Shading: Wash alternatives?

[Matney X]

So, I've been working on a 40k army (my first), and I was attempting to do a quick "base coat -> wash -> highlight" paint job (because I don't really feel like having a half-painted army). Base coating went fine, but when I got to my wash, I overdid it -- pooling everywhere, tide lines, the works. I tried to clean it up while it was still wet, but even then I didn't get everything. Unfortunately, I ended up repainting mostly everything on my 4 test models. (Yeah, at least I did THAT right).

Oh, I was using Citadel foundation black with distilled water(with a drop of dish soap in my 50ml bottle).

So, after cleaning them up I spent a few more hours going around CMON and Dakka, and figured I knew what I had done wrong -- too much wash, too little water. So, I made a thinner wash (I read somewhere it should be the consistency of skim milk when brushed out flat, and this wash was), and applied it only to the areas that I wanted shaded... and, BAM, tide lines, but not nearly as bad (and, now that I'm looking at them again, a few days later, I'm thinking I might have been too critical of my second attempt).

Anyway, I've read that washes are a crutch, and I'm enjoying the hobby side of WH40K more than the game side (which is a lot of fun, I just REALLY like the hobby side), so I want to get away from cheater methods and do it right.

So, what are my wash alternatives? Inks (any way to avoid the shine?)? Dry pigment (I'm coming from a ceramics world where I once was taught to use pastels in a similar fashion)? Pre-mixed washes?

And, are washes really a crutch, or are they a viable technique that I can/should get better at?

 

[MAXXxxx]

with soap + water you'll always have problems with tidemarks/rings when using that to wash.
The 'original' GW recipe was something like: 1 paint - 1 PVA - 10 water. That's pretty close to how the washes from gw are.
The one PrivateerPress use is like: 1 paint - 1 P3 Medium - about 3-4 water.

I wouldn't recommend inks (I love the old GW inks, but not for washes, but glazes), same for pigments (altough with enough water(and maybe other additives) they can be made to work like a wash).
Pre-mixed washes are not cheap, but are worth it if you are looking for speed.


like I wrote: try out the mixes above they may help.
Personally I'm lazy as hell, so I stick with the pre-mixed washes from GW, they may cost a lot, but I don't do armies, so they last a long time.

 

[Einion]

Anyway, I've read that washes are a crutch...

They are in a way, but they're a necessary crutch for painting at a certain speed. The thing to do if you need to use washes is to work towards reducing their tendency to leave tide marks and other flaws.

Look up magic wash and that'll bring up lots of the threads relevant to this. Beyond that kind of additive/wash medium, the kind of paint you use definitely has a bearing on success (because of additives they may already have, or be missing) and I'm sure you can do better than Citadel foundation colours for this.

...so I want to get away from cheater methods and do it right.

Cheating? There's really no cheating when it comes to this sort of thing - you use the techniques you need to to get the results you want in the time you're comfortable allotting.

Einion

 

[RuneBrush]

Using paint and water technically just gives you thin paint rather than a wash. As has been mentioned, pva or a wash medium is what you need in order to convert a regular acrylic paint into a true wash that flows correctly. I personally tend to just buy the proper GW washes and thin them with water as I need. If you can, I'd pick up a pot of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade - this will give you a black/grey and brown/black wash.

Einion is right when he says that washes aren't cheating, they're a genuine technique used for painting mini's - GW does very much push them as the only way to paint but that's not correct. What you'll find is that as you learn more (and here is a good place to do that) you'll use washes to achieve specific techniques and effects and you'll apply the wash selectively rather than all over. I use washes a lot when I'm doing metallics and will layer different wash colours together to achieve different depths and effects.

What exactly are you painting?

Oh and one thing I've just thought of - washing over a large flat area (such as armour) can give quite poor effects

 

[Bailey03]

I'm not an expert on washes, but one thing that occurs to me is to look at the direction you are applying them. Are you starting your brush at the darkest part of the shadow and painting outward? If so, do the reverse. You should start your brush stroke in the transition region and push the paint/wash towards the shadow. This should give you thinner coverage where you want it and the wash should be pooling more in the dark areas. Give that a try and see if it helps.

 

[Patyrn]

So, what are my wash alternatives? Inks (any way to avoid the shine?)? Dry pigment (I'm coming from a ceramics world where I once was taught to use pastels in a similar fashion)? Pre-mixed washes?

All types of washes be they magic wash, water + paint, premixed washes from GW or secret weapon or whatever, are all largely the same. Properly formulated ones will have less tide line issues, but they won't be eliminated completely.

Personally I've found that oil washes are really really good for painting things quickly without getting that "washed" look. You just glaze them on not letting them pool at all, then once visibly dry wipe them off selectively to restore brightness to highlights.

I did these rangers cloaks using a zenithal highlight, and then the glaze/remove oil washing. IMO, they look pretty good for tabletop quality and were very fast. No tide lines or harsh puddling.

View attachment 17653

And, are washes really a crutch, or are they a viable technique that I can/should get better at?

They can be a crutch, or they can be the right technique. If they're being used to shade an entire cloak in one go, then sure, they're a crutch for getting decent shading with minimal effort. It all depends on how much time you want to spend. For shading chain mail I'm pretty sure everybody uses washes, so I wouldn't call that a crutch.

 

[skraaal]

The trick with washes is to place them where you want the shadows and then remove excess with a damp brush immediately rather than just washing the entire figure. Remember, place them where you want the shadows, not all over. Also the new GW technical Lahmian medium is great for creating washes, just add it to a drop of paint, mix well and BAM! you have a wash, you can make your own by buying some artist's glaze medium too.

 

[Einion]

I did these rangers cloaks using a zenithal highlight, and then the glaze/remove oil washing. IMO, they look pretty good for tabletop quality and were very fast. No tide lines or harsh puddling.

Those look way better than standard tabletop :highfive:

Einion

 

[Phoulmouth]

I generally have always made my own washes. I have a squirt bottle of water with a mix of liquid future floor wax (1) to water (10). I then use that mix with w/e color I want to make a wash from to get the general consistency of water. I have never had any bad experiences with doing this.

One of the big problems with making your own washes is to mix in something that will lower the surface tension of the water in order to allow the ink to settle deep down into cracks and crevices. I'm not an expert or anything on this subject, but I do not believe elmers glue is going to lower the surface tension for washing purposes.

 

[QuietiManes]

Most people use dish soap or USP glycerin to reduce surface tension. If they don't use a commercial variety of flow enhancer or whatever their favourite brand calls it. I wouldn't think glue could reduce the surface tension either, but, I could understand if it did other things to help the wash perform better. Like a mix of slowing down the drying process with increasing the bonding resulting in a nicer result.

I'd wager Einion can/will enlighten us to what PVA glue does in the mix.

 

[Einion]

Adds glue! Yep, pretty sure that's what it does :cute:

PVA is worth trying, because like Future or acrylic medium it changes the viscosity of the paint during dilution - it's not as thin as it would be just using water. But it has some potentially-undesirable characteristics, #1 of which is that standard PVAs aren't waterproof which means that they can stop the paint being completely waterproof (hint there, in case you wanted this deliberately).

Einion

 

[TrystanGST]

I do like using a thinned oil paint as a way to selectively darken areas, since it's longer drying time allows it to be easily removed from places you don't want it (as Patryn mentioned) - that being said, I haven't used it on anything smaller than my avatar.

 

[ced1106]

Have you tried Army Painter's Quickshade Ink (not dip)? I had some satisfactory results of it over a basecoat of goblin wolf riders and other grungy races.

However, I'm painting individual personalities more, and am trying brownlining on white primer. That is, thin some dark brown paint and paint every crevasse possible, or wherever I will need some contrast. Working with only one color of paint on an entire model is much easier than basecoating, and it familiarizes me with the model's details so I can better paint it. I control where the paint goes, and, if I make a mistake, just cover it with white, or ignore it, since I haven't applied the basecoat yet.

 

[Matney X]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I picked up some matte medium, thanks to this article on Hand Cannon Online, and that's already been a huge help. I guess I was too hasty, both in my application and in my decision that washes are bad for me -- I think I just need more practice.

 

[Da Sub]

I have been experimenting with using matte medium in combination with pigment powders of late for all sorts of things. It just depends on the look you are trying to achieve, if you can get reference photos that you can have up on a laptop/tablet/pinboard near your working area so you can get a good idea of where the shading should be going. Ideally, as has been mentioned, remove the excess from large flat surfaces so that it doesn't get a chance to dry leaving tide marks. Unless of course you are deliberately trying to make tide marks (barrels or junk in a slowly evaporating pool for post apoc terrain anyone?).

 

[ced1106]

Speaking of matte medium and washes, look up Les' Wash recipe. Basically, it's one part matte medium to one part water + flow aid mixture, plus drops of ink. Pretty easy to make yourself.

Matte medium is also useful to thin paints without reducing consistency. I used it for highlighting raised areas before I got my W&N brushes. I have't been using washes for awhile, so haven't been using matte lately.

 

[Bartali]

I do like using a thinned oil paint as a way to selectively darken areas, since it's longer drying time allows it to be easily removed from places you don't want it (as Patryn mentioned) - that being said, I haven't used it on anything smaller than my avatar.

I'm becoming a convert to oil paints for washes/glazes/filters after reading a lot of articles on it from the military modeling world. Tried it out a vehicle initially, and now using the them on a squad of Grey Knights.

1. Airbrushed the silver armour using the zenithal method.
2. Then two very very thinned layers of blue oil paint as a filter.
3. Painted the details with acrylics
4. Airbrushed a gloss coat (to aid flow on washes and seal the layers below)
5. Oil washes applied to crevices/joins/reccess etc
6. Tidy up/highlights
7. Airbrush a Satin varnish coat, brush matt coat on non metallics.

Probably a bit too much of a faff to do on a single mini, but works great when you're painting squads.

 

[Einion]

Probably a bit too much of a faff to do on a single mini, but works great when you're painting squads.

What is this "too much faff on a single mini" of which you speak?

Einion

 

[Bartali]

Faff in this case is waiting for the drying time of the oils and various varnishes. Not so bad when you're painting a batch for tabletop gaming

I would never imply you could have too much faff on a single mini otherwise

 

[Matney X]

I like the idea of oil washes, but I often see them overused and the whole model ends up looking like it was dipped in floor wax. "Great basecoat; one heavy, single color, wash; decent highlights."

Patyrn, your picture doesn't have that problem, and I think it's because you go back and remove the dried oil on the areas you want to highlight.