look about him.
edge67 wrote:
would you be able to explain a bit more about your technique? Did you undercoat with black and then dry brush the white over that? How did you get the effect on the left hand photo? When you say 'glazed with colour' I assume you mean a very thinned out version of the paint?
Its basically dry brushing and then the mentality of a colouring book, making sure not to go outside the lines. Most of the work is done by the miniature when you brush it!.
First I imagine there is a halo of light above the hurons head and try to judge where that light would fall on the miniature. Then I begin brushing with Codex Grey, starting at the top of the miniature and using downwards stokes . This way, as the layers build up the areas facing upwards are lighter and the areas facing downwards are darker. I mix some water with the codex grey and keep the brush moist to avoid the paint going on too strong at first, this also helps the codex blend gradually with the black undercoat and avoids that chalky look that dry brushing can cause. Use codex sparingly on dark areas such as underneath an arm or leg.
At this stage the codex grey wont look vibrant because of the added water so I gradually mix in more codex, building it up until its pure codex grey on the upward facing areas and highlights. I brush really lightly all over at first and then apply more pressure as the paint is brushed on the highlight areas and areas facing upwards. When that's done I begin adding skull white to the mix until I have a color that's something like Fortress Grey, I usually use Fortress Grey, just ran out.
I brush on the Fortress Grey colour exactly like the Codex but make sure its more concentrated on the upward facing areas and the highlights. Darker areas get a light brush which only catches the smallest of highlights. This mix is also put on lightly at first so it will blend gradually with the Codex Grey. Subsequent brush's are more liberal so the colour becomes a lot stronger. Once its a pure Fortress Grey color on the highlights I begin to add Skull White to the mix.
Again, the whiter mix is applied like the previous two colours but only on the very top of upward facing areas and highlights. I then use pure white on the highlight areas or those that should be brightest.
Finally, you should have a gradual blend from codex into fortress and then white, the highlights will be naturally more vibrant than the darker areas because they have been layered up so much. When all that's done the last thing I do before glazing is re paint any dark areas with Chaos Black that have been contaminated by grey, like areas of folded cloth, in between fingers or where a helmet meets a face etc.
Your right about the glazes, they are just watered down paint. I usually mix 1 part paint with 2 or 3 parts water, depends on the paint as some are more watery than others. The brush is applied to the dark areas and swept towards the highlight areas. Its tricky though because too much paint will drown out the grey tones underneath and too much water will cause the paint to pool in the darker areas. I usually wipe the brush on some tissue and then my hand first to get rid of accesses water, also a little piece of tissue is handy at this stage just to soak up any mistakes when applying the glazes. The trick I've been trying to do is not to glaze over some of the white brushing so the act as instant highlights, It worked well on the Hurons face for example. Also if you find you have obliterated your white highlights with too much glaze, run your thumb over the area before it dires and it will wipe the colour away from the highlight areas only.
If your going to try this out I suggest trying it on a miniature you don't really care about, there's less pressure in making mistakes or ruining a miniature you like.
Seems like a lot for such a simple technique and I'm still kinda figuring it out but if there's anything else or something you don't understand just gimmi a shout.
just came across an article about whats called Zenithal highlighting, definitely worth a look:
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2011/09 ... hting.html
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