Tutorial: Washes

So, I want to talk about washes. A friend of mine who has just started painting was asking me about washes and I thought it would be easier to make a post about it for reference.

First off, let’s talk about the consistency of the wash style paint itself. It’s thin, high in pigment and will run if you let it. Paint in general wants to go into the lowest part of a miniature and will try its best to get there if it can. The thinner the paint, the more it wants to do this. Something to keep in mind while using a wash.

Second. The purpose of washes: It’s to alter the shade of a paint that is already on a miniature. This creates shaded areas and adds depth to the miniature in question. When you apply a wash, you’re changing the colour underneath to a darker tone, regardless of the colour you are using to wash with.

Still with me? Good.

I am going to use one of the Gellerpox Infected to show what I mean. I will be using a wet palette, Carroburg Crimson and Nuln Oil. I am focusing on his stomach adn the great big tear in it:

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First thing I am going to do use the Nuln Oil to recess shade the tear in his stomach. I am using one of the smaller brushes I own and putting the wash in that gap only. I am being careful with it, but I do not need to put the brush in every spot on the gap because the paint is thin enough to run along it by itself. Capillary Action Baby!!

Next, I am placing some of the Carroburg onto the wet palette and watering the wash into a shade. I do not want to put the neat wash onto the miniature at this point because the pigment is too strong. I don’t want to kick off the lovely base colour too much, so I thinned the wash. I then applied the much thinner colour over the entirety of the stomach.

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My next step is to create a redder effect around the cut itself and I do this by layering up the colour gradually. Here are a couple of the stages. I used the shade for doing this:

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Last of all, I wanted a real red sting around the cut itself, so using a smaller brush, I used neat Carroburg in select places to bring out the colour.

I have a lot of work left on this guy, I want to blend out those lines where the red is a bit harsh and of course, there is the rest of the mini to consider as well. I hope this has helped though.

If there are any questions, feel free to get in touch!