The Ink Technique

I wont' dally on this one, just a quick post on the Ink technique. This is a real time saver if you are painting up whole pile of lead.

Clean and prime your figures - a good job cleaning is imperative - Mold lines will stand out like Pikes Peak once you ink.

Paint all basic colors on the figs, starting from the inside out. That means, paint the lowest lying portions or deepest detail portions first - like the face on a figure with a helmet - the face, neck, hair - that sort of thing.

Now, selecting an appropriate color of ink or wash (if using Citadel inks or washes, I find that a 50% water/ink or wash solution will do nicely!), paint the figure and let it dry. It takes a lot longer for inks and washes to dry than your standard acrylic paint.

What happens? The ink runs into all low-lying areas and then drys there. The ink only lightly shades the raised detail - however it does alter the color slightly!

Go back and look at each figure after it dries and highlight or drybrush up as needed. Look especially for any flat spots where the ink may have pooled. take the original color, water it down a bit and cover the dried ink pool.

Voila! Your figure now looks highly detailed! Aren't you a clever Tabletop General!?


On Ink colors: for modern war figures (WWI through current warfare) I use Citadel Brown Ink at a 50/50 water/ink solution.

Another technique I've read about, but not tried is the "miracle dip" method.

Feeling brave? I mean, it's only several hundred dollars of pewter and or lead, with many, many hours of painting involved. Go ahead! Be brave! If it doesn't work - you can always melt it down and go black powder hunting! ;-)