Ask the Studio!

[KamenRiderNecro]

Hello, Meg! I would like to know, what ratio of paint to water do you normally use to get such smooth coats of paint? Mine are improving, but I'm concerned I either thin them too much or too little. Is there an ideal ratio you use in the studio? Thank you!

[PPS_Meg]

Hello, Meg! I would like to know, what ratio of paint to water do you normally use to get such smooth coats of paint? Mine are improving, but I'm concerned I either thin them too much or too little. Is there an ideal ratio you use in the studio? Thank you!

I can't say what ratio of water I use . . . It's more of a dilute it until it feels right. If you end up with rings on your mini then your paint is too thin.

[PG_Nemlock]

I've got an idea for painting the "power lines" on a jack's chasis more like liquid filled tubes. I've been trying to find a tutorial on painting liquid filled bottles but I can't seem to find one. I'm looking for an effect like Gorman has on his 3 test tubes in this studio job

I've tried duplicating this on my own but it came out horrible. It doesn't look too difficult but there must be something I'm not realizing. Any tips?

[PPS_Meg]

I've got an idea for painting the "power lines" on a jack's chasis more like liquid filled tubes. I've been trying to find a tutorial on painting liquid filled bottles but I can't seem to find one. I'm looking for an effect like Gorman has on his 3 test tubes in this studio job

I've tried duplicating this on my own but it came out horrible. It doesn't look too difficult but there must be something I'm not realizing. Any tips?

That's a tough one . . . Do I have tips? Sure do. Can I explain without a visual aid . . . probably not. So, I'd say stay tuned until my next blog and I'll do a quick tut on this.

The best tip I can give right now is fill a jar of liquid and us it as reference while you paint.

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

+1.

I've been wondering the same thing. Looks like maybe underbelly blue + morrow white as the base color...

Check out the No Quarter anniversary issue for a full tutorial on the painting of Constance Blaze! The Colors used for Gallant were the same mixes.

I was wondering how do you achieve the small scratches on warjack armor such as Beast-09 and Ol' Rowdy?

1)Over a finished surface start by blacking out the scratches with Thamar black. I like to dab along the corners and some edges of plates for chips and then quickly swipe the brush towards the center of the plate as I let pull away from the model to apply scratches.
2)fill in the scratch leaving a thin and uninterrupted line of black around the edge of the scratch. Use Pig Iron followed by Coldsteel for a clean look or Bloodstone followed by Khador Red Highlight for a dirty rusty look.
3)Trace the lower edge of the effect with a bright line of highlight appropriate to the background color.

Question for Matt with regards especially to the Ironclad-ish thing he was demonstrating on at Gencon:

That was a very reddish gold you had going on there. You mentioned brown and red inks. My questions are, did you start off with Rhulic Gold as the base? And were the red and brown inks different washes or a mixed wash?

Soory I don't remember what the exact mixture was... I was just playing around with paints at that point I think... I'd check out the Cygnar Gold tutorial in the Forces of Warmachine: Cygnar book.

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

Did anyone have any experience where the tamiya fine primer does not offer enough bite for paints? Currently working on a 'jack and I've used a bit of windex and retardant on the P3 paints but they just flow off the primecoat.

Tamiya makes paints that are specialized for Airbrushing... Their primer is meant for same thus the smoothness. Try the P3 primer it will *probably* go over the Tamiya without the need for stripping as long as it is applied in two light coats with drying between. Avoid humidity and use a blow dryer on low heat to speed the drying time.

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

Hey there lady and gents, just had a quick question and I'm hoping you can help. I'm looking to paint a small group of Protectorate in the Armor of Mourning scheme found on a few paladins in the Superiority book.

Any chance I could get a breakdown of which paints were used? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Those were painted quite some time ago so I can only give you a breakdown of how I would go about recreating the striking Navy blue and grey colors of the Armor of Mourning.

Grey:
Base-Trollblood Highlight
shade-Bastion Grey
shade-Ironhull Grey+Guncorp Brown
Highlight-Trollblood highlight+Frostbite
Highlight- add Menoth White Highlight to previous mix

Navy Blue:
Base-exile blue
Shade- Exile blue+Thamar Black
Sahde-Thamar Black
Highlight-Exile Blue+Bastion Grey
Hiughlight-Add Hammerfall Khaki to previous

I was looking to do some weathering, and generally dirtying up of a bokur I am currently painting, so I look to the tutorial in wrath where I see the mentioning of spatter technique.
From the pictures I can see it doesn't look like what I can normally do with a brush and wash, my results always end up looking kinda shiny.

What is spatter technique, and how do you get that dried dirty look?

P3 paint washes that are mixed using water come out matte with little shine... You are likely either adding too much mixing medium or *gasp* using a wash from that other company whose washes are notorious for their unwanted shine... If either of these are the case you may try some different materials or a easy fix is to use a matte sealant at the end of your process to dull unwanted shine. Just apply a light coating and be sure to avoid humidity when spraying or you'll get a foggy mess. If you dislike the dull look of your metallics after sealing apply your final matallic highlights after your seal the model for a attractive contrast in the dullness of the metals.

Hey guys. I've been painting my protectorate models in a dark scheme, and now that I'm up to painting the High Reclaimer (the model I started this faction for!) I've hit a bit of a snag. The Armour of my models is basically black (I slowly add GW kommando khaki to it to build up highlights) and for the armour trim I use sanguine base/sanguine highlight. I want the Reclaimer to look really dark and sinister so I want to do both the robes and armour really dark.

My question. Is there a way I can make two black surfaces that are next two each other contrast each other instead of looking, well, like a whole lot of black? I'm not all that good with colour theory but would you use a cool colour in one and a warm colour in the other?

Any help/suggestions would be must appreciated!

I would caution you against two black areas being placed next to one another... It's not impossible to have contrast between two tones of black or white as I hope my paint jobs of the Nyss show but I think I have a better solution for you. How about painting one element (either trim or plate) black and the other painted with metallic paint like old dark iron. Try this process:

Base- Pigiron+Cold steel
Shade-Exile+Umbral umber
Shade Thamar Black

I have a, um... little bit delicate of a question... or rather two questions...
To set the stage - I prime in white because I like to have more control over the brightness of my colors, and because I prefer to use colored shadowing over plain black shadowing.
I also believe that despite that parts of the miniature are hidden, that they still should be painted and painted somewhat well, since I know those parts are there.

Now, my two questions:
Why does PP sculpt horses like they do...?
And how do you paint horses like that...?

I'm gonna go hide for a bit and await answers on this one from a secret place.

First off you make some general claims about white vs black primer that are misleading and false. Those who use black primer can still achieve bright colors and shade with paints other than black as the studio models demonstrate... this forum is for asking questions not stating opinions about painting styles.

Your Questions were not very clear Akio... our sculptors sculpt our horses very carefully and in a painstaking manner over the course of many weeks but thats "how" they sculpt them... as for "why" they sculpt them in the way they do the choices the sculptors make while creating their art are colored by many years of professional work and they must take into account all sort of considerations that you and I would have never thought of... Your second question is also very general could you describe the difficulty that you are having with painting horses? Perhaps I could give you some advice if I knew more about your problem...

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

My apologies, Matt. I wasn't trying to say that white is better than black, or vice-versa... but the general consensus from what I read about priming white v. black is that white tends to brighten colors, and black tends to dull colors but also provides 'instant black shadows', and is therefore quicker to use. White has the problem that if you miss a spot, it's very obvious that you did, because it's white and shadows aren't white. The real point I was trying to make was that by priming white, it's nearly impossible to 'not paint something' and get away with it.

As for the questions regarding PP's horses...

Well, they're... anatomically correct. That was my first question - why do they sculpt them like that?

Which leads into the second question... I'm trying to think out of sight out of mind... (EDIT: I think I know how to phrase what I'm trying to ask - would the studio painters consider details that are 'out of normal sight' something to be painted in detail?

And also (different question), how would they handle painting a smallish detail that was somewhat ambiguous as to what it was on the model - do they make it subtle and try to blend it in with the surrounding areas, or do they spend time actually trying to figure out what it is? (There's a 'bump' of something on the cloak for the original sculpt of Lylyth, near her right shoulder that I couldn't identify, and I'm not sure how to paint it because it's so visible.))

Not really squeamish about it, just trying to keep it all clean here.

Sorry for the confusion.

Sorry if I came across as a bit harsh Akio... Thanks for clarifying.

Having to paint everything is one of the difficulties with using white primer but it doesn't mean you have to spend hours of careful painting making sure that your horse is painted to an ultra realistic standard I've heard the argument from many that they have to paint every detail because they know its there even if you can't see it but in fact this is less realistic because shadows hide details from us all the time! The studio paints in what is called a zenith highlighting style which means that all areas of the model are painted with a light source coming from above in mind. This means that areas that are on the undersides of things will be in shadow and can be painted in a more general manner. Objects that are held close to the body will also logically cast their own shadows which will naturally occur in places that are also hard to reach with your brush. At first this sounds like it would be more difficult and take much longer to achieve but once you get the hang of it painting in zenith highlighting will actually save you time and allow you to spend more time on the most important areas of your figure. This difference in detail is actually a type of contrast and can be used to enhance your design by guiding the eye to points of interest on the model. While you can't just not paint something when using white primer because it is so obvious you can avoid highlighting it. This will allow you to use washes and other techniques that are great for generalized painting and it will also help make the highlights you do apply more "meaningful".

[PPS_Meg]

Hi there
few days ago I get my RoS mage hunter strike force + UA and i'm thinking what kind of glue are you using to put together the tip of the crossbow to the rest of the miniature? this part is so small it can easily break.

Super glue is gonna be the best bet. I've used other things before but super glue is the best in my opinion.

[PPS_Meg]

Hey again. I was wondering how you achieve the golds on the skorne models. They almost look nmm quality, but still retain a slight metallic sheen. Thanks!

Basecoat the metallic areas with solid gold.
Mix solid gold with brown ink for the first shade. Apply a little and blend the shadows. You can make the shadows darker by doing a second round of shadow with more brown ink.
For the first round of highlights add just a little radiant platinum to solid gold.
Hit the model with Dullcote, this dulls the shine of the paint and gives it that NMM quality you desire.
Then go back with a brighter highlight mix of solid gold and radiant platinum, apply just a little and blend. This last highlight will be shinier than the rest that was dullcoted which gives more contrast. Use the last highlight paint sparingly. A little goes a long way.

Hope that helps!

[Evilone01]

Hey again.

I've been working really hard on painting flesh tones and have been improving heaps. Now that I've got the basics down, I was wondering how you would go about painting a real palid, "I don't see the light of day" kind of flesh tone. The best example would probably be the reclaimer solo in the POM faction book.

Thanks in advance!

[KavinCross]

Here's one I'd love to see the answer to:

I like, and very much want to emulate, the Cryx warjack plate color you see in the new Ripjaw and Plastic heavies in the gallery, like this one:



I thought that the quick Cryx painting guide in PRIME MKII might share the secret to getting those tones, but when I follow it, the Cryx Bane Base is far too green. How did the studio achive that Cryx color palate?

--W@L

Since Matt and Meg were answering some older posts...
I have been eager to see the answer to this one.

[Parri]

I was interested in how Madrak Ironhide Variant's kilt pattern was painted. It looks like maybe racksack tan, guncorps brown, and arcane blue. Am I correct? can you please let me know what the steps where to get the pattern right.

[PPS_Meg]

So I was looking for some hints on how to paint the glowy parts of warjacks and other models. For example I would really like to know how to paint the glowy hammers of the MoW Demo corp. Thanks in advance.

Good news about glowy bits--it's easier than many think.

So, you'll want to figure out what color you want your glowy bits. If you want them, like a bright blue then you'd want to go with meredius or arcane blue as your base coat. Lay that down on the runes or glowy areas and then add some morrow white to that and add a few highlights. Go back in with the basecoat color, water it down to a glaze and then apply a little bit of it to the surfaces around the glowy bits. Really it's the glow reflecting on other parts of the model that kicks it off.

Take a look at Epic Baldur on our front page for an example. He's got some glowy runes on his shoulder pad and I painted the glow on to the sword closest to the glowing runes.

[PPS_Meg]

By the way, for any questions I don't answer, it's not because I'm ignoring anyone, it's because I don't know what colors/recipes Matt used for the models in question. I'll see if I can nudge Matt on Monday to get some questions answered.

[Chimosh]

Hi, I've been looking through this thread for answers on Cryx glow formula/steps and the ruins you find on their armor plating and I'm a bit surprised I didn't find anything. I was assuming their would be so I'm sorry if I'm asking a question that has been answered. I promise I put effort into searching for it .
Anyways I noticed the glow on the new Erebus model is a bit brighter than the rest of the Cryx stock pictures and I've followed every tutorial I could find and nothing seems to come out right and its literally the last thing I need to do on my models before I can finish them so paint formulas and steps/guideline would be super helpful. On the topic of Cryx glow how do you do the OSL on Cryx bane base, every attempt I've made to produce OSL looks like i just made a mistake and pained the wrong part green? As for the ruins I want to say they are airbrushed on but I'm kinda hoping I'm wrong because I don't own a airbrush.

Thank you in advance for helping me finally complete my army!

[tutenkharnage]

I own the FoW: Khador book and a Khador Colors paint set. I was looking for other colors to buy, so I went through the list in the back of my FoW book, ordered an Iron Kingdoms Colors paint set, and was in the process of ordering other paints when I noticed the following text on the bottom of the Khador Colors box:

"Model shown painted with colors from this box set and with colors from the Iron Kingdoms Color [sic] set."

The Juggernaut on the box looks good enough to me, but I didn't find any mixes in my FoW book that used paints from only those two sets. Can anyone tell me the mixes used to paint that 'jack so this painting rookie can use it as a good starting point?

Thanks!

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

Hi guys,

I'm curious as to what colors were used for Erebus and Scaverous, especially the bone and armor on Erebus.

I've followed the Cryx colors in both the Warmachine MKII rules book and Cryx forces book, but recipes make the armor come out a greenish black color. I'm looking for the black/blueish grey colors of Scaverous and Erebus.
~Qs

Sometimes the formulas in the books are altered slightly for character models to lend them a unique look and to keep me from going insane with boredom :P In the case of these two models small amounts of Beaten Purple and Exile Blue were added to the standard shading method listed in Forces of Warmachine: Cryx. These colors combine with the standard CXB, Coal Black, and Umbral Umber in interesting ways without drastically altering the overall look.... The bone was painted in the standard method listed in the book.

Looking for advice on what colors/process was used to achieve the Burnished Gold and then the Black Lacquered inlay of the armor on page 93 of NQ 36!

These models are part of Ron Kruzie's personal army. The paint scheme was designed to be extremely streamlined so that it could be painted for the studio showdown article series... Anyway here is the entire process: Drybrush the entire model with Rhulic gold, followed by solid gold, and a third drybrush with Quicksilver mixed in. Block out the armor plates with a solid basecoat of Thamar Black (really any color you desire could be used here to yield different color skorne). Brush on Gloss coat the Thamar Black (lay it on heavy and evenly the gloss coat will shrink when it dries so just avoid streaks with heavy coating). Basecoat the flesh with Thrall Flesh with a bit of Menoth White Highlight mixed in. wash the flesh with Thornwood Green. Add thamar Black to Thornwood green for final controlled shading. Base the cloth areas in Umral Umber. Highlight the cloth with Bootstrap Leather then mix in some rucksack tan and apply final highlights. The rest is just details... gems, metal etc. that you can probably invent yourself.

[PPS_Meg]

Might not be the right spot for this question, but here goes. I'm a big fan of the paint tips in the books, and find them easy to understand and follow versus other tips from other sources. What are the chances of releasing a tip book similar to the GW "How to Paint Miniatures" only useful .

Sorry to GW fans but I've never had success with following the advice in any of their publications ranging from Painting to Basing and Model making.

As far as I know, there are no current plans for a painting guide. But feel free to ask any questions regarding painting here. Matt and or I will get back to you.

[NavyGodzilla]

I need help with Titan flesh. I'm unsure of the colours being used and which areas are blended and drybrushed. Also, I am curious on blending the bronze for a bronze back.

[PPS_Meg]

Howdy!

I'm in love with the Flameguard models, and I really enjoy the alternate scheme seen below. How would you go about re-creating this look?

Thanks!

I'm assuming you are asking what colors we would use, n'est-ce pas?

For the light tan/yellowish on the shield and helmet I'd use rucksack tan.
The dark brown on the clothing I'd use Battlefield brown.
The reddish brown I'd use a mix of bootstrap leather with maybe a touch of sanguine base. Just a touch of it.
Then the metallics--the silver should be quick silver and the gold looks like rhulic gold mixed with a bit of quicksilver to make it a bit less of a rich gold but still retaining a slight rosy hue.

Hope that helps.

[PPS_Meg]

Originally Posted by UndeadDan
Hey Meg, any chance you could post the colors and recipes you used on the Gallows Grove in the Ask the Studio Thread in the Painting and Modeling forum?

I'm going to start painting Wyrmwood soon and that would be a nice resource to have.

This is a rough guesstimate but I'm pretty sure I basecoated in Battlefield Brown then I took a bunch of greys, browns and greens of varying shade or tint and then quickly streaked them over the battlefield brown. Then go back in with some more battlefield brown and glaze over the areas that should be in shadow. This way you still get some of the texture coming through the bark since the actual physical texture is very subtle. You can use this technique anytime you are painting trees and want to make the bark texture more pronounced. I will even paint real sticks and twigs like this when incorporating them into bases.

For the exposed wood I did kinda the same thing. I took greatcoat grey as the basecoat and then used some tans, blues and greens to give it a bit of texture and then went back over the wood around the edges of the bark and areas that should be in shadow and glazed the shadows in.

The glowy green bits I took necrotite green and did some glazes and then to get a really bright glowy green just add some morrow white to necrotite greet and use it sparingly. You want to create a few "hot spots" on the glowy bits.

The bones and skulls I basecoated in Menoth white base, highlighted with menoth white highlight and then glazed some browns and tans into the depressions of the skull. Use mixing medium for this step because it will end up with a bit of a glossy finish once you are done and when bodies naturally decay the bones retain their periosteum which looks and feels a bit greasy.

[noghannan]

Hey guys. I am getting ready to start painting some Long Riders and Horthol and was curious if you could discuss how you go about paint the "skin" sections of the bison? The fur sections have been in 2 different books so far but I have been unable to find if you have discussed the rest of the bison. Thanks

[ForestZ]

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how the Extreme Destroyer was painted? Was the white shaded at all, or is the model relying on the weathering effects to bring out the details? How was that rust look achieved? (I'm assuming something like the blisterfoam stippling method, but I love the subtle changes in color from exposed metal to full on rust.) Any tips on how it was planned out? It usually seems like "less is more" when it comes to the weathering effects but this paint job managed to pour a lot of effects on without making it look busy.

[Awk]

Does anyone know how the white armour on Beast 09 was painted? I've tried all manner of greys, blues and white but just can't get the perfect combination. Any help in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[PPS_Meg]

i accidnetly completely ruined my trollwhelps bases that i just bought.i need to buy bases for my trollwhleps but idk what size the base is for trollwhelps.the bases are pretty small.

What size bases do trollbloods trollwhelps use?

They are on our smallest size base

http://store.privateerpress.com/30mmplasticbases.aspx

These guys . . . having extra bases is always handy. I can't tell you how many I've collected over the years. If you mess up one, crack it off the model and start the base over again.

[PPS_Meg]

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how the

Extreme Destroyer was painted? Was the white shaded at all, or is the model relying on the weathering effects to bring out the details? How was that rust look achieved? (I'm assuming something like the blisterfoam stippling method, but I love the subtle changes in color from exposed metal to full on rust.) Any tips on how it was planned out? It usually seems like "less is more" when it comes to the weathering effects but this paint job managed to pour a lot of effects on without making it look busy.

I do believe Matt said he had done some of that work with airbrush and salt mask. Not sure what his exact steps were but a place to start would be to prime the entire model in rust colored primer, lay down a salt mask (dab water onto areas of the model and sprinkle with kosher salt or sea salt) then airbrush the white on very lightly. That way you get some of the weathering showing through the white. Once it's all completely dry (I'd let it sit for an hour at least) lightly brush the salt off and you'll have the irregular weather patterns on the jack. That's the jist.

I'll let Matt know there are some specific questions for him though and see if he can give a more in-depth answer.

[ForestZ]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks, Meg. I'm familiar with that method but having no airbrush haven't been able to get it to work yet. I might have to try it with spray paint at some point. It's normally too thick for the hairspray method without salt, but it might work with it.

Thanks!

[PPS_Meg]

Does anyone know how the white armour on Beast 09 was painted? I've tried all manner of greys, blues and white but just can't get the perfect combination. Any help in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Greys, blues and pure white will give you a cool white. The beast 09 was painted with a warm white so you'll want that to be more yellowy than blue. I didn't paint this guy but I'd venture the guess that colors such as jack bone, menoth white base, hammerfall khaki, possibly trollblood highlight may have been used in the painting of the white armor. Looks like it was highlighted up to menoth white highlight too. Doesn't look like much, if any, morrow white was used in the highlighting process. If I were to try and recreate the recipe I'd start with a base of menoth base and shade with hammerfall khaki first then mix some greatcoat grey or bastion grey into the hammerfall khaki for the second round of shadows and then start highlighting with menoth white highlight from there and possibly mix in a little morrow white to the menoth highlight for the last round of highlights.

[Awk]

Greys, blues and pure white will give you a cool white. The beast 09 was painted with a warm white so you'll want that to be more yellowy than blue. I didn't paint this guy but I'd venture the guess that colors such as jack bone, menoth white base, hammerfall khaki, possibly trollblood highlight may have been used in the painting of the white armor. Looks like it was highlighted up to menoth white highlight too. Doesn't look like much, if any, morrow white was used in the highlighting process. If I were to try and recreate the recipe I'd start with a base of menoth base and shade with hammerfall khaki first then mix some greatcoat grey or bastion grey into the hammerfall khaki for the second round of shadows and then start highlighting with menoth white highlight from there and possibly mix in a little morrow white to the menoth highlight for the last round of highlights.

Thanks Meg for the quick reply and sound advice. That makes a lot of sense now that I read it. I'll give it a try and see how it goes. :-)

[Murkhadh]

On Epic Eiryss in the studio scheme. What colors are the feathers on her back painted? there is no 360 view of her on the site.

[Azerlypso]

Hi,

iam going to ask how did you guys paint the Beast 09? may with colors, mixes and some things they i have to know to bring it alive.

thanks

[PPS_Meg]

I have a bunch of little questions, pick and choose anything that strikes you as interesting:

What kind of brushes do you personally prefer? I know you said you use a #2 almost exclusively... are you able to shed some light on which brands you like?

Do any of you guys in the studio use magnifiers of any kind to help you paint the little details?

Are there any mistakes that you constantly see new painters make that you'd like to go on a soapbox about? Or, alternatively, one thing you could tell a totally new painter to help them improve their technique?

How often do you busy busy painters ever actually get time to play Warmachine/Hordes? Do you have a painter's league?

And lastly, I play trollboods - what's your favorite way/trick to do plaid?

Neither Matt nor myself use magnifiers. I wear glasses for eye strain but they do not provide any type of significant magnification; it's the lowest prescription you can get. I know some people recommend using magnifiers or reading glasses but magnifiers kinda mess up your depth perception and I've had a hard time trying to use them before. I can see all I need to without them. If you can't see the detail while trying to paint it and use magnifiers, the person looking at your finished mini probably won't be able to see what you painstakingly painted. As for the reading glasses, I'd not recommend this unless you need a prescription. Using glasses that are not prescribed for you can ruin your vision and that's a very important part of painting--being able to see!

Well there are lots of mistakes I see from people or even recommendations that I'm not a fan of. I see this from new painters and old alike though. Firstly, stripping minis. That's a no-no. If you are painting a mini and don't like it, finish it and put it on a shelf to remind yourself of what you don't like. Get another copy of the mini and paint it again. You'll get more practice by painting it again and by keeping the old one you get a benchmark. Also, stripping minis takes time, effort and sometimes you can't get all of the paint off and you can end up with rough crud filled minis in the end.

Second, washes for shading. Washes are great if you have an armored dude who you want to throw on the table really fast. If your mini is mostly non-metal surfaces, washes are not the way to go. It will make your mini look a dirty and dark and the colors will have a lot of trouble popping.

Third, not thinning paints. Always, always, always, thin paints with a little bit of water. This will ensure a nice smooth coat. Forget the additives though. Use only water. Additives can affect the way a paint reacts and behaves. Besides, if you add too much gunk to your paint it may become more difficult to use. The P3 paints are really well formulated for several different styles of painting. Just a little bit of water goes a long way.

Fourth, trying to give exact recipes using "drops" as a unit of measurement. Perfect recipes in the painting world don't really exist. You can use dropper bottles if you want but it becomes really tedious really fast to try and figure out your recipes. Instead, get to know your paint, how it works, how it reacts and learn how colors interact with one another.

There's more I'm sure but these were the ones off the top of my head. And remember, these are mistakes in my opinion. There are many differing opinions on these topics.

I still have yet to learn how to play Warmachine/Hordes. I kinda want a painted army before I put them on the table so I don't get razzed too much And I've had a lot of other things dominate my personal time which has kept me from painting my Trolls. I am learning the fluff of the world and peruse the faction and rule books in spare time. I've also watched a lot of games and had the combat rounds explained to me. I just need to paint my trolls!

There is a great tutorial on painting plaid in the Trollbloods book if memory serves. Always have a picture of a tartan in front of you that you may want to copy or emulate. That will help you out a lot with painting the design and colors accurately.

That's Meg's 2 cents anyway . . . not sure if Matt has anything else to add.

[Autumn Stone]

I have a bunch of little questions, ...snip...

And lastly, I play trollboods - what's your favorite way/trick to do plaid?

there is a how to paint tartan in the tutorial finder sticky at the top of the painting and miniatures forum

http://privateerpressforums.com/show...l=1#post902795

Cheers
A.S.

[PPS_Meg]

Hi,

can anybody pls tell me how you did the skin color of the new troll rok?

it would be really great

thank you^^

Sure thing!

I basecoated Rok with a mix of Trollblood base and Frostbite. You'll want a couple of thin coats to get coverage.
Then I took that mix and added Meridius Blue, Cryx Bane Base and Sanguine base and started shading.
I went back and recaptured some of the basecoat.
Then for highlight one I added a little more frostbite to the trollblood base and keep adding more frostbite for the highlight till you are happy.
The palms and tummy I mixed Frostbite and Menoth White Highlight and then continually worked that up to almost pure Menoth Highlight.

[KamenRiderNecro]

shading is the undersides of things and crevices more than anything else, I gather? I also gather that you mix your shading color with your base color? Any and all advice there is welcome--I have the P3 mixing chart on the HD here, and while it gives a lot of great ideas, I'm wondering sometimes how to implement them. Thanks for asking and sparking my memory, Meg!

[PPS_Meg]

Honestly how to mix varying shades and tints* is really dependent upon your knowledge of color theory. You don't need to know a lot but just a little will help you.

*definitions of shades and tints:
shade--adding black to hue (or color) to make it darker.
tint--adding white or more water to dilute the hue (or color).

Typically you want your shadows to be in the cooler range of colors. So this means that if you are using red you'd want to add a blue, green or purple to shade it. Cooler colors recede into the background when the eye looks at it and warmer colors such as red, yellow and orange pop to the front of the field of vision. Now, the one thing lots of people have problems with in regards to cool vs warm is that they get confused if they want a cooler themed mini. This can still work because even within the cool and warm colors there is variation in tone.

For instances sanguine base and skorne red are both warm colors because they are red. But if you put them side by side you can see that sanguine base is cooler because it has more blue in it which is evidenced by the fact that it's a kind of purply red.

For blue, put arcane blue and meridius blue side by side and you should see that arcane blue has more green in it. Green is a warmer cool color because it has yellow mixed into it. meridius blue has more blue in it and thus is the cooler of the two hues.

If you have a lot of problems with figuring out what colors to mix together to get the desired color scheme I'd really recommend reading up on some color theory. what I've given above is an extremely abbreviated bit of color theory. There are a lot of really good art school text books that you can find on amazon or half.com (that was where I got most my art textbooks for school) or take a class. Most likely there is a community college or university nearby (for instance UNT has a great design 1 class. Also try NTCC for beginning art classes) where you can audit a class.

Otherwise, to boil down what I've already said--cool recedes to the back while warm comes to the front. But don't overthink color too much. Just do!

[PPS_Matt DiPietro]

Hey I wanted to know how to paint the Totem hunter as per the studio paint job for the Armour, skin and Gold?

That one is an Ali paint job but there is good news a full step by step was published in No Quarter #6. It's a cool article because you also get the step-by-step of the sculpting process! So, check around for that issue and you can get the full story.

[Monkeyreado]

Hey there,
I'm struggling to get the more vivid green for the Mercenaries battlegroup that's on the front of the box. Any advice about which P3 paints I should be using. The ones in the Mercenaries paintset are a little dull in tone. Is there a back issue of No Quarter I can get to help?
Cheers!

[PPS_Meg]

Hey there,
I'm struggling to get the more vivid green for the Mercenaries battlegroup that's on the front of the box. Any advice about which P3 paints I should be using. The ones in the Mercenaries paintset are a little dull in tone. Is there a back issue of No Quarter I can get to help?
Cheers!

Depending on which greens you are using I may suggest mixing in a bit of Ordic Olive in. It's more vivid than say Traitor Green but not overly bright like Wurm Green or Necrotite Green.