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Anyways - weathering. This post is really not about me or my stuff at all. 'Weathering', just to use it as a general catch all term is something that most painters will use to a greater or lesser degree and with greater or lesser successes. It certainly is a matter of taste as well. Some artists like to go for the full on, uber realistic, gritty, battlefield torn weathering (more towards what I prefer) with mud, rust, corrosion, flaked and ripped metals, grunge, damage and so on, while some prefer the very clean, factory fresh look for their models (not really my thing) but will still want to add a little dust and/or a few minor scratches to the finished piece and many lie somewhere inbetween with their tastes.
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| Minus' Weathered Barrels |
Wherever and whatever floats your own personal Abeyant - weathering is a big thing in this hobby. As I just got back into hobby about a year ago after 10 or 11 years away, I had (and still have) a lot of catching up to do!! And weathering was one of my first....concerns I guess you could call it. I like the weathered finish. I like my figs to have that real look. They are essentially (toy) soldiers of war after all, I want that fluff and background to be represented in the final model. I hit up YouTube initially as there are sooooooo many tutorials there on this very topic. Some are great, some are utter shite, some are quick and easy (with a vast range of final looks) some much longer and more involved. My initial take was - holy shit there is a lot of stuff I need to buy for this. And there are so many different specialist 'weathering' products out there from different companies to get these different effects. Living in South Korea, a huge amount of this is not available to me, even with overseas Internet shopping due to customs regulations, p&p costs and whatnot. Paints and the like are generally (at least by the Korean customs) are classed as chemicals and yes technically they are but that can greatly affect what I can easily or not have sent to me out there. And tbh, I didn't really want to have to buy a enormous amount of extra stuff just for weathering, so I found my own ways. Dakka and the folk there were also a great help for learning new techniques, tips, methods, do's and do not's and so on. And at some point I will probably write down something about my own ways of doing things but not now!!
One of the things I did want for weathering was not having to use an enormous pile of dedicated and specific products. I wanted to be able to do as much as possible from the out with the regular paints that I could get and use for the main painting portion of a product and for me that means GW paints, which I happen to really like and enjoy. I found out that I also have access to all the Tamiya line and some of the Humerol stuff too if I need it in SK. Again, I will cover my own stuff at a later date.
On Dakka I was able to find a lot of really great artists producing effects that I both liked and wanted to learn about and that was invaluably helpful as, for the most part, the painters there are always more than willing and eager to pass on their own knowledge and expertise when asked. That is one of my favourite things about dakka - the painting community and its availability and openness to share the wealth so to speak. One of my favourite artists there is a French guy by the name of 'Minus'. He posts pretty regularly there as well as having his own offsite blog '50 Nuances de Violet;' (50 shades of Purple) - the link to which should be over on the right somewhere in the list of links. Minus' stuff is top notch. He does a lot of stuff for a game called 'Eden' iirc, a french skirmish game. Minus manages to blend bright popping colours with a great grungy look. Something that is really difficult to do. Trust me I know. I can do bright schemes (ie my Harlequins) or grungy and dark (ie my AdMech stuff) but being able to blend two such approaches together and not have it look like the proverbial dog threw up after eating a box of crayons....is a real talent! Anyways - one of Minus' top skills is in his weathering - from figs, to vehicles to scenery he does some lovely work is always ready to share his methods- trust me I've asked! He's just posted an excellent tutorial over on his blog about how he does it; the above barrels being the test subject for it. It's a definite 'must check-out' for anyone interested in upping their weathering game. One of the things to immediately notice is the amount of different types of materials he uses. It's limited - no need to totally go overboard and buy every type of 'weathering product' out there. Amazing effects CAN totally be achieved with a small, well thought out and correct number of products. He uses just 3 - normal acrylic fig paints, masking fluid and one effect paint. Anyway - I'm tired, grumpy and still aching from travelling so I'm gonna bugger off. Go now and check out this tutorial and learn some awesome new stuff. Laters painters and here's the link :D
