Washes in acrylic ?

[Guest]

A wash on figures? I’d use a glaze myself, which I find to give better quick results when it comes to painting figures.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jakko
I think we are in the realms of nomenclature here.... A glaze is a thin even coat of paint which adds richness and depth to a finish. It can also be used to soften transitions between paint layers.
A wash is a thin uneven coat of paint that basically puddles in the folds and emphasises texture.
Cheers
Tim

[Guest]

With “glaze” I mean a translucent paint, not (heavily) thinned but applied more or less straight. This can work really well to quickly and easily shade figures, especially in smaller scales (like the size of your avatar or so ).

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jakko
See what you mean now. Old Boris Gamges there (a GW 28mm I think, he’s standing on a penny) was shaded in some places with W&N inks to achieve a similar effect. Hair was textured with a wash of nut brown ink. I have also used VJ Matt medium as a basis for glazes, especially for highlight use, stops the lighter colours turning chalky.

[JR]

Evening Jakko and Tim.
Have tried some washes, seems ok , rather like I hoped, and it is just like thin coat of paint. Used a grey over the German uniform. Have left over night to see how it looks in natural light and when fully dry. Tomorrow I will fit the equipment and weapons, then photograph .
John

[Guest]

See what you mean now. Old Boris Gamges there (a GW 28mm I think, he’s standing on a penny) was shaded in some places with W&N inks to achieve a similar effect.

I paint my 1/72nd scale wargames figures this way. I bought a tin of translucent brown paint (intended for furniture etc.) for shading sand, khaki, etc. uniforms, and made my own dark grey from a tin of colourless paint plus a tube of black pigment for use on field grey, olive drab, and similar colours. I find this works better than a wash because it’s more controllable and doesn’t run down to the bottom.

Here’s some Caesar Miniatures British troops to show the effect:

[ATTACH]301452[/ATTACH]

At left is unpainted (duh …), the one in the middle just has the basic colours, the one on the right is the same but with nothing more than a coat of the translucent brown paint.

[JR]

Very effective Jakko.
I've just looked at mine this morning........ Seem very faint. Would probably work better if in my case the base colour was a lot lighter. Will post the out come later .
John.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jakko
Like those, quite effective. Coloron dark oak is one usual recommendation as a replacement for Army Painter dip...sounds similar to what you have used. Vallejo flesh wash is pretty good though. Brings out faces pretty well with no real effort. I think it would be a magic ingredient for reluctant figure painters.....
John, one issue with these washes is that they do dull down the main paint coat, so it sometimes pays to go lighter. Like everything, it is down to a little experimentation. Think of it as a pin wash for figures and you’ll get the idea....
Cheers
Tim

[JR]

Hi all . I'm about to post those figures on the Stalingrad thread.
To be truthful on a lighter background they might be ok, on the German uniform the grey too many coats would be needed. I tried the light brown wash , too thin. I will continue to try them, if you try to add Model Air to the wash small bits of pigment appear. Yes I had shaken it ! The only thing I don't like as I said before is the drying time with oils, and some of the AK washes are quite strong, after years off working with lacquers , cellulose, French polish, caustic strippers and the whole lot of thinners I've had enough as you can imagine . I want clean air !
John.

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
Thin the model air with airbrush thinner. It’s what I do for the prepaint definition coat on my small figures (Look at my Ansar thread to see what I mean). I would use black and burnt umber 50/50 for paint then try about 10/90 paint to thinner. Field grey is greenish in tint so you need a warm black to shade it nicely. VJ flesh wash is great for faces though.
Cheers
Tim

[JR]

Thanks Tim. I shall give that thread a look .I have just posted the figures .
John .
Tim just typed in Ansar thread with your name and nothing came up ?

[Tim Marlow]

Hi John
It’s in the figures under construction forum as “Ansars on a postcard”.
Cheers
Tim

[JR]

Cheers Tim .
On my way :thumb2:
John

[Strenko J]

Hi John,
I've used both and the acrylic washes seem to work better on figures for me. when they are still wet I can blend them a little more. On AFV's, I find that they don't tend to provide the same level of detail that oils do. I still always use a varnish in between base and any washes as well.. I've used a combo of both oils and acrylic washes on some of my vehicles too with mixed (no pun intended) results. Hope that helps.. I think its up to the individual as well on what look that you want to or may not want to achieve.

[JR]

Thanks Joe.
I agree with you on this. Unfortunately not what I hoped. But if you don't try then you never know. I like some of the tips Tim has mentioned. The grey works ok on any light base colour. I tried it on a bread bag and it achieved what I wanted, but that's about all, oh and a wash on the skin. Right it will be back to smelly oil washes, and maybe some drawing inks.
John.