Donnerstag, 30. März 2017

Samurai Drum - An experiment in painting lacquered armour

Coming from a WWII painting background I am used to varnish all my figures / models as matt as possible. With regard to samurai armour I was always a bit unsatisfied with the result, it just didnt appear lacquered anymore after the matt varnish treatment, the shine was missing. So I thought about the possible ways and came up with the following three ways:

1. Painting the lacquer effect
Definitely the most difficult method, applying NMM techniques and actually painting all the light reflexes a lacquered armour may have. Most time consuming process and the worst: One small mistake may ruin the whole painting. So I decided that this is not my favourite method :-)

2. Using gloss varnish
Quite simply its about varnishing only the armour parts with gloss varnish whereas all other parts (clothing, skin etc.) remains matt. You achieve quite a contrast - but does it look real? Not sure yet, looks a bit too "wet" for me. I used that method on the 2 guys in black armour.

2. Using gloss medium for the edges
Thats basically the way I paint armour in general, using metal paints on matt varnished metals to get the look of metal reflections. Just a bit modified: Mixing the armour highlight colour with Vallejo gloss medium and applying it on the raised surfaces like edges after having applied a coat of matt varnish before. I used that method on the guy in brown armour.

Pls. let me know what do you think which painting style fits samurai armour best - maybe you know a different way?




7 Kommentare:

  1. 1st one looks best from the picture but reading about it the 3rd option sounds interesting. Have to try that myself!
    /Hans

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    1. Thanks for your opinion, Don Hans. Its a bit difficult to see on the photos but I think the 3rd alternative looks best.

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  2. Now your back to painting the figures that made me a follower of your site. Love your Samurai figures. The third picture where you do the comparsion, the one on the right (gentlemean in brown) looks best. So if I am not confused that is your option 3. It's hard to tell with these photos and am sure in person you can instantly tell.

    I just picked up some of that Vallejo medium, learning how to make glazes, and this might help mine pop.

    Every time I see one of your Samurai it motivates me to go back to painting mine.

    Cheers
    Kevin

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    1. Thank you, Kevin. I suffered from a serious lack of samurai inspiration. However, reading Hawleys book about the Imjin War the interest in samurais returned once more. So be prepapred to see some more in the future :-)

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    2. That sounds excellent! I may very well get mine back out as well. Based on your excitement about Hawleys book I went and bought it on my kindle. I also ordered a hard copy used of Stephen Turnbull's "Samurai invasion: Japans's Korean War 1592 - 1598. I read a reviewer piece that said reading Turnbull's book first and then the other helped in understanding. Thanks for the head's up.

      Cheers
      Kevin

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  3. The method you did for the black is what I personally do and I think it looks good.

    Your brown one looks very nice though!

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    1. Thanks, Kym. I read somewhere that dark brown was indeed the most common colour for samurai armour.

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