We've had a few people asking about the camo paint scheme on Ali's version of Kara - so I've managed to persuade her to do a quick tutorial on how she did it.
She used quite a simple technique, but it produces great results. She paints the pattern, in this case - a base colour and two additional colours over that - then she simply glazes in the shading to give some form and definition. On the original version of Kara she went back in and added some simple highlights to the prominent areas (like the pockets), once the other areas round the camo were finished.
She has very usefully drawn up a quick illustrated version to show this along side the painted miniature. Her are some brief notes to go with the pictures.
The base colour was a mid greeny-grey, the second colour applied was Kommando Khaky with a little bone added. The third colour was a very dark brown - Scorched Brown with a little blue ink added. She kept the dark shapes smaller than the light ones, and always overlapped the edge of a lighter area.
Once the patterns were down in a way that looked right (don't be frightened to go back and adjust the way they work with each other), Ali added the shading. She mixed up quite a dark 'dirty' colour from Graveyard Earth with a little dark blue added - and used this to carefully glaze in the shading. The glazes were built up in gradual stages that are allowed to dry between applications. Obviously - the more applications to an area - the darker the shading comes out. Don't go too deep though, or you will obscure the camo pattern.
When you are applying camo schemes it's good to treat it like any other detail painting - keep the colour a little on the thin side, and don't overload the brush. Use a good brush with a fine point. It's also really useful to work from reference - so you can clearly see things like what patterns are used, and how the colours are distributed.
That's it! It's really best to keep things simple - if you try complex shading you will tend to lessen the effect (and go insane trying to smoothly apply highlights across all those colours...).
Just a quick update on orders for Kara - things are still moving a little slowly I'm afraid, but we are sending out orders as soon as stock arrives, so things are moving. We didn't expect her to be this popular! Thanks for you patience and support - we'll get miniatures out as quickly as we possibly can.
cheers!
mike
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