Stippling technique

[zurek42]

Hello,
Till now I was just reader of this great forum, but today I have question how to stipple properly?
I am painting mostly 1/35 figures, using W&N Series 7 Miniature brushes and Vallejo Model Color paint range. I would like to use stippling for leather equipment and I am preparing for painting Alpine's Sepp Diefenthal (he wears sheepskin jacket).
So, do I need any other brush or round sable brushes are suitable for the task? What about paint consistency? I have Jason Zhou article at Figure Mentors, and he states that paint straight of bottle is okay, but I believe it should be rather diluted.

 

[Alex]

No you do not need any other brush, size 1 is fine
paint should be either straight from the bottle or diluted 1:1
whenever you do not want to blend and need that the brushstroke shows, you should not dilute the paint too much
it is the same when doing any freehand. Don't be scared and load that brush with paint !

 

[ausf]

I read that article before I started as well. Keeping in mind that I am new to figure painting, I don't have the experience or knowledge base of anyone here and weigh my thoughts that way, what I did was stipple like you would dry brush a model. I'm assuming you build armor since you've done 1/35 figures so you may be familiar with the technique.

I used to work in the film industry doing makeup effects. When you would need to add a 5 0'clock shadow, you would stipple it on the same way in the Zhou article, only full size. A large cell sponge, rough like a scouring pad would be dipped in black and stabbed onto the surface.

In 1/16 on the head below (this was just a test), I took a cheap, thick synthetic bristled brush. Thick bristles so the actual count is low and there are spaces between the bristles, not a solid surface. I went further and cut the tip, tapering it from center so I could control where it landed. I loaded the brush with straight Vallejo German Tanker Black, immediately blotted most of the paint off on some scrap paper, then lightly dabbed it on, building up over repeated passes. It's better to do many stipples than a heavy pass where you many get a thick blob.

I did a very light stipple on the lower jaw here, but you could go as heavy as you want. That's a chunk of dust on the chin, but you can make out some stippling.

 

[Ferris]

What's usually meant with stippling is painting many many many very small dots over an area to create texture. The paint should not be too thin for this, but straight from the bottle it may be too thick. Thin it just enough to let it flow. If the effect turns out too strong you can always tone things down with a thin transparant glaze of the base colour.
The technique can work very well to imitate rough fabrics.

Cheers
Adrian

 

[tonydawe]

I'd recommend that you read the WIP threads posted here by Mike Butler and Jason Zhou. Both gents have prepared detailed explanations of how they paint the "pointillism" style in acrylics, which is often incorrectly described as stippling.

The master of stippling you should study is Hardy Tempest, who has a unique style using oil paints which creates a genuine 3D effect.

All three of these master painters has spent years developing their own techniques, so I would urge you to be patient and not expect to master the techniques without some considerable effort and time.