Reply To: Painting Masterclass with Marco Frisoni

[wolfie65Participant 1238xp 2]

After removing flash and mold lines with knife and/ or files, I wash the figures – or parts – in hot water with a drop of dish soap and a splash of vinegar, let them dry, stick them on bottle tops using poster putty and undercoat them by hand with white gesso. That dries within a few hours, I usually let it sit overnight, then check for any mold lines I might have missed – the white really helps to show those – and paint with watercolors. They are kind of tricky, because they remain active throughout the process until you actually seal the figure, but I like the way they look and highlighting kind of takes care of itself most of the time. Sort of like ‘contrast’ paints. I do have to paint from light to dark in most cases, because it’s almost impossible to paint a lighter aquarell color over a darker one. The results are very bright and vibrant, a look I prefer on most models and which is very hard to achieve over dark undercoats.

Another advantage of watercolors is that they do not dry out – or if they do, they are easily reactivated. With water… My main set is from Scriptum, meant for school children and a good 25+ years old, still just as good as new. I have a few sets from Yarka (very vibrant reds, but the black turns green after a few years), various other manufacturers, a palette from the $1.25 store I bought for the very nice light blue and a box full of tubes from art supply stores. The latter are a little more expensive, but they last FOREVER and they are still WAY cheaper than any hobby acrylics.