It's a crying shame that we lost our painting subforum, but that doesn't mean we should stop sharing!

http://raisedeflectorshields.com/2015/07/27/star-wars-armada-squadron-painting/

I got my first wash, so I decided to recolor a CR90 and do some X Wings up in Red Squadron livery. I painted some Interceptors and Y-Wings while I was at it too! I'm pretty happy with the results, but I definitely want to hear where I can improve

It really is. those 'generalists' push all the hobby stuff right to the back of the line which is really too bad. Bloody glad you decided to keep sharing too! I happen to love the paterns you've set out. Nice, veeery nice: the Tie Interceptor has a colour tone I really do prefer. The spotlight for the X-wings and CR90 was a really nice touch too. Things look like they're progressing nicely (I like Rust Squadron's colour scheme in particular for the rebels, much like the Imperial interceptors).

Alright, lets see, suggestions just from what I know (if you want me to be critical I can be ) There's two basic areas I'll mumbled about: ways to take the picture and then painting itself.

The first one is just 'how to take the picture'. A lot of the time the background material draws the eye away from the models themselves. Fully painted backdrops, fields, etc are often nice because they tend to be a little open with some effects around the edges, but it doesn't overwhelm the models. It sucks when they get upstaged. My suggestion would be go to a local store that sells some school crafting supplies (Walmarts, big box retailers often have them here and the places I travelled to in the States at least), and pick up a piece of poster board about 12”X24” (25cmX50cm).

White will work well because it reflects the light and makes the paint show up brighter, but you can use any neutral colour. The larger surface area and often semi-satin finish reflects light back onto the shadows under the model, brightening the whole thing up while the featureless background ensures that the camera auto-focuses on the models and not something else (thus blurring the image). And when you set something behind it and weigh down just the edges, you get a curvature that doesn't show corners, making the picture look clean and flat. Usually, you can get the piece of posterboard for about $2 or so and it almost always improved picture quality a ton. That said, you can try the same thing with plain white printer paper propped up in the same way, but it'll almost certainly be too small for medium sized capital ships.

As for painting... I'll tell you how to cheat a bit to get sharp lines and high contrast. The secret is a good pen. You can get a little artists marker like a Micron, or a Faber and then just trace along the very edges of lines to create artificial shadow. It differentiates the parts and you can make artificial panelling lines. If you're really in a bind, you may even have a suitable average pen around the house that will work (confession time: my Faber died about 2 lines into me working on my VSD, so I got desperate and just tried a fine tipped Uniball pen, it was a pseudo ballpoint but not a bic.... anyway, um., that's sorta what I did with the VSD Pegasus's plates and they turned out pretty good if I do say so. Just test a few, you might find something that works.) Something like that crisps up lines a little better than a brush can normally do. So you should see some precision around TIE solar panels or Y-wing nacelles.

The second one is just a typical method thing. I can't see exactly from that angle, but the process of 'paint on base coat colour, wash' works, but it's even more effective if you can go with 'paint on base coat colour, wash, then reapply base colour to a slightly smaller raised portion of the previously painted area' that way, you're reapplying the more vivid shade and it's like working with 2 separate paints that will compliment each other naturally. So it's just a form of layering.

I think that's about it, all that I can recall in any case. Like I said, excellent work mate

Nice! I particularly like the X-Wings

Hey, this "Generalist" post very informative videos for people

Wow Vykes, thanks for the great information! I have ogled over your work. in the Ceknell Subsector!

I have a piece of poster board like that, so I will start taking my pictures like that! Part of the issue might be my camera - it's on about a five-year-old Android phone xD

What constitutes a "good pen?" I have a Uniball, but I can't imagine a ballpoint would work that well.

Do you have any in-progress pictures or do you know of any videos illustrating your point about "layering?" I've heard that a couple times, but I'm not exactly sure what that looks like. I've tried washing then drybushing the base back on, but I haven't been super happy with the results.

I'll see if I can post something later today when my Kiddo naps...

The fact that you seem to have gotten the cockpits on while still maintaining white for the canopy frame ont he X-Wings speaks volumes for the potential... Now its just a matter of refining those techniques...

Oh, and while I'm at it...

Hey, this "Generalist" post very informative videos for people

I'm sure they are. But I havn't watched them, and I won't be watching them for an extended length of time. I get 2 minutes at a time to check my Facebook and occasionally start drafting a reply to people, like this one... So the generalists still bump down the painting that i'm interested in...

Its not a call out against you at all. Its just an observation that I'm now having to deal with the fact that the priority forum for me is gone.

I really dont understabd why the got rid of that subforum. It's even more confusing as to why they wont let us know.

Drasnighta, I look forward to it I have a confession to make, though - A lot of those cockpit frames weren't actually painted on the first go - a few I did manage to get right the first time, but many others I overpainted and then scraped the extra off with a toothpick

I'm now having to deal with the fact that the priority forum for me is gone.

Let's fill the forums with painting! Make EVERYTHING the painting forums!

So, yay. Painting, washing and Layering...

Here's where I apologise for the terrible photography. I was scrambling to find batteries for my Fiji Finepix, and all is not well... But, try to show anyway.

I chose this piece because it has seam lines reminiscent of shallow gaps between armour plates... Was something for the Wash to Wash Into...

Unflash on Top.
Flash on Bottom. Pic otherwise of the same thing.

From Leftmost:

1) Dark Purple. Plain.

2) Dark Purple. Lighter Purple Layered over the Top (ie, just painted). Top half of it, I was careful not to go into the seam. On the bottom half, didn't care.

3) Dark Purple. Lighter Purple Layered over the Top, then Washed with Dark Purple Wash. NB: Wash is Darker than Dark Purple.

4) Comparison Shot. Dark Purple with Dark Purple Wash, No Lighter Purple.

5) Dark Purple. Dark Purple Wash. Then, Dark Purple is Re-painted over the top, leaving the wash only in the recess.

6) Comparison Shot. Dark Purple. Lighter Purple Layered over the Top. Dark Purple Wash. Re-Layer Lighter Purple on the Top.

7) Full Shebang. Dark Purple. Lighter Purple Layered over the Top. Dark Purple Wash. Re-Layer Lighter Purple on the Top. Even Lighter Purple added as highlight along the seam line, but not dipping into the Seam... (This was hard with a 2-Year Old grabbing at my leg...)



Key:

Dark Purple: Naggaroth Night
Lighter Purple: Xereus Purple
Even Lighter Purple: Genestealer Purple
Dark Purple Wash: Druchii Violet.


Also, I'm glad I'm typing this. With all the amount of time's I'd have to have said "Purple" to explain it, I'd have driven a Parrot Crazy....

To show it in use somewhat:



X-Wing with Just the Dark Purple...



X-Wing with Dark Purple, then the Lighter Purple over the Top...

This will end up getting a light brown wash to cement the tan colour of the X-Wing, and then I'll need to re-do the LIghter Purple over the top again to bring that colour back...

I know it was kind of rambling, but I hope its at leasat somewhat enlightening... I'll gladly answer more questions when I get a few more moments

Hey, this "Generalist" post very informative videos for people

But I meant it with love, Generalissimo I'm just bitter that I can't get an answer to a straight question but I think we've havd the wave 3 discussion 3 separate times since I got here -laughs-. Plus I'm a painter and fluff-bunny vermin, what can I say.

Anyhow, back to the point. Hmm, I can't say I do have any in-progress works, but I might be stripping down some B-wings so I could try and get a few pictures in time. That said, I just used a FFG overlay, hope no one minds (it's to get the concept down and same 'lighting conditions')

Stage 0: you have your blank model. You can undercoat this with another colour of your choosing, but I recommend a very light coat of grey or white (thin your paints with a bit of water, no more than 50/50 paint to water, but it will depend on your brand. It has to be fluid but not fully translucent. If you're doing grey or white, try to get it to look more like milk.)

Stage 1: we're coating our wings with a shade of thinned red. Just enough to get an even coat.

Stage 2: We'll wash the model, sepia or black works nicely and it will highlight all the depths and crevices of the model, providing shading like its natural shadow

.

Stage 3: we wait till this is dry, then paint the wing again. It's very important to note that you just do a single line, not all of the wing like last time, but you're letting that shading stay in the recesses of the model to look like shadow.

Any step after this is up to you and what you want to experiment with. Some people add more washes to blend these layers together, others merely highlight the leading edge of the wing or any 'corner edges'.

As for the pen.. A micron artists pen will work, but I did seriously use a common household fine point pen

So, always thin paints 50-50? Do you have an actual palette or something with a bunch of different slots to thin everything in? I have been only thinning my wash so far and jut using a milk jug cap.

Thanks for that, that was extremely helpful!! Drasnighta, Vykes, I am super impressed with everything I have seen from you guys and I am looking forward to putting that advice to the test when I repaint some of my earlier, less impressive attempts!

Step one to learning how to paint "better" is Always, Always, Always thin your paints... What you use as a "pallete" can vary. Occasionally, I use my GW Dimpled plastic pallete... Sometimes its a nearby BattleTech Hex Base, sometimes its a plastic base turned upside down like your milk jug cap...

The trick is identifying the translucency of the paint... The milk idea that Vykes said is a good one... If you have a good idea (or dabbled as a Barista like me), I say aim for spilt Whole Milk, because Spilt Nonfat Milk is too thin... The amount of water to paint as a ratio will change with Brand, With Colour, and even Pot to Pot... So getting the eyeball is a good idea...