Can You Guys Help??, Painting Metal Troubles Options

[Aslomov]

Hey guys! I am not sure if this is the right place, but you will soon let me know

Well, the trouble is that I can't get colours to sit well on top of Boltgun Metal and Tin Bits etc. Merchite Red and Skull White my chosen colours, and I was wondering how you guys go about it? Like, do you paint the metal areas first, or the colours first? Because I hate trying to paint thin lines and little bits of metal over colours (Doesn't look that good.) And I find that colours do not work well for me over metal.

Also, how do you guys do black metal? Because I can't get chaos black to cover the way I want, it's either too thick and ruins it or not thick enough. I was thinking of doing a couple of layers of Badab Black over a dark grey (It works well for boots etc. but might not on metal areas.)

As I can only get online once a week and can do with getting this right, I have been converting a lot! And would love to get into painting properly! Help from you guys would be greatly appreciated!

[Aslomov]

I forgot to also mention that I will be painting the skin first as I am drybrushing it all to get the effect I want. So drybrushing is out of the question for the metal areas (Is it?) I don't think I could control the brush that much.

And also photos or tutorials would be great!

[Batou]

There's so much metal on your average Ork (weapons, armour, buckles, chains, earrings...) that I reckon it's easier to do metal first and then skin after. Simply because both are a pain in the but done in this order is the lesser of two evils!

I start by undercoating black, and then liberally and messily drybrushing almost the whole model with boltgun metal - of course focusing on metal areas. Then I go back and basecoat the skin. I always used to swear by Goblin Green, a dark green ink wash, then back up to gobbo Green and subsequent highlights, although more recently I like the extra control you get through simply starting with a darker skin colour (I use 50:50 Gobbo green and chaos black) and highlighting up. Plus, this way you don't run the risk of dribbling ink all over your nicely drybrushed metal.

I'm not sure what you meant when you spoke about colours not sitting properly on top of metal - I've personally never encountered a problem doing this. I always do my silver/steel metal by drybrushing over a black undercoat, to give quite a dark finish. I find that drybrushed over a white undercoat - or worse still, just brushed on wet - makes it look much too tinny and tacky. Then, if I want to make the metallic area gold or brass, I drybush that on top of the silver (I find that gold and brass don't have the same covering quality as boltgun metal - but maybe that's just my old paints degrading). Colours should sit nicely on top of this metal, but perhaps give it two or more coats if need be.

I'm afraid you've completely lost me with "black metal". If you're drybrushing over a black undercoat, just making the drybrush lighter will give a darker looking metal (or you could use black ink washes over metal, I suppose).

Good luck!

[Aslomov]

Yeah, they are both a pain to paint! I don't like black as an undercoat, I use grey to be honest. I would just us a black wash before I paint the metal areas.

Well not just black metal. Any area of the model that would be painted black, I'm sure a lot of people have trouble highlighting black..

I have almost finished a Boy now, and I am liking it so far. When I am finished I will show you all.. Would love to know what you all think! I only have a couple of metal bits and straps to finish, then I will post photos!

Also, thanks Batou!

[Batou]

Ah, ok I see what you mean.

Yes, highlighting black is always tricky, especially knowing how far to push the highlights (just grey, or all the way to white?). I suppose it's partly down to personal preference and how shiny/matte you're trying to make it look (black cloth and black leather would have very different highlights).

Maybe the best thing to do is to post up an example of your painting along with a step-by-step explanation of how you did it

[Aslomov]

I shall do that when I can get a camera! I would like to know what you guys think..

I find that I don't like to put too much paint on in one go, so I end up putting on too little (I think) I'm not sure if my highlights are strong enough on the trousers, but you can let me know when I upload photos!

[ff151]

Hey Guys,

I have been painting Orks for about 3 years now and have created various HD video tutorials on the many effects you guys are talking about...If you are wondering if I can paint, here is my Ghaghkull...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


How I paint Metal tutorial is here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDs3WffVOZI

How I paint Ork Skin is here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nle05Kie8oQ

How I paint Ork trousers is here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiDsiSDewtw

How to highlight black or paint Black Ork trousers is here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QDRZTeubs


As an extra, here is the colour scheme and how I paint my Grots/Gretchin....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7O9zdW5zIQ

I hope they help you in some way.

[popisdead]

Jakob Nielson has a useful tutorial for metal that you might like.

Tamaya clear orange, chestnut ink and black ink (you can order inks through Maelstrom, the Coat d'Arms are the original inks or try Vallejo) mixed with some water. Comes out like a nice greasy wash. Then I edge with some thinned mithril silver. for a two step process works fairly well.

You could try Tamaya Clear Smoke and black ink if you are after a more black look?

Hope that helps