Hi! I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m actually going to paint my own models. I bought a lot of stuff to make this as easy as possible, but I’m already confused and defeated. lol I want to learn the lazy painter style; however, I lack an air brush. And, I’m not a fan of rattle cans. So, I will be using a brush to prime my minis. I have Vallejo black, grey, and white primer. I need to paint Haqqislam Ghulams and to my surprise, he had an article on the subject. https://lazypainter.com/guide-ghulam Step one stumps me. Face palm. This is where I need the help. Do I paint the whole figure black then brush grey onto it at an angle or do I paint it grey and apply white and black from opposite angles? From there, I feel like I’ll be safe to venture out minus the face. Once I get to that area I’ll be raising my hand again. lol Edit: From looking at the model from the beginning it looks like it was painted all back first then grey was added from the top at an angle. This will be a bit challenging in trying to recreate as I can see where an air brush is almost key to success…maybe I should just get one. :<
You can achieve a similar effect with "not-completely-drybrush", but this was done with airbrush. That's the only way to achieve such a smooth zenithal. Check these out: This thread shows how to it with a spray can. Good idea to use black primer, then gray spray then white, not straight to white. But generally an airbrush is the easy mode AND gives the best effect. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/356747-zenithal-priming-without-an-airbrush/ Good luck, thin the paint (NO, MORE) and share the results! :)
For the first coat try getting Badger Stynylrez primer (also sold relabeled as Mig Jimenez Ammo One Shot and Ultimate Modelling Products Primer). If you do not get it in black, just do a full coat of black afterwards.
You don't need a lot of special stuff and features, a start with a zenithal in black, grey, and white is fine. Make up brushes are a good and cheap alternative to special dry brushes. If you are starting with the serious painting it might be of help to not ask because you will get a different answer from everyone. It's integral that you paint even if the outcome doesn't satisfy you in the beginning. Just keep going you will get better with the brush and the colours. Don't try to rush it and take your time. There are no shortcuts just tricks and tips. My Mantra is try and fail until you get it right.
As everybody has mentioned an airbrush makes things smoother, easier and quicker, but few if any of the things you can do with an airbrush are exclusive to it (in fact i can't think of any right now). All you're doing with a zenithal is putting highlights on the upper-facing bits of the mini, and you very much can do it without one. Videos have been posted yet i still gotta add one more: Also save the channel, Uncle Atom has good advice, very specially for newbies.
Yup! Air brush is king. But, I’ll be staying the hellllll way from rattle can. That speckle is god awful in my humble opinion. I saw one video that use white ink over airbrush paint and the effect was smoother. I will try that and snag some Artis Opus Series M brushes.
If money is no object, go for them, but otherwise try out makeup brushes first - that is for that drybrush/overbrush/stippling work that's supposed to substitute for airbrush :)
It is really wild to me that someone managed to market special dry brushes and dry pallets as luxury painting tools. Makes me wonder what else one could design expensive versions of
Bwhaha. But they are so nice! They have hair from exotic animals and a wooden stem. Shit be one of a kind! Someone get me a wheel barrel and my bank on the phone!
@sololobo I've got a set of special mini-painting sticks I think you'd like. They're multi-purpose... great for mixing paint, applying glue, putties, or basing materials, or even painting fine dots and details. Made from natural materials. Only $100 for a box of them with your name monogram-ed onto it.
So, I'll chime something in here - I used to be all about the zenithal highlighting for my priming until I started using GW's Contrast Paints. My first big outing with them, though, was painting my CHA. I primed them black, did a zenithal highlight grey to white and then went at them with the Contrasts. The problem I found was that the Contrasts over the black priming in shadow weren't strong enough for the color to show up as anything but black. Whereas if I primed the entire model grey, eggshell/bone, or white, down in the shadows where the dark parts of the Contrast pigments would collect would be a dark color, but not just black. My takeaway - if I'm just painting with airbrush and standard paints, I 100% prime black and zenithal highlight (this is my method for painting my PanO). But if I'm primarily using Contrasts (as I do for my Ariadna models), I prime a light color and stay away from zenithal highlighting.
You can adjust zenithal to a less extreme range, just like contrast can be mixed or thinned, when the situation demands it. So do primer in dark grey to white, or light grey to white, or even any dark or mid color to other very light one. Or apply white a lot more so black only stays under skirts and the rest goes mid grey at best. One technique is about angle (towards sky or ground) and the other about depth in the surface.
A zenithal benefits the most from painting with transparent paints. Instead of ignoring this technique i'd suggest adjusting it, either by changing the zenithal to not be so dark on the darkest points, switching to different transparent paints (for example, the tests i've seen from the new Army Painter Speedpaints over zenithal look quite nice, maybe those work better with it), or retouch the zenithal before starting like Marco does here:
I really like that style. Base, Brush, Detail, Layer - Done. Of course, more detail work can be done but I like that it plays into a darker “comic book” like look. I still got some items coming in and I’m buying quite a few colors. Once I get going I can’t wait to show off the progress. :)