Finally trying to paint properly, could use some advice.

[Whirligig]

Hi all. Hope this is in the right place.

After many years of painting models, I've realised that I haven't actually got any better since I learned to keep the paint in the right sections and undercoat my models before I start. Hence my arrival here. I'm going to make a serious effort to improve my painting, starting with my latest project, a box of clanrats.

I'm at a very basic stage with my painting, limited pretty much to base colours, and an ink wash. If I'm feeling very adventurous I mmight attempt some drybrushing. So expect quite a few 'statements of the bleeding obvious' over the next few weeks. My apologies in advance.

Today, I have a specific query. I'm planning on painting the bulk of the clanrats in a variety of skin shades of brown, but I want to make the unit leader an albino (I know only grey seers are supposed to be albino, but it's my unit :tongue. I've looked at a lot of models and pictures of albino animals, which are great, but can't find any specific advice on HOW to paint albino fur? I can't seem to find any information on paint shades etc.

 

[cheelfy]

You can paint it like this:
base: mix 1:1 Graveyard Earth+Fortress Grey
drybrush of Bleached Bone
drybrush of Skull White
That's a really easy and quick technique, between the drybrush of Bleached Bone and the Skull White one, you can do a drybrush of a 1:1 mix Bleached Bone+Skull White.

 

[Einion]

Hi and welcome, you've come to the right place if you want to get help on developing your mini painting :good:

Be sure to trawl through the collected threads in the Sticky Thread and follow up with searches (not just on CMON but elsewhere on the Internet) for any particular topics that interest you, there's lots of good info and guides out there.

I've looked at a lot of models and pictures of albino animals, which are great, but can't find any specific advice on HOW to paint albino fur? I can't seem to find any information on paint shades etc.

I think the thing to do here might be to pick a specific reference and work from that. Then just work at replicating the colours you see.

Probably the most obvious method would be to undercoat in a pale shade and then go over it with white or off white, either by gentle drybrushing (work in stages, don't try to get the white to cover all the high spots in one go) or with your first foray into layering.

Another option would be to paint it white, then apply washes/glazes of the pale shade (an ivory or beige colour).

After either of these steps pick out the ears, around the nose and maybe the paws (feet?) with a bit of pink and you're most of the way there. Add the red eyes and that should be that.

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

i have to echo what einion said, if you are going to drybrush, don't use thick paint and try and do it in one go. thin the paints. it will take longer but it will mean smoother transitions. drybrushing can be a very handy technique for highlight placement, just use it subtly

 

[johnboyjjb]

Three steps to better minis:
1) Find somebody who lives "nearby" and work with them. Web based instruction is handy but nothing beats real life and videos for learning how somebody else accomplishes something.
2) Post in the WIP section and check for updates - remember the more comments you give the more you generally get. People here are generally willing to help.
3) Practice challenging yourself. Always try to do something new unless you are frustrated and ready to give up. Sometimes its nice just to crank one out with tried an true processes but generally its better to constantly try to improve.

Remember - what works for some people may not work for you. There is almost always another way to get a similar result.

 

[Whirligig]

Thanks for the advice. I've just done the base coat with a 1:1:2 mix of astronomican grey:graveyard earth:skull white. It seems to have workeed wuite well, as it's a very pale beige colour. I was planning to wash with a diluted red around the eye sockets, ears and extremeties, to try and get that pinky albino look, and then highlight the bulk of the body with bleached bone, 1:1 bleached bone:skull white, then pure skull white. I was wondering what wash to use to pull all of the highlights together. Would dilute red work for the whole of the flesh?

 

[Einion]

I was planning to wash with a diluted red around the eye sockets, ears and extremeties, to try and get that pinky albino look...

Instead of a wash, try the same watery mix but just lightly load the brush and soak out a little excess on a clean cloth and gently brush over the areas you want to add pink.

This is the basic technique for layering/glazing, the paint is often exactly as you'd use for a wash, just that there's a lot less of it on the brush and its applied more carefully to the surface.

I was wondering what wash to use to pull all of the highlights together. Would dilute red work for the whole of the flesh?

Often a very dilute mix of the base colour works best, but experiment, see what you think yourself. You might like the red better.

Cool avatar by the way!

Einion