My Secret Glazing Recipe

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

When I mention glazing here, I mean applying a controlled wash in order to mute highlights and smooth blends. I am not referring to juicing or tinting a mini.

To unify your blends and tone down some contrasts, it's often a good idea to apply an even glaze, especially in these transitional areas. In my experience, it is best to use the color of the base coat. Also in my experience, it is best to base coat using the color that will be most visible on most of the surface area of a given section. For instance, one might use codex gray for a sword or piece of armor.

However, if the intent is to unify all of the highlights, why not glaze with a little bit of every color used on a particular area? So, depending on the size of the area, I will use a very small amount of water to rinse my brush off while painting said area. I use a particular brush to mix my paints on my palette, and so it gets dunked quite a bit I am very liberal with how often and how aggressively I rinse it. Well, what's left over in my rinsing jar is my glaze. So far this has worked wonders to blur edges or turn unconvincing transitions into beautiful blends. And it's economical and green. Does this make me a hippy?

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

And I shall call it "Trash glazing." When an artist uses a select stew of a given paint range to glaze a miniature.

 

[ellis_esquire]

This sounds interesting - can you explain more simples with picture please

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

For example, you want to paint a red cloak. Well in a coffee mug or what ever you use to rinse your brushes off just fill it with a small amount of water, the same amount that you would use when making a glaze. As you are painting this cloak you will rinse your brushes like normal, and eventually every shade of red used will be mixed into this coffee mug. The majority of it will be your base coat, but you'll also have small amounts of the red you shaded with and the red you highlighted with. Now, at the end of blending this cloak, you will want to mute your highlights. Say that orange is just too bright. And in a few places the blend doesn't go smoothly. Most painters will then glaze to calm down that bright orange and tie together that blend. Well, use the coffee mug of all your combined reds rinsed off, and use this to glaze. Add water to it if there's not enough, of course. The key is to use a very small amount if water in your rinsing dish to begin with, because you can always add some at the end but can't take it away. Anyway, this mixture of all these blended rinses works perfect as a glaze. If there is enough demand I'll put together a tutorial, if only to prove that it works very well.

 

[Zab]

The principle seems sound. It's the first I have ever heard of this. I'd like to see it in action in an SBS or to use the internet vernacular: Pictures or it didn't happen

 

[Pygmalion]

Sounds cool. I can see how it would work.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is "juicing" and what is "tinting" a mini?

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

The principle seems sound. It's the first I have ever heard of this. I'd like to see it in action in an SBS or to use the internet vernacular: Pictures or it didn't happen

Certainly. I should have the whole evening to paint so I will take before and afters and a picture my rinsing container. I'll use a clear one so you can see how much I use.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Sounds cool. I can see how it would work.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is "juicing" and what is "tinting" a mini?

Not ignorant at all, it's a term not everyone uses. Juicing. This is when you paint using the the thinnest of layers. About the consistency of a glaze. By the time you end a one inch brush stroke, the beginning of the stroke will have dried by the time you pick up your brush. It's controlled, not like a wash. The intent is to add many, many layers until you have an ultra smooth coating. It is a very slow and methodical means of layering, I suppose.

Similarly, tinting is almost the same but you never really add a complete layer. You do the same as above but leave it translucent so the layer beneath is still visible.

Glazing is is just sort of dabbing even fewer layers down, in a wash-like consistency, with the intent of merging blends and muting highlights.

By by no means an expert. Hell, I can probably count the number of mini's I've painted on my fingers and toes. However, I went from a horrible novice to a mediocre painter almost overnight by learning to juice. Since then, I've been trying to wet blend since it's so much faster, with varying success.

To blend, if I didn't juice I would feather, if I didn't feather I would wet blend.

Oh, and more info just came to me. When juicing it's less about the thickness of your paint and more about how much you keep loaded on the brush. Very little.

Master painters, please correct me of I have spewed forth any misinformation. This is highly likely.

 

[Pygmalion]

Interesting. I didn't know there were words for that. I'm not at all methodical about keeping track of what I paint or exactly how I paint it, but I think I have done those, at one point or another.