Painting a Space Marine with Glazes?

[SageMonkey]

Hi thar!

So a couple minis down the line on my current queue is a standard tactical marine I've been admittedly pretty excited to paint for quite some time now. Recently I've been considering how I'd actually like to paint the miniature once I get to it, and I'm basically stuck with two options as far as I see it: Paint it the standard GW way of a basecoat and then several layers of extreme edge highlights OR actually have legitimate shaded areas on the miniature as well as blended highlights over the large areas of armour.

I'm sort of leaning more towards the second option, and this got me thinking of exactly how I was going to pull that off. That leads me to my question. Would it be feasible for me to pre-shade the mini with black and white primer and then use many layers of coloured glazes of a midtone colour (I'm thinking a green) to build up the mini's shades, midtone and highlights all in one go? Has anyone done something similar to this before? I'm sure it's been done and in fact I got the idea from an article on batch painting but that was for tabletop miniatures. Could I use the same technique and get good results for a piece that would be staying safely in my display case?

Any help and advice is much appreciated!

-SageMonkey

 

[Bloodhowl]

I'm sort of leaning more towards the second option, and this got me thinking of exactly how I was going to pull that off. That leads me to my question. Would it be feasible for me to pre-shade the mini with black and white primer and then use many layers of coloured glazes of a midtone colour (I'm thinking a green) to build up the mini's shades, midtone and highlights all in one go? Has anyone done something similar to this before? I'm sure it's been done and in fact I got the idea from an article on batch painting but that was for tabletop miniatures. Could I use the same technique and get good results for a piece that would be staying safely in my display case?

Sure would. I believe the use of black and white primers to pre-shade and pre-highlight is called zenithal Priming or Highlighting. You prime black first and let dry, then spray from the top with the white to accent the highlights (although I think you can do it using any dark and light you choose, not just black and white). Then you would glaze, layer, blend (which ever is your technique of preference) to paint the mini. This works fine for tabletop or display, as the end result is dependent on how far you want to take it. I think it was Thomas David that used this technique for his Speed Painting Video video on Miniature Mentor.

 

[SageMonkey]

Yeah I first saw the technique used in Jeremie Bonamant Teboul's painting DVD. Only difference was he sprayed the mini white, painted on his midtone colour and then sprayed the mini again only just from the top. I'm not sure if I'll use that method or just black+white priming and then glaze the mini until kingdom come xD Whatever I still have 4 miniatures to complete before I get to the Marine, I have time to figure it out. Thanks for the info!

 

[Zab]

The glaze method requires more patience but gives you more control over all. Be careful though as it is really easy to take it one layer of glaze too far and ruin the effect so let each layer dry completely to make sure you are happy with how it looks. I used it on my alpha legion aspiring champion and basically pre shaded with metals and then glazed over with blues and greens. http://www.coolminiornot.com/324321

 

[Einion]

Would it be feasible for me to pre-shade the mini with black and white primer and then use many layers of coloured glazes of a midtone colour (I'm thinking a green) to build up the mini's shades, midtone and highlights all in one go?

Try it, best way to find out!

This could work fine, it's certainly something worth exploring, but a lot depends on the variables - if you did two minis at the same time with different colour schemes you could get shoddy results on one and great results on the other, because of differences in the the physical makeup of the paints you're glazing with. So you really do have to try it and see.

Einion

 

[Bartali]

In theory it should work ok, I do something similar with three shades of red and an airbrush to pre-shade my Blood Angels. Plenty scope to build on technique if you want to take it further.

Some stuff to consider :-
- Use grey primer instead of black. The contrast between white and black may be too great, and black will just 'absorb' some glazes.
- Consider using oil paints+thinner instead of acrylic washes/glazes.I find them much easier to work with and can correct mistakes easily, and they dry without leaving any horrible effects. Downside is they take longer to dry than acrylics.

Taking it further
- After applying your glazes, and then painting in the details, spray a gloss varnish. This seals in the previous layer (needed if using oil glazes). It also provides a good base for the next stage. Apply decals if you're using them.
- Washes. Don't smother the mini, destroying your previous shading with glazing, use it in recesses only. The gloss varnish helps the wash run into the recesses. Oil paint+thinner works well again here
- Matt or Satin Varnish depending on the finish your after. Another coat of gloss is also fine for certain effects - works well with Grey Knights metallic finish for example.

Even further
- Apply further highlights using a brush
- Weather - paint chips, powders etc