Gloss or matt varnish... which do you prefer?

[Golgotha]

Neither or matt - I generally avoid gloss. Though a dash of gloss on things like eyes can work well... So gloss for shiny bits only. As for everything being satin that to me just does not seem realistic.

[Chairface]

Satin

[black hat miniatures]

I matte all my wargaming figures usually but since I have started painting 54mm Toy soldiers I've really started to like the gloss look and will use it for 40mm and upwards...

Mike

[FramFramson]

I tend to use a coat of gloss as it is harder and more protective, and then dull that down with a matte spray coat - and touch up bits like patent leather, metal, and goggles with a spot of gloss over the matte to 'reshine' them.

Even coat of gloss to seal and protect, then follow with brushed-on matt, satin, and other effects. Specularity and surface diffraction are as important as color in getting the illusion of reality right, so doing even all over coats are for when you're just trying to get stuff on the table. If you're trying to make things look more real and "alive", either for exhibition or just personal pride/ambition purposes, you gotta give your specularities the same attention you would your colors.

This right here.

[Harry Faversham]

It's always been high gloss for me, 30mm Spencer Smiths must be given two coats of full gloss varnish! I'm building a 28mm collection of the Widow of Windsor's soldiers to fight in far flung corners of her Empire agin the benighted 'eathens. Working on the footing that if the sun never sets on said Empire, it must be shining. So must they... with a double coat of gloss varnish!

[cameron]

Gloss: blech. After all the time I spend painting my figures, I don't want them to be half-obscured behind reflections of the lights overhead!

Gloss is one of those old-school things that I'm happy to leave in the bad old days, along with stiff poses, lumpy casting, and lack of detail.

[Harry Faversham]

Gloss: blech. After all the time I spend painting my figures, I don't want them to be half-obscured behind reflections of the lights overhead!

Gloss is one of those old-school things that I'm happy to leave in the bad old days, along with stiff poses, lumpy casting, and lack of detail.

Bah! Kids and wargaming! 

[Flockalicious]

Testors Dull Cote, then brush on a semigloss (its actually called satin, but its glossier than that) to area that I want some gloss to it (certain parts of armor and women's lipstick, eyes, etc)

[Cosmotiger]

I'd always been told/read that you should apply a coat of gloss for protection, then a coat of flat, and that's the way I've done it for years (decades actually).

But, lately I've been skipping the gloss, and it doesn't really seem to make that much difference to me. The finished product also has a more uniformly flat appearance: no worries about trying to cover the gloss completely.

[Atheling]

Gloss to protect the mini (and although you can't see it, it ties the colours together before the next stage which in matting down- I always do this with as flat a matte as I can lay my hands on.

Darrell.

[Anna Elizabeth]

Yes, Gloss for protection, then cover that with matte.

Also, for minis that get decals - DUST, Battletech, Space Marines, etc. - the Gloss is a good base for the decals, and then matte varnish seals them down.

[zizi666]

Yes, Gloss for protection, then cover that with matte.

Also, for minis that get decals - DUST, Battletech, Space Marines, etc. - the Gloss is a good base for the decals, and then matte varnish seals them down.

+1

[dampfpanzerwagon]

That's easy.....

Gloss first for protection. Also try to get hold of some Ronseal Gloss Vrnish - the sort that you need to wash your brushes in white spirits rather than the more modern water based). Then Matt Varnished. I use Galleria Artists Matt Varnish with a fair few drops of Tamiya Matt Medium added to the bottle.

I hope that this helps.

Tony