Post by Whiterook on Aug 16, 2022 12:35:11 GMT -5
In his thread on his model build, “Italeri Tiger 1 with Zimmerit”, Mike Higgins describes his use of found-materials for use in his model and miniatures builds, specifically in that thread concerning washes and weathering techniques. These are wonderful examples of thinking out-of-the-box on what is available for hobby use.
“Creativity” is what defines art, in my book… it’s not always about following established formulas used en masse by the creative community (e.g., prepackaged artist paints, or formulas for making artist paints), but finding like or new ways to achieve certain results. Back in art school, I learned of famous Artist Masters, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo who combined red and black chalk with their liquid media, such as ink washes in their drawings — remembrance of those teachings inspired by first try at seam washes for an RF4-B Phantom Jet build I did many years ago. And yes, I did just compare Mike to Michelangelo!
…simple black chalk, with a smidge of blue scraped into a small cup, and mixed with water did wonders to adequately represent the oily much that a battle line Phantom accumulates.
It pays great dividends to think out-of-the-box, and to pay attention and note great examples such as below, the first being a very clever use of iron ore rust!
…well, Damn, that has to be the most inventive and clever source of rust pigment I’ve ever heard! Brilliant! It makes me want to take note of rust now as I run across it, say on an old railroad line or junkyard bones.
It was also when Mike talked about using “brush slop” for washes that made me think, well, I’m not the only crazy running around the asylum! And the use of restaurant mini marmalade jars for wash (or other examples of mixtures, like custom paint mixes, water and dish detergent solution, etc.) storage!
Slop water for mixing washes and marmalade jars for storing my washes.
…OMG, how many of those little jars have I thrown away over time and never thought about using them for this!!! Ugh! I’ll be keeping these little gems in the future! For those unfamiliar with brush cleaning tubs, over time, the sediments and such all settle to the bottom of the cleaning tub and looks like toxic goo from a sci-fi movie. Left as is, when you go to “clean” an artist brush, the swirling of the water mixes the much back up and as Mike says, creates an interesting wash.
Think outside-of-the-box… I have to give credit to my wife for repeatedly reminding me of this valuable lesson; Smarter minds of our better halves typically yield a bounty of good advice!
Thanks for the inspiration, Mike!
“Creativity” is what defines art, in my book… it’s not always about following established formulas used en masse by the creative community (e.g., prepackaged artist paints, or formulas for making artist paints), but finding like or new ways to achieve certain results. Back in art school, I learned of famous Artist Masters, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo who combined red and black chalk with their liquid media, such as ink washes in their drawings — remembrance of those teachings inspired by first try at seam washes for an RF4-B Phantom Jet build I did many years ago. And yes, I did just compare Mike to Michelangelo!
…simple black chalk, with a smidge of blue scraped into a small cup, and mixed with water did wonders to adequately represent the oily much that a battle line Phantom accumulates.
It pays great dividends to think out-of-the-box, and to pay attention and note great examples such as below, the first being a very clever use of iron ore rust!
…well, Damn, that has to be the most inventive and clever source of rust pigment I’ve ever heard! Brilliant! It makes me want to take note of rust now as I run across it, say on an old railroad line or junkyard bones.
It was also when Mike talked about using “brush slop” for washes that made me think, well, I’m not the only crazy running around the asylum! And the use of restaurant mini marmalade jars for wash (or other examples of mixtures, like custom paint mixes, water and dish detergent solution, etc.) storage!
Slop water for mixing washes and marmalade jars for storing my washes.
…OMG, how many of those little jars have I thrown away over time and never thought about using them for this!!! Ugh! I’ll be keeping these little gems in the future! For those unfamiliar with brush cleaning tubs, over time, the sediments and such all settle to the bottom of the cleaning tub and looks like toxic goo from a sci-fi movie. Left as is, when you go to “clean” an artist brush, the swirling of the water mixes the much back up and as Mike says, creates an interesting wash.
Think outside-of-the-box… I have to give credit to my wife for repeatedly reminding me of this valuable lesson; Smarter minds of our better halves typically yield a bounty of good advice!
Thanks for the inspiration, Mike!