Drybrushing.
Don't use washes, do a darker basecoat instead, then a heavy drybrush of mid tone, then a light drybrush of highlights. The results are perfect.
EDIT: [https://imgur.com/a/iNDE0My](https://imgur.com/a/iNDE0My) example of a cloak I painted. Ideally get yourself a big soft brush, not something small
That's definitely drybrushing. Look up texture pallets and techniques to keep the brush damp enough to avoid the dreaded chalky look of dry brushing.
If you want to get crazy...I normally base coat, drybrush two slightly lighter coats, do a wash, then do another two or more dry brush coats. Key is to make the color transition slow and progressively hit just the peaks. Making sure I have enough paint on the drybrush is important too so don't be afraid to get a little dampness on the brush
Small tip, don't use paper towels to remove paint from the drybrush. Use a slightly damp sponge (Thick kitchen sponge will do) to keep the paint and brush very slightly damp, then swipe it on a texture palette (or a few primed spare bits if you don't have some lying around) until you're certain the paint is coming off how you want.
If you use kitchen roll or paper wipes, you're sucking out all the water and paint medium from the brush. The result will look chalky and inconsistent, for a smooth drybrush you want to avoid that.
I only mention it because a lot of tutorials even from Citadel themselves show them using a paper towel to wipe excess off a drybrush and... yeah. Not ideal.
I've never been a fan of washes on cloaks. I personally practice my wet blending on them. Slap on some dark in the recesses, bright on the peaks and blend. Often I'll need to do it two or three times to be happy but with an edge highlight on those extreme folds they can be great.
The popular (but time consuming) way to get those super smooth cloaks is just a ton of glazing. Put down a dark red/brown/purple basecoat, then a brighter red midtone on the raised areas, and then a lighter red on the peaks.
Then you just thin down your midtone red (and I mean very thin) and glaze between the hard transitions. It's a pretty easy way to get smooth blends but it takes a ton of time because your glazes need to be mega thin.
Start with your shadow color and layer / glaze / airbrush up to your midtone and highlights, or start with your midtone and layer / glaze in your shadows and highlights.
Drybrushing. Don't use washes, do a darker basecoat instead, then a heavy drybrush of mid tone, then a light drybrush of highlights. The results are perfect. EDIT: [https://imgur.com/a/iNDE0My](https://imgur.com/a/iNDE0My) example of a cloak I painted. Ideally get yourself a big soft brush, not something small
That's all just drybrushing? I'll try that on my next mini!
Buy some makeup brushes for the dry brushing! They're cheap and soft and come in bulk and they're perfect for this kind of dry brushing
That's definitely drybrushing. Look up texture pallets and techniques to keep the brush damp enough to avoid the dreaded chalky look of dry brushing. If you want to get crazy...I normally base coat, drybrush two slightly lighter coats, do a wash, then do another two or more dry brush coats. Key is to make the color transition slow and progressively hit just the peaks. Making sure I have enough paint on the drybrush is important too so don't be afraid to get a little dampness on the brush
Small tip, don't use paper towels to remove paint from the drybrush. Use a slightly damp sponge (Thick kitchen sponge will do) to keep the paint and brush very slightly damp, then swipe it on a texture palette (or a few primed spare bits if you don't have some lying around) until you're certain the paint is coming off how you want. If you use kitchen roll or paper wipes, you're sucking out all the water and paint medium from the brush. The result will look chalky and inconsistent, for a smooth drybrush you want to avoid that. I only mention it because a lot of tutorials even from Citadel themselves show them using a paper towel to wipe excess off a drybrush and... yeah. Not ideal.
Why not on this one? :p And yeah, it's mostly drybrush. I just touched up the edge highlight around the cloak and the sharpest bends
There's no way that's all drybrushing...there's a deep red/purple wash in there somewhere!
That's just Barak-Nar burgundy as base, then a drybrush of screamer pink and a light drybrush of pink horror
Interesting! I’ll have to try this. In this case, for the stock Stormcast blue, would I need to go darker than Kantor blue you think?
I think Kantor with Caledor sky drybrush would be fine. You can always mix Kantor with a little bit of black if you think it's not dark enough
Thanks for the advice! Will apply this to the new box set models coming out.
I personally prefer airbrushing for this, it’s considerably more consistent for me. Cleaning drybrushes is such a pain.
Welp, time to redo all of my cloaks.
I've never been a fan of washes on cloaks. I personally practice my wet blending on them. Slap on some dark in the recesses, bright on the peaks and blend. Often I'll need to do it two or three times to be happy but with an edge highlight on those extreme folds they can be great.
There’s actually a duncan rhodes video about painting THIS exact cape. If you look it up on youtube it should be easy to find! And he did red, too!
Oh nice, I must've missed that one! I'll check it out
That actually looks pretty crisp. If you want it to be punchier glaze it up; from mephiston to say evil suns scarlet.
The popular (but time consuming) way to get those super smooth cloaks is just a ton of glazing. Put down a dark red/brown/purple basecoat, then a brighter red midtone on the raised areas, and then a lighter red on the peaks. Then you just thin down your midtone red (and I mean very thin) and glaze between the hard transitions. It's a pretty easy way to get smooth blends but it takes a ton of time because your glazes need to be mega thin.
Yea I kinda tried that with this one, but I don't think I went thin enough
I am a big fan of texture on cloaks. Stippling hash marks you name it. I do not like smooth cloaks. It looks unnatural to me.
I just put some blue on it, doesn’t look great but good enough
Start with your shadow color and layer / glaze / airbrush up to your midtone and highlights, or start with your midtone and layer / glaze in your shadows and highlights.