4 simple steps to achieve high contrast, weathered leather with basic equipment and skill level
Colours: Dryad Bark, Rhinox hide, Mournfang Brown, Skrag Brown, Deathclaw Brown
The main focus of this simple tutorial is building up contrast. At the start of my miniature painting journey I saw a lot of content around painting your middle colour first, then adding shade an highlights after. This works great for some features but it can often leave the model looking bland and doesn’t really teach the right fundamentals that more advanced painters use.
I’ve deliberately chosen to start from the darkest colour and work up to the lightest. This will allow you to control the contrast and see it take shape, as well as give you much deeper contrast which will really make the model stand out on the table..
Step 1: Base coat
Colours: Rhinox Hide, Dryad Bark
Coat all the leather areas in Rhinox Hide, Then add a thin layer of Dryad Bark on top, painting in the direction you want to build up colour, such as the edges and raised areas.
Remember to water down your paints! These layers need to be thin. Two thin coats are always better than one thick blob.
Step 2: Middle Tone
Colours: Mournfang Brown
Add a layer of your middle brown. Start from the most raised areas and edges, then work outwards. Small diagonal strokes like you’re sketching work best here.
Step 3: Highlights
Colour: Skrag Brown
Now add a light brown in the same way. You’ll find that you keep much tighter to the edges and areas you want to look raised.
Step 4: Edge Highlight & Weathering
Colours: Deathclaw Brown
With your lightest colour, a simple edge highlight will lock all the colours together and give you your full colour spectrum.
The last step is to get a brush with a very fine tip, and carefully draw some thin lines across the leather to imitate scratches and weathering.
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