Painting technique question.

[me_in_japan]

That’s looking good, Prim Desaturated without looking dulled. And also, if you’re going for authenticity, it’s probably right that the red and blue are at different levels of brightness, as the dyes used would fade at different rates, I guess?

Also, my apologies if my previous comment came across negatively - that wasn’t my intent. I didn’t see your now-deleted response (probably for the best?) so I’m not sure what the issue was. Regardless, apologies for any offense caused.

And finally - many thanks Dave L - that’s a critical piece of info I neglected to include. Very good point, and apologies for not saying so in my own post.

[Primarch]

That’s looking good, Prim Desaturated without looking dulled. And also, if you’re going for authenticity, it’s probably right that the red and blue are at different levels of brightness, as the dyes used would fade at different rates, I guess?

Also, my apologies if my previous comment came across negatively - that wasn’t my intent. I didn’t see your now-deleted response (probably for the best?) so I’m not sure what the issue was. Regardless, apologies for any offense caused.

And finally - many thanks Dave L - that’s a critical piece of info I neglected to include. Very good point, and apologies for not saying so in my own post.

Thanks for the feedback.

I had a bad afternoon yesterday, coupled with the PC issues which resulted in a less than healthy mindset for reading and replying to online comments. Once I had time to cool off, I felt bad about my post and editted it.

[Primarch]

Last night I made a start on a second mini using ToD's suggestion of grey drybrushing followed by thinned colours on top. I should get that finished tonight if I'm lucky and I'll post up a picture to compare the results.

[The Other Dave]

Probably should have shared this with my initial post on the matter, but to give you an idea of how far I take the drybrushing, here's one of the Brutes I'm working on.



Almost all of the brown will get covered up to some degree or another.

[Primarch]

And a mini painted using ToD's suggestion.

Whereas the previous mini had a more heavily blended red, I think I mixed more medium into the blue on this one.

[Primarch]

And a side-by-side comparison picture.

The colours used were all the same. The mini on the left was painted and then given highlights using paint I had mixed to desaturate it. The mini on the right was undercoated grey, drybrushed with two lighter shades and then painted with a roughly 50:50 mix of paint and vallejo matt medium.
The armour on both minis was dark grey with 2 drybrushes and then a blue glaze.

Any thoughts? I don't want this to turn into a choice between M_i_J Vs. ToD, but that is essentially what it is. Round 1, Fight!

[me_in_japan]

I think maybe the ToD method requires more thinned down paint on top? The only reason I think this may be the case is that the red is pretty strong. That said, it's apples and oranges, really. Which method is easier/faster? I'd go with that one, meself.

[The Other Dave]

Yeah, ultimately it comes down to what you like / don't mind going through the hassle of doing.

That said, yeah, I think "more, thinner layers" might be a tip from me - you can see on the helmet how there's gradation in the wrinkly bits there, but it seems less pronounced on the slashed fabric bits. Push the highlights a bit more, probably even all the way up to a very thin yellow on the edges. One of the dangers of the method is leaving highlights too understated, and I constantly struggle with it.

[Primarch]

Which was easier? In terms of doing the whole mini, the ToD method was much easier/quicker to do due to the large amount of cloth to paint. If the amount of painting required was much smaller due to a larger amount of non-cloth surface, I think the M_i_J technique would be better. Honestly, the M_i_J style fits better with my usual base colour/wash/highlight style. The greyscale/thinned paint thing is something I'd have to adjust to depending on the minis.
I see what you mean about the highlights, I don't think that I thinned the red enough, so it's still fairly vibrant. If I had a second attempt at it (and I still might), I'd probably adjust the initial tones used in the greyscale.
My first attempt was a dark grey basecoat with a mid-grey and then light grey drybrush. I'm tempted to try a black basecoat, then grey drybrushes all the way up to a very light white drybrush. More, thinner coats should then work out quite nicely.