by David Griffith » Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:31 am
Dear Pat,
I'm sure you'll get lots of answers to this question. There will be all sorts of different suggestions and there is no single right answer to what to do or how. Basically, what works for the individual modeller and gives subjectively pleasing results is right for him (or her).
This is what I do. After painting, usually now with acrylics, I put a wash of sepia artist's oil paint over the whole thing, fairly well diluted with white spirit (?mineral spirits in the US?), perhaps 85-90% spirit. As it becomes almost dry I remove most of it with a broad brush, dampened with very clean white spirit. The intention is to make the tone of the underlying paintwork slightly uneven and therefore more alive and to begin to emphasises the cracks, recesses and undercuts with shadow. Use vertcal strokes of the brush to remove the wash from hull sides and vertical structures, as any deposits would tend to run vertically in real life, and unevenness with a horizontal emphasis will look silly.
Then I take a thicker wash of the same paint, and with a fine brush apply it around areas where I want a darker shadow. Some firthe vertical marks can be made down the hull sides to represent run off and rust staining. A rather redder paint can be used for rust, perhaps adding a bit of burnt sienna, but not too much. If the effect is over done it can be removed with spirit as above.
I then leave everything to dry and then dry brush with undiluted artist's oils in a shade somewhat lighter than the underlying paint, dark grey for black paint, medium grey/blue for navy or deck blue and various shades of light grey or off white for ocean grey or light grey. Similar principles for the colour choice when using Royal Navy colours.
The dry brushing suddenly makes the detail leap out at you and the whole model come to life.
That's my basic technique. Feel free to take anything you want from it.
Kind regards, and a Merry Christmas,
David Griffith
Dear Pat,
I'm sure you'll get lots of answers to this question. There will be all sorts of different suggestions and there is no single right answer to what to do or how. Basically, what works for the individual modeller and gives subjectively pleasing results is right for him (or her).
This is what I do. After painting, usually now with acrylics, I put a wash of sepia artist's oil paint over the whole thing, fairly well diluted with white spirit (?mineral spirits in the US?), perhaps 85-90% spirit. As it becomes almost dry I remove most of it with a broad brush, dampened with very clean white spirit. The intention is to make the tone of the underlying paintwork slightly uneven and therefore more alive and to begin to emphasises the cracks, recesses and undercuts with shadow. Use vertcal strokes of the brush to remove the wash from hull sides and vertical structures, as any deposits would tend to run vertically in real life, and unevenness with a horizontal emphasis will look silly.
Then I take a thicker wash of the same paint, and with a fine brush apply it around areas where I want a darker shadow. Some firthe vertical marks can be made down the hull sides to represent run off and rust staining. A rather redder paint can be used for rust, perhaps adding a bit of burnt sienna, but not too much. If the effect is over done it can be removed with spirit as above.
I then leave everything to dry and then dry brush with undiluted artist's oils in a shade somewhat lighter than the underlying paint, dark grey for black paint, medium grey/blue for navy or deck blue and various shades of light grey or off white for ocean grey or light grey. Similar principles for the colour choice when using Royal Navy colours.
The dry brushing suddenly makes the detail leap out at you and the whole model come to life.
That's my basic technique. Feel free to take anything you want from it.
Kind regards, and a Merry Christmas,
David Griffith