How to paint stones
Article by Lorenzo Marchetto and photographs by Maurizio Sardi.
Notice: This article was published on the magazine Tutto Modellismo n. 24/1995 (©Hobby & Work).
Before you begin, remember that you can zoom all the photographs displaying the techniques explained in the article simply by clicking on them.
As far as the colours we used, you'll find the descriptions and the polyurethane-acrylic color codes for ManorHouse Colors, ideal for these works. For your reference, we will also mention the codes of equivalent Vallejo (VJ) and Lifecolor (LC). The china inks are by Pelikan, however you can use different kinds of chinas.
We advise you to clean the brushes thoroughly when switching color.
 1) After thoroughly cleaning the piece, you should brush-apply a layer of Medium Gray (LC 19 - VJ 990) so that the following decoration will have a uniform background. This layer must have covering capacity without being too thick, otherwise the details carved out on the piece will not be visible.
2) Now you paint the stones using the various base colours, just leaving a few with a gray base, choosing them randomly as least symmetrically as possible and avoiding to colour two adjacent stones the same colour. Underneath you can see the sequence indicating which colours we used:
The basic colouring stage is over, now wait for the colours to dry up before you move to the next step.
 3) Brush-wash using Pelikan sepia colour china. When washing mix the china with the same amount of water or otherwise keep a 2:3 china-water ratio. Make sure that the china reaches all the gaps between stones and repeat the procedure if any area is not coloured.
 4) When the china washing has dried up, apply a new layer of the first colour you began with (brown LC A2UA125 - VJ 984), however this time you use the dry-brush technique. This technique requires picking up an extremely small amount of colour, wiping the brush in a clean cloth until nearly all the pigment is gone and then turning the brush on the what you are colouring; the small amount of colour left in the bristles gives the object a diaphanous and shiny shade, which makes details more shiny. When applying dark colours, the bush can have more colour than when applying lighter colours so that, if you insist on corners, you give a depth-effect.
 5) You proceed with opaque ochre (LC 14 - VJ 913), which should still be applied using the dry-brush throughout the piece, but don't insist on corners and in the middle.
 6) With light gray (LC FS36495 - VJ 989) you do the same as for the previous colour (still using the dry brush), colouring the piece evenly.
 7) Using desert sand colour (LC FS33711 - VJ 977) you make the piece lighter in colour near the middle and insist less in the corners, always trying to move the brush in small circles. When using the dry brush technique with lighter colours, you need to clean the brush a bit more on the cloth, so as to remove as much as possible the colour surplus before brushing the piece.
 8) One last application with the dry brush using matte flesh (LC 21 - VJ 955) ends the painting before you put on the finishing touches. You should use this colour on the exposed surfaces and much less in corners. The brush should "fly" over the piece, so that only an extremely small amount of paint leaves the brush; this way the corners and cracks will be as highlighted as possible.
 9) As a finishing touch, still using the dry brush, apply some brown (LC A2UA125 - VJ 984) and some black (LC 02 - 950) in the corners, to outline them. This must be done patiently and using a very small amount of colour each time; your goal is to leave a small dark shade in the corners to give the piece a three-dimension effect.
 Finished! In this final picture, which we took in the sunlight so as to avoid altering the colours, the walls and floor are particularly noticeable (see also the tutorial on cobblestones).
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
