Leo Martínez
Painting miniatures is a fun and creative hobby that can be picked up by anyone. One of the most important techniques to master is layering, which involves adding layers of paint on top of one another to create depth and shading. The key to successful layering is understanding that acrylic paint, when thinned down, becomes semi-transparent, allowing you to build up colours gradually and create smooth transitions. This technique is known as glazing, and it helps to create a natural blend of colours without obscuring the fine details of the miniature. By using a combination of layering and glazing, painters can achieve realistic lighting and shading effects, enhancing the overall appearance of their miniature creations.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose of layering | To create depth and shading, highlights to show a light source, or just to create a cool effect |
| Basic premise | Stacking layers of different-coloured paint like Lego blocks |
| Technique | Glazing (a thin coat of paint that covers the mini evenly but is thin enough to tint the underlying colour, not cover it) |
| Brushes | Raphael 8404 Series brushes, especially the Round 2 brush |
| Paint | Any acrylic paints, such as Citadel, Vallejo, Privateer Press, and Army Painter |
| Washes | Watery, thin paints that are very pigment heavy, creating natural-looking shading and highlights |
| Number of coats | It takes 2-5 layers to get a completely opaque colour |
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What You'll Learn
Using washes to create natural shading and highlights
Washes are an excellent way to create natural-looking shadows and highlights on your miniatures. Washes are watery, thin paints that are very pigment-heavy. They are designed to sit in the crevices of the miniature and not cover the raised parts. When you apply a wash to a miniature, it will build up in areas with depth, creating a natural-looking shade. The way you apply the wash will depend on the effect you want to achieve.
If you want to create shading, apply the wash liberally over the areas you want to be shaded, maintaining control and moving your brush in the same direction. Drag your brush into and up against the areas that should have the most shading. For example, if you are painting a cloak, you will want to drag your brush towards the folds to leave the wash on the sides of the fold, where it should be darker.
You can also use washes to unify the colour scheme of your miniature, making the overall colour scheme appear more cohesive. For example, you can use a purple or crimson wash over gold metallics to give it interesting depth. If you want to brighten up the colour after applying a wash, you can layer over it with the original colour.
To make your own wash, you can simply add water to your paint to thin it down. You want to achieve a consistency that is very fluid like water. This will allow the pigment to pool in the recesses and deeper details, creating natural-looking shadows. You can also add a drop of soap per 1-4 ounces of water to create a solution with reduced surface tension, allowing for a more uniform flow of pigment.
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Layering with different colours to build contrast
Layering paint on miniatures is a fundamental skill to master, as it forms the basis of many other painting techniques. The basic concept of layering is to add a layer of paint over an existing layer, often leaving some of the previous layer visible to create a transition of colours. This transition can be used to create depth, shading, and highlights on a miniature.
When layering with different colours to build contrast, it is important to choose the right colours. Look for colours that are close together on the colour wheel, such as blue and green or red and orange. These colours will blend more smoothly than colours that are far apart on the colour wheel. Additionally, when mixing colours, it is important to understand colour theory. For example, red, yellow, and blue can be used to derive all other colours when using pigments.
To create a smooth transition between colours when layering, it is important to thin your paints. Thin layers of paint can be created by mixing the paint with water or a medium. This will help you achieve a more natural and realistic look. Additionally, you can use washes, which are watery-thin paints that are very pigment-heavy, to create smooth transitions between colours.
The order in which you layer your paint will also make a difference. Painting over a darker layer will tone down the layer going on top, while painting over a lighter layer will lighten the layer on top. So, if you want more muted tones, build your layers over a dark base coat, and if you want brighter colours, start with a lighter layer and paint progressively darker layers.
Finally, layering requires patience and practice. Build up your layers gradually, allowing each layer to dry completely before applying the next. This will help you achieve a smooth and even blend. Start by practicing on spare parts or test miniatures, experimenting with different colour combinations and layering techniques until you achieve the desired result.
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Applying thin coats to smoothly transition colours
When painting miniatures, layering is one of the most fundamental techniques to learn. It involves adding a layer of paint over an existing layer, often leaving some of the previous layer visible to create a transition of colours. This technique can be used to create depth, shading, highlights, and unique effects.
To achieve smooth transitions between colours, thinning your paint is crucial. Thick paint can obscure details and make it difficult to blend colours together, resulting in a chalky or uneven appearance. By thinning your paint with water or a medium, you can apply multiple thin coats, gradually transitioning from one colour to another. This technique, known as glazing, involves applying a thin coat of paint that tints the underlying colour without completely covering it.
It is important to work quickly when applying thinned paint to avoid interruptions during the drying process, which can affect the smoothness of your coats. Additionally, using a wet palette can help keep your paints workable for extended periods, making it easier to achieve smooth transitions over multiple painting sessions.
For a quicker alternative to traditional layering and glazing, you can use slightly thicker paint (still transparent) and then tint the surface with a glaze. This method provides smooth results, although not as seamless as proper layering and glazing.
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Using glaze to tint underlying colours
Glazing is a great way to tint the underlying colours of a miniature. Glazes are translucent, so they will always show the underlying colour. Glazes are made by thinning paint with water or a thinning medium like a clear acrylic polymer. The ratio of paint to thinning medium should be 1:2, and the consistency should be reminiscent of milk. You can use any acrylic paint for glazing, but thicker paints should be thinned more. Vallejo and Army Painter offer pre-thinned glaze paints, but the number of shades is limited.
To glaze a miniature, dip your brush into the glaze and apply a thin layer over the area you want to cover. Unlike washes, you don't want the glaze to pool up in areas. You can add more layers until you achieve the desired colour, but make sure to let each layer dry first. Brush pressure will determine the amount of paint applied, so keep your brush pressure constant during the brush stroke for an even coat.
Glazes can be used to tint a painted area to create tonal variation. For example, you can paint a zombie's skin a very light colour and then apply a thin purple or green glaze to achieve the typical undead skin tone. You can also use glazes to blur the line between two basecoat colours. For example, if you want to blend red and orange, apply a coat of orange glaze over the red base coat, and then apply another coat slightly further up to get a colour closer to orange.
Glazing is an excellent way to add saturation or alter the underlying colour of a miniature. It can be used to create subtle but distinct shifts in colour, add depth, and build up colour in a controlled fashion.
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Understanding acrylic paint transparency
When painting miniatures, layering is a fundamental skill to learn. It involves adding layers of paint over existing layers, usually leaving some of the previous layer visible to create a transition of colours. This transition can be used to create depth, shading, and highlights on a miniature.
Acrylic paints, the most common type of miniature paint, become semi-transparent when thinned down. This is one of the major benefits of using acrylics. When thinned, you can apply a thin layer of one colour over another and get an end result that is a smooth transition between the two colours. This technique is called glazing.
The degree of transparency in acrylic paint depends on the difference between the refractive index of the pigment and the binder in which the pigment is immersed. The higher the refractive index, the higher the degree of opacity of the paint. If the difference between the two indices is zero, the paint will be transparent.
To diminish the transparency of acrylic paints, you can add a small amount of titanium white, which will create a tint of the original hue. You can then add more of the original colour to return to the original hue if needed.
It is important to note that transparent colours tend to disappear on a dark background or base colour. Additionally, when thinning acrylic paints, be careful not to over-thin, as this can lead to a wash-like consistency that may pool or run on the miniature.
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Frequently asked questions
Layering is like building with Legos, where you stack blocks on top of each other but in this case, you use layers of different-coloured paint. The basic idea is to add a layer of paint over an existing layer, usually leaving some of the previous layer visible to create a transition of colours. This transition can be used to create depth, shading, and highlights to show a light source on the miniature.
You can use any acrylic paints for layering on miniatures. It is recommended to avoid cheap craft paint as it may not work well for miniatures. Some good paint manufacturers include Citadel (Games Workshop), Vallejo, Privateer Press (P3), and Army Painter.
One tip is to thin your paint with water before applying it to your miniature. This helps to create a smooth transition between colours without obscuring details with thick coats of paint. You can also use washes, which are watery-thin paints that are very pigmented, to create natural-looking shading and highlights. Additionally, you can layer the same colour on top of itself to create a transition, rather than always adding a new colour.
