Painting Camoflague

[MiniWargamer]

Russian Survivor Squad

 

Here is a miniature I just finished from Westwind Productions. I am cogitating over how I should have highlighted the camouflage pattern. I thought about doing it as normal and working on each color (bleah...) or just ignoring it. In the end, what I did was to apply some thinned green liner in some of the lower places and folds.

 

Anyone have any good techniques thay have used?

[fieldarchy]

To get the absolute best results you probably want to highlight the individual patches though it does sound tedious and boring.

[MiniWargamer]

Ugh... I was afraid someone would say that.... That was my thought as well. So, back to the "wearing an army blanket" look for these guys!

 

To get the absolute best results you probably want to highlight the individual patches though it does sound tedious and boring.

[tanker22]

Most of the time I'll just do a splotch pattern and a brown/black wash for table top stuff. Ive got a pic in my web site of the German SS guys I have for my WW2 army. Looks harder than it was and came out looking pretty cool. Also some Warhammer 40k guys we use for generic sci-fi stuff. Do them up in a assembly line type of painting 5 at a time.

 

For table top gaming if it looks good on the board I'm happy with it and most of the time were churning out pretty big armies so detail isn't as important

[psyberwolfe1]

It depends on what the fig is for. If it is for game only then what you have is great. If for competition then you really will need to shade and highlight each individual patch. However there is a way to go about this project easier. Here is what I do for a three color camo. Start with the mid tone color shade and highlight, and then go to your lightest tone. Rinse Lather repeat and then your darkest color. This should reduce the work you are doing.

[Sergeant_Crunch]

Depends on what you're aiming for, competition or gaming. The problem with camo is that the whole idea behind it goes entirely against everything you learn about painting miniatures.

[Joe Kutz]

Maybe it is just me - but I have always been of the opinion that highlighted camo paint jobs look dumb. Especially when highlighted to very light/white colors.

 

I spent the majority of my adult life around camoflage and military paints (BDUs, Humvees, Deuce and a Halfs, that lovely shade of tan DoD paints everything...). The colors are dead flat for a reason.

 

If you look at this BDU Picture you can see what I mean. It was taken outside in bright daylight as can be seen by the hot spots on his forehead and glasses. However the actual BDU fabric itself shows absolutely no hot spots. Shadows, yes in the folds of the fabric and what not - but no need to highlight. The portions which should be the brightest (shoulders) are very close to the exact same tone as the ones that should be darkest (near arm pits). The shadows of course are much darker, but that is to be expected.

 

I like to use a single glaze color to shade camo. Unlike a lot of other things, the colors in the camo are fairly closely related (normally from the same or close to the same hue...just different tonal qualities - it is how it works). As long as you keep your glaze coats thin, you can use that single color and shade all the colors in the camo pattern without having to deal with three different shade colors. Where you may need to make it darker, you can just use additional coats of the glaze.

[MiniWargamer]

But those are Air Force BDUs... do they ever go out of the showroom?

 

(says the ex-Army guy)

 

Good points about the matt effects. I started another figure last night and was highlighting the camo just to see how long it took and how it looked. I'm still undecided.

 

If you look at this BDU Picture you can see what I mean. It was taken outside in bright daylight as can be seen by the hot spots on his forehead and glasses. However the actual BDU fabric itself shows absolutely no hot spots. Shadows, yes in the folds of the fabric and what not - but no nead to highlight. The portions which should be the brightest (shoulders) are very close to the exact same tone as the ones that should be darkest (near arm pits). The shadows of course are much darker, but that is to be expected.

[Heisler]

Painting for the judges is one thing. But if you are highlighting camo there is already some good advice here; DON'T. Highlighed camoflauge the way we highlight does not look right at all. Now I will temper that. You still have to pay attention to your light and dark areas. Areas in shadow are still going to be darker than those in full light. You want to achieve this affect with glazes of color over the entire area rather than trying to highlight each individual color making up the camoflauge.

[Cerridwyn1st]

I'll go with Hesler on this. When painting a pattern, be it camo or some other concept, the best thing to do is paint the pattern, then shade with glazes. Keep in mind that camoflague tends to be very flat; it won't reflect light much, if at all. You would see the general color with the shadow areas being darker.

 

Your guys do look a little flat. You might want to work on shading the recesses a bit more so that the highlights will seem brighter. Do you have a real life example of the camo pattern? The pattern as you have it painted seems a bit odd, more like a patchwork than the mottled colors I'm used to seeing in cammo.

Edited August 28, 2007 by Cerridwyn1st

[vutpakdi]

Thank you for the various comments. I'm currently working on a mini that I'm going to try and give a skin pattern based on a naturally occurring pattern, and I'll probably adjust my plans a bit based on these comments.

 

Ron