How to paint Shadow patterns?

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Straight to the point: how do you guys do it?

Painting a Shadow Battlecrab black may be enough cause of the textures. How about Shadow-Omegas, or Nemesis (Shadow-Warlock, whatever)? I've never been able to get that mottled lattice look right.

 

[Shadow Queen]

first I u/c black The next stage is to dry brush, Grey is the colour Codex grey from the Vallejo game range, then its Fortress grey from the Games Workshop range and then Skull white also from the Games Workshop range. You will need to wait for each coat to dry before applying the next coat. Or you can do a production line all four Shadow cruisers in a row. Then get a nice dark ink like Brown or Black personally id go with brown ink wash. Then last of all 2 coats of varnish.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Any pics, derina? I've never heard of those paints before. Can you recommend Tamiya equivalents? They're by far the most abundant in my country.

 

[Shadow Queen]

 

[thehod]

I can vouch for Derina's shadows they are top notch and applied it to my shadows and they came out looking menacing.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

@ Derina:
Yes, very nice. Thx. Hope it work well with my EA ships. I'll try it sometime next week.

BTW, I recently got an email from Da Boss showing his converted EA ships. I notice you two have similar painting styles. Is there an online guide or something?

 

[Bostich]

I did layers of paint using a sponge. creates a nice shadow-like pattern.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

@ Bostich:
Interesting. How and when (if it's a multi-part process) do you use it? Do you have pics of your shadow fleet?

 

[Triggy]

Derina, they look good but as with the first question of this thread, I'm actually interested in how to paint an effective "pattern" on the ships without spending forever on them.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Only the Shadow Ships have the pattern, so if you just lightly drybrush it should work

 

[Triggy]

That gives more of a speckle - I'm thinking the sponge effect has a good chance of giving something close as it would provide a linked pattern of lines. The big problem is that whenever I try, the lines look to stand out too much and look "painted on".

 

[Ripple]

Ink washing isn't pulling them down into the base color enough?

Ripple

 

[Green_Knight]

i painted my shadows with a very dull grey and drybrushed with a
more lighter grey. After that i spluttered black paint on it
with a toothbrush. Worked out very well.

 

[Banichi]

You could try painting them a matt black, then drawing the pattern on with a pencil. You just have to be careful not to chip the paint.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Many interesting ideas..
I once tried using mosquito mesh, but the didnt turn ot well, not distinctive and doesn't look random. How do you use a sponge?

@ 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?

@ Green Knight:
Did you mean you dip the toothbrush in paint and then use your finger to spurt it? Sounds messy... but whatever works, works. Any pics?

 

[Green_Knight]

@ Green Knight:
Did you mean you dip the toothbrush in paint and then use your finger to spurt it? Sounds messy... but whatever works, works. Any pics?

Exactly. It is not as messay as you think, just be sure to have old newspaper put around the area you do this.
In the end you''ll end up with a black thumb and a yummy toothbrush :lol:

Sorry no pics right now.

[/quote]

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Looking forward to doing it, Green Knight. Definitely a trick worth considering. Thanks.

Same here, can't post pics

 

[Captain Kremmen]

I saw someone who had a great pattern for their shadows on the forum, sorry can't remember who, so i copied it

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.

I think there are some pics of my shadows in the gallery, can't remember now.

Plus if you can find the original creator of this pattern, his are even better than mine.

Cpt K

 

[Bostich]

@ Bostich:
Interesting. How and when (if it's a multi-part process) do you use it? Do you have pics of your shadow fleet?

Basically spray black, then start sponging.. light grey then darker grey then a few spots of black again to break up the pattern.

Then I varnished with gloss+iridescent medium to give it the glow/sparkle.

j.,

 

[Triggy]

Now that looks much more like what I was going for

Good stuff, I may just have to try that!