Rackham..How Good.
- Thread starter atacam
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Very, very, very thin paints applied in many, many coats, by someone who appears to have background as an illustrator.
The highlights were painting by applying very smooth, thin coats. In my opinion, by one of the greatest miniature painters there ever was, who has excellent technical skill along with a great sense of personal style and an obvious fine arts background.
What makes rackham miniatures look so different is the different style. For one, highlights aren\'t always brought up to white, and not just applied to raised detail. They are added with an artist\'s knowledge of how light falls on an object. In the most commonly seen style - games workshop - highlights are applied to create contrast.
For example, imagine a piece of cloth laid over a chair. There are may horizontal folds in the cloth. Light falls on the cloth from the top and slightly from the left. Let\'s examine how the two painters would approach this:
GW: Highlights would be applied to the highest areas, slowly blended to shadow in the recesses. See image 5401 for an example, look at the red jacket. This makes the folds pop out and look attractive.
Rackham Painter: Highlights would be applied to the tops of each fold, so that at the highest point of the fold there is a transition between light and dark. This is the way the fabric would actually appear. This looks more realistic, and even with the cartoony style of Rackham, looks better because it rings truer.
here is a bad bit of art I knocked up in windows paint because my Adobe Photoshop isn\'t working right now. The first from the left is GW style. This is the style I\'ve been using for all my years painting, but am trying to move away from. Second from the left is the way Rackham is highlighting. The one on the right is an example with a rounded surface. The more the surface faces the light the lighter it is. So, where the fabric bends through the verticle it is in transition from light to shade, and is a mid-tone.
The best resource for this style of painting is in the Euro Modelissimo line of books.
The highlights were painting by applying very smooth, thin coats. In my opinion, by one of the greatest miniature painters there ever was, who has excellent technical skill along with a great sense of personal style and an obvious fine arts background.
What makes rackham miniatures look so different is the different style. For one, highlights aren\'t always brought up to white, and not just applied to raised detail. They are added with an artist\'s knowledge of how light falls on an object. In the most commonly seen style - games workshop - highlights are applied to create contrast.
For example, imagine a piece of cloth laid over a chair. There are may horizontal folds in the cloth. Light falls on the cloth from the top and slightly from the left. Let\'s examine how the two painters would approach this:
GW: Highlights would be applied to the highest areas, slowly blended to shadow in the recesses. See image 5401 for an example, look at the red jacket. This makes the folds pop out and look attractive.
Rackham Painter: Highlights would be applied to the tops of each fold, so that at the highest point of the fold there is a transition between light and dark. This is the way the fabric would actually appear. This looks more realistic, and even with the cartoony style of Rackham, looks better because it rings truer.
here is a bad bit of art I knocked up in windows paint because my Adobe Photoshop isn\'t working right now. The first from the left is GW style. This is the style I\'ve been using for all my years painting, but am trying to move away from. Second from the left is the way Rackham is highlighting. The one on the right is an example with a rounded surface. The more the surface faces the light the lighter it is. So, where the fabric bends through the verticle it is in transition from light to shade, and is a mid-tone.
The best resource for this style of painting is in the Euro Modelissimo line of books.
I completely forgot to upload and link the images. Let\'s try ascii art.
In the GW style, the | of the below drawing would be the lightest, with the \\ and / bits fading into shadow. In overhead lighting style, the \\ would be the lightest, | would be the midrange, and / would be the darkest. It\'s a slight difference in highlighting, but it makes a difference.
|
.\\
..\\
...\\
....\\
.....|
..../
.../
../
./
|
In the GW style, the | of the below drawing would be the lightest, with the \\ and / bits fading into shadow. In overhead lighting style, the \\ would be the lightest, | would be the midrange, and / would be the darkest. It\'s a slight difference in highlighting, but it makes a difference.
|
.\\
..\\
...\\
....\\
.....|
..../
.../
../
./
|
Chrispy
Active member
I beileve Cyril on this site is one of their painters. The advice he gave me was practice and water down paints. He uses Citadel, though.... at least he said that for flesh. Also, he works with fresh paint and never wet blends on the mini itself. That\'s what he told me, and that\'s what I\'m telling you. I know it\'s true, because I got a nice smooth finish on my Zerien\'s Blades (16629) but I tend to blend on the mini. I have no idea how not to... oh, well. I\'m buying the Rackham Catalogue just so I have all their paint jobs in front of me and not on computer like Rackscan!
GW only uses 3 ups of their plastic miniatures. Metals are sculpted in greenstuff then a master mold is made directly from that.
As far as not blending on the model. This is an acceptance of the fact that acrylic paints are not suitable for wet-blending. Wet-blending is a technique originally used with Oil and Enamel paints, and people who use it tend to have started with those mediums.
Apply thin coats to blend, letting each dry throughoughly before recoating. This keeps the surface very, very smooth. Wet blending tends to make the surface bumpy, as you are moving around half-dried (and thus very thick) paint.
As far as not blending on the model. This is an acceptance of the fact that acrylic paints are not suitable for wet-blending. Wet-blending is a technique originally used with Oil and Enamel paints, and people who use it tend to have started with those mediums.
Apply thin coats to blend, letting each dry throughoughly before recoating. This keeps the surface very, very smooth. Wet blending tends to make the surface bumpy, as you are moving around half-dried (and thus very thick) paint.
Nope, you\'ll have to wait a little further, 
\'cause a web administrator said today on the forums at www.confrontation.fr that they hold it back a little more. Too many mistakes in references and prices...
Til when ? We never know with rackham...
If U want to know a little more :
http://azilom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?topic=3932&forum=3
But on the other hand, she said they were working very hard on an online shop (with absolutely every reference, all the loose parts, and the cards...). Supposed to come very very very soon (that\'s what she said !). Maybe a way for everybody to get your minis as soon as the frenchies get theirs...
\'cause a web administrator said today on the forums at www.confrontation.fr that they hold it back a little more. Too many mistakes in references and prices...
Til when ? We never know with rackham...
If U want to know a little more :
http://azilom.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?topic=3932&forum=3
But on the other hand, she said they were working very hard on an online shop (with absolutely every reference, all the loose parts, and the cards...). Supposed to come very very very soon (that\'s what she said !). Maybe a way for everybody to get your minis as soon as the frenchies get theirs...
