Painting with \"juices\"
- Thread starter Aliengod3
- Start date
Aliengod3
Active member
It is strange that it is so shiny. You say that it is because there is too much water on the brush but I wiped my brush over a paper towel. I gave the brush about five good strokes over the towel spinning it as I wiped. I actually used a matte medium too. Just a small amount though, like one drop. Perhaps I should be using a bit more?
With this dilution rate I do see how smooth the layers turn out but I am not happy with the result so far. Maybe I need to work more on highlight and shadow placement.
For primer I use Testors Flat black, flat grey, and flat white. They are enamal though. Is that a boo boo?
For prep I clean mould lines, use a file, use 600 grit sand paper, then wipe the mini with steel wool, then brush it with a toothbrush covered in soapy water. Prep is pretty good. Funny, the vostroyan command I painted all I did was file and primer. I never realized how crazy people are about prep.
With this dilution rate I do see how smooth the layers turn out but I am not happy with the result so far. Maybe I need to work more on highlight and shadow placement.
For primer I use Testors Flat black, flat grey, and flat white. They are enamal though. Is that a boo boo?
For prep I clean mould lines, use a file, use 600 grit sand paper, then wipe the mini with steel wool, then brush it with a toothbrush covered in soapy water. Prep is pretty good. Funny, the vostroyan command I painted all I did was file and primer. I never realized how crazy people are about prep.
Originally posted by Aliengod3
I have tried out the 10;1 ratio and that is a pain in the butt. I tried it out on a gamesday orc, just the skin, and here is the result.
As you can see from the pics the surface is real shiny, is that normal? Also I used extremely light colors for the highlights and extremely dark colors for the shadows and the surface barely looks tinted. Does this mean that I am not laying down enough layers.
Plus I think that my basecoat was too light.
Hopefully these pictures speak a thousand words to you guys / girls who use this technique and hopefully you can tell me what I am doing right or wrong. Thanks again!
Looks like you\'re getting closer. First let me address the range issue:
With juicing, you lay down as many layers as you need to get the level of tint that you are looking for. Each successive layer increases the opacity of the coverage and so if you are unhappy with the range, add more layers. One other way to do it is to start with your base and then place your highest highlight exactly where you want it in a basically opaque layer. Then use juices to blend the intermediaries from that highlight to it\'s surroundings. Since juicing involves a highly transparent methodology, you shouldn\'t need as many transitionary mixes (in fact I often don\'t use any, but just juice with the straight highlight color and then go back and dull it down with the base color if it gets to be too harsh.)
You can do the same basic thing in opposite on shading, though I find that with juicing, shading tends to be easier than highlighting for the purposes of depth.
By placing that final highlight/lowlight and then blending with juicing, you are actually employing a kind of hybrid between Automaton\'s and Arjay\'s methods.
Now to the shiny.
I see this most when I use a matte medium with my juicing. Sometimes you will run into it without though. As you finish a section of the mini, hit it with dullcote. Each new section, seal the mini again. By the time you get done and do your final seal, you should have killed the vast majority of any shine.
Hope that helps. Like I said, it looks to me like you are getting closer to the intended result. Keep up the great work!
Aliengod3
Active member
I appreciate the help Mattrock and Arma.
So it is poosible to lay down your lightest highlight and blend it with thin layers of the base coat to dull it down and create a smooth transition between the two colors. That makes sense and I will try that out.
I have tried the dullcote on the mini to decrease the shine but when I paint over it the paint beads. Maybe I put too much on.
When you speak of a hybrid between Automatons style and Arjays, what is Arjays way of juicing if you know? I would love to know how gets the blends that he does.
So it is poosible to lay down your lightest highlight and blend it with thin layers of the base coat to dull it down and create a smooth transition between the two colors. That makes sense and I will try that out.
I have tried the dullcote on the mini to decrease the shine but when I paint over it the paint beads. Maybe I put too much on.
When you speak of a hybrid between Automatons style and Arjays, what is Arjays way of juicing if you know? I would love to know how gets the blends that he does.
I don\'t think Arjay uses juicing. What Arjay does is paint his base coat and then place his brightest highlights exactly where he wants then before blending down to the base.
I\'ll add one thing though because I want to be sure you understood me clearly on my last post:
Typically if I add that bright highlight, I will juice using the highlight color, drawing my brush-strokes from the area surrounding the highlight and finishing the stroke inside the \'hotspot\' as it were. As I juice I will make the strokes shorter and shorter (thus decreasing the circumference of the area around the hotspot). Then you can go back in with the base color juicing if it is necessary to smooth the transition out further. When you juice with the base color you want your brush strokes to work from the lighter area to the darker.
I hope that makes sense...it\'s so much easier to show than it is to talk about.
One last thing concerning the beading and dullcote. I\'ve not seen this with my work so I can\'t really speak with certainty on the issue, but I\'m thinking you shouldn\'t be getting beading if you have wicked enough paint off your brush. There shouldn\'t be enough left to bead.
Have you done what I suggest in wiping ALL the paint off your brush as if you were drybrushing? And if so, have you seen the same beading after having done that?
I\'ll add one thing though because I want to be sure you understood me clearly on my last post:
Typically if I add that bright highlight, I will juice using the highlight color, drawing my brush-strokes from the area surrounding the highlight and finishing the stroke inside the \'hotspot\' as it were. As I juice I will make the strokes shorter and shorter (thus decreasing the circumference of the area around the hotspot). Then you can go back in with the base color juicing if it is necessary to smooth the transition out further. When you juice with the base color you want your brush strokes to work from the lighter area to the darker.
I hope that makes sense...it\'s so much easier to show than it is to talk about.
One last thing concerning the beading and dullcote. I\'ve not seen this with my work so I can\'t really speak with certainty on the issue, but I\'m thinking you shouldn\'t be getting beading if you have wicked enough paint off your brush. There shouldn\'t be enough left to bead.
Have you done what I suggest in wiping ALL the paint off your brush as if you were drybrushing? And if so, have you seen the same beading after having done that?
No, I don\'t suggest that you paint with a truly dry brush, just that you mimic the technique to some extent. You don\'t want to get ALL the moisture out of your brush because not only will that rob you of medium, it\'ll also potentially cause your brush to splay and or otherwise damage it. Let me explain what I mean:
Load your brush as normal but then wipe it on something white and absorbent (I use a white cotton t-shirt). The first time you touch the tip of the brush to the shirt, or whatever you use, it\'ll suck the majority of the paint right out. Make a quick stroke or two across the shirt until you don\'t see obvious color coming off the brush (similarly to the way you\'d do it if you were drybrushing). At this point you should have just about the right amount of moisture and paint on the brush. Your brush will still be damp and should still hold a sharp point, but when you make a brush stroke you should be able to watch it dry about as quickly as you draw the brush.
Like I said, it\'s much easier to show than to describe, but DON\'T completely dry your brush. Let me know if I\'m making any more sense or if I\'m just confusing you more. ???
Load your brush as normal but then wipe it on something white and absorbent (I use a white cotton t-shirt). The first time you touch the tip of the brush to the shirt, or whatever you use, it\'ll suck the majority of the paint right out. Make a quick stroke or two across the shirt until you don\'t see obvious color coming off the brush (similarly to the way you\'d do it if you were drybrushing). At this point you should have just about the right amount of moisture and paint on the brush. Your brush will still be damp and should still hold a sharp point, but when you make a brush stroke you should be able to watch it dry about as quickly as you draw the brush.
Like I said, it\'s much easier to show than to describe, but DON\'T completely dry your brush. Let me know if I\'m making any more sense or if I\'m just confusing you more. ???
Queenoftheunifrogs
New member
i was having a similar problem. something ive found with the games workshop paints is that you can get a relatively good effect by using your hand as a palette. i dilute the colours with water on my hand and take the excess water off the brush before using the colour straight off my hand. for some reason it seems to take a lot of the excess water and avoids the streakyness. i dont know how it works for me, but maybe the water evaporates off the skin or something.
also white paint tends to make everything chalky if its used as a highlight, it does it even in oil and acrylic paints.
also white paint tends to make everything chalky if its used as a highlight, it does it even in oil and acrylic paints.
Aliengod3
Active member
Thanks for the help Mattrock I get what you are saying. I am just thinking about it too literally.
Thanks for the help too Queen. I would use my hands but I believe that the oils in your skin can damage your brush. Thanks for the tip about white paints. I noticed that today when I was painting. It is the same for paints that have alot of white in them too.
I am working on a lysander based model and I was highlighting the face with a color that has alot of white in it and it was getting pretty chalky. Not to mention pale.
Well I will keep practicing. Thanks for all of the help.
Thanks for the help too Queen. I would use my hands but I believe that the oils in your skin can damage your brush. Thanks for the tip about white paints. I noticed that today when I was painting. It is the same for paints that have alot of white in them too.
I am working on a lysander based model and I was highlighting the face with a color that has alot of white in it and it was getting pretty chalky. Not to mention pale.
Well I will keep practicing. Thanks for all of the help.
