Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Painting Gold Lace
















Here is some info on how I paint gold lace without using metallic paint. In this case, I've used the technique on this 75mm figure from Pegaso Miniatures. Unless mentioned, all colors are Vallejo Model Colors.


I start with a base coat of Burnt Umber on all the gold lace areas. As with all acrylics, I apply the base in several thin coats to assure good coverage and also to prevent the loss of sculpted detail that thick coats of paint can hide.



Once the base coat is dry, I mix a little Yellow Ochre into Burnt Umber and with a good detail brush (W&N Series 7 Red Sable) I apply the paint in small lines across each section leaving some of the base to show through. Once this dries, I do the same with more Yellow Ochre added to the Brown Umber and add more small lines in only in smaller areas than before that are more directly exposed to light. Next, the same is done with pure Yellow Ochre and then yet again with Yellow Ochre plus Golden Yellow. Final highest highlights are pure Golden Yellow. Once done, I applied a glaze or a wash of burnt umber and a bit of yellow ochre to unify and bring all the tones together. The key is to leave some areas with little highlights and have others with lots of highlight to create large jumps in contrast from one lightening stage to the next. This helps create the illusion of reflectivity associated with gold lace without using metallic paint.
I have to thank Lou Masses whose technique here I, uh, borrowed...ok stole.













2 comments:

IA said...

Matt, Thank you for visiting my blog militaryminatures.blogspot.com and leaving the nice comments. With regards to your latest posting, I had no idea you could simulate gold paint in that way, and it looks better than the sometimes thick metallic gold paints. Will try it in my next project. To answer your questions, my name is Robin Ellis and yes, you can link to my page. I will insert a link to yours soon as I am currently away from home. Catch you later, Robin

Matt Springer said...

Thanks, Robin. I agree about metallic paints. In larger scales they can work, but in smaller scales they are usually too grainy. Good luck with the lace. Post some pictures on your blog after you try it out!

Thanks again for visiting!
Matt