Author Topic: CSO paint-along with Gunji  (Read 218511 times)

agen2

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #60 on: 27 September 2013, 05:30:58 »
Really appreciate this,thanks for your time and dedication.
I have a question btw about the use of ******.I learned from some painters to mix some of it in the first coat.What do you think about?Is still worth the use while primering the mini in this way instead of a signle sprayed white coat..
In any case what your thoughts about the ****** in general?

GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #61 on: 27 September 2013, 07:30:54 »
****** is a medium that extends the drying time of acrylic paint. I have never mixed it in my basecoat and honestly I don't see the point. Working over more or less opaque basecoats with thin paints, washes and glazes I want my basecoat to dry fast.

While I have experimented with ****** once or twice I never found it very useful. Maybe if you work wet-in-wet a lot, but even then (distilled) water is all you need in my opinion. I am not a big fan of adding a medium of any sorts to the paint. There are exceptions, but there are very very few.

Savage Coyote

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #62 on: 27 September 2013, 07:36:02 »
I've used ****** a bit several years ago when I was painting Warmachine troop selections or large units like warbeasts or warjacks and it was somewhat useful. I've found while using P3 and Reaper colors that for single BattleTech miniatures I don't really need it.  I used it mainly to keep my paint palette active as I still thinned the paint so it tried relatively quickly on the miniature.  I've stopped using it and just use water exclusively.

Mastergunz

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #63 on: 27 September 2013, 09:46:15 »


@Todd: Nice "Hunchback" ;) A different scheme is a challenge, but I think I am up to it. Black is indeed a difficult color to work with, but also a very interesting one as you can easily achieved a dull or a shiny finish depending on how you highlight.
It wasn't necessary to already darken the panel lines on the red parts. We will get to it when we do the shading, but it doesn't hurt either.


Lol, sorry. It was very late when I posted that. Urbanmech IIC obviously.  :D As for the overall wash it is just something I do to get a feel for how shadows will play naturally on the miniature.

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Thantos13

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #64 on: 27 September 2013, 09:49:36 »
As I don't have the time/space at this time to actually paint along with you, could this thread be pinned? 

GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #65 on: 27 September 2013, 10:36:43 »
As I don't have the time/space at this time to actually paint along with you, could this thread be pinned?
That's beyond my power, but maybe a Mod can help :)

Maddog3025

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #66 on: 27 September 2013, 10:38:42 »
This paint along is a great idea and thanks for your time to help us all improve. I think I have an Ocelot that I will try to join in with. I was going to work on getting it caught up last night but I got stuck in a 4 1/2 hour traffic jam last night.  >:(  But I hope to have time this weekend. Thanks again!

The Wayfarer

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #67 on: 27 September 2013, 11:26:40 »
Ok, as mentioned I still want to wait a day or two before posting the next steps, giving everyone time to catch up. By the way, the next steps will tackle the red parts, first going through the shading stages, then introducing highlights.

Whoa!  A day or two?  It's taking me a little longer to get my Gunji-style on.  Below is what I have so far.

So I've decided to upstage you all by doing two miniatures.  The Battlemaster is the new plastic mold that I got at GenCon this year.  The Treb is from one of the two starter sets I have.  Its Republican Guard so someone has got to have an old Trebuchet laying around right?  I don't like to paint the starter set plastics but I have a ton of them and hate to seem them unpainted.  When they're done they look okay.  On this one I did beef-up the LRM 15 on the left arm with some green-stuff.  To make it look a bit taller and to "scale" I mount it into a hill of putty.  The Battlemaster has a few arm tweeks.

I'm not sold on the "dusting" but did it anyway.  With my camera they look pretty white but really are not.  Probably the flash effect.  I was real conservative with the dusting and it ended up a little bit heavier on the top of the miniature compared to the legs. 



For the painting, I'm using a Folk Art Black Cherry for the Mahoganey color, it was the closest thing I could find.  I generally don't care for the cheaper craft shop paints (some people swear by them)  but this one actually went on nice.  For the green I'm using GW new Deathworld Forest which seems to be a little too light.  I will probably give it a solid treatment with GW Athonian Camashade which is blackish-green wash when I get home Saturday, unless I'm advised otherwise.  I have started to paint some of the gun barrels with GW Boltgun Metal.  Looking at the pic, I find Boltgun goes on a little to bright for a base color.  I have a jar premixed of 50/50 black and Boltgun Metal that I will use to base those parts.



So I'm a little behind on the small painting details but hopefully will be caught up by Sunday or Monday.

Mike

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Lorcan Nagle

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #68 on: 27 September 2013, 12:01:12 »
That's beyond my power, but maybe a Mod can help :)

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Wotan

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #69 on: 27 September 2013, 12:29:48 »
Mini is primed and dusted, starting with metallic and olive now. Hope to get along with you in time. ;)
Ah yes pictures are done for the steps and will be shared when the basecoat is done. Soooo happy on that paint-along. O0

agen2

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #70 on: 27 September 2013, 17:32:54 »
Wayfarer seems like you didn't shaked well the  white primer can,the effect looks too grany imo.It suggested to make the can even  a bit warm(I heard some people they  put the can under running hot water),but for example I left the can today exposed to the sun light for 20 minutes and make it a bit warm and than shake it very well for 3 or 4 minutes or more.

The Wayfarer

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #71 on: 27 September 2013, 19:15:17 »
Wayfarer seems like you didn't shaked well the  white primer can,the effect looks too grany imo.

It does look grainy, I agree.  They aren't though.  My flash was on.  It enhanced the dusting effect.  They're smooth and don't feel grainy at all.  That being said, I don't think I'll bother with "dusting" again.

I'm no good with a camera.  Sorry.

Mike
« Last Edit: 27 September 2013, 19:18:22 by The Wayfarer »
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GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #72 on: 28 September 2013, 07:24:20 »
Not much time right now (kids have a tendency to really eat up a lot of time during the weekends  ;) ), so just a short note that I will give you a few thoughts about the primer later today. But, Wayfarer, what I am seeing looks good so far.
Boltgun Metal is already a very dark metallic and we will take the shadows down to almost black so I don't think a darker base color is necessary. But in the end go for what you like best.
I don't like to start metallics with a darker color than Boltgun Metal, because metallics look best when you not only keep in mind a dark/light contrast, but also flat/shiny. With a Boltgun base I can still shade with opaque colors quite a bit. On small surfaces like the actuators and joints this is not very important, but for larger metallic surfaces like the hammer or a whole Mech done in a metallic scheme this can really make a difference.

Wotan

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #73 on: 28 September 2013, 08:34:49 »
Ok i switched to an Atlas II as testbed. Thinking that Oriente is using more green than olive and i wanted to be in line with your idea ... at least a little bit. This AtlasII will not only have SLDF Standard olive, but will have some reddish brown highlights. Maybe the first step from SLDF Standard to Wolf Alpha. ;)

First time playing around with dusting it was fine for me to have different grades of dusting on the miniature. So maybe i will see also a difference in the end product. Hope that gives me more Feeling of how dusting works.


Normally i glue the whole mini before priming and painting. But that arms are too huge and it would be very difficult to paint below them, so this is the first time i paint a mech in parts.

Then i applied the base colors and did the first wash on the metall and dark grey parts and also followed your option to darken the olive parts a bit.


TheMaster1955

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #74 on: 28 September 2013, 09:19:21 »
My next unit is the 4th Marik Protectors. they have a  silver base color. would you still recomend the white primer dusting??. my plan was to keep it black like the back of a mirror.???? ???
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GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #75 on: 28 September 2013, 17:13:36 »
I always prime this way, no matter which scheme. I would do it for Com Guards as well as Death Commandos and anything in between. This Avatar for example was done with a Boltgun Metal base over 'dusted primer'.

I do realize however that this method of priming is not for everyone. It is more complicated and takes longer than just black, white, grey, ... and not every painting style gains advantages from this method of priming. If you are painting a whole unit in a metallic scheme and aiming for speed (and primarily the gaming table in mind) go for black.

Ok, maybe a few more thoughts on this 'dusted' 2-color priming. I used to be firmly in the black primer camp, and after reading about the technique the first time and trying it out I didn't like it. Over time my painting style changed, I developed new ways of doing things and dare think I got better at painting. When I tried this 2-color priming again out of curiosity, I was surprised how well it worked for how I was painting then. I was sold and never looked back.
Every method of single color priming (black, white and grey being the most common) has its pros and cons and the primer color can directly influence your end result. In a way this two color priming combines the advantages of black and white primer and you get some sort of 'lightmap' right from the start (you can even take it so far as to introduce a lightsource by only spraying the white from one direction). It is equally easy to create deep, rich shadows and bright, intense highlights. And, this is really the most important aspect for me, the white dusting gives the mini some 'teeth' without being grainy which really helps when working with thin (or very thin) paint.

It is not the holy grail of priming, it just happens to have many many advantages for certain ways of painting, for certain methods and techniques, including mine.

@The Wayfarer: adding to my earlier thoughts, your basecoats look good and my hat is off to you for painting 2 miniatures.
I would have been a bit more liberal with the white primer, but that is my preference (see above). If you can avoid it, don't use the flash when taking pictures. It will just wash out colors and overexpose everything.
Interested in hearing your thoughts on the 'dusting' and why you won't use it again. Just curious, that's all.
And no worries, it will probably be Monday until I find the time to post the next steps, so enough time to get everything done.

@Wotan: looking good so far. Solid basecoats, ready for the next steps. Cavalry Brown would have been one of my suggested alternatives for the Mahogany, good choice ;)
Here too I would have been a bit more liberal with the white primer. Will be interesting to see if you notice any differences between the different grades of dusting. Keep us posted.
Not just for you, but I highly recommend using some kind of handle for the miniature while painting. You could even attach the arms to cocktail sticks so you don't have to handle them while painting. Handling the miniature while painting can easily rub off paint and get grease from your skin on the mini, which can have all kinds of unwanted effects on the paint.

Ace_Crew135

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #76 on: 29 September 2013, 21:39:28 »
Took me a while to get the old paint off of my Talon. I also had to modify the scheme a bit and when I saw the pics saw some needed touches I need to do. Still have to do the gunmetal for joints, actuators and the such. I do like the way the colors came off. The front pic came out horrid. I did not download it until after I painted it though.




Like I said i spotted some of the errors after seeing the pics. Should have the finished phase 2 in a day or so.
« Last Edit: 29 September 2013, 21:52:58 by Ace_Crew135 »
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GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #77 on: 30 September 2013, 03:28:05 »
@Ace_Crew135: Coverage of your basecolors looks good. As for mistakes, if you correct the paint bleeds you should be good to go. Definition between colors will come when we do the shading and when we darkline.
You primer does look to be a bit heavy though, the white came out very grainy/spotty/thick. Next time you may want to shake the can better and play around with the distance between miniature and can a bit. My guess right now is you didn't shake enough.

I will post the next steps later today. We will shade the red parts next.

Cazaril

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #78 on: 30 September 2013, 08:21:34 »
I know I don't have time to participate, because I barely have time to keep up with the thread... Having said that, I finally found time to read through most of this and have a question.

Priming in black and then dusting in white is completely foreign to me (as I prime exclusively in white). I read where you said that this method has something to do with light theory and taking advantage of the primer helps with the mini... Therefore, Should we dust with the white primer at a slightly downward angle, so that the areas that receive little/no light would not get coated? Or does it not matter?

Caz

GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #79 on: 30 September 2013, 08:58:14 »
Priming in black and then dusting in white is completely foreign to me (as I prime exclusively in white). I read where you said that this method has something to do with light theory and taking advantage of the primer helps with the mini... Therefore, Should we dust with the white primer at a slightly downward angle, so that the areas that receive little/no light would not get coated? Or does it not matter?
Priming this way can help if you want to introduce a lightsource. If you want to do this (which I usually don't) then, yes, you spray the white from the angle you want the lightsource to come from, e.g. from above. To fully take advantage of this you would ideally not work from an opaque basecoat (like I prefer), but with thin colors where the primer shines through an acts as some sort of pre-shade.

I use the black primer with white dusting because:
In a way this two color priming combines the advantages of black and white primer and you get some sort of 'lightmap' right from the start (you can even take it so far as to introduce a lightsource by only spraying the white from one direction). It is equally easy to create deep, rich shadows and bright, intense highlights. And, this is really the most important aspect for me, the white dusting gives the mini some 'teeth' without being grainy which really helps when working with thin (or very thin) paint.

It is not the holy grail of priming, it just happens to have many many advantages for certain ways of painting, for certain methods and techniques, including mine.
By lightmap I mean not literally a lightsource sketched on the miniature, but more a well defined miniature with light and dark pre-shaded in a global way. But getting rid of all possible theory, I do this simply because I like how this way of priming 'feels', how it takes paint and how it works for me and my way of painting. I am more comfortable painting a miniature primed this way than one primed in black or white (or any other single color for that matter).

hive_angel

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #80 on: 30 September 2013, 10:14:15 »
@ GunjiNoKanrei

Can your black with white dust prime work for say purple for a FWL mech? I have no interest in a Republic paint scheme, but I could use a painted FWL mechs.

Also if you would help suggest. When painted a good stock of FWL mechs where the main color is purple is it better to paint the primary color by hand first such as using a purple spray or apply it with brush and pot. With this in mind is it also good to add a secondary purple color above the first color?

Sorry if the second question is confusing somewhat, but perhaps you can help hammer some sense past the OCD in me which usually halts my painting endeavors.
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GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #81 on: 30 September 2013, 11:04:16 »
@hive_angel: Sure. This two-color priming thing is not so much about schemes where it works or doesn't, but more about technique. As mentioned above I prime everything this way, regardless of scheme.

As for your second question, if you paint a large batch of miniature you could probably use a purple spray to save some time. I have never done it, so I can't really speak for or against this approach. But, yes, a spray to get an even, solid basecoat would most likely work. For a speed painting approach the two-color primer is probably a bit over the top though and might slow you down.
I am not sure what you mean by secondary purple though. Do you mean a lighter purple as a highlight? Now you are entering terrain where spray cans reach their limits (apart from color selection) and you are probably looking at an airbrush. As a rule of thumb we want a solid basecolor and shades and highlights to add contrast.

Does this help?

GunjiNoKanrei

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #82 on: 30 September 2013, 11:11:12 »
Next we will start shading the miniature to add some depth. Usually at this stage I would start jumping all over the miniature, working on the green, working on the red, painting the cockpit when I feel like it, ... But as I mentioned earlier this approach doesn't translate well into a step-by-step. To structure everything a bit we will concentrate on the red (maroon) parts first.

For shading I thin my paint down to an almost wash like consistency, working with thin paint to slowly build up color and intensity. I usually use (a combination of) two techniques: shading with glazes/controlled washes ('pushing' paint) and feathering.
- Glazes/controlled washes: the paint is really thin and transparent, I don't have much paint on the brush (unload on a paper towel before hitting the miniature!), paint with the side of the brush rather then the tip, start the brushstroke where you want the least paint to be and end it where you want the most paint to be. We are painting from light to dark, literally pushing the paint into the shadows. This techniques is some sort of layering technique, building up smooth gradients by layering transparent layers of paint on top of each other (letting every layer dry before painting the next). The thinner the paint is, the longer it takes, but the smoother the result will be.
- Feathering: for this technique the paint is not quite as thin as for the previous technique and you need a second brush. Here I put down some paint in the shadow area and then quickly use the second (damp) brush to blur the edge of the still wet paint, feathering the paint to create a smooth gradient.

Most of the time I use a combination of both techniques, pushing paint into the shadows and feathering the edges when necessary. A method I developed over time and by now is really hard to describe and intuitive for me (as is when to 'feather' and when not). I realize this may sound strange/more complicated than it actually is and have tried to film myself while painting the green. The results where not very good as I haven't found a setup which let me comfortably work on the miniature while showing what I do. I am still trying to get something useful out of the few minutes I have and will post the video not when we get to the green as I initially planned, but as soon as possible.

The shading techniques described above work best for miniatures which aren't covered with small panel and a plethora of panel lines. Looking at your miniature choices I see some minis with a huge amount of small panel and many panel lines (Enforcer III, I am looking at you). For the Enforcer III I would do a few things differently: the first shades would probably be applied as a targeted wash to certain areas (very controlled and local, pushing paint into the panel lines), then use the feathering technique to get some global light to dark gradient (not individually on each panel). I'd also darkline the panel lines a couple of times (whenever I have a dark color on the palette or feel like it ... sorry for being vague again  :-[). Here are a few pictures of miniatures (or rather areas) I have painted using this approach. The arm of the Blade probably shows it best, with the global dark-light gradient supplemented by individual work on each panel. I have also started to work on an Enforcer III only to take another shot at doing some video of what I am doing. It will take a couple of days (and the scheme is different), but I will hopefully have something to better show what I mean.


When highlighting I follow a similar approach.
- Glazes: same as above, but this time pulling the paint from dark to light.
- Feathering: works here too, but I use it less frequently.
- Edge highlights: another technique I use for the final lights are edge highlights where I only paint sharp edges and the most prominent parts in a very light color to really push the contrast and make the mini stand out. For this the paint is slightly less thinned than for the other techniques, but still enough so it easily flows off the brush. The easiest and most controlled way is to apply the paint using the side of the brush rather than the tip whenever possible.

When highlighting, especially when doing the edge highlights, I don't treat every panel and edge the same. While I don't truly follow a fixed lightsource approach (one of my bigger flaws, I very roughly use a 'light from above' approach, but some more focus definitely couldn't hurt...) I try to pay more attention to the torso/head area than to the legs and feet.

Step 5: Let's start shading the red. I use a mix of Vallejo Panzer Aces Periscopes (a dark and unsaturated blue) and a dab Games Workshop Scab Red to slowly build up the first shadow using both thin glazes and feathering. You can see how the color starts to become more and more opaque after the first few layers (of the same mix).





Step 6: I continue to shade the miniature using neat Periscopes and finally Periscopes with just a dab of black. I haven't snapped pictures of every step, but the next set shows where I stopped shading - for now. For now, because I don't consider the deepest shadows dark enough yet and we will come back to them later (after painting on scratches and the like). Transitions aren't really smooth yet and the miniature still looks like poo, but we are getting there. Trust me ... ;)





I thought about posting the red highlighting as well, but maybe it is a better idea to wait and see how the shading works for you. Or maybe give me a short feedback if you'd like to see the highlights now or want to finish shading your miniatures (and get feedback) first. Thanks :)
« Last Edit: 30 September 2013, 15:33:54 by GunjiNoKanrei »

Wotan

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #83 on: 30 September 2013, 12:26:58 »
I agree for waiting until the shading is done. Not too much new things at once. I still struggle to understand what i just read. ;)
That said, i will not go for red Highlight Color on my Atlas, but will tend to a more Brown Color. What do you advise to use for shadowing. You see i started with cavalry Brown. Initially i had something like this in mind for the Brown:
http://www.camospecs.com/Miniature.asp?ID=2124

serrate

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #84 on: 30 September 2013, 15:17:56 »
The shading techniques described above work best for miniatures which aren't covered with small panel and a plethora of panel lines. Looking at your miniature choices I see some minis with a huge amount of small panel and many panel lines (Enforcer III, I am looking at you). For the Enforcer III I would do a few things differently: the first shades would probably be applied as a targeted wash to certain areas (very controlled and local, pushing paint into the panel lines), then use the feathering technique to get some global light to dark gradient (not individually on each panel). I'd also darkline the panel lines a couple of times (whenever I have a dark color on the palette or feel like it ... sorry for being vague again  :-[). Here are a few pictures of miniatures (or rather areas) I have painted using this approach. The arm of the Blade probably shows it best, with the global dark-light gradient supplemented by individual work on each panel. I have also started to work on an Enforcer III only to take another shot at doing some video of what I am doing. It will take a couple of days (and the scheme is different), but I will hopefully have something to better show what I mean.


You didn't put a link to the Blade, but I found it at darklined.com. I can see what you did there on the left arm, with some panel shading, but also a global gradient. I'll try it. I'm still trying to track down Periscopes in this area, but failing that, I may have to go with something else.

Are you using this blue, because it's just best practice to not use black as much as possible? Does this provide more depth to the shading? 

<snip>

...While I don't truly follow a fixed lightsource approach (one of my bigger flaws, I very roughly use a 'light from above' approach, but some more focus definitely couldn't hurt...) I try to pay more attention to the torso/head area than to the legs and feet.

<snip>




It looks like you're using a light-source from the right side (artist's perspective), because on both shoulders the shading goes from light (right) to dark (left). Is this intentional, or is this because you're focusing on an overhead light-source and the left arm is shaded the same as the right because it's raised to swing the hammer (therefore the highest is lightest, and the lowest part of the panel is darkened)?

I'm also surprised how dark these panels are at this point. I guess the next step will really push color and warmth back into them. I'm not questioning whether or not it works, your results speak for themselves; but this is an area where my current technique is vastly different, so I look forward to following this process all the way through.

Boldrick

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #85 on: 30 September 2013, 15:22:55 »
Just a lurker, but if i might suggest, to put same angle pictures one beside other for easier comparison between steps. Dont know if this forum enables
such options. Great tread and effort, thumbs up..   

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #86 on: 30 September 2013, 16:03:23 »
I agree for waiting until the shading is done. Not too much new things at once. I still struggle to understand what i just read. ;)
That said, i will not go for red Highlight Color on my Atlas, but will tend to a more Brown Color. What do you advise to use for shadowing. You see i started with cavalry Brown. Initially i had something like this in mind for the Brown:
http://www.camospecs.com/Miniature.asp?ID=2124
Cavalry Brown would have been my recommendation as a substitute for the RMS Mahogany I used, so you should be able to achieve a similar result than me ;) But ok, to achieve a brown similar to the CSO mini Cavalry Brown may be a bit too red. You might try to mix in some green to tone down the red. But you could also use the the same (or similar blue) I have used here (this it what I would do), but your end result will not be as warm as the CSO mini. To stay with a warm brown, use a dark brown (maybe Vallejo Model Color German Camo Black Brown) for shading.

You didn't put a link to the Blade, but I found it at darklined.com. I can see what you did there on the left arm, with some panel shading, but also a global gradient. I'll try it. I'm still trying to track down Periscopes in this area, but failing that, I may have to go with something else.
Thanks for catching this, forgot to insert the collage I prepared. Fixed.
An alternative to Periscopes (and second best shading color ever) would be Vallejo Model Color Dark Sea Blue. Maybe that's easier for you to get hold of.

Are you using this blue, because it's just best practice to not use black as much as possible? Does this provide more depth to the shading? 
Periscopes is my favorite shading color (atm) for just about everything. Seems I'm in a blue phase ;) Shading with blue (or a complementary color ... green would be a good choice for the maroon as well and would create a much different effect) creates a richness in color you can't achieve just using black. This is an approach more often seen on fantasy miniatures, but I think it adds a lot of interest to otherwise plain colors. And I really like to mix technique from fantasy/sci-fi painting and modelling.
Using the blue also gives me the chance to crate another contrast than just dark/light. I have used colors with at least a touch of yellow in them for the highlighting, creating a very subtle cold/warm contrast which helps the eye to perceive more depth. At least that's the theory ... ;)

It looks like you're using a light-source from the right side (artist's perspective), because on both shoulders the shading goes from light (right) to dark (left). Is this intentional, or is this because you're focusing on an overhead light-source and the left arm is shaded the same as the right because it's raised to swing the hammer (therefore the highest is lightest, and the lowest part of the panel is darkened)?
The later, but only very very roughly. What I am actually doing here is taking a page out of NMM theory, where (simplified) light areas meet dark areas on edges. My aim here is to create a 'dramatic' effect that looks cool (the one rule that trumps everything - the rule of cool  8) ). This is something you can also study on many of Psycho's miniatures btw.

I'm also surprised how dark these panels are at this point. I guess the next step will really push color and warmth back into them. I'm not questioning whether or not it works, your results speak for themselves; but this is an area where my current technique is vastly different, so I look forward to following this process all the way through.
Thanks. And glad you are along for the ride.

@Boldrick: Good idea. I'll look into it.

Mastergunz

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #87 on: 01 October 2013, 02:33:19 »
First stage 'shadows' and highlights. Much more time consuming than my normal method but the results are certainly becoming noticeable.  O0



-Gunz
" also, didn't you know mechs are able to run their massive energy weapons and all only because of their super secret fusion engine designs? the fusion engines actually turn rage and tears generated on the internet, wirelessly into usable power for the machines." -steelblueskies

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"Hotwire your imagination into your sense of self-preservation, and see what percolates." -Weirdo

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serrate

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #88 on: 01 October 2013, 08:59:48 »
Alrighty, turns out nobody around here had the Periscopes, so I opted for Ceramcoat Midnight Blue. At first I didn't have it watered down enough, so the top of the left shoulder (which is where I started) really has too much coverage. I tried to bring some red back into it a few times, but then decided to let it be until we get to the highlighting stage.

Personally, I'd like to go ahead and see the highlighting, because it feels like it would be done almost simultaneously with the shading, moving back and forth between the two as necessary. Just my feeling though, I'm happy to do whatever.

Anyway, here's the Enforcer with about 4-5 coats of shading midnight blue + dark cherry red, 2 coats neat midnight blue, and 2 coats midnight blue + Reaper Gray Liner (one of my favorites when I don't need a pure black).





In my next pics, I'm going to drop the mini down and further away from the lamp. In person, I think the colors all look very similar to yours, but mine is getting washed out with too much light.

Let me know what changes it could still use for the shading step.

Mastergunz

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Re: CSO paint-along with Gunji
« Reply #89 on: 01 October 2013, 10:00:32 »
Looking good so far serrate! O0
-Gunz
" also, didn't you know mechs are able to run their massive energy weapons and all only because of their super secret fusion engine designs? the fusion engines actually turn rage and tears generated on the internet, wirelessly into usable power for the machines." -steelblueskies

"I find that alcohol bestows a variety of tactical options."

"Hotwire your imagination into your sense of self-preservation, and see what percolates." -Weirdo

Follow along with my miniature exploits on my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/MastergunzPaintWorx

 

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