Cloth! How do you paint it.

[Neff]

So I just recently picked up some Chaos Sorcerers for my Thousand Sons army and I noticed something that threw me for a loop. I have no idea how to paint cloth. All I've done before are Tyranids and they dont even wear clothes. I want the cloth to be kinda bluey white, all my attempts so far have failed. Please BoLS people help me.

[SotonShades]

When I paint cloth or freehand detail to look like cloth I tend to do something I like to call reverse highlighting. Apart from doing a gradient with the darkest colours in the deepest recesses up to the lightest at the most prominent points, if I'm making the cloth quite a light colour I tend to leave a few patches of the darkest colour and/or the first few dark shades of colour around the edges. It's quite hard to explain, and I'll try to get some pictures up asap to help explain more clearly.

As for painting blue/white cloth specifically; I would start off with a black undercoat, followed by a lightish grey base. I'd then follow it with Enchanted Blue (or the base blue you are using for your Thousand Sons) and work it quickly up to Ice Blue, before going to Skull White. I tend to find that going from any of the other blues to white for anything other than edge highlights looks too much like pastel colours, where as the Ice Blue intermediate stage helps make the blue pop, while still making the cloth seem to be white. You may also want to use some blue washes between the changes of colour to help merge any blending you are doing.

[Neff]

Nice, thanks very much. when i layer them do i dry brush the next coat on or just lay it down?

[Aldramelech]

I put on the base, wash with a slightly darker version, then a light drybrush of a lighter version. Job done.

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx135/andyblackmore/100_0392.jpg

I then add an extreme highlight, but thats not to everyones taste.

[Lerra]

I'd stick with a greyish-blue. The stronger blues tend to look a bit cartoony when you put them on cloth.

Here's a some good examples to copy the shades of blue: http://www.chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/index.php?full=1&set_albumName=kacpero&id=cirdan_001&name=gallery&include=view_photo.php

http://www.coolminiornot.com/232297

[SotonShades]

Personally I don't tend to dry brush cloth. I prefer layering or blending as I can get a smoother, less chalky finish. Unless of course it's a highly textured material, but those are quite rare on GW models.

[Neff]

Thanks for all the great tips everyone. Glad my check this week is big cause im gonna have to buy alot of paint. are there any good painting tutorial vids that anyone knows about? I understand the proceedures, but cant visualize the process.

[Aldramelech]

Thanks for all the great tips everyone. Glad my check this week is big cause im gonna have to buy alot of paint. are there any good painting tutorial vids that anyone knows about? I understand the proceedures, but cant visualize the process.

I dont rate them. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Im a firm believer that you have to find your own natural style.

[SotonShades]

I agree with Aldramelech completely. Play about, see what works for you, see what doesn't, find your own style. If you use thin enough paints, you can usually go over a bad paintjob. If not it is possible to strip the paint off (won't go in to details, I'm sure there are plenty of posts on this subject all ready).

Still nice to hear other people's thoughts as a springboard for your own exploration though