It also means that other folks can look at your models and use them as a basis for comparison to determine whether or not they’re any good. Thing is, not everyone works the same. I paint my models one way, another artist paints their models there way; in the end, it just barrels down to whether or not you yourself are satisfied with the fruits of your labors.

By means of example, I had a word in the ear of MenothJohn and Bobaferret and we each took a look at our painting to-do lists, and decided that it’d be nifty for us each to paint up a Repenter, and then give the skinny on how we achieved the end results.

To that end, behold the rather long, 45-photo post on how I did my Repenter

	Yay for spray undercoat! It may seem counterproductive, but I always undercoat in white.Maybe it’s just my doddering old fart eyes, but I find if I undercoat in black, I spotting details until I’m halfway through the painting process. Not as big a deal with Warjacks, where there’s less tiny detail, but the principal stands.
	Of course, I can hardly be expected to paing metallics on a white base – they just don’t show up right.As such, anywhere that’s going to be metal has to be painted black first, in a step that can easilly be avoided if you happen to like undercoating in black.
	So yeah – smokestack, boiler, arm ball thingiees, hip, and pistons all in black.At this stage I’m just grateful that despite what Donald Trump has implied, pink is not the new black.Seriously, I don’t want to have to paint metals over pink.
	… and thus my sin is revealed. I’m slowly upgrading my paint collection to P3 paints, but a large portion is still GW stuff, including (in this case) Chainmail.Since we’re going to be going over everything else on the model, a heavy drybrush is in order, and we can afford to be sloppy if need be.
	In the end you you get something that reminds me of brushed pewter.As with all drybrushing, the deeper recesses remain black, and you end up with a little depth.
	You could leave the metals like this if you were so inclined, but I like to add some definition with washes.Though I haven’t done so here, I’ll often toy with black, brown and chestnut inks and washes to give the appearance of different metals, all over the same chainmail base.
	As covered in the article where I painted the carapace of my Revenger white, the white portions of the model get a basecoat of grey.This is more to provide a solid base coat under the white than anything else, cleaning up any sloppiness from the drybrush stage. It also helps point out areas that need more work, rather than letting me confuse an undercoated area for a finished white area.
	Next, we break out a wash over the grey. This helps to smooth any gradation out somewhat, and adds more depth and definition. This will really help give definition to the white portions.
	A good black wash will also help make up for any tiny missed spots along the edges where any white undercoat is peeking through, covering it with a darker edge.
	Time for some more base colours. Blue sections gets a nice dark blue; I’ve liberally leaned on GW’s foundation paints for the base colour scheme for my Menites, so Necron Abyss goes over the shoulders, trims the loin plating, an collar.
	Similarly, the portions that are going to be yellow/gold get a basecoat of a foundation orange.Back in the day I’d painted a Wood Elf Blood Bowl team in blue and apricot, so I developed an affection for the colours that’s apparently seeped over.
	Apparently I jumped a step between taking photos here… there’s two blues layered on top of the Necron Abyss to bring it up to this tone, and clearly I’ve put down the white as well on the legs, carapace and stack.
	What would a Menite jack be without some ostentation? The studs on the collar, belt and shoulderpad get picked out in a light blue. I want them to show up, but not overpower/clutter the figure.
	To add some depth to the “gems”, a blue wash goes over them. Kinda hard to see without zooming all the way in, but trust me, it’s there.
	Then it’s on with the light blue again, leaving the darker edges to add definition once more, and smooth out any inadverten gradation.It’s the same light blue; the wash darkened the earlier layer to give a darker base coat, so this becomes a highlight coat with the exact same light blue. Yay for economy of paints!
	Okay, I have no idea why I thought I needed four steps just to say “And then I painted the gem thingies”, but here you go.As with any gem, a little tiny pinprick of white goes on to show reflection.
	Now we can move on… there’s some lovely metal spikes needing our attention, that weren’t covered when we did the initial drybrush – mainly because I knew I’d be working around them with the blues and whites.Now they get a base of black.I decided I’d to a metal menofix on this carapace as well, so… more black.
	We could drybrush on the Chainmail much as we did with the rest of the metals, but that’d be messy on our blues and whites, so brush on it is.
	I wanted the Menofix to stand out a little, so I put a thinned down wash on it to give it a faint chestnut tint. It’s subtle, but I really like it.
	Hey, time to finally pin the head in! I’d left it off earlier so as not to have it hamper access to other parts of the model – same idea with the arms.I did go so far as to put some base colours on the portions of the head that would be under the collar.
	More black base over the portions that are going to be metal. If I was working with gold metal here I’d have used a dark brown, but I’m working with more Chainmail here.Also picked out the vents on the beak in black.
	As with the earlier whites, grey goes over undercoat to give us a solid, smooth basecoat for our nice whites.Also helps clean up our sloppy work with the black in the beak grille.
	Okay, terrible photo to show what I’m trying to here, but I did the white on the beak. Really. Honestly, I did.
	Break out the Chainmail, and lo and behold, our head has some definition. As with other portions, only painting on top of the metal straps leaves us a nice black border.I also finished the carapace trim here with some yellow, and then a very light brush of Menoth White Base to mute it a little.
	And the final step on the head, picking out the eyes. Red goes in as the primary colour, and a little dab of orange near the edges, and we’ve got an angry looking Repenter!
	Ooh, let’s start on the arms. First up, the much-maligned flamethrower; black and chainmail gives us a good basis, and the nozzle is left untouched since, well, I need something to hold onto.
	Washes add depth.As mentioned when I was talking about the boiler, washes can completely change the look of a metal; the grille here is the same chainmail base as the rest of the flamethrower, but a chestnut wash changes it dramatically.
	Adding some more base colours, same orange on the back as on the carapace, Necron Abyzz on the pipe ends, and some red on the fuel canisters.
	Next steps up, the yellow goes on the back, my mid blue goes on the pipes, and some Blood Red brightens up the canisters.
	I don’t have a final highlight for the red, but the Menoth White Base goes over the yellow to once more mute it, and my final blue – admittedly only slightly greyer than the mid blue – goes on the pipe ends.
	With the arm glued onto the Repenter, I can start on the nozzle.Black first, of course…
	Chainmail comes out again, drybrushed since we’re not particulary close to any of our clean white or blue portions. The pipe ends can easilly be touched up if they get some silver on them.
	And once more, a wash to the rescue! One simple coat and we’ve got a nozzle that’s distinguished from the rest of the metals… only suitable, since it’s likely covered in little remnants of Menoth’s Fury.
	At this point I randomly decided that I wanted grey pipes rather than metallic, so thirty seconds later I was happier with the Flamethrower.
	On to the flail arm! Black once more fr the portions that will be metallic.Painting on chains is always a sod, since the white undercoat will frequently show up inside the links; we’ll fix that with a wash once we’ve got the Chainmail on.
	Aaaand there’s the Chainmail. Pretty simple, and if you’ve been reading all this time, I’m sure you’re up to tired of my explaining it by now
	On with some base colours! Grey, orange and blue as before.Note that I decided to put blue on the top of the flail handle, despite painting it metal already. I’m whimsical like that.
	On with the wash for the areas that are going to be white. This goes a long way, providing instant blacklining at the start of the white process, rather than having to put black paint over finished white surface.
	For better or worse, I decided to attach the arm to the body at this point. Then I stared at it… and considered the colour balance on the model…
	… and decided I preferred a blue vambrace. Once more, Necron Abyss does the job, nicely covering up the orange layer.
	It was fairly simple to get the brush where I needed it for the whites, and as mentioned earlier the wash over the grey has provided the psuedo-blacklining between the finger joints et al.
	The blues on the arm were next in line, brought upto match the blues on the rest of the model.Definitely happier with a blue vambrace.
	While the grip on the flail handle is brought up to the same yellow/Menoth White Base as the trim on the carapace (and now hand), I added a thin layer of Chestnut Ink before adding the yellow to add depth.After the ink it’s a light drybrush of the yellow and then MWB, though I confess it’s a sod avoiding filling in the tiny detail.
	And here’s the wash over the chains that I mentioned earlier. Easilly corrects and covers those little tiny white bits in the links of the chains, and a different wash over the balls on the ends of the chains picks them out as well.
	Finally, I paint the base black. Naturally, I’ll add flock and ballast before sealing the model, but since I base and seal in batches, this is generally the point where I get impatient and take photos and post the model online for all to mock.

So there you have it, 45 pictures stepping you from start to finish through the painting of my as-yet-unnamed Repenter. He’s definitely on my must-use list for Mk II, but for now? At least he’s done

Longtime buddy and putty master CaptainSpud saw fit to rectify that by providing me with a sheerly awesome model for a belated birthday gift, that cost me about half an inch of hairline as I went balder trying to get the damn thing painted while fully assembled:

Naturally, this awesome hunk of warjack raised all sorts of questions, mostly focussed on Spud’s technique for making flame. Please find below, 12 minutes of Spud explaining, split over two Youtube videos

(Crossposted from Lost Hemisphere)

Allow me to start by stating the bloody obvious: I’m not a Brush Thrall.

I’ve never wet-blended, I can’t paint eyelashes, and Lord knows I can’t convert worth squat… but I’ve got a moderately steady hand, and I’ve used a heck of a lot of Chestnut Ink in my day. I’m happy with the results I get, and apparently there’s a number of folks out there curious as to how I paint the whites on my warjacks.

Thus, this write-up.

I start the painting process with a white undercoat. Why white? Frankly, because I find it easier to see the detail than if I were to use a black undercoat. Yes, this does mean that I have to put a black coat down under anywhere that’s going to be a metal finish, but there you have it. I find it easier to put a layer of black over a white undercoat, than to put a layer of white over a black undercoat for sections where I want bright results.

I’m going to doing a full step by step write-up when on the next light warjack, so we’ll hold off on those details for now and concentrate on the the whites for now.

To that end, I present today’s victim, a Revenger. I’ve gone ahead finished most of the model, with the exception of the main carapace plate. You’ll note I was a little messy with some of the earlier paints; I guess we have to cover it up!

Thus, since we want something that’s going to give good coverage without needing an uber thick coat, we turn to a nice grey.

I think this is resolves of a lot of grief that people have with painting whites, especially over other colours (or even a black undercoat). The grey gives a very solid, unblemished base to work on top of.

Now that we’ve clearly delineated the are that’s going to be white, it’s time to add a little more depth. It’s not really dark in the cracks, so a simple black wash takes care of that.

Once that’s dry we can finally crack open the white paint. Mine’s a rather thin mix, and for once in our lives, in spite of the general tendency to use shortcuts wherever possible, we’re going to remember that several thin coats will generally give a superior coat to fewer thick coats.

This is where we play a little with the properties of liquids. I’m sure I’m going to use the wrong terminology here, so all you fluid dynamics experts out there can feel free to be nice and not correct me unless it’s a really horrid error.

Dipping my brush in my water first, I then get some paint from the lid of my pot – you’ll remember, I already stated that it’s a thin mix. I then paint this onto the model, pushing it close the edges of the plate but not obscuring the dark grey provided by our wash earlier. That’s going to give definition to the edges of our plates.

Continuing, once again water -> lid -> model, more thin white paint.
I’ve found that if I’m careful, the water in the paint will flow and for lack of a better term, form a lip at the edge of where I painted previously, taking the pigment with it. I want to say surface tension keeps it from flowing over into the crack, ruining our edging.

By grabbing some more pigment from the bottle lid, I can swoosh (technical term) it into the paint/water currently on the model, and it’ll provide a stronger white. As the pigment-laden brush pokes into the low-laying layer of water on the model, the paint flows out of the brush and makes its way to towards an even coat of white.

By putting on more watery white layers while the previous layers aren’t yet dry, I’ve found that the pigment evens itself out somewhat, doing wonders to give a nice solid layer of white, while also not having any evident brushstrokes as might be found if we were working with a thicker coat of paint.

On a surface like a warjack carapace, I’ll usually do this process up to half a dozen or so times – thin layer by thin layer until it appears decently white, let it dry, and then again thin layer by thin layer. The end result is a warjack completely lacking any evidence that it’s been in a fight, or even out in the mud.

A nice clean white finish.

So there you have it, my certified not-that-hard-to-pull-off method for painting white surfaces. I hope you’ve found this little tute helpful – after all, there’s nothing stopping you using the same method for any other colour you wish to use if you’re just looking for a smooth, solid colour.

Happy painting.
Chris