Hobby Basics: Washing and Shading!

As you may know if you've visited the blog before... I'm an advocate for really simple hobbying. I'm not a great hobbyist, buy I can do the basics, and do them reasonably well. My work looks just fine on the table and up close, and the painting process is actually relaxing for me, since I'm not stressing out about every brush stroke.

Using shades or washes (some companies use different vocabulary) on a mini is a really easy technique, but one that looks fantastic. In terms of time spent to result gained, it is really economical, and fabulous techniques to learn for a new (or in my case, lazy) hobbyist.

Shades and washes are diluted paints, and they're designed to get into the recesses of the model, whether those recesses happen to be facets in metal plate armor, bulging muscles, or swirling robes. Since they are designed to get into those deeper places on the model, they are usually darker colors already (black, brown) or darker shades of more normal colors (dark red, etc). 

To use them, you grab a painted model, a brush, and the color wash you want to work with, and then just apply the wash to the model using the brush. Sounds easy enough... let's see how it works and looks in practice...

Painted but unwashed.

I've been hobbying more on stuff for Dungeons and Dragons than I have been for kings of war recently, so I grabbed three models, and painted them up over an hour or two.

On the hobby desk, all from Reaper Miniatures, we have an Ilithid Pirate, who in retrospect, looks a little too much like a mind-flaying Santa Claus; a Drow warrior; and an Ilithid Mage.

...and from behind.

Now, the more savvy D&Ders among you may object to the drow having black hair instead of white. Because white is white... it easily picks up any wash color.. and I didn't want that to happen, so painted the hair once the washing was complete. 

So, I have these models, and they are all passably painted. They've got at least three colors, no glaring unpainted spots, and some coloration on their bases (though admittedly it is nothing fancy). These is a pretty usual "tabletop standard" in my book. Now to wash them...

The right side is in the process of being washed.

It usually helps to try to match your wash color with your paint color, red paint and dark red wash for example, though that is not a requirement. Going a little darker though is usually fine. 

Here we have an in-process shot of the process, with the right-half of the robes haveing received a purple wash. As designed, the wash is sticking to those recesses in the robes, and making those folds look darker.

Washing a model is a pretty easy process. It takes a while for the wash to dry, but it's not usually a big deal. I think these were all done within a half hour, using purple, red, brown and black washes.

Washed, from the front.

From left to right, the pirate's blue skin got a purple wash, and the red coat a red wash. The drow got purple on his skin, and brown and black on his armor and cloth. The mage got a red wash on his skin, brown on the staff, purple on his robes, and black on the ornamentation of the robes.

And washed, from the rear. 

If you compare these models to the picture of them unwashed... these will be darker. That's expected; this is the effect we were going for. 

Washing is a simple way to add a sense of "depth" to the model. It's not necessary, but it is a wonderfully simple and efficient way to add some color gradients to your models, and make it look like you've spent lots of time on them. This technique is a wonderfully time-effective way to churn out some good looking models, and I think is a great technique for new hobbyists to embrace.