Last issue I took the immodest step of suggesting to readers a method of improving their painting style - I hasten to come to my own defence that I merely offered a different technique, not necessarily the best - this time I intend to go one stage further and put down on paper some slightly more advanced painting methods for the adventurous.

The first technique I want to explain is glazing. This is nothing new, it is a technique used by artists on canvas for centuries. If anyone remembers seeing the Tom Keating series on the old masters they will recall his use of glazing.

Glazing is a method of using one colour to alter the tone and colour of another underneath. It works best on a white undercoat, but since I generally dislike using this base colour I will describe the technique worked on a black base.

Glazing involves applying a thin coat of colour, thinned down acrylic, oil or ink and then working another colour on top. This should not be confused with applying a colour wash where a dark colour is added to flow into indentations to create a shadow effect. Many glazes can be added during the course of painting a figure, one figure artist I know has used as many as fourteen on one figure.

Begin by applying a colour slightly darker than the intended finished article. Glazing can either be used as a quick way to create a pleasant finish or to produce a masterpiece. As this is a wargaming magazine and we are only looking at producing acceptable wargames figures I will only deal with the quick method.

After applying the first colour, select the second which should be the colour of the article you are trying to paint, that is the actual colour of red or blue of the jacket or trousers. This should be applied leaving only a little of the darker under-painting showing in folds and at the edges where it meets another colour.

The Glaze

Now for the glaze. This should be a colour between the dark and original. Oil mixed with a little liquin makes the best glaze, however, it does take about two days to dry and slows up your painting more than a little. Second best are inks, personally I use Winsor and Newton although the Citadel inks are also very good but they must be thinned with water first. Thinned down acrylic can be used but because of their grainy quality are best avoided and only used when you cannot find an appropriate ink colour.

The glaze should be applied in a thin, even coat - you don't want more in the folds than on the raised areas...this is not a wash! The glaze should be thin enough to allow the under-painting to show through. Now take the second colour you used, remember the one which is closest to the finished article. Apply this over the glaze but covering less of the area, a sort of cross between painting and highlighting.

Now take a highlight colour, this should be lighter than you would normally apply. For choosing a highlight colour see the last issue. Highlight the figure as normal.

Finally you need to add a second glaze. This glaze should be thinner than the first and the colour made less intense by adding a little more water or liquin. This second glaze brings all the colour together and creates a blended effect. It is particularly useful if your highlighting has been a little rough.

Glazing can be used to create all sorts of different effects. Try using a yellow for the second glaze over British infantry jackets. Or use green over blue and vice versa. Glazing can be especially effective when painting faces.

Another very effective technique is one used extensively by flats painters. This involves painting on and lifting off.

Begin by painting the item in a much lighter colour than you want the finished article to be, for example a French tunic should be painted Bavarian blue to start with, British tunics orange or vermilion, get the idea?

Now comes the messy bit. This time we are going to use washes, but first it is important to note that only two types of paint are suitable for the wash - oil or gouache. Oil works far better but takes a long time to dry, gouache requires a further stage which I will explain later.

Mix the oil with liquin or the gouache with water to a creamy consistency, you want quite an intense colour. Apply this as a wash to the figure. Now the technique differs according to the paint used for the wash.

If you are using oils leave the figure aside for the paint to set a little, at least an hour or so until it is slightly tacky. Then use a brush to lift the oil paint away from the figure. On large flat areas working from the centre do not take too much away to create a blended effect. Where you have raised areas begin lifting towards the base of the fold upwards removing more of the oil paint as you go taking it almost back to the base colour on the ridges.

With gouache the technique is slightly different. Again apply the wash. Wait for a few moments - the gouache dries very fast - using a second brush which you have dampened in fresh water begin lifting the gouache in the same way as the oil. Gouache never sets totally, even after it is totally dry it will lift off if touched with a finger or water. This means that it has a tendency to bleed into whatever colour is laid next to it, particularly annoying if you are trying to paint white crossbelts against a red tunic. To get round this apply a thin coat of acrylic matt varnish to the finished tunic before beginning to paint over it.

You will find this is an amazingly fast way to paint and creates very subtle shading. It is ideal for painters who are less confident about applying highlights to figures. It is very easy for even the novice painter to create a pleasant finish.