Painting Plaid Cape Experiment

I painted a texture on the cape. As you go, keep in mind the folds in the fabric.

If you are unsure how your pattern would look through the folds, it’s time for a field trip! Take a camera or your camera phone to your local fabric store. Take some time and find a pattern you want to mimic. Roll it out a bit in a similar fashion to the miniature you are wanting to paint. Study the way the pattern shifts slightly around a curve. Take a picture as needed.

Make sure you roll the fabric back up and put it back where you found it. Fabric stores are hobby stores for a different type of nerd (yes, quilters are nerdy for quilts just like you are nerdy for *insert here*). You wouldn’t want someone coming into your FLGS (friendly, local game store) and mucking about.

Technically I think this method is called a “glaze.” The idea is that the paint tints the whole area with the color used. I chose the Baal Red wash for this particular project.

Washes are basically thin paints. Can’t afford one of the washes or shades out there (or don’t want to spend it)? You can used a thinned down acrylic paint. You want the consistency of skim milk for this purpose. It is a bit more unpredictable to work with thinned acrylic and takes some practice and experimentation.

Basically cover the whole mini, but don’t let the wash pool in the recesses. It is handy to have a dry paintbrush handy to soak up the areas that pool. Don’t over-work the wash (don’t mess with it too much). Mop it on quickly and leave it alone. As the layer starts to dry in some areas and not in others you will start to ruin the even coat if you are moving it around too much.

LET THE PREVIOUS LAYER COMPLETELY DRY. Sorry to shout, but really, let it dry. How can you tell it is dry? It’s not shiny anymore.

Next, another coat. You will start to notice less contrast and more color starting to appear.

Again, let it dry before you do another coat.

Neat. It’s starting to come together!

I really liked now this was coming together, but I wasn’t getting the depth I wanted. This layer I used the GW Nulin Oil (black) shade. The shades are basically washes and behave the same. Shades are typically the darker and have a tendency to flow to the recesses as opposed to the Baal Red wash that gave better overall coverage for the color shift.

Covering the whole area with the black toned down the red quite a bit. I didn’t want a neon red cloak. After the first dark layer I went back in with a more targeted wash. I went over the areas that would be in shadow to really increase the depth. This included the slight dip in his back just below the shoulders.

Note also that while I had the black out I did a quick wash over the grey rocks. It was in the plan for later, but while it was out…