| <<<<<Back VARIATIONS: Certain colors call for certain tricks. Like I mentioned earlier, you can't really shade black or highlight white. If you just make a lighter black (we call that gray) or a darker white (gray again) your figure will look well, gray, drab, boring. When you highlight black try using some blue in your shades. I never use gray to shade white, it ends up looking dirty, I use a very light blue (a light sky blue). Look at my Moon Knight figure to see an example of this. Metallics pose a different problem. You can't really mix a lighter shade of silver or gold. That doesn't mean that you can't put some very cool highlights on it. With metallics think of the "opposite color" (it isn't really an opposite, you won't see it on a color wheel but think metaphorically). What is the "opposite" of gold? Silver and vice versa. If you have an object that is gold or a variation (brass or bronze) LIGHTLY drybrush some silver to highlight it. An example of this technique can be seen on the claws and belts of my Black Panther figure. You would do the opposite for silver (or steel or chrome) and drybrush a bit of gold on it. It is really hard to put these techniques into words without being able to show you what I mean in person. I would recommend getting a practice figure (maybe a body that you used to head for) and experimenting on it for awhile before trying it on a work-in-progress. It will definitely take some time before you get the hang of it, as it isn't the easiest technique. Don't get discouraged even those of us that have painted figures for over a decade screw up sometimes, I often have to paint over mistakes. The best painters in the world still have to do touch-ups. Remember my rule: less is more. You can always put more paint on but it is a real pain to take it off (or paint over and start again). As always these are ideas, experiment, don't be afraid to try out new things. Get a practice figure and go nuts you might discover a really cool new way to do something. If you do I hope you will share that idea with everyone else. As always I am more than happy to respond to any questions and/or comments people might have. I can't promise to have the answers but you won't know unless you try. I can be reached at: azreal@frontiernet.net |