I have the Marine Officer mini from Dire Foes 2. I was hoping for some advice on painting specific parts of this mini. I was thinking of doing her skirt and cap in a PanO blue, but her shirt white. I have painted small bits of white before, but not a large part like this, and not a fabric sort of look. I have heard before that it is challenging to paint large white sections. How should I go about this? Secondly, I wanted to replicate the stocking look on her legs that Angel painted. I have absolutely no idea how to go about this! How do I paint her legs to make it look like she has semi-transparent stockings?
The first rule for painting white is you don't paint white. You still really want to paint white? OK, but you still don't paint white. You paint a light gray or bluegray (depending on how you want the final color to look) and save the pure white for just the smallest highlights. For the stockings, mix a bit of the skin tone into the highlight colors for the stockings.
Yeah, the small white bits I have done on my Corregidor were more of a pale grey with only a little white on the small, final highlights (if at all). I use Vallejo Game Colour and start with a 1:1 Cold Grey:Ghost Grey and build-up from there. I normally use a black wash into the creases of white sections (where appropriate). I think I once read that you should use blue washes with fabric: is that right? With the stockings, would you say 1:1 flesh:stocking mix, or more like 1:2 (or more!) flesh:stocking?
You can use a variety of tones, be it grey, blue, yellow, or honestly anything else. It depends on what sort of a tone you want in the final miniature. Blue is generally “cool”, whereas yellows (cream, sepia, etc) are generally “warm”. But you can make a white that is tinted with green, pink, or literally any other color. It’s just a matter of making it complement the other tones on the model.
Really depends on what the surrounding color is. I might even go with a hint of the skin tone as the 'shade' to imply a very lightweight shirt. Again, really depends. You're going to want lots of thin layers to make it look right.
Unfortunately there's no set recipe and you're going to have to play around with it. While that can be intimidating (and even frustrating) the upside is that it help develop your skills as a painter, and in the future you'll be able to apply the techniques to other models, even if the exact colors and materials involved aren't the same.
Thanks for the advice. I have been painting models for about 20 years, but I am still not very good. I rely heavily on default colour schemes and guides on how to achieve them. Being a civilian model, this seems the perfect opportunity to take more of a risk. Even if it fails, it is not an important mini.
