Today I venture into the chamber of darkness to explore painting in grey scale. However, since this is supposed to be an actual challenge, and since I have already done hordes of zombies in greyscale in past challenges, I thought I should challenge myself in some other way... yeah, I know, I am a glutton for punishment. So, in addition to doing this figure in grey scale, I also did it with oil paints for the first time ever!
I know, I know, oil paints on a 28mm miniature? Madness you say, and you are not far off. To be fair...
Sorry, I couldn't resist... I love Letterkenny :-)
Anyway, to be fair, I have used oil paints in the past but only as super thinned down pin washes for vehicles, so using only oil paints on a figure is now to me (and maybe a new normal? more on that later). So, here is all I used when painting this figure....
After that it was simply putting dots of black or white where I wanted shadow or highlight and using a clean brush to blend it with the grey already in place. It was an amazing experience, as it was so much easier to get smooth blends compared to acrylics where you need to wet blend with incredible speed to avoid drying or super thin layers.
I even painted the clump of static grass with thinned oil paint as I only had coloured tufts. You can not imagine how hard it is to paint static grass until you try it.... OMG, not my best idea, but at least it turned out ok.
I always take this challenge as an opportunity to try something new each year, either a new era, a new scale, a new painting technique or tool, just something new. After all experimentation leads to learning and growth (even if the experiment fails you learn something, sometimes you even learn more!). This year the plan was a new era (coming soon) and playing with oils, and I have to say that so far, I loved the process of painting with oils so much that I will be trying a few more full colour oil painted figures over the course of the challenge, so watch for more to come.
I am assuming that working with colours is going to complicate the process vastly compared to just black and white, but it's a new chance to learn. Also due to the drying times involved, it is not something I would consider for everything, but for characters or special models or even just for effects, I think I may just have a new tool in the toolbox!
Oh, and this is a 28mm French Great War infantry model, I am sorry I do not remember the company though. It might be a Renegade figure as it is pretty chunky.
Victim #11, I presume!
Grey-scale and oil paints? My word! I must say you've done a great job on this chap. So, 25 points for you.
Tamsin
Nice work Byron! I find my occasional attempts to use oil paints are enough to remind why I will never touch oil paints. But then I see a post like this and think "hey, maybe I could do that..."
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg, honestly I have stayed away from them for ever too thinking they were too hard to work with as well, but then watched a few videos by one of my new favourite youtube painters and figure I would give it a try. You can check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-yK_OaOVBA&list=PLQybQSJNR3RUHePRuJqQ0JmyUdUk0e6Kc&index=3&t=68s
DeleteAnother good YouTube mini painter who uses oils is Vince Venturella.
DeleteTo be fair...This is a great grey scale painting :)
ReplyDeleteNever tried to paint with oils so I don't know...
Cheers!
Great work on the greyscale Byron. I haven’t used oil since I painted Airfix plastics in Humbrol enamels back in High School. The stink will prevent me from trying again, althoug( folks swear that it’s the best way to paint horses.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter. On the paints though, are you thinking of enamels? Those stink, I don't smell anything from any of the oils I have (although maybe its the brand?).
DeleteNice work Bryon, but oil paints, did it take all week?
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul, no it didn't. Honestly, it was all of 30 minutes! Hence saying it was super easy. And I used Abteilung 502 oil paints that are made for painting on miniatures, so they are made with much less linseed oil than normal oil paints, so they dry in a day or two instead of the normal week or more on figures. However, the trick is hit it with dull cote when done a layer and that sets it, and you can move on when that dries. That said, since I did this all in one sitting, I never had to seal it at all.
DeleteGreat tip Byron! I think I may try this for a few character vignettes in the future.
DeleteLovely looking greyscale figure! I started off with enamel on miniatures, you get a longer open time and the smell mainly came from the turps/white spirit which you would still need for oil paints? Very interesting anyway!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Art supplies shops sell odourless white spirits. You do still need them, if only for cleaning your brushes.
DeleteExactly, yes you still need white spirits, but the odourless version really is that, you can not smell it at all. And it's not just me saying that, the wife is like a blood hound with smells, and she has never complained about it.
DeleteVery well done Byron! It had never occurred to me to use oils for greyscale painting. But thinking of it it's actually a pretty clever idea. The blending works so much easier and you don't have to be careful with any intermediate tones.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I'd maybe have done would have been to use some lighter/ darker shades for parts of the equipment to make it stand out a little better.
As for painting the tufts, when I did my greyscale project I simply hit them with black primer through the airbrush and gave them a quick drybrush afterwards.
Thanks for the comments. I agree the equipment could be more different, as could the jacket. Or conversely, if the jacket was lighter to show that it is light blue better, then maybe the equipment would show up better?
DeleteI agree 100% though, there are things I could improve on it... I think flesh could be lighter, jacket lighter, and maybe a few more highlights and shadow to stretch the value and contrast range more. I might go back and do another one before the challenge is over just to see what I can do. Thanks for the comments, and yes, definitely I would spray paint the tuft next time!!!
Given it's early war I'd say tunic a smidgen darker, bread bag lighter and the webbing/ cartridge pouches almost black. But don’t be too hard on yourself. For a first take it’s excellent.
DeleteCracking work Byron! It's always fun trying something new, especially when it works out as well as this! Bravo.
ReplyDeleteAwesome work. The oil paints did the trick and then some.
ReplyDeleteWell done, and extra well done for painting a tuft!
ReplyDeleteLovely bit of grey scale
ReplyDeleteRegards KenR