paint styles

[prophet118]

with the triad approach of the MSP, ive kind of quickly realized i may be painting "incorrectly"

 

most people i have talked to, will take their shadow color, and paint with that, then build up their mid tone, then use their highlight..

 

i on the other hand most always start with my midtone, then add in my shadows (probably touch up midtone bout now) then add in my high lights..

 

whats the consensus here?

 

 

(this "technique" of mine is used alot on greens, browns, reds and blues.)

[Qwyksilver]

There is no proper technique. Only what works best for you.

[Death Angel]

What Qwyksilver said.

 

I used to start with my darkest colour. But for a number of months now I have been starting with a midtone colour and shading/highlighting from there.

[Glen]

with the triad approach of the MSP, ive kind of quickly realized i may be painting "incorrectly"

 

most people i have talked to, will take their shadow color, and paint with that, then build up their mid tone, then use their highlight..

 

i on the other hand most always start with my midtone, then add in my shadows (probably touch up midtone bout now) then add in my high lights..

 

whats the consensus here?

 

 

(this "technique" of mine is used alot on greens, browns, reds and blues.)

Both painting classes at ReaperCon (Derek Schubert and Marika Reimer) taught that you should start with your mid-tone. I'd you're right and everyone else is wrong! J/K

 

Both Derek and Marika made a point that there were many ways to get to the same effect, but that they preferred to start with the midtone. The way they explained it made sense to me, so I'll be trying that approach and see how it works out.

[prophet118]

There is no proper technique. Only what works best for you.

yeh, i kind of figured that was the preferred concept..lol

 

its just that some people i know offline look at me weirdly when i start with the midtone...lol

[prophet118]

with the triad approach of the MSP, ive kind of quickly realized i may be painting "incorrectly"

 

most people i have talked to, will take their shadow color, and paint with that, then build up their mid tone, then use their highlight..

 

i on the other hand most always start with my midtone, then add in my shadows (probably touch up midtone bout now) then add in my high lights..

 

whats the consensus here?

 

 

(this "technique" of mine is used alot on greens, browns, reds and blues.)

Both painting classes at ReaperCon (Derek Schubert and Marika Reimer) taught that you should start with your mid-tone. I'd you're right and everyone else is wrong! J/K

 

Both Derek and Marika made a point that there were many ways to get to the same effect, but that they preferred to start with the midtone. The way they explained it made sense to me, so I'll be trying that approach and see how it works out.

doing the midtone first just seems so right, ya know?... especially since i might not always get the shadow coat right if i start with it first..lol

[eastman]

either technique can work fine - pick the one you like for the surface/feature you are painting.

 

Some people will start with the highlight color as the basecoat and bring everything else darker (basically a watercolor painting technique).

 

For skin, I like to start with the shadow color and work lighter. For nearly everything else, I start with the basecoat being the midtone and go darker, then lighter.

 

as always - YMMV

[twjolson]

I am toying with this now. I usually do the mid-tone, do a wash to add shadow, touch up midtone. And while that requires you to fix your mid-tone, I think it's still worth it. The one I'm doing now I started with the shadow color, and it's so horribly dark, and when I'm done, there will be so much of it that you won't see. It's a waste of paint, and it's just going to make it harder to add mid-tone and highlights. But we'll see, my judgement is premature, and we'll see how the final product turns out.

[prophet118]

lol

[Frustrated Father]

I 'learned' painting intially from reading articles online as before I had no clue was shading or highlight really were and consequently, I've always started from darkest to lightest.

 

Works for me, but I might just have to give it a try and start in the middle somewhere. At this painting class, what were the reasons that they stated if you don't mind me asking?

[JoeGKushner]

Depends on the figure.

 

For 'black orcs' for example, I'd mix black and dark angel green and after doing a few highlights, give it a few washes of black ink mixed with dark green ink and then another touch of highlights.

 

In most cases though, I'll start with the midtone color, shade the shadows on, then highlight the rest on.

[prophet118]

so far it seems pretty split..lol

 

"depends on the mini".. id be forced to agree, although the only one that comes to mine for me, was when i did the Onyx Golem... i just did a flat paint job, dark angels green and a reaper pro green (like od green or something)... no need to do midtones/highlights on him..lol

[Cade]

I do both depending on my the mini, the paint area and the color.

 

For example, if I'm painting in dark red or burgundy, I start with my darkest color, a very dark red/brown, and work up. Because red doesn't cover strong, this allows me to build up color gradually and smoothly while maintaining a dark red. If I paint bright red, I start with a midtone or else it would take forever to build up the colors to be bright. The same is true for most yellow colors. Once thinned, they cover very poorly and building up from your shadow can take forever.

 

For NMM, I 'usually' prefer to start dark and layer upwards to bright. Then again, I always end up going up and down all the color shades several times in order to smooth out all my color transitions.

 

If I'm trying to paint a pure white, I start with pure white and work down or else the area will generally look like an off-white color in the end. Sometimes I'll work from lightest to darkest on other very light colors.

 

I know many people who usually start mid-tone, but like to do flesh from darkest. I usually start flesh with mid-tones.

 

Certain areas on a mini might not lend themselves well to washes, in this case I generally start with my darkest color, like a large flat area that you might find on a shield. Areas like wood with a carved grain are perfect for washes, so I'll tend to start with the midtown.

 

The better you get at making the paint do what you want, the more you'll develop the approach that works best for you. I think if you set a rule that you 'always' approach something the same way, you are only limiting yourself. Experiment as much as you can. That's the best way to learn.

[prophet118]

i tend to start with my midtone on flesh as well..lol

 

reds work extremely well for me with this method..

 

usually i start with a flat tone (like red gore, or something) then i add in my custom made wash of red gore (1/4 red gore 1/4 black wash, the rest is filtered water) so if im doing a cloak, i'll do the mid tone, then add this red wash in the creases and folds, then touch up my midtone, then add in my highlight (which is usually blood red, or if i need it lighter, i add some white to it)

 

when i did Arrius the black, i did this technique, but also went back and added a black wash over the shadows on the cloak, i think it looks sweet..lol

[Qwyksilver]

I almost always start from my darkest color and work up to my highlight. I will also usually do my basecoat a smidge darker than need be and add an extra layer or two so I can avoid the darklining and allow the borders of area to have a darker edge, but not blacklined so there is less of that cartoony feel to them. I try not to darkline unless the colors next to each other, but for different items, are very similar.

 

That's what works for me. YMMV.