Am I Using Inks Correctly?

[tanglethorn]

I'm currently basecoating my news with Blood red and I want to add some shadding effects. I'm kind of new to painting and I like how they are coming along. My problem is that blood red can be kind of hard to shade and highlight. Someone suggested that I use chestnut ink instead of red ink, because the red ink blends in too much with the blood red paint. I've heard I should do a 50/50 mix of red and chestnut inks.

Anyways, I painted chestnut ink all over the termaguant and it doesn't look too bad, but I think it can look better. When In try using the washes on the larger Nids like warriors, the chestnut ink begins to leave a muddy or spotty look. Also, the figurines start to look a little too shiny.

My question is, am I supposed to use the ink al over the model where there is red? Or do I just place the inks in the places where I want to give a shade to? For example should I just paint on the ink around the face so the cheek bones and lips will stick out? It just seems weird washing the whole model.

On a side note, the smaller models seem to handle inks better then the larger models.

[TzeentchPlayer]

You can wash the whole mini or just do areas of it. GW inks are ok by themselves, and you complained of pooling of the inks on larger models. there are way to make GW inks better. To stop the pooling add some dishsoap to the ink, just a drop or two will do and it shouldn't pool anymore. If it still pools a little add a little more dishsaop.

[Gojiratoho]

I find using inks works best if you lay down another coat of your base color over top of the ink, either drybrushing it on or carefully going through and painting around all your recesses.

So ideally it's base coat, ink coat, drybrush/highlight coat.

[tanglethorn]

Originally posted by Gojiratoho@Nov 17 2004, 14:16
I find using inks works best if you lay down another coat of your base color over top of the ink, either drybrushing it on or carefully going through and painting around all your recesses.

So ideally it's base coat, ink coat, drybrush/highlight coat.

[snapback]251964[/snapback]

Thanks! I actually tried drybrushing the base coat over the muddy wash job on one of my Tyranid warriors and it did a good resotoration job as well as leaving the recesses of the model still darkened by the ink.

I think I will try a 50/50 chestnut.Red ink mix just to see how it looks.

What color do you recommend as a highlight to blood red? Would a mix of Blazing orange/blood red work?

[isitused]

On a larger model with much more defined details you might want to consider basing them with a darker brown/red perhaps mix your blood red with a dark brown and using that as a base coat. Then drybrush up to blood red. This will provide shading with ought the hasle of inking a large model. You can then go back and ink wash the detailed areas that you feel need more detail pulled out of it.
Also if you are highlighting red, don’t add white to your red to get a lighter red, this will just make it pink. To achieve a better highlight color add yellow to the red, this brings it closer to orange and looks allot better.
-GM

[Gojiratoho]

The only red I use on my Nids is on wing membranes and some of the gun parts, and I generally use Pink mixed in with the red when I highlight, 75/25 Blood Red/Tentacle Pink up to 25/75 Tentacle Pink/Skull White.

The orange could add some nice subtle highlights. Pink(or White) makes the highlight much brighter, but not necessarily better. My advice is to experiement with the colors, either on an old model or on a bit of cardboard.

[Tubal]

Red ink on it's own is useless for shading red... it's the same damn colour! And GW still used that as an example in the newest UK-WD for painting marines.

Anyway, you seem to have gotten pretty good advice. One additional thing you could do is to try and control the ink a little, don't let it pool or it will dry badly. Try getting most of it in the recesses where it's supposed to be.

[cadre_of_storms]

Originally posted by Gojiratoho@Nov 17 2004, 18:16
I find using inks works best if you lay down another coat of your base color over top of the ink, either drybrushing it on or carefully going through and painting around all your recesses.

So ideally it's base coat, ink coat, drybrush/highlight coat.

[snapback]251964[/snapback]

ditto i would siggest base coating red gore, red ink wash, red gor dry brush and then blood red high light

[The Mad Hatter]

The basic idea behind the soap in the ink is to reduce the surface tension of the ink. windex does this just as well as soap and has the added benefit of not leaving a residue (if too much is used) and not changing the viscosity of your ink.

[Sol]

You can add PVA glue to ink to make it well more in recessed areas and thereby get a better shading in models.

Also you can combine this with soap to also reduce its surface tension.

Wash your brushes carefully afterwords though as the glue will ruin them.