You know, it's no fun being a judge at an HMGS painting competition. You're a hero one minute... a bum the next. Have you ever wondered why I never wear a name tag at one of those shows? Anyway, some good has come out of all those judging sessions. I've had a chance to examine a lot of different styles of painting, and after you've seen four or five hundred entries you begin to draw some conclusions. I would like to have written an article on the five smart moves every painter makes, and probably will in the future. But for now let's look at the five mistakes every painter makes. Lighting First, let's review lighting. Unless you work nights, are financially independent, or are single and have a house with a southern exposure your painting is probably restricted to the evening hours sequestered in some dark basement. You have also noticed by this time that we are not exactly talking about an ideal situation for finely detailed painting. Most people in this situation use an incandescent or a fluorescent lamp. Both are fine for a variety of activities, but painting is not one of them. What I would suggest to you is something that will improve your painting and also help you to paint for longer periods of time. Before we continue, a science lesson. For our purposes there are two kinds of light: white and yellow. Using either type of light will effect the final product of your labors. White light (fluorescent) is too bright and will give you a darker finish than desired, while yellow light (incandescent) is too dark and you will compensate in the other direction. The trick used by most artists is to combine the two by buying an artist's lamp which has both bulbs built in. A wonderful tool these artist's lamps. They cost about $100 and the bulbs rarely wear out. Considering I have owned mine for about six years and paint on the average of 350 days a year it has been a good buy. If you can get one that attaches to your painting table and swivels all the better. You will also find that this type of lamp is easier on your eyes and the quality of work leaving your table will improve. Flesh Another area that tends to cause problems is the flesh seen on most wargaming figures. During the time of Napoleon the First it was considered fashionable to have very pale skin. Even portraits of people at spas and health centers show them covered practically from head to toe. The reason for this was simple. Only the common folk worked outside and would have dark leathery skin. Those better off would not have to do such manual labor and therefore, would have very light skin. This concession to fashion is very similar to our modern concept that thin people are healthy, successful, and better off than their heavier brethren. The average soldier would spend an uncommon amount of time out of doors and therefore would have much darker skin. The problem that painters face is that almost every manufacturer of flesh tones insists that your armies be composed of light skinned patricians. Darken the face and you will have better results. I start with a Polly S ogre orange flesh. It is very orange in tint, but the results on a small figure are very good. Then try a dark brown wash; it gives a nice effect. Make sure to dry brush off any excess that might build up or else you will have the reverse of what you are trying to avoid. At first, go easy on the wash -- you can always apply a second coat. Another approach you may wish to consider is darkening a commercial flesh wth brown, red or yellow depending on the nationality you wish to paint. I wish I could be more specific on the proper mix but it depends on the color of the paints you are mixing and your own personal taste. Blurring of Colors Item number three... blurring of colors. This problem appears when someone usually tries to overshade or highlight and doesn't have the trick well in hand. There are a few simple rules in this area. First, make sure the paint is somewhat dry when you start to shade. Wet paint is very difficult to control for most people and one bad brush stroke can wipe out a lot of good work. A number ot good painters working with such a small medium will shade by putting the next darkest color alongside the original color. It takes more time but still gives a nice effect. There are certain colors that blur when being shaded. The worst of the lot is yellow and lighter browns. When working with these colors I would suggest a medium brown wash after the base paint has completely dried. Then dry brush on your highlights. You will have a nice effect without spending a lot of time going over errors. Another cause of blurring seems to originate from using gloss and matte finishes on figures after the painting is done. Paint can be a strange animal. Even when it appears to be dry it may not be. Before applying any kind of protective finish it is wise to wait at least a week after the last bit of paint has been put on the figures. If the figure is still wet there is a good possibility that the protective finish will blur certain colors. Glossy Overtones Next up... glossy overtones. This may seem like an unimportant item but it can make a significant difference in the overall appearance of your army. There are two causes of glossy overtones. One occurs when using oil based paints and the other happens when you use a water based paint. The biggest problem with oil based paints is that they have to be stirred completely before use or you risk the possibility of a glossy finish when that particular color is used. With most oil based paints shaking the bottle will not be enough; you have to stir it completely to be successful. If you still get a glossy finish after you have stirred the paint completely then the paint has deteriorated to the point of no return. It's time for new paint. Water thinned paints are made with a plastic base and will give you a glossy finish if you paint over the same area too often. Of course, water thinned paints have to be mixed but not as completely as the oil based variety. Most water thinned paints will perform very well right to the end of the bottle. If you do come across a bad bottle return it to the store; there is little you can do to solve the problem. The best way to prevent a glossy finish is to stir well and realize that eventually paint simply goes bad. Shading The final point to be covered is the lack of shading on a figure. If there has been one clearly defined category that has improved significantly in the competitions I have judged over the last few years this is it. If you want an in-depth explanation of shading and highlighting look at some of the earlier articles in THE COURIER for details. For now let me touch upon a couple of simple techniques. Shading is basically an optical illusion giving the figure you are painting more depth than is really there. It has been said by much better painters than myself that the smaller the figure the more work is needed to make it look realistic on a table top. Shading can be done with two color combinations. First, you can use the next darkest color in the spectrum to shade a figure. This works especially well with black on grey or dark blue on light blue. If you want a more subtle effect try dark grey on grey or medium blue on light blue. It becomes a matter of taste at that point depending on the size of the figure being painted and the impact you want to make. The other color combination is the use of brown. Medium and dark browns are wonderful colors for this application. They work well with buff, linen white (although grey also works well), other browns, yellow and red. Again, the amount of darkness will depend on personal taste, but brown does work well. The easiest and fastest method for obtaining a shaded effect is the wash technique. You create a wash by mixing usually four or five parts water with one part paint. Then you lightly dab the mixture onto the desired area of the figure. Once the paint has set lightly remove any excess wash that may have gathered too heavily in folds or under arms, etc. Well, there you have it. These are fairly simple problems and hopefully so are the answers. As usual any ideas or suggestions that you might have are welcome. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 6 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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