I wash a lot

When painting a miniature army I use whatever techniques get the desired effect as efficiently as possible. I've tried building up layers of highlights or glazing with thinned out colour, but these take quite a while. I find that the popular contract painting technique is great for bright gaudy characters, but that is rarely the result I am after.

I like a lived in look. For me I get that by applying a wash. I use this in different ways depending on what result and what colour I am working with. I thought it was time I wrote myself a reminder.

Applying washes

Thinning

I usually use Vallejo washes. I have a range of colours but I nearly always end up using black or sepia. The big pots I have can be used for dipping. They are slightly thick so I sometimes thin them for some uses. The disadvantage is that when thinned this are more prone to leave a tide mark when it dries so if possible I don't thin them.

After mixing the pigment, usually by shaking the pot, I find it has lots of bubbles. To avoid picking those up on the brush and transferring them to the model, I use a pipette to decant some into a divot in a plastic pallet.

100% wash

Where possible I use undiluted wash because it tends to dry more evenly.

I use this when I am applying directly into crevices in a well defined model where there is a good chance of avoiding getting it in the wrong places or where I am aiming for a darker colour.

It goes on very dark but dries lighter, so it can be difficult to judge the effect until the wash has dried fully, which takes many hours.

25% water to wash

This lets the wash flow but has just enough adherence to leave some pigment in the crevices.

I use this to accentuate contrast, particularly where a model has fine engraved markings.

It can be difficult to get it to dry evenly on flatter surfaces, so I make sure I push it around to where it's wanted and often soak up excess.

On some models I find that acrylic paint mixed with water is often an easier way to get the contrast with less risk of spoiling some other part of the model. The trouble with this is that this wash does not settle as well as the dedicated washes.

50% water to wash

This leave more of an uneven dull mark all over the surface, rather than dark crevices.

I use this on brighter colours and large surface areas. It's more for a dirty look and a hint at shadow. Useful for some terrain pieces.

Before and after

Application

When applying washes, I rarely cover the entire model, I direct the wash just to where I want it then push it about. I find it essential to pull and push the wash about with a brush to get it to settle where I want it and avoid too many unsightly tide marks. More likely if I have watered down the wash.

I'm not usually being too careful because the whole point is to get a random natural result that I would find difficult to emulate if I was using other techniques.

Where I am aiming for a relatively dark result, I'll apply the wash lightly all over the area and heavily in the crevices.

For bright colours I apply the wash carefully only in the recesses and folds. Red I can use a thin sepia or black wash, yellow I use a sepia wash. Blue I have been disappointed with. I am still working on a good technique for this. At the moment I have reverted to glazing rather than using a wash.

For metallics, especially bright ones, like silver and gold, I give them a complete wash all over the area where the metallic paint is. This dulls them down a bit and gets shadows in the folds and crevices where otherwise they tend to appear flat. The matched washes from the Vallejo True Metallic ranges work very nicely. I even mix and match the gold and copper washes with bronze and brass base coats to give different shades of metallics.

Dry Brush

In nearly all applications on miniatures, I use dry brushing after washing.

Reinstate the colour - I use the original base colour as a dry brush all over the surfaces. This quickly disguises tide marks and brightens the model.

Edge highlighting - usually I use a very light shade of the original colour or a very light grey or even white. Just picking up the edges. This is often after reinstating the colour, as noted above.

Conclusion

It's difficult to describe these techniques. The explanations mean something to me but they may not translate well into anything that could be used to direct others. That was not the point. There are plenty of excellent tutorials on YouTube. This is just a reminder for me.

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