BLACK WASHES
Travis' Tips:
By Travis Stafford
This month we are going to start out with a painting tip called WASHES


A wash is just thinned paint applied freely over a surface. This makes the
paint flow into the corners and recesses that you might not be able to get
to otherwise. Modeler's often use this on planes, tanks or cars to make the surface look weathered (old and/or beaten). For action figures I often use it whenever I want to define different surfaces or parts of a figure but it is too small to paint a black (or whatever color) line between the parts.

Before I continue let me note that when I refer to paint, use what kind you are comfortable with, a water base (acrylic), enamel, oil, whatever you like. Try them all out, different paints produced different looks. When I refer to a thinning agent the type to use will depend on the type of paint. For enamel or oil you use gum turpentine (any hobby store will carry it), for acrylic (water base) you use..you guessed it water. Make sure you use the correct thinning agent. You can NOT use turpentine on acrylic paint or water with enamel, it just won't work.

Washes can be any color you want them to be I called this column "Black Washes" because that is the color used most of the time. Sometimes it is better to use a darker tint of your base color instead of black, as with everything I write about you will have to experiment and find out what works for you.

First off I almost never dip my brush into a bottle of paint. Usually even
when the bottle is well shaken the stuff on top doesn't have as much of the pigment as I like (pigment is what gives paint it's color, think of it as
the thick goop at the bottom of the bottle). I often keep my bottles of
paint upside down (make sure the lids are on tight) and then paint out of
the cap or I use a makeshift palette. Don't go to a fancy art supply store
and buy an expensive palette. You can buy the cheap disposable kind that
look like a sheet with a bunch of little cups in it OR do what I do: I use
the lids of plastic food containers (margarine, cool whip, etc.) those work great, use one side, then the other, then throw it away.

I have a couple of painting rules I will occasionally throw into these
columns. This month's rule is: LESS IS MORE. When you aren't sure about something use less of it. You can add another coat of paint A LOT easier than taking a coat off. Keep this in mind when you make your washes.

To make a wash you just thin down a bit of your paint. Put a dab of paint on your palette (don't you feel like an artist now?) and add a lot of
thinner, remember you can always add more paint but if you apply a wash that is too thick it is a lot harder to remove it. You want the paint to be really thin, it is almost more accurate to call it tinted thinner rather
than thinned paint. Use a relatively large brush and apply the wash freely,
watch as it flows into the crevasses. If you are using water-based washes it may take a few applications to get the full effect, be patient remember the rule. You can use a dry brush to soak up excess liquid. Experiment with different color washes and washes of different thickness' to see all the different effects you can come up with.

A wash will highlight raised surfaces and provide depth to the recesses.
You can even mix washed of different colors to make cool blending effects. Remember my rule, don't overdo it. You can always add another coat after it dries.

I think an example might make it clear to everyone. You have a custom
Titanium Man figure. The different components of his armor look great but even though you skillfully made it so that the gloves are a separate piece of armor from the arms by carving a tiny gap between the two but from more than an inch away no one can see it. A paint wash will cause the paint to accumulate in that gap, essentially painting a line only there.


Another example would be my Moon Knight figure. MK has wrappings on his wrists, in a future column I'll tell you how to make those. They didn't stand out until I put a wash over them. The wash flowed into the crevasses between the wraps and making them stand out. Since MK's costume is white I didn't want to use a black wash (or even use black when I shaded him, again we'll cover shading later), I decided to use a Very light blue.