Technique for painting quilted jacks?

[dan97526]

Friends,

I am starting my first 28mm project ever, War of the Roses using primarily Perry plastics. I'm at my wit's end trying to get the quilted jacks to look good.

I envision them as an off-white, although Perry's website shows some in a beautifully done tan.  I have experimented with several different methods, non of which yield a satisfactory result.

1) Undercoat white, wash with P3 Flesh Wash (reddish brown) and then layer up with successively lighter shades of off white. Loses definition of the quilting. In the case of a jack that is quilted in squares, winds up looking like an ill-defined checkerboard or a very strange tartan.

2) Undercoat white, wash with straight-from-the-bottle Vallejo Game Ink Sepia or Citadel earthshade. Better, gives a nice tan color with great definition...when it doesn't end up looking like a splotchy mess or go too dark.

3) As with (2) but follow it up with layering. Loss of definition.

4) Undercoat white, wash, drybrush off-white. The less said about drybrushing, the better. I hate it because it has usually served as a foolproof method for ruining any paintjob I applied it to. Don't want to do it, and would prefer not to learn.

Any and all advice would be a great help.

Thanks,
Dan

[max]

My way is (using a black undercoat) to apply a dark brown base colour, then a kharki/tan then add some white to the mix for the highlights.

I've only done a couple of white jacks, but i use dry brushing 

[dan97526]

I was kind of afraid any answer might take one of three forms:

1) Learn to drybrush.
2) Paint better.
3) You're a beginner.  Lower your standards!



Thanks, Max. I appreciate your taking the time to answer.  Here's an example of the wash and layer technique:



I don't actually think it looks that bad in retrospect (I've since stripped the figure), but the visual sectioning of the quilting is done with the paint rather than allowing the definition of the figure to show through, if that's understandable.

[Vermis]

For what it's worth, I think the shading on the billman is too dark, with not a lot of relation between that and the whiter parts. Looks a bit like a mint humbug!

Which minis on the Perry site do you mean? Metal WOTR liveried billmen? If so, I'd definitely recommend lightening your shades. Water the wash down a tad, and maybe don't worry so much about squeezing a bunch of layers into concentric highlights. I think the slightly ragged edges of the successive layers are helping to hide the quilting definition. How many are you using, anyway?

If you wanted to go a bit fancier (though using fewer layers) save the whitest layers for the highest parts - i.e. shoulders, upper arms, chest.

[Blue in vt]

I prefer my padded armor a bit darker I guess....I start with Vallejo Kahki Brown and put two highlights on it...bringing it up to a "too" bright color and then I wash with a mix of old citadel Delvan mud and Chestnut ink...diluted with water...and end up with this



Frankly they are a pain in the butt to paint...but if you work out a system they look really good.

Good luck!

Blue

[Svennn]

I thought the colours you are using are fine but you need to do a wider covering of the first highlight so as to leave much narrower dark stripes. It will be very labour intensive though and Blues suggestion would I think be a better solution.  Personally I would do the same but instead of washing the whole jerkin I would line in the darker shade with a fine brush.

[Argonor]

If you are a beginner and want a quick result using washes, you can also do it in 3 steps: Basecoat with a slightly paler shade than you want the finished colour to be, apply the wash, which should darken the overall colour and add definition, then add highlights with the original colour - BUT only hightlight areas that would normally catch the light (try looking at some folded/roughed up fabric). As an option, add a small amout of bone to the tan for final (very small) highlights.

Alternatively, practice layering; it really pays off in the quality of the finished minis after a very short time, and is not that time consuming after a while, when you've got the hang of it.

[julesav]

Dan

I find that using inks straight from the bottles often gives a too strong result - try watering them down a little with either distilled water or preferably some 'flow enhancer' this should decrease surface tension and make the inks flow into the details better.

Personally, I'd at least try dry-brushing. Success or failure will mostly depend upon the crispness of the detail on the minis. I generally avoid plastics because they somehow seem 'less crisp' than metals. Succeed or fail at least you'll have added a new technique to your 'painting armoury'!

 I can heartily recommend the new GW 'dry' paints as a big help for someone new to the technique to get the paint consistency right. Also check out tutorials on YouTube - they are a massive help!

cheers

Jules

[Captain Blood]

Dark brown undercoat spray, drybrush across the grain with GW Snakebite Leather, gradually mix increasing amounts of white into the Snakebite Leather, and paint on highlights to each quilted panel, repeating with lighter mixes to achieve the effect you want.




Lots more variants in my Lead Adventure WOTR gallery 

Quilted jacks may have been a natural undyed linen colour when new, but they were probably waxed, oiled and stained by all sorts of substances. So a variety of colours anywhere along the cream - brown spectrum would be fine and will look good.