Hey guys,

I was trying out the technique to create depth with blue oil paint, as discribed by Mig Jemenez in his FAQ2 book, and I was wondering how much blue paint do you use? Do you use the paint straight from the tube, or do you dilute it first? If so, how much?

I tried it tonight, but I think I used a bit too much paint - straight from the tube... It turned up all, well, blue... And that wasn't the effect i was looking for. :-)

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks!

Dave


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

I dunno Dave, those photos look pretty sweet to me! The paint distressing and weathering look excellent. If there's too much blue in the crevices, wipe it away with some mineral spirits and stiff brush. I like the overall tones you've achieved though.

Thanks for the nice comments Matthew. :-)

It doesn't show soo blue on the photo, because the tank was still a bit wet. Once dried, it really is blue, star trek kind of blue.

Anyway, I used the oil paint directly from the tube, and tried to wipe it with a wet brush, instead of a damp brush.

I think I should first dilute the oil paint a bit and then use a damp brush to blend it, but I'm not really sure, so all advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Dave

I don't know if this might have been the issue, but with oil paints I let them dry on a piece of cardboard for several hours to suck away some of the oil medium from the pigment and then dilute it for this sort of thing. It seems to help with minimizing the accumulation of paint around corners.

Matt

I tried it again tonight with my Tiger I, but unfortunately, I got the same result.

I don't seem to be able to blend the blue color with the rest of the colors. All I end up with is blue, without seeing any additional depth.

I clearly don't master this technique, so any advice?

Thanks!

Dave


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

Dave,
I have the FAQ2 book, what page is this on so I can go over it? I can see where the blue paint is hanging up on the details. This might work better as a filter - 5-10% paint, the rest thinner (odorless white spirits). Right out of the tube is definitely not right.

As far as I know, leaving the paints for a half an hour on a piece of cardboard can be more than enough to make absorbe the oil medium . It might depend on the kind of oil paints which you use.

Anyway Dave, I agree with Matthew, your JS tank doesnt' look bad at all!

Cheers

Dave, you could try using Winsor and Newton Liquin (there are a few varieties of this now, see here: W&N). Agree with allowing some of the oil to be absorbed on a piece of card, if necessary (I find some tubes to be very oily, while others are already quite dry, especially when a few years old). Then mixing in a little Liquin allows the paint to be spread very thinly, almost without limit, and avoids brush marks so you don't get streaking etc. as you can do if using mineral spirits to thin. Essentially you can keep spreading thinner and thinner - it somehow makes the paint more manipulatable. It also speeds up drying time considerably. Just be aware that it will produce a semi gloss finish (not very glossy), but you may either like that or be able to deal with it using usual matt varnishes etc.
The Liquin Original is quite thick and gel like, while the Fine Detail version is a bit thinner, but still quite thick. To be honest, I didn't find the results differed much between each one, so try either.

Dave,

Put a little dot from the tube on a pallet of your choice.
Thin it a bit so the paint brushes on smouth.
(Not transparant though)
Paint a small amount in place where you want a blue-ish tone color.
And than stump it with a moist (not wet) clean brush (moist with terpentine)so there only remains a blue tranparant layer.
This creates a cool shadow in certain places of your object.

@Matthew, it's on page 78

@Mauro, I'm using W&N oil paints, so, that shouldn't be a problem

@other Matthew :-) thanks for the tip, will look for it next time im in the hobby store

@Frank, I'll try your technique tonight and post some pictures if it went ok

Thanks all!

Dave, sure, any art shop where they sell W&N oils they'll probably sell the Liquin.

Now I'm at home I looked in the book - note what is said about using quite a big brush (damp, as Frank notes) and to mix them slowly keeping going in the same direction. One thing not mentioned is that the paint dries of course, and by blending at different points in the drying stage, slightly different effects will be achieved. If thinned with spirit, and you just keep wiping the damp brush over you will remove almost all of the paint; if you leave a little longer then the paint will start to thicken, so blending can be done progressively harder or softer. The Liquin added to the paint can be used in the same way. Knowing when the paint is thickening and setting is something that only you will know, depending on many factors, like how warm the room is, how thin the paint is, etc. Sometimes you can apply oil paint, spread it and blend it, then leave it for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes, and then go back and spread and blend it again. This is all characteristic of oil paint, and remember, if it all goes wrong, you can probably remove it with spirit without damaging the basecoat and start your oil effects again.
You could I suppose possibly try toning down the blue colour by overlaying another filter of a different colour?

Ok, tried again tonight, here are the results. :-)

Besides the blue fading to create depth, I also did some general fading with oils. For this I used yellow, white, burnt umber and blue of course. ;-)

Don't look at the recesses, they are still blue from the last time. Im not to worried about that, a pin wash with some dark brown color with easily fix this. Well, I hope. :-)

I don't feel it's perfect yet, but I think it's a lot better. I essentially used a lot less paint, and let the oils rest first on some cardboard paper.

Tell me what you think.

Front panel:


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

Back, here I only did the lower left and right fender


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

Upper deck, here I mainly tried to fade the upper bulb, and around the door


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

Fuel cans


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

Turret


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

And I also tried to fade the turret glacis of my tiger I


photo by ddepickere, on Flickr

I read the pages in the FAQ2 book. This is a lot like the dot method of panel staining. The trick is to use less paint and diffuse it over the surface of the area you are treating. When you're done, an observer should not be able to point to a spot and say,"that's blue", but the diffused blue or green (cold colors) should add depth and variation to the area.
Your latest photos look much better Dave, you're on the right track!