Comments on: Gaming in plastic #4: Block painting over dark primer

By: Cosmotiger

Cosmotiger — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:07:28 +0000

I have to admit I only skimmed over article 3, so I missed the bit about scale effect.

This is an excellent series of articles. It’s gotten me to branch out and try 1/72 WWII figures– I just finished up some Airfix Afrika Korps.

By: briguy

briguy — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:36:22 +0000

I would say I mostly use this method, but I just never have the courage to let any of the black shine through on the border. I think I usually just end up having very deep base colours showing through on the border, or else even deeper if the area will take an ink wash.

Excellent article Bob, your painting output must be phenomenal!

By: metalminimadness

metalminimadness — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:02:17 +0000

Go Oilers!

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:23:48 +0000

Thanks.

CosmoTiger: Yeah, we talked a bit about that in Article 3 in this series. The next article will also talk about using a light primer–some of the results are really quite nice when the figures have enough detail for the wash to catch.

a_thousand_hats: Yeah, it is really a speed technique. I painted several hundred plastic figures over Christmas using this technique and the white-rimer/magic dip technique well talk about next week. They aren’t the best figures ever (that in part reflects the figure you have to work with) but you can get two armies on the table in short order which is great for introducing new gamers.

Stu: Yeah, brown is always an option (which you can darken with a black wash if it turns out too light in the end). I usually recommend black because it is easier to find in spray form (Article 2).

Bob in Edmonton

By: Stu

Stu — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:11:39 +0000

I use a similar technique when painting 15mm DBA and Flames of War infantry, but still find a black undercoat too stark - I block paint over a dark brown (GW Scorched Brown) undercoat which works in a similar fashion but doesn’t darken the resulting figure quite so much imho.

By: a_thousand_hats

a_thousand_hats — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:13:57 +0000

Off-topic:

“This helps trick the eye into perceiving them as if they were normal sized people, far away.”

This bit reminds me of a Father Ted (comedy show in UK) episode where Father Ted is trying to get his friend Dougal to understand that the toy cow in his hand is small and the cow in the distant field is far away. lol :-D

On-Topic:

Another good article - I’ll admit I’ve never come across this technique before (none of my friends use it) so it was an eye-opener to me. And it helps me understand how people can paint enormous armies so quickly whereas I’m still struggling away with just two dozen minis on my table at the moment.

By: Cosmotiger

Cosmotiger — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:07:58 +0000

My only concern with this technique on smaller figures is that it makes them quite dark. IMO, it’s better to go with lighter colors on figures that are 1/72-20mm sized or smaller (the so-called scale effect). This helps trick the eye into perceiving them as if they were normal sized people, far away.

By: evernevermore

evernevermore — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:15:07 +0000

Very nice article - especially since this is a technique I think most everyone has used at some point. Its also one of the techniques that really can add emphasis to models when done right.

I’ve seen extreme variations of the highlighting of muscles done on GW Orks and Orcs and the results can be very impressive - but thats a matter of taste