merveilleux Julien mon ami. for wood that you want to make a transparent colour effect over try using oil glaze mixed with oil paint to create a great wood paint job. it can be found at the art supply store. some oil glazes do not react well with lacquer varnishes though so test the glaze on scrap piece prior to adding a matte sealer.

this is the best way to create a series of colour applications such a grey or worn wood areas on the top surface only as the oil glaze mixed oil paints can be drybrushed on. hope this helps and the diorama painting is wonderful. cheers, mh

Julien,

Perhaps I did'nt make myself too clear. By "filter" I mean just dampen the brush with a greyish filter (not wash) and paint over the wood planks individually. There should be hardly any paint on the brush at all. Wipe the excess off on some tissue before you paint it on the model. This technique is far more controlled than a wash and should not go into the grooves. If it does, you can always do a pin wash to bring the contrast back up. This can be very subtle and will probably take 3-4 passes but you will see the tones change gradually.

Apologies if I am telling you something you already know but I really think you should presevere with that cart rather than starting again !

Andy

Gday all,

Andy and Hellboy, thanks for your technical tips. I chose to fight my gears and use my airbrush. And this time it works, and really gave me the taste to push on more airbrush use.
So the wall painting is finished, and the cart is nearly done (I will rework the wheels tones with very subtle effects). The Ivy is 40% done. I use for the samll branch a samll packet from Hudson and Allen given with their ivy pack. It's plastic yarn, and it's really realistic and for the leaves Kamizukuri products, which are really great, and cheap compared to PE. The only thing is those damn Japanese made the ivy leaves in the wrong sense (ivy is supposed to hang down...). So in addition to the leave by leave painting, I had to turn each leaves in the correct way with a tweezer....I think it's worth the pain I had. I've put a picture of the initial project...no comparison..Once all the ivy leaves will be glued, I will brush them with green wash in order to soften the white lines on the leaves.

So thank again for the tips you gave me until then, and please continue as it's a collective work and I think it's the best way to really progress.

Best,

Julien

ps : I haven't the sun in Paris for weeks now, so the pictures might be dark. this week end should be sunny, I will post better one then.

















The previous paint job on the cart :


The first Ivy project.........

Ola Julien,

Definitely better, the cart tones are great now, but maybe make it a bit dirty?
Cool Ivy also, I'm anxious to see the Jäger painted.

Bye,
Alex.

Hi Alexandre. The new result is thanks to the help of armorama member. As for the jager, maybe they might come from the other side of the atlantic ocean...
More to come this week end.

Best,
Julien

The gray on the cart looks much better.
One thing I would suggest you do with the ivy is to add a dark brown wash over the green stems. The green of the stem and the leaves is too similar and it makes the whole thing look like a small version of a plastic bunch of ivy. I wouldn't go totally brown, let the green show through, or go darker green. Mostly something to break up the same color. I'm looking at ivy now, and I can see lots of variations and even some yellowing edges on leaves.

Hello! julien

you build beautiful works very much , I like the tree crawls at the wall and designing project your I like it.

adisak

Hello Scot.
Yes I think I'm nearly done with the cart. I think I still need some tone variations, very subtle, because I'm afraid to have to redo the thing if my layers are too thick. Oils will do it....at least I hope
For the ivy, I second your opinion, initially I wanted to make the stem beige, but I thought it wouldn't match with the brown branches on top. So I have to make a subtle paint between brown and beige melt with the green . The leaves will be treated one by one once all glued, to play with the green tone

Best,

Julien

I like your wall and ivy , looks pretty realistic

Very nice Julien.....so are you changing the figures to allied?

Regards, Paul

Thanks Adisak, Paul and JBA !
Jean Bernard, je pense que je peux faire mieux coté réaliste...Initially I tought the light green on the leaves was very convincing and realistic, but I took some pictures of real Ivy and realised in reality such line are really really subtle, so I will have to give them a heavy wash. I've noticed that old leaves turned yellow beneath, and that the young leaves are in a lighter green and more glossy.. To conlcude I can still improve the effects.
Paul, The idea to change the figure comes from their positioning. I thought the two 101 guys from Nemrod better fitt with the configuration of the vignette. I will post pictures of the two pairs and you guys wil tell me the one that fitt best.

Best,
Julien