Kai Lords Painting Guide

Very nice! But what about the eyes?

Interestingly, I usually make a wash before I drybush, not the other way around. There are many different ways to paint a mini; I encourage newcomers to experiment till they find the one(s) that work best for them (cause there is not *the* way to do it).
 
I never do the eyes if I can help it :)

I find the shading of the wash on the face works nicely to give shadow around the eyes, so it looks fine for battlefield use. Presentation-quality models are another matter (and get their eyes done), but I tend to spend a good couple of hours on those. These three I did in under an hour if you ignore the time spend waiting for each stage to dry, and were aimed more at the "I dunno where to start, gimme a painting guide" people :)
 
But for reference - eyes:

Using a pinhead barely touched with white paint, add a teeny blob in each eye. Then when it's dry, add a thin black line at the top of the blob, and a slightly thicker descending line from that (to get a T shape). Not sure my camera can work that close, but if so I'll try and add that step tomorrow.

While we're at it - anyone else got any tips for eyes? :)
 
Confused Wolf said:
I usually make a wash before I drybush, not the other way around.

I'll have to give that a try... might help prevent the base coat from flaking away on pointy edges when I drybrush if there's a wash over the top of it... thanks :)
 
mthomason said:
Confused Wolf said:
I usually make a wash before I drybush, not the other way around.

I'll have to give that a try... might help prevent the base coat from flaking away on pointy edges when I drybrush if there's a wash over the top of it... thanks :)

What I said for painting newbies applies to everyone, of course: experiment! Maybe it will work out for you, or maybe not. I'll have to try it the other way around, too.

One of the reasons I like making a wash (or washes) early in the painting process is that the thinned paint easily slips to where it doesn't belong (e.g. flesh wash onto the clothes)... :oops:


Once again: I very nice painting guide. Thanks for offering it to us! :D
 
Confused Wolf said:
One of the reasons I like making a wash (or washes) early in the painting process is that the thinned paint easily slips to where it doesn't belong (e.g. flesh wash onto the clothes)... :oops:

Now I have more control over my washes than my drybrushing - its the drybrushing tends to get over the edges and then the wash that covers the mistake for me :lol:
 
Okay, final picture updated with one that has something like the real colours :) Plus the figures have now been varnished.
 
That's a great guide Matt well done!

I'm glad someone has put together a guide for any newbies who are tempted to paint but unsure of themselves.

On the subject of I do this differently or that differently I have been experimenting a lot at the moment sometimes with good results and sometimes with not such good results. Generally I paint on a black undercoat but I decided to paint my LW figs on a white undercoat. One of the main reasons was that during the winter months under artificial light I can hardly see anything on a black undercoat. So if anyone finds it's making them blind it may be worth trying a white undercoat or even dry brushing the model white on a black undercoat but more on this in a bit. The other reason for white is that it generates very bright colours.

One of the problems I find with a white undercoats is that if you miss any patches it's glaringly obvious. I have got around this by painting the recessed hard to reach parts of the figure black. This way I don't have to paint right into the deepest folds leaving it as shadow and saving me from getting paint on areas adjoining the crevasse. I guess a dry brush of white over a black undercoat would have the same effect but I haven't tried it.

Sometimes I apply a wash before dry brushing or highlighting and sometimes afterwards if I want to tone down the highlights. Sometimes I don't high light at all and just use a bright colour followed by a wash. This is my preferred method for making something look leathery.

Eyes! aarrgghh I have gone slightly mad of time trying to paint eyes I have had some success with it but I rarely bother now letting the wash do the work.

If I can get hold of a digital camera I'll try to get a few pictures of the minis I have done maybe I can stick them in a gallery over on the tower of the sun...

Once again, nice work Matt. :D
 
Winter Wolf said:
Generally I paint on a black undercoat but I decided to paint my LW figs on a white undercoat. One of the main reasons was that during the winter months under artificial light I can hardly see anything on a black undercoat.

I should have mentioned in there I use a daylight simulation bulb in the room and a second one on a desk lamp... :) I had a few problems tracking down somewhere to buy them from locally and ended up only being able to buy them in large quantities online, so I've just added them into stock so people can buy a daylight bulb when they come in for their books and minis :)
 
Sommerlendings are typically fair-haired. This can be done by giving the hair an undercoat of bubonic brown. After it has dried give it a wash with either snakebite leather or bestial brown. This should be watered down so it runs into the grooves whilst leaving the highpoints clear.
When that is dry you can give it a dry brush with bleached bone. This gives a good approximation of blonde hair. Adding a small amount of yellow to this last highlight can give different tones, usefull if you are painting several different models.
 
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