Does your Army lack the knockout punch of pretty that you’ve been dreaming of? Come check out these hobby tricks to make your army “pretty”.
Dear hobbyists,
Do you ever look at armies that are way prettier than yours and wonder how the hell that happened?
Or did you say, “Look man, that army is pretty as hell, but I’ve got kids and a full-time job, I just want to roll into the shop on saturday and get a couple games in, I’m not gunning for the golden demon. I’ll never be that good.”
Well, there are a few dirty tricks you should look into to level up your painting.. And I don’t mean an airbrush.
Look, airbrushes are great, and they’re getting cheaper. But you still need time, effort, and space to use it and learn it. For what it does, it’s a great tool, but for some hobbyists it might be an inaccessible or prohibitive tool.
What I want to turn you on to today are some painting techniques that can level up the look of your army without investing a lot of money or effort into learning real pro painting… But these are dirty tricks that are used by real pro painters.
I won’t go into depth explaining exactly how to do it, but that’s not the point. You can find how to guides on google or on other hobby blogs. The point here is to show you these techniques exist, they’re cheap and accessible, and they can level up the look of your army without a lot of skill or investment.
So let’s learn about…
3 CHEAP TRICKS TO LEVEL UP YOUR ARMY’S LOOK
Trick #1 – Sharpie Bling
Getting those fine details. via DakkaDakka
$10 at an office supply store.
This is easy, and it’s one you don’t think about. Roughly half the models in 40k (Pretty much all of the space marines and everything chaos) are covered in blingy gold or silver accents, medals, or ornaments, and they all have to be painted. But painting really good looking metallics, or making clean lines on all the spiky metal trim of your chaos models can be a real pain in the ass.
Fortunately, sharpie makes metallic permanent pens. You can get a set of them in bronze, gold, and silver at an office supply store for about $10. The rest is easy- Rather than trying to meticulously hand paint all the filigree and detail of pain in the ass grim dark bling, just grab a gold sharpie and treat it like a coloring book. It’s more comfortable, and half the effort. Need to outline panel lines and separations in armor? Get a fine point, draw it in. Done.
Now if you’re really smart, you’ll look into Gundam markers– Which are basically sharpies in every color made specifically for this purpose, available in hobby shops that stock gundam kits.
Trick #2 Pigment Weathering
Free if you know an art student, or $4 for a lifetime supply
Pigment weathering is one of the most amazing things you can do to create natural looking weathering and battlefield filth on a model, with very little effort. There are tons of great articles on how to apply weathering pigments, and tons of great sources of pigments as well, available from MiG, forgeworld, and other hobby suppliers. Model tank builders have been into pigment weathering for years, but a lot of 40k enthusiasts didn’t know much about it until they started seeing it used on HH tanks in the Forgeworld studio.
Here’s the short version- you paint on a slightly muddy coat of powder onto everything you want to be dirty, let it dry completely, and dust off the excess and move it around with a bone-dry brush to create dust and grime. A more in depth guide will explain it in greater detail, but the end result is an authentic and true-to-life dusty battlefield look.
Now the powder itself? You can buy it, but if you know anyone who has ever been to art school, chances are you can get a lifetime of powder for free, or if you don’t, you can buy a 4 pack of conte crayons for about $4 and that’s a lifetime supply of weathering powder.
What are conte crayons? they’re drawing crayons used in art classes that typically come in tones of black, greys, and browns, But if you grind them up into a bowl with a cheese grater, guess what… That’s what weathering powder is. A handful of conte crayons will provide you with battlefield dust for years, without buying any store brand powder from a hobby shop. It’s the same stuff.
Trick #3 Hairspray Paint Chipping
Raid your wife’s stash of beauty supplies under the sink
This is another technique that is worth investigating further with a real hobby guide, but for now, just satisfy yourself knowing that it exists and it’s something you can do.
The hairspray technique creates authentic, true-to-life paint chipping on models, so you can have badass looking realistic wear and tear on your tanks and vehicles, with very little effort.
How does it work?
First, you paint the vehicle in metallics, just the naked steel that the tank is made of.
Then, you spray the bastard with hairspray. You let it dry completely.
Now, paint on the color, let it dry.
Finally, come back with a brush full of water, and swab it over the spots where you want paint chips. Hairspray is water soluble- so it will break up and flake off with moisture, taking the paint on top of it. This will reveal the “bare steel” underneath. You now have REAL actual paint chips.
When you’re done chipping paint off, and want to keep the rest, seal the model with dulcote so it gets a protective layer to prevent more chipping, locking the paint on permanently.
