this will be my first attempt at applying a wash. My question is, do I drench the brush then kinda just swipe over the desired area w/ it? Or do I use a minimal amount and tap the brush?

thanks
Alan

I've tried "washing" a few times, and I got the best results when I took a little amount on a small brush and just touched the aera that I wanted to wash.

Once I tried the "lots of wash on brush" technique and gave the whole model a go with the brush... Big mistake...

If its an area where there are lots of small detail and edges, I wash all of this area, but when it has bigger areas of flat panels with no details I tend to not wash this. Usually I use a thinner wash to do this and thicken it up a little and do "spot washes" where I just touch the detail with a small brush and let the wash circle that detail.
Im no expert either but I would say its better to do a light wash and build up with an extra wash when dry, or differnet colour wash to achieve the effect youre after, but 1 heavy wash seldom looks good.

Hi alanhsu :-)
I would go with a small brush and just touch the panel lines, the wash will flow with capillery action. For this to work properly you will need a gloss cote, such as Klear (Future), this will also protect the underlying paint.
If you would like to discuss this further send me a private message (click on the tag next to Holdfast) I would be happy to help.
Mal

First check out the feature section for a small article on weathering. Second do a site search for washes you will probably find afew threads on the subject.My two cents is small brush and less is better. few if any AFVs have sharp contrasts to them. try shading just like on figures for mor realism. And checkout Paul Owen detailing herasies in the feature section under armor. And Welcome to our world.

Josh
aKA shiryon

...I think I did something wrong...
I now have blotches of "water mark" on my model.
is this common? how can I get rid of this?

please help a noobie!

thx
Alan

Okay alanhsu, you probably had some overflow from the wash. Did you use an acrylic or oil wash? Depending on which you used, these marks can be cleaned up with a Q-Tip made damp with a thinner (acrylic thinner for acrylics or paint thinner for oils or enamels). Just rub gently over the area with the overflow to remove the marks. DO NOT rub too hard or for too long or else you will remove the base coat. If worse comes to worse just repaint the area.
Hope this help,
Andrew

Howdy alanhsu,

First things first. A hearty welcome to the best armour site on the web! But be careful, this site can become highly addictive. More good men (and women) than you might think have been slowly turned into......ARMORAMAHOLICS!
lol.

To your issue. Washing right?
Washing is one of the most 'personal' technique's about painting in my opinion. Every person has 'his or her' way of doing it. Some of the European's (no offense intended to our Euro friend's) tend to over wash (and drybrush). Then you have people like our own 'Gunnie', who wash ever so delicately and subtley.
Long ago, (certainly before I found this wonderful site) I began trying to learn the art of washing. I asked other's how they did it. Unfortunately most of the people I asked were very protective of their technique's and only gave me the rudimentary basics. Fortunately you have a wealth of people to ask this question of right here at Armorama!
O.K., my Farthing's worth;
First, (actually it was your last post) the 'blotching' or water-marking comes from (I believe) applying your wash too liberally to the surface (mainly flat surface right?) and applying it over a flat paint. Or, applying too much of it and not 'tweaking' it.
Now. One of the very first things I learned (that noone told me about for some bizarre reason) about washes is, that after you apply the wash, you need to essentially wipe it off.
A lot of people think that you just apply your wash and that's it. You just let the whole thing dry. Uuuuunnnnng! When you do that (especially on a flat/flat surface) you get 'blotching'!

O.K. try this method if you can. Do yourself a favour, and switch to oil paints for your washes. That's right, just jump in your Corvette and run down to Hobby Lobby or the equivilent in your area and pick up some Windsor & Newton oils (burnt sienna/raw umber/etc). Now, mix these with some thinner to create your 'wash' (you will also notice you don't have to use very much at all compared to regular modeling paint's), and the pigment content is vastly greater, hence the effect will be better.
Now, apply your wash in small segments (let's say, the rear engine deck), and in small amounts. Take another brush (that's what I use) or a clean piece of cotton, and ligthy dab-off, wipe or 'tweak' your application of the wash. You should immediately notice that the oil wash is much more manipulatable compared to the almost 'instant-drying' acrylics.
Also, with the oils you have quite a bit of 'tweaking' time available which allows you to really create some interesting affects.

Hope this helps.

Tread.

Oh, almost forgot. After this stage has dried down, you can move on to what is generally called 'pin' washes. This technique has already been referred to in this thread.
This is where you just take very small amounts of your oil wash and 'paint' your wash onto a specific item our thing, i.e., towing shackles, fuel cap, etc.

Good Luck. And if you need anymore help, just give a good Marine yell............Ooorah!

Welcome. As you are now a noobie, so were we all.

If your "water marks" had dried, you could have blended them away as you dry brushed.