Painting Technique (Stippling?)

[Thryth]

Hello,

I unfortunately may have the wrong terminology here, but...

I am trying to determine how to paint things like stone realistically. I think that the technique that I am trying to figure-out is stippling. I am looking to create a speckled appearance. I tried cutting-down a flat brush and spreading-out the hairs, but that did not work very well.

Does anyone know how to do this? Am I even asking the correct question?

Thanks! :D

[lauth81]

Do you mean a marble-like effect? I saw a tutorial for that on the reaper forums a while back ... I remember it vaguely, but it was about using a small sponge to get the paint onto the surface of the mini.

[Jabberwocky]

Thryth--are you looking for something like this?
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Jabberwocky1169/Goodpillar.jpg

[callumrice]

Hell if Tyrth isnt, I am! You should do a tutorial on painting stone like that jabberwocky

[Wren]

Lazlo's got a tutorial for speckled marble over on Hot Lead - http://www.hot-lead.org/advance/texturing_granite.htm. It's a pretty fun technique actually. I used it for the gravestone on this scene, though in my usual way I probably went a little too subtle. http://www.coolminiornot.com/120123

[Skya]

Try applying the paint with a sponge piece?

[Jabberwocky]

Lazlo's got a tutorial for speckled marble over on Hot Lead - http://www.hot-lead.org/advance/texturing_granite.htm.

My pillar of good was done using that technique. I based it with a medium gray, then took an old toothbrush and dipped the very tip in a light gray, followed by black and white, respectively. It is a very short learning curve, but as you "flick" the paint off the brush, try to get small amounts on the mini, so the scale looks right. I usually did it a couple of times on the paper to get off some of the initial excess; it is kind of the same thought process as with drybrushing--less is more. At the end, I went back with my basecoat gray and cleaned up and spots that seemed too big. For a bit of weathering, I picked out a medium green and thinned it down and lightly washed the model trying to keep most of it in the cracks to simulate moss/lichen. I'd be happy to put together a tutorial if there is much general interest, but Lazlo's article really covered the crux of the technique.

[Wren]

I wanted a rose granite for mine, trying to remember how I did it... I think I used gray with a bit of dark pink added for the base and then mostly gray/white/black for the speckles the way Lazlo described, but I think I also did a set of peachy speckles in the middle. I think I glazed a bit too, but I can't remember for sure.

[Thryth]

Hello Everyone!,

Thanks for all of the replies.

@lauth81 Thanks for the suggestion. I am not really referring to a marble effect. I'll explain more below.

@Jabberwocky, Wren Thanks for the link and information. Not what I intended, but cool and something that I would like to try. :)

@Skya Thanks for the suggestion. Maybe that is the answer, or at least part of it. See below.

Thanks again for all of the help. While I asked for a technique specifically for stone, I also thought that it would work well for rust, so perhaps I am asking the wrong question?

My quest for a technique starts with the miniature that I painted for the Mechanical Mayham contest: http://www.stanscorner.com/Miniatures/2007/slides/00549-urban-mammoth-13316-achilles-class-biomech.html

As you can see from that (and one of my FFII entries: http://wyrd-games.net/photopost/data/512/medium/00312-GW-4002-imperial-guard-21.jpg), I am incapable of painting rusty/weathered metallic bases. I think that I have a problem with (choosing the correct colors and) making a mottled appearance for the rust.

I also want to work on a base with stones on it, and thought that a mottled appearance would work well for that, so:

1) Can anyone help me with my technique for painting rusty bases? Please? :D

2) Um, actually I guess that was already answered in this thread. :)

Thanks again!

[Nathan Caroland]

Maestro did an excellent rusted blade on one of the Wyrd zombies, might that be the look you are going for?

http://wyrd-games.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1398

Oooh, actually, now that I think about it, the person you want to talk to is Cedric (green stuff). He's working on something for me right now that really takes corroded metal to the extreme and if you ask nicely, he might share it with you.

[DrEvilmonki]

Can you post a link to a picture with the end result you DO want?

[green stuff]

I won't show what I'm working on right now to keep the surprise for a later event, but her are a few other examples :

Dwarf Grand Banner Bearer (http://greenstuff.free.fr/img/Figurines/GD/2006/FR/DwarfGrandBannerBearer/DwarfGrandBannerBearerBackFinalCollage.jpg)

Grey Orc (http://greenstuff.free.fr/img/CMON/Ilyad/ChroniquesLuneNoire/BerserkerOrqueGris1/BerserkerOrqueGris1Baballe.jpg)

Leveticus (http://greenstuff.free.fr/img/WyrdGames/Leveticus/Leveticus.jpg)

Chaos Terminator (http://greenstuff.free.fr/img/WyrdGames/Iron%20Chef/IC1/Round1/IC1R1Final.jpg)

Taelor (http://greenstuff.free.fr/img/WyrdGames/Taelor/TaelorFinal.jpg)

RL weathered metallics (http://wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?t=2637)

You'll also want to check Cyril's french article on weathering bases (lots of pics) (http://neomodel.free.fr/tuto/tuto-socle-flamer1.html). It's interesting because he explains classic modeling technics (like what is used on tanks, ... etc).

What I didn't understand Thryth in your post is if you just want to do a rock base with mud, dirt, and moss or if there are going to be lots of corroded metalic parts. So that's why I put so many examples.

Here are a few of my paint formulas that work both on NMM and TMP :

Iron corrosion (rust) : Scorched Brown wash, then mixed with orange, then mixed with yellow.

Bronze corrosion (verdigris) : Scaly Green wash, then mixed with Hawk Turquoise, then with Ice Blue, then with white.

Dirt : Scorched Brown wash, then mixed with Graveyard Earth, then a slight "wet drybrush" with Bleached Bone for a dust effect.

Moss : Catachan Green wash, then a Dark Angel Green wash to give more life and color.

The important thing is to ask yourself how these effects are created in real life. Moss won't grow everywhere, corrosion runs down (yes the corrosion on the grey orc sign goes a bit diagonaly ... but that's the wind :P) ... etc.

I hope that helps, feel free to say if it doesn't read clearly ;)

[green stuff]

I forgot to mention, Anders' minis are excellent reference material. The weathering is often very subtle but incredibly realistic.

[Thryth]

@Frustrated Father: I aspire to paint rusty metallics like that. Brillant work! :) Thanks for the help.

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@DrEvilmonki :
As far as a rusty metallic base, I like the way that these are painted: http://ginfritter.coolbusiness.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=230

Although, if I were to drift into an non-completely rusted base, Ritual has some great work:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/141138 (subtle, but perfect with that miniature)
http://www.coolminiornot.com/128869 (again subtle, but very nice!)

As far as stone, I kind of like the way that these are painted, but I assume that there is some technique to get the mottling (which is why I started this thread :) ):
http://www.kerrandking.co.uk/25mm_scale/kk118.html

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@green stuff: Thank you very much for the advice.
I asked about stone (as seen in the last URL above), but also was asking about rusty, metallic bases. Thanks for all of the links.

Cyril's article (though I don't understand the text very well, even after having Google translate it) looks very interesting. The steps that most interest me are:
21: How do they get the orange spots? Layering? Airbrush?
27: What does this say? How did they get the rust peeking-through?

Thank you very much for taking all that time to reply, and for the recipes. I will have to translate them to RMS paints, and give them a try when I get a chance!

This is a really nice forum to have so many people offer so much help! :)

[green stuff]

21 : he doesn't say how, but whatever the technic, it doesn't matter, the aim is to add color variation. The cool thing about weathering is you don't have to obtain perfectly blended paint (on the contrary).

27 : If you look at the pictures above you'll see that he applies some masking latex. Once it's dried he'll paint the "paint" color, put some more latex where the white star wil be, and then paint the star. He then removes the latex with some tape.