Painting Good Plate Armour

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:09 pm

Right so I'm about to start painting some Arnorians for the Painting Challenge and I am curious as to how all you skilled painters paint plate armour (flat stuff like the Arnor one). I'm a fairly good painter but have had trouble with plate for a while.

I started to paint my Arnor Warriors a few months ago but really hated the look I was getting - I think it's because there are no sharp edges like on Gondorian Armour that really lend themselves to highlights. I'm fine with flat areas of cloth and layering on that isn't a problem but I would really appreciate some help and advice.

Also I want the armour to be dirty and worn looking but don't really want to do the whole thing with simple dry brushing as I'm aiming for something more refined. A method for normal, shiny armour and one for dirty armour is really what I'm after.

Thanks in advance.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:00 pm

Here is an ultimate version.
http://chestofcolors.com/forum/viewtopi ... 4&p=158410

Bofur The Dwarf · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:19 pm

This is where blending and glazes come in handy. For me anyway. I painted a Dark Sword Mini which had almost flat plate, and I used blending/layering for it. Well, I layered the paints and blended them together, a bit like what is done with non-metallic painting. Which is basically blending really. I used a wash at the end, just to wash into the crevasses at the bottom and top (and arm/shoulder joins).

I'm not sure myself if you are able blend or use non-metallic styled painting, but I hope this helps anyway. I've seen some of your painted minis and they're great! I hope this has helped. The tutorial above is a great way too, and so I might try it myself. :-D

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:40 pm

For myself its like Bofur said. I start with my base, blend upward, shade down, additional highlight and end with edge highlights

Minimal Monkey Saddle · **Joined:** Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:55 pm **Posts:** 463

I use very thin glazes of turquoise and dark red for shading over a boltgun metal basecoat and a glaze of mithril silver for the highlights. I like to finish with a mix of silver and ice blue to pick out edges and little spots of light.

For dirty metal I do the same as above with a wash of Vallejo smoke mixed with black ink after the basecoat and keep the highlighting to the edges.

Bandobras Took · **Posted:** Mon Feb 03, 2014 10:09 pm

Thanks everyone.

I think I like MMS's idea the best and like the glazing thing so I'll give that a try. One question though, what do you mean by highlight with a glaze of Mithril Silver? Where do you apply this? It's just that I've never applied a glaze as a highlight before. Watering down and blending yes but never done this before and am intrigued to learn a new technique.

Minimal Monkey Saddle · **Joined:** Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:55 pm **Posts:** 463

I think it's best to consider a glaze as a way of altering the colour or brightness of what has already been painted. So if you apply a thin translucent layer of a light colour over dark the end result will be lighter. This is more difficult than going the other direction because light paints can be quite chalky but it is possible. For metallics I would apply a thin layer of silver on those upper facing surfaces or say the top half of the breastplate. This adds a little more contrast to areas where there aren't any sharp edges.

I painted this Boromir using the same technique:

JamesR · **Posted:** Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:09 am

ironically enough with the same model I did a shade effect to get a similar effect. And added highlights to strengthen the contrast.

It's not as good as MMS but to show the different ways to accomplish what you're looking for.

Painting Good Plate Armour

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