This is how I realised that the wash method doesn't work for every figure...
So I tried it with my 20mm Garrison Assyrians.
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| There are lot of 'unconverted' Garrison sp/bw/sh heavy infantry. These are the ones in the Egyptian army - sand coloured bases. To be fair, the 'damage' isn't obvious - but look how dull and blotchy the shields are. |
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| First of the conversion units. The obvious effect of this is on the legs. |
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| Again, the legs are where it is most obvious. The armour doesn't look too bad. |
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| Dressed in white. This where it really starts to show. |
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| Some of these are just - well, don't like looking at them! Most of these units also had converted officers and standard bearers. |
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| On to the archers. Another version of my universal archer - this figure is probably the most versatile figure I've ever made, lost count of how many armies it has appeared in. Photos don't show it as well, but the red looks really dirty and dull on these. |
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| Lost count of how many of these I've got - Assyrian light infantry archers. More than the 64 from the Review anyway. |
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| With these I tended to do a lot of zigzag patterns on the skirts. Put the wash over them and now I don't know why I bothered. Some are worse than others, most ofthem are - well, not good. |
So that's what happened to my 20mm Garrison Assyrian army. It languishes in a couple of boxes. Could I recover the damage? Probably, but at that time I suddenly acquired Harry's collection. That was a nominal 3,600 painted figures, but turned out to be a lot bigger, plus a load of unpainted figures - and that was just the main purchase. So the Assyrians just got left...
Always nice to see these 20mm figures and the Assyrians are especially well done. It's a different look to your usual clean style - but it ain't that bad! I have a couple of 'professional painted' armies that have been finished in that overall wash technique and they have that dulled-down look too - just 'different' I guess. The master of the 'overall wash and re-touch' is Aly (and his famous 'brown liquid'). I think the secret is to use the wash as an intermediate stage and basically re-paint in the original colours leaving the darker wash as a shade. The way I approach these things is to selectively wash in a darker/warmer/richer colour, using a darkened mix of the original colour plus some thinner medium - so I'd wash over the pale blue with a darker blue before re-highlighting and then adding the detail over the top. But as you know it takes me forever :) If you've got time I reckon it'd be well work taking the unit you are least happy with, picking out a few figures, and just re-working the base colours as a highlight - just see what happens.
ReplyDeleteAgree that Aly is a master of the technique! I think that the main issus are that I didn't put in the time to get the method 'right' and then found myself inundated with decently painted figures!
DeleteHmmm yes I see what you mean. To be honest I don't think it would be that noticeable on the table.
ReplyDeleteI use one of those washes to. I brush down from the head until the excess is pooled around the feet. But even then I do think it rather muddies light colours in particular White. But I keep in my head the fact that the poor guy has just marched over the desert so not that surprising.
Actually getting them out and looking at them they're not as bad as I remember them. Having said that, I think the wash made them a lot worse to look at and I can't see me putting in the time to make them better.
DeleteI hear you! So many other things to paint.
DeleteThis is true.
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ReplyDeleteI think Mike has the main point - brush down to avoid excessive pooling. I think you could rescue the white clad guys with Rick's suggested retouch method easily enough - it is only really noticeable on the tunics when not blown up to 54mm size, I think.
It is noticeable at 20mm (well, they are really 25mm, I just call them 20mm)
ReplyDeleteI usually apply the wash as the last but one stage Rob. I then finish the figures by touching up with highlights of the original colour. I didnt use a wash on my 20mm Persian infantry, the cuts were too shallow. Oh and by the way dont let the stuff pool. just go over them with a damp brush to lift the excess.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain extent this method really needed more practice
DeleteI wonder if the washes/shades/highlights methods work better on more modern figures where there is lots of detail quite deeply-incised, so the wash can get deep into the crevices. 'Old school' figures with less clrear-cut detail maybe don't get the benefits.. Also is it a matter of style - if you want old-school 'toy soldier' style then stick with block colours and don't worry about shading etc? I have had a go with washes ( 'Soft Tone' etc) on WW2 figures where a more muted colour scheme works OK, and on plastic HaT Ancients where detail is crisp, but not on my vintage 7YW guys! Not letting the excess wash 'pool' seems to be the watchword, if you do use them - and you can thin the washes, of course..
ReplyDeleteI can understand that acquiring Harry's ( Pearson?) collection gave you plenty of other stuff to be getting on with!
That's pretty much my view on washes now - horses for courses and washes are the wrong course.
DeleteWashes can be a tricky beast Rob…
ReplyDeleteWhich is one of the reasons I came up with my own mix…
Washing over a relatively shiny base also causes problems as everything has a tendency to run off onto the base…
Light coats work best… you can always add more.
Highlight the light colours and worry less about the dark colours
All the best. Aly…
Washes are something I'll leave to others such as yourself!
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