I am no stranger to miniature and terrain painting, but admittedly my technique is fairly traditional (and likely outdated). With my recent acquisition of an airbrush, I am trying to learn and take advantage of the new processes – hopefully to streamline and improve my painting.
Basically, my current process is paint a primer, and layer on a series of opaque paint layers. Once the base coat is down, I use washes and drybrushing to develop shadows and highlights. Simple, basic, and effective – at least to the level of quality I am looking for.
With an airbrush however, the process seems to be a bit different. Rather than a single primer layer, instead the process is to use zenithal highlighting – a black, grey, and white layer which simulates the shading that the sun (at its zenith) would cause on a model. Basically, this creates a black and white paint pattern on the figure. From there, using thinned down paints that are mostly translucent, different layers are built up for the various colors. The goal is to color the figure and use the primer coat to create the shadows and highlights.
Having watched a few videos, and after reading a few articles, I think I understand the process. Now I need to dive in and actually implement – hopefully I can do a couple figures this weekend as the start of my learning.
For more information on this process, reference https://www.powerfisted.com/?p=199, or any number of YouTube videos
