Painting Techniques
All paints should be stirred thoroughly before use. A box of cheap wooden cocktail sticks is a good idea as the sticks themselves can also be used for conversion and general modelling work. Have three jars of the paints recomended thinner/cleaner available. One for general use, one for metallic paints as they are made with small metal flakes that will get transfered to your other paints and a final one for when a brush has to be super clean. There are various painting techniques
Straight from the bottle This is the application of undiluted paint on the figure and is how you would cover each individual area. Dip the tip only of your brush into the paint and then stroke in one direction following the longest length of the item being painted. If the paint feels thick, thin with a little water or the recommended thinners. Try to keep the paint within the area being painted. If you do get paint on the surrounding areas you may need to touch up this area with primer again before putting on it's correct colour. This finish is acceptable but most figure painters continue and add shading and highlights. For narrow and small areas however, such as straps, no further work may be needed. Washes and dry-brushing are the usual way to add shading and highlights on this scale of figure. Their effect in this scale however isn't strictly accurate as it uses the high and low points of the casting where as you should be attempting to recreate the effect of the sun overhead casting shadows on the figure. On large model soldier scales, 54mm and above, highlights would be on upper facing surfaces not just on the most prominent details which is why bleading is a better way to paint this size and larger figures..
Wash A wash is a basic way to shade a figure as it emphasizes shadows. Thin a small amount of paint, usually to two or three parts of water to one part paint, then brush it over the area.. The paint should concentrate in the recessed areas of the detail, leaving a thin transparent coat over the raised areas. You may have to add more paint or water if the wash doesn't produce the effect you want. Washes can be built up in layers, starting with a shade slightly darker than your base colour, then darkening the shade in a thinner mixture so that only the bottom of the recesses are the darker shade. It's a case of trial and error until you get the hang of it. The normal problem is too much water. Where possible paint the figure upside down so that the paint forms into the upper part of folds and creases where it would be naturally darker. Inks were designed for doing washes and can give a good effect but they add to your initial costs. Black should not always be used to darken the base colour, i.e. a dark brown works better with red. A wash and wipe method can also be used on larger models particularly vehicles. Use slightly thinned paint but not as thin as the washes above. Leave to dry a little but before it does wipe the excess paint off with a rag or piece of sponge. This should leave paint around the details and remove it from raised areas but the results can vary and so need practice to do well.
Dry-Brushing Dry-Brushing is an easy way to highlight raised detail as it emphasizes the highest surface details. It can be done on most parts but is most effective on areas that have a lot of raised details like fur or chain mail and should be done after any washes have dried. Dip your brush in the paint, then wipe the brush on a tissue to remove the excess paint and liquid. The paint remaining on the brush should be nearly dry and not flow when applied. Lightly brush over the surface to be highlighted, brushing across the details, hair, creases rather than a long them. A little paint will remain on the raised surface, highlighting the previous coats of paint. The harder you press with the brush the more paint will be deposited so decrease the pressure with each layer. A number of layers is better than a single one. Start with the base coat and then add progressively lighter shades of the base coat with the final coats using the very tip of the brush only. White should not always be used to lighten the base colour as it can make colours look washed out or even change them, i.e. yellow works well with green and red and stops red becoming pink. A brush with a flat wide tip is best for dry-brushing. Where possible only brush downwards from head to foot on a figure rather than side to side or up and down. This will leave slightly more paint on the upper surfaces where the natural highlights would be.
Blending With the emamel type paints, because they are slow to dry you can blend the paint. You will benefit from having a number of paint brushes available for this technic. Paint the base colour and let it dry overnight. Next day paint in the shadow colour where needed and use a clean dry brush to soften the edge so that it gradually changes to the base colour. Then paint the highlight colour, with another brush and thin that at the edges with a forth clean brush. You may then find that you need to add a little of the base colour, yet another brush, to get a smooth gradual change. It sounds complicated but it isn't really. It gives a much better result than the drybrush and wash routine on large scale figures where you would look more closely at where the shadows and highlights would actually be.
Stippling Stippling is a way of adding an effect similar to the use of an airbrush in that it produces a random pattern over a surface. Mostly used in weathering effects like adding mud to vehicles. Leave a little more paint on the brush than you would for dry brushing and then dab at the surface to be painted with the tip of the brush. the harder you dab the thicker the effect. If producing smoke damage on a wall dab lightly, as you don't want a visable build up of paint on the surface, repeating as necessary until you get the effect you require. Mud, because you want a build up on the surface needs to be done with more paint on the brush and the paint left as thick blobs on the surface. As with all new methods practic before you use for real. Don't use a good brush as this method bends and breaks the bristles. Others Any other painting method can be used. A lot of military modelers use a small air brush for camoflage patterns and a mottled effect, particularly on a large flat area, can be made by dabbing paint on with a rag or sponge.
