How to paint Shadow patterns?

[M1ndr1d3rs]

It is not difficult but it is annoyingly fiddly.

Basically paint the shadows black. then with a fine brush and some mid grey paint, paint little "hexagons" or web or circles, or something vaguely like that all over the surface. It looks much better than it sounds but it does take a long time.

Cpt K

Actualy I did something like that in converting my Warlock into a Nemesis. But I put a basecoat of grey, and then paint with black.
Fiddly is right. I didnt use a fine brush (not very good with it), I used a broken airbrush, pulled the needle back, and used the nozzle to draw the lines. But I didn't make it hexagons. Maybe those were the mistakes, so I wasn't very happy with it.

Thanks Capt. K.

@Triggy:
Yeah, why don't you try Bostich's approach, and I'll try Banichi's or green Knight's. Can't decide which yet. Both are interesting.

 

[Banichi]

@ Banichi:
Pencil on top of acrylic sounds very tricky. Maybe not the fastest, but I suppose it will give you most movement control among the other tricks. What kind of pencil did you use? Any pics?

It is really tricky. In fact it's so tricky I gave up and painted my shadows black. I'd been trying different combinations and methods for several weeks. Dark gray background with black linework, black with gray linework. Painting the whole ship dark gray, and painting in the black bits (looked like some wierd leopard skin effect)etc. By the time I tried the method I mentioned previously I was nearly pulling my hair out to find an effect I liked. I used a fine tip retractable pencil, and in hindsight I think the lead was too hard.

It kept on chipping the black paint off, I got vexed, and the jet black shadow fleet was born. Maybe a pencil with a much softer lead would do the trick. Also I tried to find the mattest black paint I could get, figuring the rougher the surface the easier it would pick up the pencil line, and the less presure I would need to apply to the pencil.

The main reason I posted this idea is because I still think the idea sound. Even if I did manage to balls it up

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

We may have caught a break there, Banichi. You did the pencil trick on normal shadow vessels right? Maybe it didn't work so well because of the rough texture. Ironically that's the very factor that made painting them allover black (plus some drybrushing) yield acceptable results.

I am however, trying to convert EA ships to shadowtech. The texture of an EA ship is much smoother. Maybe a very brittle (say Faber Castell B6) pencil will work well on it. Just need to be careful on the spines. Havent figured out to finish with varnish or ink-wash.

So, to recap, how does this sound?

1. Basecoat with black
2. Draw patterns with pencil
3. Ink wash/varnish/inkwash then varnish

 

[Da Boss]

Derina did a nice job on my EA shadowtech stuff with brown ink - no idea how its done - I just send her ships and money

 

[Shadow Queen]

how about rough coat that will give texture to your ships

 

[Shadow Queen]

Derina did a nice job on my EA shadowtech stuff with brown ink - no idea how its done - I just send her ships and money

thanks hon nice to get some support

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

@ Derina:
I don't get "rough coat", please explain how to do it. Sorry.

Me, newb

 

[Shadow Queen]

it sprays you ships with textured primer

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Is it readily available or do we have to make it ourselves? If the latter, what material do you use?

 

[[Omicron]Urobach]

had try this on my Nemesis and Shadow-Omegas.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Now that looks absolutely evil... :twisted:

I like the Omega better, though. The Nemesis pattern looks too much like leopard skin.

Step by step, how did you do it?

 

[[Omicron]Urobach]

Now that looks absolutely evil... :twisted:

I like the Omega better, though. The Nemesis pattern looks too much like leopard skin.

Step by step, how did you do it?

in the case of the Omega-X:

1. the normal way with the basic paint. prime, layers of black paint.
2. an wash with gunmetal and an extrem "light" drybrush with silver for the hull colour and details.
3. the difficult part: make dots of black paint with an very small brush over the entire ship in an random pattern. you must be very patient during this work that you become this "spiderweb" look on the hull.
4. add details....finish

 

[Banichi]

We may have caught a break there, Banichi. You did the pencil trick on normal shadow vessels right? Maybe it didn't work so well because of the rough texture.I

Yup, thats pretty much what happened. I tested the idea on a piece of smooth plastic, and it worked ok. That kind of got my hope up.

the section on the left is the penciled section. Sorry its blurry, but you can still see how it is good for replicating shadow pattern, even down to getting the random shapes. I varnished over this test run, and it seemed to go ok.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Congrats, Master Banichi
I'll definitely try it. BTW what about the right section? Still kinda nice.

Not that I didn't like your result Master Urobach, but I have to admit, a pencil is a lot cheaper than paint.
Being the cheapskate I am, low price is a powerful incentive

 

[[Omicron]Urobach]

very nice....looks a lot better then mine,really

i think i try this, also. :wink:

 

[MadDoc]

Here is a Shadow Ship I recently did up.
This was actually a dark gray base brought up with with a lighter gray and a final light gunmetal drybrush. Added all the black mottle and then a slight wash.

This mini picked up some blue reflections when I took the pic so that actually wasn't part of the paint job. Turned out well though!

-Steve

 

[Banichi]

That looks pretty cool. You must have more patience than me to have painted the pattern on like that. I wouldn't worry about the reflection, it adds to the picture.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

@ Maddoc: yeah, very nice. It really looked like a cross between a spider and your worst nightmare (which is actually the same thing for me) :lol:

@ Banichi: Just want to let you know, the pencil technique worked quite well. The glossy pencil lines really stood out in the flat surfaces after washing. Although when working on a Shadow Omega the details are kinda lost in the rotating section. Looks like silver drybrush... Too bad I don't have a digital camera