The Illusion of Cloth

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

I'm beginning to paint this guy...Hauptmann Georg Johann von Gambolputty of Ulm...

... and whomever painted the hauptmann made his uniform look as if it isn't paint, but rather made it look like textured cloth even though there is no actual texture.

Aha! Says I.... must be an additive.

I know you can add talcum powder to a glossy paint and it will make it flat. So I tried adding baking powder and baking soda to acrylic paint to try to simulate a texture but that doesn't achieve a satisfactory result... lumpy paint yes, texture no.

Does anyone have any experience creating the illusion of cloth texture with paint alone? If so, how did you achieve the look? I can always just paint the figure but the illusion of cloth would make it so much cooler.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Rick

 

[Gary D]

Looks like a Hardy Tempest paint job. I think he at one time was going to make a DVD on how to paint like this but it never happened. I imagine it was stippled somehow.

 

[Oda]

Mighty impressive indeed and I must admit that I do not have the slightest clue how it's done but I wouldn't search for additives in the mix.Nowadays many super talented modelers have invented multiple methods of painting imitation textures and it is not by adding anything in their colours.It all goes down to ingenuity and very skilled brushwork.If indeed it is a Hardy Tempest job I would love to watch a tutorial by him on this technique for it creates an amazing result.

Oda.

 

[Nap]

The art work was painted by the sculptor Mr James Rice

Here's how he explained the texture to me which I shared here

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/creating-a-cloth-texture-with-acrylics.309235/

Should help

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Ray Stout]

If painting in Oils, you canhave a certain degree of texture by the amount of undercoat used on the figure. Use an undercoat so thin, that you can still see the metal underneath, and you acheive a semi-gloss result which is fine for faces, horses etc. The more undercoat you apply, the more of a matt finish you can acheive, as the oil is absorbed by it, taking away the "gloss" of the paint. Certain fabrics can be acheived just by the application of how the light is seen on the cloth, Velvet is a good example of this, as the texture is determned by the way light is reflected back from the material. Ray

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

The art work was painted by the sculptor Mr James Rice

Here's how he explained the texture to me which I shared here

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/creating-a-cloth-texture-with-acrylics.309235/

Should help

Happy benchtime

Nap

Thanks, Nap. I was aware of James Rice's method. I was hoping (against hope?) someone else might have an alternative method producing a similar result.
Rick

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

If painting in Oils, you canhave a certain degree of texture by the amount of undercoat used on the figure. Use an undercoat so thin, that you can still see the metal underneath, and you acheive a semi-gloss result which is fine for faces, horses etc. The more undercoat you apply, the more of a matt finish you can acheive, as the oil is absorbed by it, taking away the "gloss" of the paint. Certain fabrics can be acheived just by the application of how the light is seen on the cloth, Velvet is a good example of this, as the texture is determned by the way light is reflected back from the material. Ray

Thanks, Ray. Unfortunately I paint in acrylics not oils (never could get the knack of painting with oils) but you may be right that light and shadow are the best alternatives to the Rice method. Time to do a little exploring I suspect.
Rick

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

Mighty impressive indeed and I must admit that I do not have the slightest clue how it's done but I wouldn't search for additives in the mix.Nowadays many super talented modelers have invented multiple methods of painting imitation textures and it is not by adding anything in their colours.It all goes down to ingenuity and very skilled brushwork.If indeed it is a Hardy Tempest job I would love to watch a tutorial by him on this technique for it creates an amazing result.

Oda.

Thanks, Oda. I suspect your right about additives not being the way to go after having seen baking powder and baking soda turn my paint into porridge.
Rick

 

[Alex]

No additives
with acrylic, it is actually easier to do because paint dries faster
establish lights and shadows loosely first
then start the stippling with a round brush (not too pointed) : paint the maximum highlights, deepest shadows and transitions and carefully go all over it again and again until you are satisfied

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

No additives
with acrylic, it is actually easier to do because paint dries faster
establish lights and shadows loosely first
then start the stippling with a round brush (not too pointed) : paint the maximum highlights, deepest shadows and transitions and carefully go all over it again and again until you are satisfied

Thanks for the tip, Alex. I'll give it a try.
Rick

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

Ok guys, for what it's worth here's what I did to create a cloth-like (or cloth light) finish on my Prussian Officer as opposed to a cloth finish.

Using AK ww1 German Army Paints I blended AK3091 Base and AK3092 Light approximately 2:1 light to base color to create a new base color which I applied to the entire jacket. I then made a very thin wash of both AK3091 and 3092 and began applying coat after coat of each, eyeballing the high and low spots until they began to shade the jacket in a realistic manner. I'm not sure of how many coats I applied, but there were many, and I may go back and apply some more especially around the collar.

Thanks to everyone who made comments and/or suggestions. All were helpful and appreciated.
Rick

 

[MENTAL DENTAL]

Think about painting to scale.....imagine if that bust was a person standing some distance away from you and appeared in your vision as the same size....probably 15-20m away.....how much texture would you really see? Not a lot if any. Any 'dots' you apply would be so over scale if blown up to real life. Good luck!

 

[Henkm]

Think about painting to scale.....imagine if that bust was a person standing some distance away from you and appeared in your vision as the same size....probably 15-20m away.....how much texture would you really see? Not a lot if any. Any 'dots' you apply would be so over scale if blown up to real life. Good luck!

What you say is perfectly logical, yet, the picture used as reference in the first post is perfectly convincing. Our eyes and brains like to be tricked.

Rick, I'm sure you're heading the right way but unfortunately the resolution of your photo is a bit low, which blurs the texture.

 

[Larsen E. Whipsnade]

Part of the problem may be that I enlarged the photo. Here are two more pics taken just a few minutes ago. Not much better, Henk, but that's the best my iPhone can do I'm afraid.
Rick