Woodgrains

[ipaintminis]

hi...i was just wondering what you do personally to get woodgrains...i am painting a spearmadien and i want her to have a wooden spear (minus the tip)

thank you all for all the help!

 

[Itchy]

Does the miniature already have wood grain in the sculpt, or is it a smooth shaft? (grain makes it way easier)

 

[beh]

They way I see it you got at least two choices (for wood that is not sculpted with grain):

1) put on your dark coat first and do your washes, blends or whatever up, and then very carefully use a light wood color and free hand in some grains--squigly lines with tiny circles here and there for knots.

2) put on your light coat first and do your washes, blends or whatever down, and then very carefully use a dark wood colour and free hand in some grains--squigly lines with tiny circles here and there for knots.

And there\'s always option number three, which would be don\'t listen to me at all and wait for someone else to give you better advice!

 

[Trevor]

A wooden spear with grain is going to be very hard (I\'d say impossible, but I can imagine one of the \"Gods\" coming along and painting grain on a 2mm thick spear haft just to prove me wrong ).

I would just paint it brown and highlight it and not bother showing the grain. Really at this scale you wouldn\'t see the grain much anyway.

 

[imperialforge]

Did not see it either...

 

[Calavera]

For flat areas I usually do a basecoat of Bestial Brown, then thin lines swiggling down the shaft painted in Vomit Brown. And sometimes i paint the basecoat in Scorched Brown for a more contrast.

 

[vincegamer]

I think beh got it right.
Here\'s an example
Pilgrim
Okay, I know he\'s a cheap and not remarkably well done mini, but think how much worse he would be with just a solid brown stick.
If I ever redid minis, I\'d probably put a brown ink wash over the staff to soften the contrast but I don\'t think it\'s bad now. I did the paint dark then draw grain with light technique.
True as Trevor said at this scale you wouldn\'t see much grain, but you also wouldn\'t see eye whites so we have to change reality to make it look better.

 

[DragonPaint]

Painting woodgrain on a small staff is not so hard... just paint it with GW Bleached bone or Vallejo Sand (or anoter light color you like) and then draw many vertical lines using a brush with a good tip and a dark brown color (like Vallejo Mahogany brown)

When the paint is dry add some wash using inks (GW Flesh wash or GW Chestnut brown) all over the staff.
You can also leave the ink dry and then add some more shading with a second (third, forth....) wash.

Here\'s a couple of examples from my site:

you can see this Orion also here:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/4206

this is a Warhammer Imperial gunner I have painted for a friend, sorry for the shining finish

Paolo

 

[sivousplay]

I will made a slight addition to what Paolo suggests ... I like to go back-n-forth a few times using a light flesh to add some light veritical stripes and the dark dark brown for dark vertical stripes. The two play off one another very nicely.

I know you\'re doing a staff, but I\'m still going to show you a picture of a shield

http://www.coolminiornot.com/47943

The middle picture ... look at the back of the shield. It was sculpted entirely flat and all the woodgrain is just painted on. If you\'d like a bigger picture, send me a PM w/ your email and I\'ll send it to you when I get home this evening.

jim