Shading in cloth

[Dark Sun]

Hi there

My High Elf spearmen have been fully painted [apart from the white skirts]

I've gotten the white really nice now but its pretty thick and I dont want to paint over it any more.

Heres the prob, in the creases in the cloth I've done a babad wash, my paint might of been too thick or something but its came out really black and not realistic, in other words if you look at the eavy metal standard its not black its sorta greyish.

I know its not an actual Spearmen but its some nice art too and it shows how its meant to be like that and not straight black.

On another note Im getting a mobile phone and whats enough megapixel to take a piccy of something and put it on the internet and be able to see reasonably well.

[Axe of the Menzies]

I have never painted a High Elf model before, but i do have and alright idea you could use. Instead of applying the Badab Black Wash over the white cloth use very watered down grey, like Fortress Grey. This will create a shading effect and all you have to do afterwards is repaint the robes (leaving the folds grey) with a few thin coats of white to create a very clean look. This is best achieved with a Skull White undercoat. This will also make you High Elf models quicker to paint.

[Sknight]

Yes the Eavy metal team shade their white cloaks with either a brown, blue or grey shading, this makes a more natural recessed colour IMO. For blueish recesses I would wash the creases with a thinned Asurmen Blue wash or a thinned Fenris Grey wash, or for a grey under tone I would wash fortress grey in the recesses.
Usually what I do is paint highlights on top of the recessed colour, but since you don't want to put any more layers of paint on just wash away.

I tend to shy away from shading white cloth with black because it makes it look dark, not vibrant and bright like white should be.

[Dark Sun]

I have Asurman blue wash at home here but I'lle wait until the weekend so I can get a fortress grey wash from my GW center.

PS. Would Astronomical Grey do?

[Axe of the Menzies]

As long as it is a nice light grey yes. But Foundation Paints tend to be quite thick in consistancy, so you may have to water it down a little more then regular paints to create a thin wash.

[Sknight]

yes, astronomican grey would work fine, it won't provide as dark a shade as fortress grey, though the difference is hardly noticable.

[Dark Sun]

Meh I gues I'lle do fortress grey im taking its as watered down as a wash?

[Axe of the Menzies]

Yes as watered down as a wash.

[Chardun]

For the picture taking part of your question the issue wouldn't be taking the pictures it would be holding the camera still to take a decent photo. I ended up getting a cheap $20U.S. tripod for my camera. Also, the camera I purchased was a 10x zoom wide view which I doubt you'll find on a camera, though I always seem to be behind the power curve when it comes to options for phones so I could be wrong on all this. I'd check out the iPhone if I was you, which also has a camera. I have an iTouch and I think it is awesome, great for listening to Podhammer and 40kRadio on. Any who, happy hunting on your phone purchasing.

[InquisitorAffe]

I don't think you will find any phone that can really take decent pictures of minis. It's not the megapixels, it's the very large fixed depth of field. You can get a 3 or 4MP Canon Powershot on eBay for like $30 that has an outstanding macro mode on it for closeups.

For colors, black is the enemy! It's a common thing for new mini painters to reach for black to shade and white to brighten. Don't do it! Walk around outside and see how much actual true 'black' you see on something that isn't man made and dyed that way Even my black cat has substantial reds in his fur when you put him out in sunlight