As some of you know, I like to give my customs a wash to bring out the scupt details. Unfortunately, many times the wash I give has negative results -- either the painting detail is obscured, wasting hours of painstaking work, or the wash dries into such a pattern as to be distracting or downright
fugly.So, for this latest NJC (BPRD) I thought I'd try something that I'd only read about until now, and mainly only saw examples of on fine-scale military models: weathering with artist pastels. Here's how I did it...
I started off by buying some artist's charcoal at Michael's. I bought two different 4-packs, one had earth tones, the other was basic black, grey, white. I went with charcoal over pastels mainly due to price, but also because I only needed these colors -- I figured the end result would be the same, and luckily, I was right.
Before beginning, I debated putting a matte coat spray on the fig -- you'll learn why in a moment...
This is my set up:
Attachment:
01-Components.gif [ 160.92 KiB | Viewed 2591 times ]
A. The figure
B. The brush: a soft, full brush (that i've never used) -- make sure it's dry!
C. Sandpaper: in my case, 150 grit
D. The charcoal stick
not shown: paper towel (damp) -- this stuff get on your hands... and everywhere else...
The first thing to do is sand a bunch of the stick into a little pile, as shown here:
Attachment:
02-Powder.gif [ 70.11 KiB | Viewed 2963 times ]
The next thing to do is to put some on your brush and then apply it to the figure. I found that it leaves more dust on the figure using 'up' strokes than down strokes, however, this method also releases more particles into the air -- make sure not to sneeze and blow your pile away (yes, this does happen...)
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a shot of me doing any of this step -- but a couple things to note: 1. be careful how much pressure you use on your brush -- too much pressure, especially over an area you're finished with, has a 'dusting' effect -- as in "dusts off" the weathering. 2. if you're unhappy with the results, it's possible to wash the charcoal off and start over -- especially if you sealed the work before starting. Luckily I was happy with the 1st try, because I did not seal the paint before weathering (on this fig -- the other is a different story for another time)
When I was happy with the level of weathering, I used this fixative (made specifically for artists) I don't know if I needed to go with something this special or not -- it doesn't look a whole lot different from any spray-matte finish, except that it doesn't leave an 'orange-peel' finish, and it stinks like the bejeebus. Definitely use outside! But it dries waay fast!
Attachment:
03-Fixative.gif [ 74.56 KiB | Viewed 2592 times ]
I will reply with a close up of the weathering -- Much more subtle than my attempts at wet-washing, and I will definitely try this again!
