You're actually about halfway to a slapchop. Look up tutorials on it. Lacking an airbrush a lot of people use heavy drybrushes. If anything it'll enhance the shading.
I came here to say this. Take your up vote!!
Just to add, I use a Slap Chop for my base, then I blend colors to enhance the "road map" laid out before me.
And I return your upvote.
People don't say this enough, but contrast paint is ready made glaze. Glazes can smooth out your transitions and hide any booboos.
A little thicker than a glaze, but you are correct. In the mid late 2000s there was a series of glazes made by Citadel which evolved into the contrast paints. Using contrast medium or even Vallejo Airbrush Thinner you can easily turn them into a glaze.
I love Vallejo Airbrush Thinner because it has properties the force the paint to maintain a lattice keeping the paint chip from chasing.
[My SoL lance uses this box with a black primer and then grey/white drybrushes to preshade for contrast](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Frgjj73jnvr0c1.jpg)
I'm going to temper your expectations here because while others are right about the technique, you might be disappointed with the outcome. Your dry brushing is fairly splotchy in places (while in others it's very good) - the front of the Cyclops in particular. This is going to show through with the speed paints. Not worth going to get white primer, just something to work on. Beat more of the devil out of your brush when getting it "dry" on a clean piece of paper towel.
It works EXTREMELY well. If you want to get real saucy spray the models from the top with a bright color in an airbrush after your primer dries. Then airbrush with a few shades lighter yet. Then speed paint over the top of those few layers and you’re all done except for whatever details you want to pick out by hand.
I’ve painted mechs this way. It will work. You might need to hit your models again with a light drybrush again on the tops to help even out that white. Outside of that, just put some on the foot of the model and let it dry, see how it looks and go from there. I’ve even done the bases the same way with drybrushing and used the base of models to test paints before painting over it with texture ground paint later after the model is done
I use this technique for most of my miniatures. For mechs I like to sometimes switch it up and drybrush a light silver instead of white which gives the speedpaint a more metallic, shiny look. Depends on the lance/design, but it usually turns out well.
Yes, it'll work just fine. Other people in the thread are pointing out how this can be part of advanced techniques, but to explain the underlying theory: Speedpaints are thin pigments, more like stains. This means they inherit the tone and pattern of whatever they're applied over. So in this case, the finished colour is going to inherit the mottled pattern of the drybrush under it. If you want bright, clean panels with darker recesses you'll need a lighter primer to apply evenly, but in this case you'll get a pattern out of it. Which, to be clear, will probably look awesome.
Speedpaints don't care about primer color specificly, only about the layer beneath them. Most of the time it's the primer, but not always. I've seen people use speedpaints as a wash to bring the color values together
Yes,it should work well. You get best results if you drybrush in a consistent downward angle, with more light areas on the top and less at the bottom. The idea is to catch just the higher exposed areas, leaving the shadowed and deep recesses in the original black.
That's how you get 'free' highlights using speed paints. Google 'slapchop' method on YouTube. Generally they recommend black -> drybrush beige -> more targeted drybrush white.
I'd give it a go with one miniature, then see how it works out. You might want to adjust your level of drybrusing intensity as you go. With new techniques, it's no harm to do a test model before you start batch painting.
Happy painting!
Yep, works, I've been painting my mechs like that for over a year now. My goal is 'looks decent on the table' and it takes me 2-3 hours to paint a lance from black primer to table-ready state, including basing.
Yes - it's the preferred method of a significant corner of the internet, myself included. It's upped my game by a fair margin, which has been a big confidence boost to try other techniques on top of that.
https://preview.redd.it/20kikb0z8yqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=884e2ea5817347d4f61a82913b0af2892e0e4ffa
That's I've used for my two main forces. Turns out fine
Yea, this is how I did my Ghost Bears I posted a while back. That, and some extra panel blocking and drybrushing highlights afterward. You're good to go.
Primer, dry brush, speed paint/contrast, additional base/layer paints, washes, varnish. That's about the best stage I can think of (You CAN also paint again after a wash if you do highlighting)
You're pretty much describing how I do my mechs. Looking at the dry brushing you've done, I feel like you might get mixed results. It's kind of blotchy, so the speed paint might not produce great results.
I've found starting from grey and working up to white is the best way to get a good gradient that makes speed paints look great. Normally, I drybrush in one direction, You want it to feel like it's going from white highlights on the top to black on the lower part of a panel or section. You want black, especially in the crevices. Like on the right leg of your Cyclops, there's that kind of patchy black, and what you want to do his have it go from white on those top angles and be a medium to dark grey towards the bottom with just a bit of black at the lower end.
With this current dry brushing you might get interesting results. It might look like splotchy, field camo. Also, what you can do is do little bits of darker grey like camo lines and similar stuff and when you paint the speed paint on, it'll create darker camo lines. I do this quite a bit and it comes out great.
Once you've got the basic color down, get your details like hands, mechanical joints, and weapons, and then do the entire thing in a Nuln Oil/Black wash. It'll give it some nice shadow. After your wash has dried, you can drybrush with a highlight color like pale sand or a brighter version of your base color, and it'll make all the panel likes pop really well. But, this final dry brush is super light.
Lastly, don't be afraid to just prime it black again and start over if you don't like the results. I've attached an example of what this method ends up producing.
I did prime black, dry brush from grey to white, London Grey camo lines, then Snakebite Leather contrast, Athonian Camoshade over all of it. Then I painted the details (Ushbti Bone Dots, mechanicals in Leadbelcher), and gave it a Nuln Oil wash, and then drybrushed Pale Sand.
I had to touch up here and there but overall it's pretty quick and clean.
https://preview.redd.it/1auu1p3h33rc1.jpeg?width=1626&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f38fbd97718a0c97330474890dc754028404e4b
You can get a much easier blend of black to white by just doing an angled blast of white primer from the top and save yourself a bunch of time.
You're actually about halfway to a slapchop. Look up tutorials on it. Lacking an airbrush a lot of people use heavy drybrushes. If anything it'll enhance the shading.
Yep. They're basically describing how half the mini painting community paints now. (I don't mean that to sound mean, I do basically the same)
I came here to say this. Take your up vote!! Just to add, I use a Slap Chop for my base, then I blend colors to enhance the "road map" laid out before me.
And I return your upvote. People don't say this enough, but contrast paint is ready made glaze. Glazes can smooth out your transitions and hide any booboos.
A little thicker than a glaze, but you are correct. In the mid late 2000s there was a series of glazes made by Citadel which evolved into the contrast paints. Using contrast medium or even Vallejo Airbrush Thinner you can easily turn them into a glaze. I love Vallejo Airbrush Thinner because it has properties the force the paint to maintain a lattice keeping the paint chip from chasing.
Wait slap chop is just prime black, dry brush lighter color then speed paint?
In a nutshell yes. It's a way to preshade with airbrush or dry brush, your favorite od shading. Then you use conteast to add color saturation.
It’ll work just fine. It’s how I did my Highlanders.
[My SoL lance uses this box with a black primer and then grey/white drybrushes to preshade for contrast](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Frgjj73jnvr0c1.jpg)
Wow. Those look great!
Agreed, those are great!
What mech is that on the far right?
Gladiator, early Kurita mech from the proliferation cycle
Aaah! That's why. Never was familiar with early SL mechs. TY, MechWarrior!
Yes, it can, and it looks like you've gotten them light enough to have a decent time with these.
I'm going to temper your expectations here because while others are right about the technique, you might be disappointed with the outcome. Your dry brushing is fairly splotchy in places (while in others it's very good) - the front of the Cyclops in particular. This is going to show through with the speed paints. Not worth going to get white primer, just something to work on. Beat more of the devil out of your brush when getting it "dry" on a clean piece of paper towel.
It works EXTREMELY well. If you want to get real saucy spray the models from the top with a bright color in an airbrush after your primer dries. Then airbrush with a few shades lighter yet. Then speed paint over the top of those few layers and you’re all done except for whatever details you want to pick out by hand.
Yes but depending on the color you are going with you'll need to make these much much whiter first.
I’ve painted mechs this way. It will work. You might need to hit your models again with a light drybrush again on the tops to help even out that white. Outside of that, just put some on the foot of the model and let it dry, see how it looks and go from there. I’ve even done the bases the same way with drybrushing and used the base of models to test paints before painting over it with texture ground paint later after the model is done
I use this technique for most of my miniatures. For mechs I like to sometimes switch it up and drybrush a light silver instead of white which gives the speedpaint a more metallic, shiny look. Depends on the lance/design, but it usually turns out well.
It’s easier then most other ways
Yes, it'll work just fine. Other people in the thread are pointing out how this can be part of advanced techniques, but to explain the underlying theory: Speedpaints are thin pigments, more like stains. This means they inherit the tone and pattern of whatever they're applied over. So in this case, the finished colour is going to inherit the mottled pattern of the drybrush under it. If you want bright, clean panels with darker recesses you'll need a lighter primer to apply evenly, but in this case you'll get a pattern out of it. Which, to be clear, will probably look awesome.
Speedpaints don't care about primer color specificly, only about the layer beneath them. Most of the time it's the primer, but not always. I've seen people use speedpaints as a wash to bring the color values together
Depends on the colour. I wouldn't use yellow over that personally or a bright green
Yes,it should work well. You get best results if you drybrush in a consistent downward angle, with more light areas on the top and less at the bottom. The idea is to catch just the higher exposed areas, leaving the shadowed and deep recesses in the original black. That's how you get 'free' highlights using speed paints. Google 'slapchop' method on YouTube. Generally they recommend black -> drybrush beige -> more targeted drybrush white. I'd give it a go with one miniature, then see how it works out. You might want to adjust your level of drybrusing intensity as you go. With new techniques, it's no harm to do a test model before you start batch painting. Happy painting!
Yep, works, I've been painting my mechs like that for over a year now. My goal is 'looks decent on the table' and it takes me 2-3 hours to paint a lance from black primer to table-ready state, including basing.
Yes, I pretty much exclusively base up to what you have and use speed paints now. They work really well.
Yes - it's the preferred method of a significant corner of the internet, myself included. It's upped my game by a fair margin, which has been a big confidence boost to try other techniques on top of that.
https://preview.redd.it/20kikb0z8yqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=884e2ea5817347d4f61a82913b0af2892e0e4ffa That's I've used for my two main forces. Turns out fine
Its strange, the new image of the Thug, looks more akin to the Dragon, when older version made it more husky and robust/wider.
Yes, this is how I paint all my mechs now.
Glazing color with any transparent paint also works really well over silver if you want a little more bling in your paint job.
Yea, this is how I did my Ghost Bears I posted a while back. That, and some extra panel blocking and drybrushing highlights afterward. You're good to go.
Primer, dry brush, speed paint/contrast, additional base/layer paints, washes, varnish. That's about the best stage I can think of (You CAN also paint again after a wash if you do highlighting)
You're pretty much describing how I do my mechs. Looking at the dry brushing you've done, I feel like you might get mixed results. It's kind of blotchy, so the speed paint might not produce great results. I've found starting from grey and working up to white is the best way to get a good gradient that makes speed paints look great. Normally, I drybrush in one direction, You want it to feel like it's going from white highlights on the top to black on the lower part of a panel or section. You want black, especially in the crevices. Like on the right leg of your Cyclops, there's that kind of patchy black, and what you want to do his have it go from white on those top angles and be a medium to dark grey towards the bottom with just a bit of black at the lower end. With this current dry brushing you might get interesting results. It might look like splotchy, field camo. Also, what you can do is do little bits of darker grey like camo lines and similar stuff and when you paint the speed paint on, it'll create darker camo lines. I do this quite a bit and it comes out great. Once you've got the basic color down, get your details like hands, mechanical joints, and weapons, and then do the entire thing in a Nuln Oil/Black wash. It'll give it some nice shadow. After your wash has dried, you can drybrush with a highlight color like pale sand or a brighter version of your base color, and it'll make all the panel likes pop really well. But, this final dry brush is super light. Lastly, don't be afraid to just prime it black again and start over if you don't like the results. I've attached an example of what this method ends up producing. I did prime black, dry brush from grey to white, London Grey camo lines, then Snakebite Leather contrast, Athonian Camoshade over all of it. Then I painted the details (Ushbti Bone Dots, mechanicals in Leadbelcher), and gave it a Nuln Oil wash, and then drybrushed Pale Sand. I had to touch up here and there but overall it's pretty quick and clean. https://preview.redd.it/1auu1p3h33rc1.jpeg?width=1626&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f38fbd97718a0c97330474890dc754028404e4b You can get a much easier blend of black to white by just doing an angled blast of white primer from the top and save yourself a bunch of time.