Painting Battletech Miniatures, 2

Okay, so now let's look at the next step. In this step, it is different depending on which 'mech we're talking about. So, like before, we'll break down each one. The pictures in this instance are zoomed way in, so much so that many of the details couldn't be picked out with the naked eye. This way you can see what's really going on and the subtleties of the miniature. Overall, you can see that there's some improvement from Step 1, which should happen with each subsequent step taking you closer and closer to the finished product.

Firefly
In this case (pictured below), I used a black ink, thinned somewhat with water, and applied using a fairly large brush evenly across the surface. The key here is evenly. You don't want one spot to have thick black ink, and another with virtually no coverage. The intended outcome is for the miniature to mute the blue somewhat and smooth the transitions from blue to black. Done correctly, the blue will tone down and any spot that needed a little extra black will fill in.

Firestarter
Two things going on at once in this step for this miniature (pictured above). In some ways, it's like painting two separate miniatures, since the techniques for the white are starkly different from the blue.

For the white, I used a wet brushing technique, which allows you to layer on more (or less) pigment in different areas. It's a useful technique for blending colors together, which is what's going on in the white. Look closely and you'll notice that some areas are brighter white than others. In fact, the 'mech is painted with an antique white, or off white, instead of a bright white. At this stage, you really can't tell what shade it truly is, since there's no comparison in the white yet.

For the blue, we applied blue ink evenly across the blue side of the miniature. This mutes the light and darker blues together, and helps to have the colors blend together better. It also gives the desired blue color for the miniature overall.

As for the transition from white to blue, it's still not a crisp line yet. More of a blurred line that will be taken care of in later steps.

Thorn
The Thorn (below)is going to be a straight white paint scheme. Like the Firestarter, the 'mech uses an antique white, instead of the bright white. Also, a wet brushing technique is used to blend the not-so-bright white with more of the solid antique white color, giving a bit of a highlight. You will also notice that virtually every imperfection is suddenly highlighted... even parts that weren't apparent while prepping the miniature (filing the imperfections down) and after the black primer was applied. Imperfections are the nature of the beast with miniatures sometimes, as mold lines and slippage in the casting of the miniature can become an issue. Sometimes to such a degree that filing would simply obliterate other details. White is the worst about this, so there is often a need to hide such imperfections through paint.

Raven
Of the four, the Raven (above) and the Firefly are the easiest at this step. In this case, we're applying a purple ink, brushed on evenly with a large brush. You can tell in the picture that the bright, light purple now is a bit darker and has a bit of depth. We'll build on this in later steps to highlight the purple, as seen in other Marik Militia miniatures shown elsewhere in this blog.