Part2

I still use enamel paints for areas which are likely to get a good deal of handling while painting. From experience I know that the toe caps and musket ends will have white showing through if I use a water based paint.

Next I add depth and shading with a mixture of washes. I have used Indian Ink, acrylics ink, water based paint and enamel paint here. None of it works as well as the new washes, some of it has puddled or left watermarks. But it does not matter for these figures. All we want are a series of deep but sombre colours.

Sometimes it seems to me that people will agonise for ever over shading and graduated colours without giving a single thought to what colour it is that they are applying. Here the clothes are not necessarily those worn by poor people. They are likely to be made of heavy and well dyed cloth. Nevertheless they are vegetable dyes and almost certainly stained by aging and dirt that cannot be washed out in cold water. Indeed a good coat can well be a family heirloom and on its second or third owner.


If the colours are starting to look OK it is now time to dirty them up with some dry brushing. Come on you're all old enough to remember dry brushing.