Red Coat Guide?

[taffjones]

Hi all, I'm struggling quite a bit on these 75mm British Napoleonic miniatures and was wondering if anyone knew any good step by step guides or videos on the subject?

Cheers Jones.

 

[polyphemus]

There is a sequence of videos by Danillo Cartacci on youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3305003E60F10A69

The sections covering painting the red jacket start on episode 10. The videos are in Italian but are pretty self expanatory.

Hope that helps.

Geoff

 

[taffjones]

Cheers matey

 

[housecarl]

I sent you this but someone else might like it.
Carl.

 

[baronband]

i like it!

 

[housecarl]

i like it!

Aim to please John.
Carl.

 

[Einion]

Was it colour(s) or technique you were having most trouble with? Or a bit of both?

Einion

 

[taffjones]

I'll be honest mate, its the red jackets, the white trousers and the grey trousers.

 

[Bailey]

Are you painting in oils or acrylics? If you're using acrylics you might want to take a look at some of the Andrea paint sets (they make one for red, one for white, one for grey, and many other colors). They come with a base color, 1st and 2nd shadows, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd highlights.

I don't think they are a perfect solution, if you only use them without anything else everything you paint red will look the same. But they can be a helpful place to start. I've used their red set quite a bit and I've been happy with it. As I use it more I switch out some of the colors or mix them with other paints so I can get more variation or achieve the shade I want. But they make a nice core paint set for me to work with.

 

[taffjones]

Yes mate I have them andrea paint sets, but I just cant seem to get it right. I think it could be a mix of poor instructions and me being a poor painter. The step by step pictures they use are terrible I think.

 

[Bailey]

Yeah, the pictures aren't especially helpful. What seems to be giving you trouble? Is it shadow and highlight placement, getting smooth coverage with the colors, blending from one color to the next or something else all together?

 

[taffjones]

Jus how to really do effective highlighting and where do I start highlighting from etc

 

[Bailey]

Well, one thing I've tried on some figures is to (after I prime it), set it under a strong overhead light coming in almost directly above (you can angle it slightly from the front). I then take pictures of the model from different angles (front, sides, back, and more if I want) while always keeping the light above and slightly in front (between me and the model). You can then use these pictures as a guide for where your highlights and shadows should fall. You'll still want to take some liberties though. For example, a hat might keep the figures face in shadow but you'll still want to highlight the nose, cheeks, etc. But I've found this option very helpful for shading folds in clothes and other complex shapes.

If the model is metal, I recommend priming it before taking the pictures. You want a single color figure that isn't reflective. If you've already base coated a figure but haven't done highlights or shadows, that would work as well (so all red areas are a single shade of red, all white areas just white, etc). But if possible I would do this before I started to add any color to the figure.

This isn't the only way, but I've found it to be helpful.

 

[taffjones]

Thanks for that mate.

 

[Oldironsides]

I think you will find the following book useful, as I did. It should be available on Amazon.
Painting Napoleonic Miniatures (Schiffer Book for Hobbyists) by Mike Davidson

 

[Einion]

If it's mostly an issue of placement this prior thread might help further:
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/question-on-highlight-shade-placement.46535/

Lower down there's a link to where you can see the diagram of Shep Paine's stop-sign rule, can't recommend this enough for visualising where each major colour should go. Once you've gotten your head in tune with it you'll rarely be unsure about where to place your highlight and shadow colours but if you do the lamp trick should help sort you out.

Einion

 

[taffjones]

smashing cheers guys