montythefirst
A Fixture
Hi guys,
I am looking to buy new weathering pigments
can anyone recommend any with a good range of colours?
I am looking to buy new weathering pigments
can anyone recommend any with a good range of colours?
Pigments
- Thread starter montythefirst
- Start date
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sippog
A Fixture
You could buy pots of powder pigment from firms like MIG; but if you really want to save money, and choose from dozens of subtle shades, buy some sticks of hard pastel - the non-oily kind - from your local art shop - and some sandpaper! 
montythefirst
A Fixture
do the pastels behave the same way as the pigments, i.e. washes fixing etc
kagemusha
A Fixture
This may give you a better idea of how you can employ pasels as opposed to pigments...
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/wight-lord.59628/
Ron
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/wight-lord.59628/
Ron
Richie
A Fixture
Now that's a really
piece Ron and superb weathering effects with the pastels. I must look at getting some pastels!cheers
Richie
Graham
A Fixture
I got a set of pastels, fairly cheap ones, from Hobbycraft but I chose a set of 'Earth Colours' which I have found very useful.
montythefirst
A Fixture
how did you fix them ?
Graham
A Fixture
Depends. I mainly used them on armour but a water or thinners based fix holds them in place but allows manipulation, I.e. You can add to or reduce or even wash them off. A permanent fix would be done using a pigment fixer or, much cheaper, a thinned varnish. This permanent route is ok so long as you get it right first time.
My preferred route was to fix with thinners, acrylic in my case but enamel works too, and once I had dry brushed for the effect I wanted, I then airbrushed a very light flat varnish over them.
You can use them for shading completely dry. Just pick some up on an old brush and 'scrub' it into the areas you want to shadow then a quick light fix spray.
Most wet fixes, temporary or permanent tend to darken the pigment slightly so you need to experiment. Temporary, thinners, fixing tend to dry much the same colour as the pigment was dry but still darkens a shade when fixed with varnish.
My preferred route was to fix with thinners, acrylic in my case but enamel works too, and once I had dry brushed for the effect I wanted, I then airbrushed a very light flat varnish over them.
You can use them for shading completely dry. Just pick some up on an old brush and 'scrub' it into the areas you want to shadow then a quick light fix spray.
Most wet fixes, temporary or permanent tend to darken the pigment slightly so you need to experiment. Temporary, thinners, fixing tend to dry much the same colour as the pigment was dry but still darkens a shade when fixed with varnish.
montythefirst
A Fixture
thanks for the advice
theBaron
A Fixture
Hi, Monty, the big difference between pastels you grind yourself, and commercially-available weathering powders, is that the commerically-available products do have ingredients added, like fixatives. They take some of the guesswork out of preparing your own, and ensure some consistency of results. But with practice, you can learn to use plain artists pastel chalks and grind your own. I bought myself a set of earth tones, a range of shades of brown, with a black and a yellow included, and just started messing around with them, till I got results I liked. Also, it's cheaper to mix your own, than to buy prepared chalks. You need to weigh everything in your mind and decide what you want to do.
I can brush the mixture onto a subject, or mix some of the chalk with a drop or two of water and a drop of dishwashing liquid, and apply it like a sludge, to reproduce the look of caked-on mud.
Prost!
Brad
gforceman
A Fixture
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Messages
- 1,943
don't go for pastels as this are pigments mixed with chalk to become hard. sanded down then can leave white spots in your coloured pigments once fixed in place. You can buy huge jars of pigments at your local art shop for about 10 euros, depending on brand and quality. They have a lot of classic colours (like bunrt/raw umber, cassel earth, Vandijck brown, etc...). I use these a lot to dust and muddy my figgies but i also mix it with magic sculp to make my ground work. And it can also be mixed with plaster if that's what you use to build your groundwork. Big advantage, to me, is that should chips come of they aren't white but the same colour as your groundwork. And of course it saves time as I don't have to paint my groundwork before is start to shade and highlight. And you can get extactly the same colour on your figure as your groundwork and tie them together.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Gino
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Gino
kagemusha
A Fixture
Only time I have encountered 'white bits' is when using very cheap pastels.....
If you use 'artists' brands you don't get that problem...they are not expensive just because the word 'artists' is used....the set of 36 I got cost me £15
Another advantage of pastels is that you can vary the size of particles...by using different grades of sandpaper....to suit the application you intend to use them for...
Use a very finely ground pastel for shading....courser for groundwork etc.,.....and larger still for broken bricks/stone
Ron
If you use 'artists' brands you don't get that problem...they are not expensive just because the word 'artists' is used....the set of 36 I got cost me £15
Another advantage of pastels is that you can vary the size of particles...by using different grades of sandpaper....to suit the application you intend to use them for...
Use a very finely ground pastel for shading....courser for groundwork etc.,.....and larger still for broken bricks/stone
Ron
sippog
A Fixture
There's a good video on using pastels on David Fisher's Modelmania series - I seem to remember it was the 4th or 5th DVD.
I agree with most of the comments here. Of course any kind of cheap powder paint will do for a particular purpose, like groundwork.
Using pigments has been described as the 'poor man's airbrush' - except in some ways it's more versatile: you don't have to mask off small areas and you can get different effects by smearing, wetting, and dabbing at it with cotton buds and sponges. I find using a rubber tipped paint shaper the best way to get the dust onto the surfaces - brushes with hair 'soak' up and waste too much. I usually fix it by airbrushing dilute matte medium but at low pressure so it doesn't blow the dust off.
I agree with most of the comments here. Of course any kind of cheap powder paint will do for a particular purpose, like groundwork.
Using pigments has been described as the 'poor man's airbrush' - except in some ways it's more versatile: you don't have to mask off small areas and you can get different effects by smearing, wetting, and dabbing at it with cotton buds and sponges. I find using a rubber tipped paint shaper the best way to get the dust onto the surfaces - brushes with hair 'soak' up and waste too much. I usually fix it by airbrushing dilute matte medium but at low pressure so it doesn't blow the dust off.
