Wargaming Tradecraft: February 2015




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Colour Theory: Warm Colours



HandPrint.com
Colour Temperature talks about the appearance of colours and how they relate to each other on the colour wheel. Directly, this means Yellow, Orange, Red and all the colours in between. Indirectly, you can say that certain colours are warmer than others - Green and Violet are warmer than Blue for example.

Warm Colours are strong, vibrant and powerful. When you're looking at a scene, Warms and Darks will seem to exist in the foreground and can improve the appearance of large areas.
When leaning too heavily on Warm Colours, you create a scene that's very powerful - like a bright firey phoenix rising. Here are some tips for creating a balanced look:

Colour Theory: Analogous Colours


Main: Green-Yellow (Lime) Analogous: Green and Yellow
Analogous Colours

These colour schemes, often found in nature, are near each other on the colour wheel. They go together and blend naturally. I'm not talking about painting a model with just one colour - that would be monochrome, which I'll cover later.

The benefit of using Analogous colours is that they're pleasing to the eye and make the viewer feel comfortable. Where compliments are bold and shocking, everything flows nicely here, even the contrasting areas that stand out. From a miniature perspective, this is often used for races that live or fight in environments where they'd naturally or intentionally blend in or more precisely, camouflage. Armies painted with this method will look like a nice uniform mass of troops and vehicles.

Colour Theory: Complementary Colours


Complementary: Green and Red
What we're looking at here are colour opposites. Being opposites, they cause the other one to strongly stand out when the colours are next to each other or if a lot of one surrounds a small amount of the other. It also means one will be cool and one will be warm. (More on that later.)

From an artistic perspective, you can create a bold miniature with areas that really stand out. Human and armoured figures end up with trim, shoulder / knee pads, decals / tattoos that are difficult to miss. Aliens and beasts can have strong chitin, fierce claws or tribal tattoos / patterns that scream "Watch Out!" An army painted with complementary colours will draw eyes when it's on the battlefield because there will be a ton of small details that "pop" from the mass of your main colour.

Getting Started: Unboxing Miniatures



For the next while, I'm going to be looking at basic steps for beginners of our hobby, including revisiting some of my old tutorials. I'll begin right at the start by looking at unboxing your miniatures and what you can do with the packaging.

Didn't realize you were buying more than just a figure? Each purchase you make provides you with useful hobby supplies and I'm going to look at just a few of the ways you can get more out of your money.

Buying a box from Games Workshop provides you with a bunch of sprues and more decals than you need. (Use those decals for the single models and vehicles you buy.) A box from Privateer Press includes a bunch of plastic containers. Single models from either company provide foam (Packing inserts?) and more plastic.

So what's all this good for? Lets take a look.

HOW TO: Painting Flesh



Orcs don't have to be green and people don't have to be beige. Within your chosen skin colour, mix it up between darker and lighter versions. Don't be afraid to explore skin tones when painting your army. Even something as simple as using a different base, wash or highlight colour can add some variety.

There are different ways of approaching things like skin, hair, claws, leather pouches, chains, weapons, metals, backpacks, etc. I like to paint "inside out" because I find it easier and you don't end up making as many mistakes or having to touch up as much.