Quote:
Originally Posted by King Ulrik Flamebeard  Then the blade. I washed it with various layers of scorched brown and Tamiya Clear Orange to represent 'wear, tear, and ageing'. This was OK, but hard to see due to the basecoat being so dark (note, rusting etc seems to work best over a clean layer; chainmail or mithril silver perhaps).
KU |
Rusting metal can be a pain. I have done loads of it and I have found the best way to go is layers. Rust tends to make metal look more 3D as it messes it up and basically makes parts flake off. You're right about the basecoat being so dark. Don't do silver as the rusting efforts will darken some areas and leave other untouched meaning the silver will stick out oddly on some parts of the blade amist puddles of brown.
Boltgun metal is good. I drybrush it over black or tin bitz, tin bitz gives a good start for rust. The drybrushing is best for this as it has the effect of making the metal areas greedy and they suck up inks instead of having it run off and possibly drip. I often go for chainmail too, right after the boltgun metal.
I use brown ink washes to do the rust. I find winsor and newton peat brown is very good for this, beware though, if you use winsor and newton wash out the brush every time you move from metal paint to ink as the ink absorbs the little shiny bits giving 'glitter brown ink'
. Sometimes I use the brown ink right after the boltgun metal and then let it dry before adding the chainmail and then inking that too. Basically it is possible to alternate with this method. Good for doing whole mobs of guys with rusty weapons as the weapons look in different states of neglect and as such more life-like.
Once the two shades of metal are down and one or two layers of ink I find it is good to very lightly drybrush over the weapon. What is used varies. Because the weapon is in use rust will of been scraped off the edges as it chops people up. A very light drybrush of chainmail can help to bring out the curves and so on. this helps to make it look nastier but in a subtle way.
Silver can be used too, but generally in very small quantites, basiclly a very light dusting on the edges. The reason this highlight of lighter un-rusty metal is needed is to give the person viewing the blade a basis of comparison on the weapon itself. I don't mean they will see rusty and un-rusty bits but they will see rust is creeping into or taking over the weapon. It is very easy to end up with a purely brown metal thing which looks like it has been dipped in a slurry pit. Basically it makes the rust look unclean and rusting what good metal remains.
The method I use has loads of variations and different kinds of ink can be used. Warmer browns will get a kind of coppery look and loads more layers and several different nks can give huge variety.