Tierdeleira. What color and how to wash.

[ObviousBadGuy]

So this is my girl Tierdeleira so far. I recently started painting her but have been stuck on what color to do her hair. Also I'm wondering how to do a wash on her cape thing since there are four different blues and they're all mixed together.

Edited February 28, 2018 by ObviousBadGuy

[Geoff Davis]

You don't need a wash to make that cloak pop.  I recommend you try highlighting and shading instead.  It looks better in the long run once you get the hang of it.  Use that lighter blue you've put on the shoulders of her cloak to highlight the outer ridges of the cloak where the light would hit them and make them brighter.  Maybe even mix some white into the lighter blue and get a lighter blue and do another highlight which is smaller on top of the light blue highlight.

 

Take a look at the picture of the two minis in this post.  They have a blue robe similar to the blue you are working with. 

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/79288-suggestions-needed-for-olivia-colour-scheme/

 

For her hair it really depends on what you want her to look like when she is done.  Is she a drone with dark skin and light hair or a wood elf with pale skin and red hair?  Lots of possibilities.  I recommend you pick something easy to highlight that compliments the blue cloak and brown armour.  That's the reason I picked blonde for the mini at the link I've attached.  Red hair could also achieve the same effect but is harder to make look natural.

 

If you decide to use a wash, mix some paint which is darker than your base coat.  For example, take the darker of your blues and add a drop of black.  Thin this quite a bit by adding a lot of drops of water.  I like using about 4 drops of water for one drop of paint.  Then paint a thin layer of this very thin paint over the area you want to be shaded and let it dry.  The paint will gather in the recessed areas and darken them.  If it's not dark enough after the first wash, do another layer until you like the way it looks.

 

Hope this helps you.  

Edited March 1, 2018 by Geoff Davis

[ObviousBadGuy]

11 hours ago, Geoff Davis said:

You don't need a wash to make that cloak pop.  I recommend you try highlighting and shading instead.  It looks better in the long run once you get the hang of it.  Use that lighter blue you've put on the shoulders of her cloak to highlight the outer ridges of the cloak where the light would hit them and make them brighter.  Maybe even mix some white into the lighter blue and get a lighter blue and do another highlight which is smaller on top of the light blue highlight.

 

Take a look at the picture of the two minis in this post.  They have a blue robe similar to the blue you are working with. 

 

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/79288-suggestions-needed-for-olivia-colour-scheme/

 

For her hair it really depends on what you want her to look like when she is done.  Is she a drone with dark skin and light hair or a wood elf with pale skin and red hair?  Lots of possibilities.  I recommend you pick something easy to highlight that compliments the blue cloak and brown armour.  That's the reason I picked blonde for the mini at the link I've attached.  Red hair could also achieve the same effect but is harder to make look natural.

 

If you decide to use a wash, mix some paint which is darker than your base coat.  For example, take the darker of your blues and add a drop of black.  Thin this quite a bit by adding a lot of drops of water.  I like using about 4 drops of water for one drop of paint.  Then paint a thin layer of this very thin paint over the area you want to be shaded and let it dry.  The paint will gather in the recessed areas and darken them.  If it's not dark enough after the first wash, do another layer until you like the way it looks.

 

Hope this helps you.  

 

Thank you so much. I received the LTP kit for Christmas this year and it said to use a wash. So me being dumb, assumed that it was the only thing you could do. I'll definitely look into the shading.

 

Also I decided to paint her hair white and drybrush some really light blue onto it. I'm not sure if I like the result though and was actually thinking of painting blonde over it. 

[Geoff Davis]

14 minutes ago, ObviousBadGuy said:

Also I decided to paint her hair white and drybrush some really light blue onto it. I'm not sure if I like the result though and was actually thinking of painting blonde over it. 

 

You could try painting the hair light blue and then do highlights of white or mixed white and light blue over it.  That might give you the effect you were looking for.  Drybrushing on hair sometimes ends up looking chalky.  Try running the brush gently lengthwise along the hair (like you were brushing long hair with a hairbrush) with very little paint on the brush (not as dry as for drybrushing... think of it more like "wet brushing" (quoting from a Darksword video).  That should give you a white highlight over the light blue.  There are lots of good basic tutorial videos out there on how to paint hair.  Just keep in mind that a lot of the videos, even the simplest tutorials, are sped up.  Actually applying the techniques in practice is a lot slower than it appears in many videos so take your time and enjoy.

 

You've got a good miniature there for practicing these basic techniques.  Her hair, cloak and weapon are all really good for trying out basic shading and highlighting. 

 

Keep at it and don't forget, there's no wrong way of doing it.  You'll learn something from everything you try.  I've been painting mini's for 38 years and I still make a huge mess of things on a regular basis and its all good and still fun.

 

Geoff