Painting for Dummies -- Basic Layering

Posted by Ranillon on 5. April 2009 00:56

Now that you understand the basic theory behind painting miniatures it’s time to give you an example of the ideas in action.  In this case I am going to paint up my new commander’s face, in the process illustrating how shading and highlighting can bring a model to life.

 Take a look at the first frame showing the face with only a basic covering of Dwarf Flesh (a flavor of GW paint).  Like the rest of the figure it is flat and uninteresting.  Sure, the natural shadows of the model does give it a modicum of life, but especially once you pull back and take a look from feet away the whole face seems to meld into one big pale glob.

 The second frame is my commander’s face after I used a wash of brown ink.  To do so I just wiped the stuff all around with a brush without too much concern as to where it went.  The liquid nature of the wash means that it will flow into the crevasses of the model automatically, thereby darkening the areas you’d want to be darker anyway.  Notice how just this first layer of extra paint adds depth to his face.  Thus, even just an extra five minutes to add a wash can be a significant improvement.

 Note:  I typically prefer to use a darker wash to the faces of men and work up from there.  More typical would be to use a lighter wash.

 In the third frame I have gone back with more Dwarf Flesh, but this time I’ve tried to only add paint to the raised portions of his face – the nose, the cheeks, forehead, lips, and chin.  This forms two distinct layers with more subtle differences if you look closely.  Again, the aim here is to highlight those parts of the model that would be highlighted naturally thanks to the light of the commander’s environment.

 In the final frame I have gone back once more, but this time with a mixture half of Dwarf Flesh and half of the lighter Elf Flesh.  Accordingly, I have attempted to place it only on the highest portions of his face, again to emphasize the lighting.  Now there are three distinct layers, but the extra care I’ve taken helps produce additional subtle shades between them.

 That’s layering in a nutshell.  Just how many layers you add is up to you.  I find that three or four is usually good enough, but if you read White Dwarf or painting manuals the experts there may apply anywhere from 5 to 10.  Generally speaking, the more layers the more gradual the shading and the better the overall effect.  However, there is definitely a point of diminishing gains here.  While extra layers may add extra depth beyond four or five the differences are going to be hard to notice unless you do a careful job.  More to the point, they may not be noticed at all unless a person eyeballs the model up close.  From five feet away they are only going to notice three or so layers anyway.

 Thus, here is a case where the Five Foot Rule truly applies.  Doing any layering at all really helps your painting job, but since most people will only be seeing it from five feet or more you don’t necessarily have to be all that neat or spend all that much extra time.  You get the most bang for your painting buck with just three or four layers.  Beyond that you are not just going for a pretty good job, but a great one – with all the extra time and effort that entails.

More to come...