You’ll apply black, grey, and white primers in a way that creates a gradient effect from the shadows to the upper most areas. What do I need? The first covers the core skills of drybrushing and washing. If you have trouble visualizing where to place the shadows and highlights, take a picture for reference. By that, I mean don't get caught up in highlighting an "arm." This Blues Brothers graphic is an excellent example: Classic Notan – everything in the image is either black, or white. Now let’s discuss some methods you can use earlier in the painting process in order to try to minimize how much you need to adjust at the end. It is definitely more challenging to create smooth transitions when you have a more extreme range between your darkest shadow and lightest highlight. Most was just contrast but skin/metallics were normal paints, hooves and horns were Zandri Dust then contrast. I do this to create a ‘value map’ for myself to follow when I start applying the colour. Remember – ultimately the contrast is more important than the blending! Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. In its purest form, Notan interprets a scene or subject in black and white only. It’s been almost a year since my last post on painting miniature figures. Zenithal Priming is priming your model with 3 colors instead of just 1. Many Contrast colours still work nicely over somewhat darker base coats for a darker result, and work even better with a zenithal prime from mid tone to light. A simple but important thing that leads us astray with contrast is that you can’t accurately judge the level of contrast on the various areas of your figure until you have mostly finished painting it. Then you spray white primer/paint ONLY from the direction of your light source. You may want to look at Ansel Adams for more inspiration. Generally you will use just three colors, black, gray, and white. At this stage you do NOT worry about blending or details. If you’re interested in studying more about how this is used in the traditional art world, here are some search terms: underpainting, grisaille, brunaille, verdaccio, verdaille. (Grisaille is when it’s done with grayscale, brunaille with brown colours, and verdaccio/verdaille with greens, which can be quite effective under skin tones. I also have written a PDF that will be released by Reaper that goes into a little more detail on the process I used with Sophie and a few other figures. This is done as a way to familiarize yourself with the subject and to assess if the composition is eye-catching. By spraying a bright color over a dark color on a miniature, you quickly reveal the details of a model. If possible, take it in a dimly lit room. When I did take a close look some time later, it became obvious to me that the level of contrast was far too weak. I primed some spare mans I had lying around with vallejo black primer. It forces the artist to look at the big picture of the contrast before they get lost in painting colour and details. You’ll apply black, grey, and white primers in a way that creates a gradient effect from the shadows to the upper most areas. With this method you prime or paint the entire figure black. I break down painting into three steps. • A filter paint to apply over the primer. (For example, try painting the same midtone colour like a tanned Caucasian skin colour onto a black primed and a white primed figure. Technically zenithal priming with a brush is possible, but significantly harder to achieve the same results. More miniature-painting goodness: Citadel shades and washes, zenithal primes, and Etherfields. Again, the purpose is exactly the same as what we’re trying to do with our figures – ensure that the contrast level range between the darkest and lightest values is large enough enough and pleasing to look at. This site shows you how the app works and includes links. These are going to be a quick overview – each of these tips could be expanded to be a blog post in their own right! In that post, I described how I managed to paint the minis in the game Mystheato a satisfactory level. (Discussed more below.). It will look pretty pale on one, and fairly dark on the other.) Generally you will use just three colors, black, gray, and white. What the hell is Zenital Priming? This method does rely on you following the map, which I can see now that I failed to do on the bodice area. I zenithal primed the mummy, which shows on the eyes as well. The root causes have more to do with my failure to stay focused on the necessity of contrast, and the need to better train my artist’s eye to judge whether or not something has enough contrast. Experiment with different sizes and brightness of lights for different effects. https://www.lifeminiatures.com/step-by-step, And at this point it probably won’t come as a shock to learn that this is something else practiced in traditional painting. And thank you for the link and information. The contrast is much less obvious when you first spray the model and everything is the same color but it comes to life as you paint more. Even after you put in all your base coats and cover up all the primer, the contrast level on the miniature will look different with shadows and highlights painted into all areas. So if using only two values seems to challenging, consider using white, black, and one or two values of gray to create a Notan on your figures. You can find that kit at this link, from your local retailer, or numerous online shops: http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/learn%20to%20paint/sku-down/08907, Layering is not the only method for blending, though for a variety of reasons I do think it is useful for every painter to learn. It is also possible to apply the idea of zenithal priming/value mapping in a much more finished way. This was my attempt to apply the Notan concept to a figure. This figure was painted as a black and white noir detective, but you could also use this approach as a grisaille under painting. I’m a slow learner sometimes! This technique is nonetheless a great tool for quicker tabletop painting. Underpainting: Sketching and Sketch Style, In the miniature painting world painters have recently begun using terms like sketching or sketch style to describe variations of underpainting applied to miniatures. I’ll link it here once it’s available, as well as mention it in the comments and likely in a future post. The mental goal to push contrast is as important or more so as anything you will find here. Miguel Gutierrez makes treasures from trash. But it also leaves you the freedom to adjust and embellish as you see fit – I altered the midtone colour on the skirt from my original map, as well as painting it as more of a gauzy textured material. These kinds of pictures make an excellent guide, but remember that different materials reflect light in different ways, so some will have higher levels of contrast than what appears in your pictures. Contrast works really well for some models/armies, I wouldn't want to use them for others. A common phrase from him is “Be sure to reserve your brightest value for last” which reminds me of this article. For me, at least, that idea is a little challenging to apply to miniatures. 2019/05/12 20:37:00 Subject: GW Contrast … My painting ability did improve over that span – I would not have been able to paint the freehand details on the 2015 figure in 2008. Both black and white primers are extremes of contrast that will throw off your perception of the contrast as long as any primer remains in view. His full length videos have been lost (he’s recreating these on Patreon I believe), but the text articles under the Brushwork Technique Articles heading include animated gifs that are great illustrations of the techniques: https://piratemonkeypainting.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/pirate-monkey-painting-basics-layering/. This kind of blocking in is the idea behind the technique called sketching that Alfonso Giraldes, Matt DiPietro, and other miniature painters often employ, particularly the European painters. A discussion of classic Notan: https://blog.mitchalbala.com/the-wisdom-of-notan/, Using three and four value Notan: https://www.finearttips.com/2017/05/using-japanese-notan-design-principles-for-plein-air-painting/, There is an app for that! Martin Thirlwell . But there I was making the same old lack of contrast mistake in 2015 as in 2008. This is a tip I got from Vince's video and I pretty much used it on all of the rest of the models. Try it out on some photos of miniatures painted by painters you admire to give you a better idea of how to apply better contrast to your miniatures: https://blog.mitchalbala.com/compositional-studies-with-the-notanizer-app/. It can also help to take photos, and then look at those scaled to a smaller size as well as a larger size so you can check both contrast and look for stray paint strokes or other detail level mistakes. Using the ink over the black allows for a perfectly smooth zenithal transition without the grainy look usually caused by airbrushing white. Black line the full squad. Zenithal priming is a way to apply a reference to the location of your light source directly to the miniature itself. Glaze red the full squad. I have had some questions in response to my first post about contrast that were really more related to blending. More Contrast experimentation, you won’t get these results out of the pot. Zenithal Priming is useless for me!!!! Best of all everybody can do it. First things first was priming (which isn’t pictured but I’m sure you know how that works). I would like to strongly encourage you to do so. 4th Aug 2017. I declared them done and didn’t really take a moment away from them and then come back for a close look to assess the overall effect. Then I apply opaque colour directly over the map, matching the placement of my shadow, midtone, and highlight colours to the locations I picked out for them in the value map stage. • Prime the entire model black Contrast paints as recommended by GW go straight over their wraithbone primer for a slightly warm vibrant shade. Notice that there is no blending in this kind of value map, just a very clear indication of where things should be lighter, darker, or somewhere in the middle. Whew, that is a lot of information to parse! Therefore, I’m going to review the style of mini painting I use before I show lots of photos. I can’t think of an easier way to get a good looking army tabletop ready than the 100% POWERFISTED approved Zenthial Priming method. If you try this technique, you may find that you need to apply some opaque highlights in the brightest areas to get maximum pop and contrast. Also note that there is less contrast in a more matte material like the leather, but I painted a higher degree of contrast on the shiny metal armor plates and dagger. It’s good to see articles focusing on the other parts of mini painting. For a short video example of glazing a grisaille underpainting with colour, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYdla_4H-R8(Technically this is a brunaille since the value painting is in brown rather than gray, but same idea. Get an overview of your big picture blocked in quickly to make sure the colour and value choices work before investing a lot of time into the work. Depending on the colours shift paint a zenithal prime (or approximation done using a drybrush) could work. My use of brush-on primer to map values is a similar thing, I’m just doing it on the same surface that I will do my final painting over. I didn’t just try to paint with more contrast once or even over the span of a year or two and then it just clicked and I started to be able to paint that wayon every figure. Do get caught up in what exactly it is. Additionally Andrew Tischler is an oil painter with very watchable tutorials. Miniatures painted with glazes over zenithal priming have good contrast within each area, but can lack contrast between each of the areas. Then you’ll go over it all with a translucent paint that acts like a filter. It seems everyone’s always focused on the blending part and then wonder why their miniatures seem to be lacking something despite butter-smooth blends. And then white straight on from the lightsource, it helps you increase the constrast of your OSL. The idea with this is to rough in your values similarly to the value mapping or Notan methods above, but using mixes of various values of your colours. After completing this step, I could add transparent layers of paint to introduce skin tone, hair colour, etc. Prime in GW 's black then once dry, then hit it again with your chosen lighter spray. The way the United States will formally choose its president on Monday stands in stark contrast to how most of the world’s democracies select leaders. The blog reader stats tell me that a lot of you haven’t read that post. I use a small and inexpensive LED light. Change ), https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/10/06/how-to-paint-contrast-mind-games/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=88rMH25y-2E&feature=share, https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/09/06/reapercon-2018-sophie-painting-process/, https://www.davidmkessler.com/blog/23789/value-studies-the-artists-essential-tool, https://blog.mitchalbala.com/the-wisdom-of-notan/, https://www.finearttips.com/2017/05/using-japanese-notan-design-principles-for-plein-air-painting/, https://blog.mitchalbala.com/compositional-studies-with-the-notanizer-app/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYdla_4H-R8, https://mattharveyart.com/2017/11/28/portrait-painting-step-by-step-glazing-over-grisaille/, http://www.muddycolors.com/2017/08/what-lies-beneath/, http://www.reapermini.com/images/dungeondwellers/07002_BaranBlacktree_PG_low.pdf, https://www.lifeminiatures.com/step-by-step, https://seattleartistleague.com/2016/10/21/blocking-in/, https://www.jeffhayes.com/techniques-of-painting/ebauche-underpainting-dulled-colors/, http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/learn%20to%20paint/sku-down/08907, https://piratemonkeypainting.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/pirate-monkey-painting-basics-layering/, https://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=dionne~hfa015&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers, https://www.darkswordminiatures.com/shop/index.php/miniatures/visions-in-fantasy/wood-elf-goddess-avatar-form.html, http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Special%20Edition%20Figures/sku-down/01602, https://www.reapermini.com/search/camille, https://www.reapermini.com/search/occul%20detective/latest/59039, https://www.reapermini.com/images/dungeondwellers/07002_BaranBlacktree_PG_low.pdf. 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