Painting the Romulan 'belly birds'

[McKinstry]

I'm about to start painting my Romulans. After having worked out a color scheme on a KF5R, I'm ready to start in on a War Eagle.

The plan is a light spray of white primer followed by a dilute black wash (cut with a bit of a flow enhancer) over the etching. Once dry I'll paint the outer edge in the regular hull light gray and then just start in on the bird.

Anyone have experience doing these 'belly birds' and how did you do it?

 

[H]

I'm about to start painting my Romulans. After having worked out a color scheme on a KF5R, I'm ready to start in on a War Eagle.

The plan is a light spray of white primer followed by a dilute black wash (cut with a bit of a flow enhancer) over the etching. Once dry I'll paint the outer edge in the regular hull light gray and then just start in on the bird.

Anyone have experience doing these 'belly birds' and how did you do it?

well, i've done some things on the belly of a bird...

 

[McKickaha]

For the etched birds I usually start from a grey undercoat. I then run in a thin wash of a dark shade of whatever is the predominant colour of the bird. i never use black for this since I think its too harsh, matter of personal opinion tho.

Assuming an orange bird I would start from a dark red wash, then paint the feather in a reddish orange, followed by a highlight in orange then a final highlight or two in lighter shades of orange progressively highlighting the edge and base of each feather

A couple of the birds I have previously painted are two colour, (plus another two you haven't seen yet), usually blue and white, still use a dark shade of blue for the etched lines then just alternating the colour on the feathers, highlighting as above.

Freehand birds are pretty much the same. once I have worked out the basic shape I paint it completely in the same dark shade I would have used for an etched line bird then paint on the feathers and highlight them exactly the same as the etched versions.

To finish I usually outline the bird in a darker shade of grey, especially useful if you have used white feathers, then progressively bring that up, moving outwards, via blending to the normal gray I use for Romulans.