+ The Sons of the Temple: picking and executing a paint scheme +
+ Restarted painting Legio Nikator last night, which involved getting a bit experimental. When you're making your own paint scheme – and if you never have, I thoroughly encourage you to try it – it's fun to push yourself and try some new techniques. +
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+ Old Spiteful +
+ I started with the old man of the Legion, 'Old Spiteful'; more properly known as Senex Codomannus. After undercoating him black, I did a quick drybrush of Boltgun Metal across the superstructure to give that a base, then began work on the armour plates. I used Solar Macharius Orange for this. It's one of the Foundation series of paints that I never found a use for, but's a lovely soft orange that worked wonders as a base for terracotta. +
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| + I began with the carapace, and started working down. + |
+ After getting a lovely smooth finish' highlighted up with the addition of Averland Sunset, I then [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT]ed it up with a combination of sepia ink and granulation medium. This... sort of worked. Sometimes experimentation gives great results; other times not so much. There's something I like about the effect, but I'm not quite sold yet. +
+ This may be an example of 'mid-piece funk' – that feeling you get halfway through a painting when everything looks a bit messy and disjointed. It can be disheartening; but if you push through, you sometimes find that you end up with something you're really pleased with. Of course, sometimes it just ends up a bit crap – but you can always repaint it. Push on!+
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| + A little later on + |
+ Picking out some highlights [+see pictcapture above+] gives form to the damage – though I feel the marks are too large at the moment, and may need tightening up with more of the base colour (Solar Macharius Orange). +
+ The white areas are Vallejo's Off White – it's best to avoid pure white on figures of this scale, owing to aerial perspective. This is the effect of the dust and so forth in the atmosphere that makes things look bluer the further away they area – as a result, the tonal range needs to be slightly shortened – slightly deeper highlights, slightly more tinted darks. +
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| + The effect of the medium is clear on the loin armour. + |
+ If you're never tried granulation medium, it's a fantastic – if largely uncontrollable – way to create texture. The medium causes the pigment particles to cluster together, drying in a patchy, slightly blotchy way. It works best with inks, particularly naturally granulating ones like sepia and Payne's grey, as the suspension is looser than in (say) acrylic paint. If you do use it with paint, then dilute only with the granulation medium – don't add water too, or you'll lose the effect. +
+ Picking a colour scheme – or, the joys of homebrew +
+ Picking your own scheme gives you a lot of freedom, and the opportunity to make your figures more personal to you. The low number of models in the game makes Adeptus Titanicus a brilliant choice for trying it out. +
+ A simple way to start is by picking a main colour – this can be literally anything. I plumped for an orange-tinged terracotta. Once you've picked that, select a secondary colour. This is where the challenge starts. Some colours clash – by which I mean that they just don't work well together; either blending into one another, or setting off disharmonies. +
+ To avoid this, consider choosing a complementary colour, which can be determined by its position on the colour wheel. Red is opposite green; yellow is opposite purple, and so forth. A pair of complementary colours will always look good in a scheme. In my example, the orangey terracotta is opposite blue; so I could use that as my complementary as my secondary colour. +
+ Harmonising or analogous colours – those immediately next to your initial colour on the wheel – will also work well. Orange is next to red and yellow; so both of those could work. +
+ You can also try a split complementary scheme. This is a bit more complex to explain, but essentially involves using the colours that are analogous (i.e. adjacent to) the main colour's complementary. With orange as my main colour, blue is the complementary. Next to blue on the colour wheel are blue-purple and turquoise-green. +
+ If you're struggling to find a secondary colour, you can't go wrong with black or white. These paints will always go well in a scheme. +
+ The next step is to make sure the tonal contrast is good. While you can push both your main and secondary colours to different shades and tints, at the simplest level, it's just a case of picking an inherently light secondary to go with a dark main colour – or vice versa. +
+ Solar Macharius Orange is a midtone – neither particularly light or dark. Since I plan to highlight it up, I want to pick a secondary that can be shaded down, so that the result is light orange against dark secondary. +
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+ Home decor is a good place to start when searching for colours that will go well with your chosen main colour; though bear in mind those schemes tend to be tasteful and restful, rather than warlike and boisterous. I often look at mediaeval heraldry and banners for colour ideas, as they fit my idea of the 41st Millennium. +
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+ In the forges: Gaugamela +
+ Another Warlord is primed and ready for paint – I've just got to make sure that the scheme works! +
4 comments:
Nice explanation; I always find your thoughts on colour-theory informative!
I really like the effect--well done!
Ta – one of the benefits of the job, I guess :)
Thanks Kym!
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