Karoath: Painting Wood

Tips - Painting Miniature Eyes


	Wooden objects are quite common on fantasy and historical miniatures. This section details four methods for painting wood. All the colors described in this section come from the Ral Partha paints range, though any paints may be utilized. Color Schemes I usually paint wood using two different color schemes. The first is a medium brown. A great example of this color scheme is the wood from the following picture. Both of the weapons and the beer cart were painted with the same colors. View Medium Scheme The second color scheme that I use to paint wood has a white hue. The next picture displays an example of this tone. The dwarf at the center has an axe with a shaft of this color. View White Scheme Wood Grain After you have chosen a color scheme, the next step is to recognise what wood type you will be painting. There are two types of wood, scuplted and smooth. Sculpted means the wood grain has been sculpted onto the figure. Smooth is when no wood grain has been sculpted onto the miniature. Thus, a smooth surface. The beer cart shown above has a sculpted wood grain surface and the white axe shaft from the second picture is a smooth surface. Sculpted Wood Grain - Medium Brown Color Scheme Start by painting dark brown over the entire piece of wood. This is the shadow color. Next, create the base color. Drybrush medium brown (I use Dunkel Brown) on top of the dark brown. This color should have a slight yellow hue. You'll find that drybrushing works well on wood since it helps to add a dark/dirty appearance. This is normal for real life wooden surfaces that have not been varnished. Now lets add some highlights. Lightly drybrush light brown onto the base color. I prefer Adobe Brown for this stage since it contrasts with Dunkel Brown. It is now time to add the last highlight. This is the color that brings out the shadows. The color you should use for this task is a very light brown (almost white) such as Khaki. Using a very tiny amount of paint, lightly drybrush this color onto the highest points of the wood. This means you should only place this highlight on the points that raise the furthest from the recessed areas. Finally, you may need to touch up the wood. Drybrushing is a sloppy process so you probably managed to get some paint into the dark brown wood grain. Grab your tiniest brush (I use an 18/00 or a 20/00) and put a tiny amount of paint onto the tip. You should barely be able to see the paint on the bristles. Gently paint dark drown into the wood grain cracks, fixing any areas where the lighter browns covered the dark brown. This is a difficult task, but it will correct your previous mistakes. Sculpted Wood Grain -White Brown Color Scheme Start by painting deep brown over the entire piece of wood (not quite as dark as what you use for the medium brown color scheme). This is the shadow color. Next, create the base color. Drybrush medium brown (I use Adobe Brown) on top of the deep brown. This color should have more of a white hue than a yellow hue. You'll find that drybrushing works well on wood since it helps to add a dark/dirty appearance. This is normal for real life wooden surfaces that have not been varnished. Now lets add some highlights. Lightly drybrush light brown onto the base color. I generally use Khaki for this step. It is now time to add the last highlight. This is the color that brings out the shadows. The color you should use for this task is white. Using a very tiny amount of paint, lightly drybrush this color onto the highest points of the wood. This means you should only place this highlight on the points that raise the furthest from the recessed areas. Finally, you may need to touch up the wood. Drybrushing is a sloppy process so you probably managed to get some paint into the deep brown wood grain. Grab your tiniest brush (I use an 18/00 or a 20/00) and put a tiny amount of paint onto the tip. You should barely be able to see the paint on the bristles. Gently paint dark drown into the wood grain cracks, fixing any areas where the lighter browns covered the dark brown. This is a difficult task, but it will correct your previous mistakes. Smooth Wood Grain - Medium Brown Color Scheme Start by painting medium brown over the entire piece of wood (I use Dunkel Brown). This is the base color. Next, create the shadow color. Using an 18/00 or 20/00 sized brush, gently paint dark brown lines along the length of the wood. Leave some space between the lines and try to make them look random. In the end, this color will be the wood grain. The remaining steps are done using a layering technique in order to add highlights to the wood. The areas between the dark lines need to be highlighted so that the wood grain stands out. Using a light brown (I use Adobe Brown), paint along the length of the base color so that the medium brown remains only on the edges next to the dark brown lines. In other words, the light brown highlight is painted down the center of the base color with some of the base color remaining next to the shadow colors. Repeat the previous step with a very light brown (almost white) such as Khaki. This time, though, paint a very thin line down the center of the last color. Some of the previous color should remain on both sides of this highlight. Smooth Wood Grain - White Brown Color Scheme Start by painting medium brown over the entire piece of wood (I use Caramel Brown). This is the base color. Next, create the shadow color. Using an 18/00 or 20/00 sized brush, gently paint deep brown (I use Brown) lines along the length of the wood. Leave some space between the lines and try to make them look random. In the end, this color will be the wood grain. The remaining steps are done using a layering technique in order to add highlights to the wood. The areas between the deep lines need to be highlighted so that the wood grain stands out. Using a light brown (I use Adobe Brown), paint along the length of the base color so that the medium brown remains only on the edges next to the grain. In other words, the light brown highlight is painted down the center of the base color with some of the base color remaining next to the shadow colors. Repeat the previous step with a very light brown (almost white) such as Khaki. This time, though, paint a very thin line down the center of the last color. Some of the previous color should remain on both sides of this highlight. Repeat the previous step with white. Try painting such a small amount of white that you can barely even see it upon completion. Conclusion Of the techniques described above, the sculpted grain styles are the simplest because they involve drybrushing. Watch that you don't let the paint get too thick or else the wood will look chalky. The smooth grain styles involve layering which requires more patience, time, and skill. The more you practice any of these techniques, the more realistic that the wood will appear. Once you have mastered these styles, try some different color combinations.