Painting camo

[John Long]

I'm getting ready to paint my 6th Alamo scout. I am going with a camo blouse and green hbt trousers. I have painted a couple of camo patterns in the past and have not been ecstatic with the results. I am trying to decide between two approaches.

1- paint the main color with all shades and highlights then add the splotches of color that create the pattern.

2- paint the entire pattern, then add shades with sepia washes and highlight with glazes. I read an article by Adrian Bay that uses this approach. Of course it works very well for Adrian. I'm not sure I can pull it off. It sounds too much like wash and drybrush to me.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey John,

On the rare occasions I have painted camo I have done it as you described in #1. Shade and highlight the base coat, paint the pattern and then highlight and shade the pattern appropiately (sp?).

 

[vince wai]

John,

I usually do it in a mixed approach as you described with 1) and 2)

vince

 

[Pete_H]

John,
I typically paint camo by method #2 - paint the pattern, then shade with sepia (or burnt umber, raw umber, olive green, or raw sienna (for lighter patterns) all of course depending on the pattern ). I typically paint the entire pattern using Vallejos, except that I try to make the colors lighter and a bit more vibrant than usual. The reason I do this is because sometimes I overdo it with the oil shades and dull down the pattern too much.

Hope this helps,

 

[Anders Heintz]

Another thing I would do is to incorporate a little bit of each color in the mix, that way they will tie together nicely and you can stay away from the washes.

 

[John Long]

Thanks for all the good advice. I'll likely go with #1 and perhaps a bit of #2 should it seem necessary.

 

[John Long]

Here's what I did:

I painted the base or main color of the blouse entirely as if it were one color. I highlighted and shadowed in an exagerated manner using a wet on wet method. I then mixed the pattern colors with the base color. I applied the blotches one color at a time working in small areas. After the whole thing was dry I added some shadows using sepia mixed with Grumbacher medium #1. I added the seams this way too. In a couple of places I added some highlights the same way by using my highlight color and the medium.

 

[rdclaeps]

That turned out great John. I've tried camo a couple of times with oils, but never had much luck. If I ever paint camo again, I think that I'll give your method a try.
Did you sculpt the headgear or is that a kit head? take care, Roger

 

[John Long]

That's my 3rd and final attempt at sculpting the cap. It's a Historex head.

 

[homellop]

Hi John.
You've get a nice smooth effect on the camo.

I usually do the same with acrylics.First paint the camo,then put a general wash very very dilued,over the whole surface with a shadow colour,(done mixing all the camo colours + black),to get a faded look.Then I higlight every colour and,finally do some more controlled washes to increase the dept on folds.
What about sheen with that oil sepia wash?I can't see any sheen on it.
What are you using to dilute the oils?.May be I'll try oils next time
best regards
jaume

 

[John Long]

Thanks for the compliments Jaume. I may go back and highlight the pattern as you do.

Please don't switch mediums . Your camo is terrific and what I aspire to.

The shadows accentuated with Sepia are added in a very controlled manner mixed with Grumbacher medium #1, which is a matting agent in itself. It dries quickly and after I apply it I let it set a bit and use a small filbert brush to blend the edges of the shadow out.

 

[Jimmy S]

John, I usually do modern camo but had a go at that WW2 USMC pattern for the Alpha Image figure. My first step is to get an actual item in the pattern (now you see why I do modern....) as this helps with shapes, colours, scale etc. I thinly paint the patterns as close to the real article as possible ie what shape lays on what shape, how they appear near seams and pockets, where they fade the most etc. at this stage the whole pattern is quite bright so I subdue it with a thin filter of light earth colour. This seems to then make the pattern appear as if it is part of the cloth rather than painted on. If the real pattern is dark I tend to leave shadows alone as they sort of self shade (like they are designed to do),but for a light uniform pattern I use a light (as in opposite of heavy) touch of a dark pastel chalk which just allows the underlying colour to show though. I will then highlight pockets, seams,cuffs,collars with the lightened base for that wear and tear look. In summary-good references,analyse the pattern,good colour match,subdue it all and have fun. PS I should add I've never done it right first time..ever! So keep the oven cleaner handy.