How to Paint Rust

Painting convincing rust and other weathering patterns can take a figure from "mediocre" to "good". Today we're going to talk about rust. 

Grot Walker Pt. 6

Last night, while my spouse sought inner peace and tranquility through guided human pretzel-fication/chakra alignment, I sought inner peace by working on death and destruction in the 41st millennium. 

I began by planning where the walkers legs were going to be positioned and then I started gluing bits of cork to the base with Modge-Podge.

After the initial application I added more of the goop, and then 1 single square of TP. Using a damp paint brush I gently worked the TP into the base, added another layer of goop, then repeated the whole process. 

After cleaning up the edges I let the base dry overnight. The next morning this was the result. 

Pretty impressive, right? I was quite pleased with my discovery, until I realized that I was and old man playing with what amounts to papier mache. Not much of a discovery...

Sometimes it's the journey that matters, while other times it's the destination. This is a fine example of the latter; a natural looking randomly uneven surface upon which more materials can be applied. 

HMP

Pigments, Chalk, and other powders.

I've posted on this before, but I'm doing it again because I've changed my approach.

Brush Cleaning (advanced techniques)

WARNING, ANY PERSON ATTEMPTING TO REPLICATE THE FOLLOWING DOES SO AT THEIR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR CAN NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY ACCIDENT, INJURY, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, ORGAN FAILURE, AND/OR ANY OTHER UNDESIRABLE OUTCOME WHICH MAY RESULT FROM FOLLOWING THE PROCEDURE OUTLINED BELOW.

A clean brush is a happy brush, and I go nuts with the fancy brush soap and warm water at the end of my painting sessions to really try to de-gunk the brush. I find that doing this has really improved the lifespan of my brushes. The reason is strictly financial, a Windsor & Newton Series 7 #2 round $30 here, you gotta make that last.

Despite all this good treatment, all brushes eventually start getting a little ratty, so today I thought I'd try something a little different. Enter dichloromethane (DCM).

DCM is not a friend to you or the environment so before you give this a go be sure that you have a suitable way of disposing of the waste. Wear proper PPE and read the safety data sheet before you do anything. Also, it dissolves some plastics, so if you have synthetic brushes it might not be wise depending on the composition. It also dissolves glue, if you brush has glue inside holding it all together, it wont be there for long. DCM is very volatile and should only be used where suitable ventilation is present. Avoid inhaling fumes. Avoid contact with skin. Try at your own risk.

With the above warnings out of the way, we can continue. 

I grabbed some old brushes and figured I honey badger it. DCM and an ultrasonic bath. The result was amazing. Mountains of junk out of an otherwise clean brush. 

The picture shows the second (left) and first (right) treatments. The one on the right has so many particles that its scattering the light! 

Now, this isn't a fix all, and your brush won't magically be perfect, but it will be better than it was.

As I stated earlier, this is a bit of a gnarly treatment, so if all your brushes fall apart, and/or you get cancer, and/or you poison the environment, and/or you spill the DCM and strip the paint off the floor, it's all on you. 

Good luck,

HMP

Combining NMM with TMM?

Does this happen when you try NMM?

Fear not, for you are not alone.

Static Grass Application

If the grass at your mini's looks like it needs Viagra, then you should probably keep reading. For large area coverage, like a train set, you can't beat a real static grass applicator. But for miniatures large area coverage isn't really an issue, so pro applicators are a bit overkill. This leaves 2 options, buy pre-made clumps, or, have grass that looks like it was the sight of a Jenny Craig square dance.

Note the bad grass shown below, it's not just bad because it's growing out of cobble stones, it's bad because it's trampled flat.

Bad Static Grass

Below is an example of good grass, upright and alive amid a field of decay.

Good "Static" Grass

To make good grass tufts, all you need are some static grass, some fine tip tweezers and some superglue.  

Use the tweezers to take up a small clump of grass, comb off the excess with your fingers, so that all which remains is aligned, then just dab it into a drop of superglue. After 5 min or so blow off the excess. 

The clump of grass

Here is the clump after combing it with your fingers. [Use the thumb and forefinger of your opposite hand to push off the excess by moving your thumb and finger across (not along) the tweezers. When done correctly the excess material will be removed and all that remains is the grass held by the middle.]

Our dot of super glue is in place

Use the tweezers to stand the grass clump up in the glue, it will still be a bit bushy right now.

After blowing off the excess. A perfect tuft!

You can add it in clumps or little lines, they blend together into odd patters that look cool , sometimes less is more

Now go lay some turf! If you have questions, just ask.

DMGWLFP

NMM Gold, New Recipe

NMM Gold has the most tutorials of any NMM style on the web, but that's not stopping me from doing my own! Here is my new recipe.

You want to start with a nice even coat of white. Here im layering White Scar over my flat gray primer.

After several thin coats of white scar the surface should be fairly even in appearance. The next step is to layer up with Balor Brown. Try to go very even and thin. A glaze/wash is what we are after.

Thin out some White Scar, as much as you dare and come back in and pick out some of the highlights. Here I did the crown and tips and upper flat surfaces.  

Now make a wash of Mournfang Brown and wash it into the recesses.  Next is to layer up with glazes of Balor Brown, leaving the recesses. Start thinking about where the highlights are going to be.  

Now start layering with a glaze of Averland Sunset, and keep adding White Scar to keep working up the highlights. Save the pure white for point sources. If things stray too far glaze back in with straight Averland Sunset. Work it until you like it. 

Remember, when painting for gaming, quantity trumps quality, for sure DMGWLFP!