Acrylics highlighting and shadow

[montythefirst]

Hi,

I have always painted in the following way lay down a dark shadow colour, then the base, then highlight.

however, this has given me many headaches, usually due to there being to much variation between the base and the first shadow colour leading to very dark shadows rather than subtle ones, I then usually get around this by using washes to town down or using several transitions of colour which quite frankly takes bl@#dy ages and then I get bored with a piece and start something else.

A lot of this stems from having cut my teeth painting fantasy wargame miniatures where stark colours are the norm.

I was wondering if maybe painting the base first maybe be the better way to go


cheers

Simon

 

[Paul Kernan]

Simon:

Not the only method but the way I was first introduced to and seems to be the norm. I paint with oils, so I start with the base coat and gradually add the shadow tones. The blending of the dark with the base allows more control of the overall effect. I then touch up any areas I am unhappy with, with the basecoat. I repeat the process using my highlight tones. Once dry, I can go back in with glazes to strengthen the values of dark and light or unify the area.

Paul

 

[montythefirst]

thanks Paul

 

[Alex]

have you tried a wet palette ?
if you didn't, please do.
lay down your base color, highest light and deepest shadow on the palette.
then, as you will do with oils, obtain the full rainbow between highlight, base color and shadow by blending with a brush...
and then just place all your tones on your figure where they belong after base coating with base color..
then refine everything
that s it !
no need for thin washes and all that... and it is much faster this way
cheers
alex

 

[montythefirst]

cheers alex

 

[Eludia]

I'm still learning and experimenting but, like Paul, I prefer oils. The technique I'm trying out at the moment is paint the mid tone base colour then wet blend the basic shadows and highlights before sticking the piece in a hot box to dry. I then try to emphasise the shades and lights by blending in tiny amounts of dark/light colour wet-on-dry, it doesn't take much to make those shades and lights really "pop". Mongo-Mel, a PF member, has some interesting articles on the Historicus Forma website on painting various colours in oils (I'm sure he won't mind the link):

http://www.hfmodeling.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=features&file=view&artid=410

I know you've posted this with the Acrylics tag but it's always good to try new media...if you don't you'll never know what you're missing.

Hope this helps,
Billy