What's the general rule on deciding whether to use Devlan Mud or Badab Black to wash a specific part? I was under the impression that colours that lean toward red should be washed with Devlan Mud (reds, oranges, yellows, browns, creams) and other colours should be washed with Badab Black (grays, blues, greens). Is it not so? Why wash Sigrid's reddish fatigue with Badab Black instead of Devlan Mud, I'm still trying to understand the logic behind this whole thing.

Also, you say "just a bit, not too much". Well, I was doing some tests on some ammo crates and my conclusion was a bit of a paradox: If I applied only a little bit of wash, spreading it around, it would quickly dry and wouldn't really flow much towards the recesses, so pretty much the whole surface became all smudged. Not very dark, but not clean at all, stained all over. If I applied a lot of wash, really allowing it to create pools on the surface, it would dry slowly, flowing towards the recesses and leaving the overall surface apparently cleaner and more uniform, however the recesses would be pitch black. What's the secret?

I'm really scared of ruining my painstaking base colour work when doing the washes. Though I do have a bit of a safety net. Since I painted with enamels, I think I could wipe off the wash with alcohol if it turns out ugly, without affecting the base colours, which are only soluble in paint thinner.

"Whatever works."

In this case, you're probably correct- Devlan Mud would most likely look better.

And you're correct about flooding it on as well. Washes work much better when flooded over the entire part you're washing, rather than sparingly applied. (Unless you can blend, in which case you can selectively apply washes in small amounts.) However, sometimes you don't want the big pools of wash. What I do in these situations is to apply it liberally, then quickly rinse the brush, tap it on a paper towel to get most of the water out, and then use the damp brush to wick away excess wash. Repeat the rinse-tap-wick process as needed. This works especially well on Space Marines armor, where you have large flat areas you don't want swimming in wash, but don't want the splotchy look you get from applying too little. Wiping it off all the large surfaces helps keep the armor from looking "dirty." It is a little wasteful on the wash, unfortunately, but the washes really do look better when flooded on and removed than sparingly applied.

Also, Devlan Mud looks good on greens too, depending on the look you're going for. Shading/highlighting with a color's complement can add a richness to the color that makes it "pop" a bit more. DM isn't particularly reddish, but it has enough to add a little life to darker greens that a black wash wouldn't.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

Well, here are the finished base colours for the Recon Grenadiers. This is the first time I've sorta stuck to the "official" colour scheme, cause I just thought it felt right for these guys. Pretty happy with the results:

The guns were painted with Gunbolt Metal, which SoRice sent me. It was my first time painting with acrylics, and wow, what a difference. It comes much thinner so I don't really need to dissolve it or anything, it flows well and dries really fast. This is nice, but it was also a bit distressing, as I'm used to having a little more time to wipe out mistakes, take off excess paint and so on. But the best aspect of it was really the fact that I could just stir the brush inside a glass with water and it would come out clean. No need to ruin it by rubbing it hard inside a vat of foul-smelling chemicals.....

I think he is talking about thinning the wash. At least, that's what I do. You can still put a lot of it on so it flows well, but just thin it out so it doesn't darken the model too much.

Your stuff is looking great! keep it up!

Just add water to the wash? Is that it? Cool. What's a good proportion to thin it out without making it lose its properties?

You can also add a drop of flow aid or matte medium to the wash along with the water. I'd say 1:1:1. You can play with the ratios.

zuggzugg said:

Oh, don't start with the fancy fluids again! I've already had enough difficulty getting my hands on the Citadel washes.

lol ok. Well water should be good enough. All you need to do is make it so the wash doesn't darken the model so heavily. It should go on very thinly and it will give you a nice shade. Good luck!

I put the washes on heavy so it gives a lot of darkness in the crevices, but it does give an overall stain to your basecoats. That's where highlighting comes in. I will then go over the raised areas again with the base color, and then over those again in a slightly lighter color. This compensates for the staining of your basecoats from the wash.

But if you don't want to do that, they look pretty good even stained brown/black. Soldiers get dirty in war, so it kind of works.

Here are the Battle Grenadiers. I think the blue fatigues and green panzerschreck will look good with a heavy black wash. Not a fan of the goggles though, the rim's too thin and the lenses bulging out of it. I much prefer the Gunnner's goggles. Not sure about the yellow I painted it with, as well.

Looks good keep em coming!

Love your color choices, nice and bold!

vengeance000 said:

Thanks, I just never wanted a mass of grayish soldiers. It might be realistic, but not very fun, and I want to be able to quickly discern the different squads.

And finally, the base colours for the Laser Grenadiers! Pretty happy with this one, though I hope to differentiate the armour from the fatigues a bit more with the highlights, and also add some blue laser glow after I've washed it.

And that concludes the base colours for the core set infantry. Time to take the plunge and bring out the washes........

Badab Black, Devlan Mud, Ogryn Flesh. SoRice hooked me up with these wonderful washes, and I've finally put them to use. It was a joy applying them to my allied troops, much simpler and trouble-free than I anticipated. They really add a lot of realism to the figures and help bring up the detail in the sculpts. I was afraid they were going to darken the figures too much, and make away with my painstaking base colour work, but it was not the case. The original colours are still there, darker, sure, but I guess the highlighting process is supposed to bring them back up.

However, I'm so pleased with how the models turned out with the wash that now I'm kind of afraid to apply the highlights to them and ruin the effect or something. They almost look good enough as they are...

Hey,

The washes are looking good, curious to see how you highlight with the enamel paints too!

Everything looks good...though, I will say that I am not too hot on the Battle Grenadiers color scheme. It seems too...toy-like, I guess.

Bravester said:

Hopefully they will be more to your liking once I've applied the wash, which should dull the colours a bit.

Personally I love the colours you've chosen. I especially like what you use for the BBQ squad. It's exactly what I had in mind for my Hell Boys. What did you use for the colour? I was just planning on mixing a little brown into GW Blood Red paint, but I'd love to hear what you used for that colour.

I would recommend Army Painter Dip for these, it will really make them "pop"

felkor said:

I'm using enamels, so all I can say is that colour is Revell "Mat 37". I also think it's the best colour choice I made, really like the look of my beloved BBQ.

Thanks. I'm using acrylics. I ended up using GW Blood Red and slowly mixed in a little Bestial Brown until I got the colour I was looking for, and that seems to have worked for me.

What are your thoughts on using enamels rather than acrylics? The only enamels I've used are MIG Production Effects (Rainmarks, Rust, Grease & Oil, etc.) - they seem to work pretty well, although they're a bit stinkier and need paint thinner instead of water. Otherwise I haven't noticed that much of a difference.