Hi. Over the past few days I\'ve been painting my Warhammer 40k Stealth Suits. I\'m trying to give them the look of swirling, shifting camoflage, sort of like that of the Predator. I\'ve tried a combination of careful drybrushing and I\'ve even mixed a tiny bit of silver paint in to give it a sort of sparkling, shifting look. After a couple attempts and a couple trips into the brake fluid, I can\'t seem to achieve the desired effect, whether it\'s due to technique or color selection. Has anyone tried this or something similar? Any useful suggestions would be appreciated.
A different kind of camoflage...
- Thread starter Davion
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Sturmhalo
Guest
I briefly tried mixing metallics with regular paints, but the results weren\'t what I wanted either. So I didn\'t take that line of enquiry much further. You mentioned drybrushing though, which to be honest might not be the best technique. Not too sure what to suggest really.
Chrispy?
Chrispy?
paintwidow
New member
If your going for the Predator look, you\'re going to have to have something behind them on the base, long grass, a tree stump, something. Then you could paint the mini a light bluey, like the sky, hit the edges with white, and fade it into a darker gray toward the bottom, or maybe even a brown, if you base is primary brown. Or a washed out green if it\'s on grass. Then for the kicker, paint what is behind it on the front of it, so it looks as if you could see through it. Now that would be an interesting project!
T
Tirnan
Guest
You could try mixing in pearlesent paints for a bit of shimmer. As far as a true \"where did it go\" camo scheme your best bet would be stippling in 4 colors... 2 greens with lesser touches of grey and red. Just breaks up the pattern. Look at some of the brand new uniform BDU\'s being printed in the US and Europe.
Hope that works out for you, I haven\'t tried mixing the pearlesents myself yet.
Tirnan
Hope that works out for you, I haven\'t tried mixing the pearlesents myself yet.
Tirnan
Chrispy
Active member
Vallejo\'s metallic medium mixes okay with most opaque paint (not too much now, or the pigment will get too thin). That\'ll give a nice metallic shimmer.. You might also want to think about painting them as though they were invisible... kinda like SENMM, but no reflection.. What I mean is basically think of the mini as a canvas and paint a landscape, hopefully aiming for something like this:
It\'s been photoshopped, but it\'s just something to consider taking it to the next level!
It\'s been photoshopped, but it\'s just something to consider taking it to the next level!
paintwidow
New member
Yeah Chrispy, that\'s what I was trying to say with words, but you so eloquently said it with a photo instead......worth a thousand words!
Sweet, that picture is more or less what I\'m going for, though I plan for mine to be darker overall. I\'m off to find reference landscape pictures to use as a guide and when I\'m at my local shop tomorrow I\'ll see about ordering some of that metallic medium (should be able to get it, since they stock Vallejo paints).
When I\'m done, I\'ll be sure to borrow a friend\'s camera so that I can show everyone how it turns out.
When I\'m done, I\'ll be sure to borrow a friend\'s camera so that I can show everyone how it turns out.
No Such Agency
New member
Re-cast them in transparent resin
tidoco2222
Active member
I don\'t know if this will help but Tamiya paints to some very nice clear colours and if you paint those over a white or very light grey they can look quite translucent, I saw it done once on a resin sci-fi armoured vehicle and it looked really effective, you can get the same effect by mixing a drop of paint in with a varnish.
Ok I\'m not intending to be sarcastic here, but isn\'t the intention of Camouflage that you aren\'t seen?
If you\'re trying to get a figure to \'disappear\' then you need to paint it to completely blend in to it\'s surroundings. Which means that you have to do a backdrop/ scene and then implant the figure, much as Chrispy\'s photograph would show a T\'au at the Grand Canyon. So your paintjob becomes increadibly complex.
If you\'re trying to get a figure to \'disappear\' then you need to paint it to completely blend in to it\'s surroundings. Which means that you have to do a backdrop/ scene and then implant the figure, much as Chrispy\'s photograph would show a T\'au at the Grand Canyon. So your paintjob becomes increadibly complex.
tidoco2222
Active member
Originaly posted by Dragonsreach
That is a valid point about the backdrop and as the 40K universe is so vast with any amount of different enviroments the colour choices and possibilities are endless.
That is a valid point about the backdrop and as the 40K universe is so vast with any amount of different enviroments the colour choices and possibilities are endless.
Chrispy
Active member
I just remembered! Doc Martin\'s ink also makes iredescent/metallics you ight want to add (I also hear the other inks are asgood as GW\'s when watered down). As for backdrop, I\'d just paint the ground the same colo as the base, and the sky blue even though there are planets and times when the sky is a different color, that\'ll let people know it\'s the sky for sure. You could also re cast it in clear resin, but the ethics, time and money that go into that are too complicated for now... (It would be cool if one was just a pilot sitting in a stealth suit that does not stealth him, like on Invader Zim!)
Thanks, everyone. I realize it\'d be impossible to account for every possible type of terrain imaginable. I decided to do a sort of SENMM thing, like Chrispy suggested, but I think I\'ll use a kind of green color for the sky and a muddy greenish brown for the ground. I tested it out on a couple spare bits, and I think it\'ll give the impression of being in the middle of a jungle or other dense forest. Over the SENMM, I\'ll go back and stipple in some darker areas to simulate the scattered shadows cast by foliage. When I\'m all done, I\'ll give it a light glaze of either the metallic medium or the pearlescent ink. I\'ll test them both out to see which I like best.
There are still a few things I\'ve yet to decide, and perhaps you could offer some insight here... Should I highlight the edges of the armor plates the way I would on a normal model? I would think that if I do it at all, I\'ll need to be subtle with it so as not to ruin the effect, but still enough to add detail. Also, should I paint the little mettalic bits like the tip of the gun, symbols on the chest, shoulder, and side of the helmet, and the jetpack exhaust in normal colors to offer a bit of contrast, or keep the entire model under the same scheme?
There are still a few things I\'ve yet to decide, and perhaps you could offer some insight here... Should I highlight the edges of the armor plates the way I would on a normal model? I would think that if I do it at all, I\'ll need to be subtle with it so as not to ruin the effect, but still enough to add detail. Also, should I paint the little mettalic bits like the tip of the gun, symbols on the chest, shoulder, and side of the helmet, and the jetpack exhaust in normal colors to offer a bit of contrast, or keep the entire model under the same scheme?
