Pumpkin Orange wash color?

[Unit04]

I'm painting up some good old fashioned aliens in orange space suits, and I'm looking for a good color to use as a wash.  I used Black Wash straight out of the bottle but that make it look a bit too dirty.  I used Intense Brown but that was too light and didn't provide enough contrast.  Any suggestions on what would look good?

 

I'm leaning towards a deep red or maybe Walnut Brown but would love some expert opinions on the subject.  

[Cranky Dog]

By some strange coincidence, the IMEF soldiers I'm currently painting are pumpkin orange and was asking myself the same question concerning the wash.

 

I'm leaning towards midnight black.

[frogimus]

Red wash? Purple?

 

Reaper has a red wash (Flesh Wash).

[Adrift]

Brown Liner (strong hints of red)

Woodstain Brown (very brown with grey tendencies)

Mahogany Brown (again more reddish brown)

Briar Rose (strong red and purple - more scifi probably) - Red Shadow is pretty similar from experience

Auburn Shadow (nice deeper orange)

Dark Shadow (deep, intense brown that is very opaque)

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

A thin blue wash? Perhaps a mix of blue and black? Or black by itself. Or brown. Or brown and black. SO many choices.

[Matbar]

I tried three different washes with pumpkin orange (separately, not on the same piece)  Black, muddy brown and mahogany brown.  All "broke" the color a bit much for me.  What I wound up doing to get good results with all three washes was to put down a really solid double coat of pumpkin orange, do a VERY thin wash, then go over the higher surfaces and bring the color back up with more pumpkin orange, then the very highest points with clear yellow.

 

There may be a way to do it, certainly I'm not as practiced as some, but I never found a good wash that didn't dull the color.

[DocPiske]

I used GW Reichland Fleshshade. It's a chestnut wash, seemed to work well. But then I base coated the pumpkin with MSP HD burning orange and then used pumpkin orange for the first highlight.

[frogimus]

Some paints/colors have a tendency to be stained by washes. I always wet the paint with water and this helps keep the high spots from staining. Your paint must be well dried before doing this.

 

A coat of Future can help even more than just a wetted surface.

[EvilJames]

I tried three different washes with pumpkin orange (separately, not on the same piece)  Black, muddy brown and mahogany brown.  All "broke" the color a bit much for me.  What I wound up doing to get good results with all three washes was to put down a really solid double coat of pumpkin orange, do a VERY thin wash, then go over the higher surfaces and bring the color back up with more pumpkin orange, then the very highest points with clear yellow.

 

There may be a way to do it, certainly I'm not as practiced as some, but I never found a good wash that didn't dull the color.

After a wash I usually reapply some of the base color in he same manor as I would the highlight. Then I highlight. Fixes that some what.

[SamuraiJack]

I'd probably go with a burning orange, carrot top red or Auburn shadow wash.. I usually basecoat in carrot top red then go to Pumpkin then to fireball orange.. if i need to highlight further, i then go to Fire orange and marigold yellow

[ub3r_n3rd]

I'd use color theory and go with a thinned down dark blue wash. Blue is opposite of orange on the color wheel and will contrast very nicely.

[BLZeebub]

Red wash? Purple?

 

Reaper has a red wash (Flesh Wash).

Any of those three, leaning towards purple actually.  That or brown liner, or a deep brown homemade wash.  Be sure to highlight with sunny yellow.

[knarthex]

I think I would try to 'pin wash' using thinned down Blue Liner.

A pin wash is applied only to the places you want it, which I am guessing is the spaces between articulations in the suits....

 

And by all means, Dullcote first, and have a damp brush and q-tip handy to clean up any hasty moves...

 

George

[TaleSpinner]

Reaper Blue Liner

[canuckotter]

I'd use color theory and go with a thinned down dark blue wash. Blue is opposite of orange on the color wheel and will contrast very nicely.

In my admittedly-not-very-extensive experimentation so far, I've noticed that doing things this way seems to avoid the dirty look that you can get with a not-quite-right darker shade of a base colour. So, yeah. As TaleSpinner said, Reaper Blue Liner would probably be my first experiment.

 

But I'm certainly not an expert.