"Help!" for: Painting

[23Magnum]

This thread will contain general first hand knowledge of painting props and costumes.

People who don't know: Post questions.

People who know: Answer those questions.

Please be as clear and detailed as possible with your questions and/or answers. Repeated questions or variations of certain questions may be consolidated over time into an FAQ section in the post following this one.

Always ask and answer questions as if you were asking/answering your mother or grandmother. In other words, politely.

Rudeness and/or impatience will be met with an infraction. You don't want too many of those.

These threads are meant to reduce and hopefully eliminated the need for the numerous 'I need help threads' that seem to generate endlessly in this section of the forum.

They are not a be all, end all to all questions that could ever be asked though. Some questions will be project specific and you may need to ask those IN the project's thread itself. However, some may not see your questions there so you may post a link to said project thread in the appropriate "Help!" thread when you need the attention of a few extra eyes.

[23Magnum]

FAQ Section:

[23Magnum]

Tutorials that involve this thread's subject matter and are approved by the site staff will be linked in this post. Please review them as they may already contain the answers you seek.

Tutorial Section:

[0235]

how do you create that scratched effect for paint. i have done 2 layers of silver, then 2 layers of white (MY CHOSEN ARMOUR COLOUR) but when i start sanding down the white, it eiter dosent take enough off, or goes straight through the silver and into the filler! do i need to put a coating over the silver, like a scratch resistant coating?

[23Magnum]

First, please post your questions in the proper help thread. It will help you immensely for getting your question answered properly. I had to move your post from the "Forum Usage" thread to here.

As far as the wear painting effect, this is the technique Sean showed me. After you have done your silver coating and let it dry, used a hand paint brush to add a resist material in the patterns and places you don't want the white to be. The thing that Sean has found to work best for this resist material is simply cheap toothpaste. Once you have all the resist/toothpaste in place, you can spray over it with your white paint. After it drys, you can use a damp sponge or towel to wipe away where the white paint where the toothpaste is laying underneath giving you that wear and tear look. It takes a bit of practice to apply the right amount so don't worry if you don't exactly get it the way you want it the couple first times.

[Cjsuner]

how do you create that scratched effect for paint. i have done 2 layers of silver, then 2 layers of white (MY CHOSEN ARMOUR COLOUR) but when i start sanding down the white, it eiter dosent take enough off, or goes straight through the silver and into the filler! do i need to put a coating over the silver, like a scratch resistant coating?

I am not sure exactly what you mean when you say scratch, but if you mean you want the "metal" to show through the white then i can help you with that.
Step 1: Take some mustard from the kitchan, or toothpaste from bathroom.
Step 2: With whatever kind of paste you chose ( i am gonna referter to mustarrd throught this awsner) bring your armor inside, over the kitchen sink.
Step 3: You should have already painted your armor the "metal" color, but not your armor color
Step 4: Take your Mustard, and open the cap.
Step 5: Start put lines of mustard onto your armor of where you want the silver to show through the color of your armor (usually around edges, and high points)
Step 6: Paint your armor however you want to after you put on the mustard (leave the mustard on until you are done painting!)
Step 7: after everything is dry, take a cloth, or paper towl or whatever, and start to wipe off the mustard. it will take a few passes because the mustard will squirt out and other stuff...
Step 8: Make sure you have gotten all the mustard off, and then where the Mustard just was, the silver paint will be showing through!
Step 9 (Not needed): Mix black, grey, and white water based paint (like the apple barrel brand) together in a bowl, add some water, and then take a brush, and just slather it on thickly and quickly. then, quickly wipe it all off with a paper towl, it should leave dark streaks and shadowing..
Step 10: Seal your armor with clear coat!

Hope this helped!

[ShadyTrojan]

how do you create that scratched effect for paint. i have done 2 layers of silver, then 2 layers of white (MY CHOSEN ARMOUR COLOUR) but when i start sanding down the white, it eiter dosent take enough off, or goes straight through the silver and into the filler! do i need to put a coating over the silver, like a scratch resistant coating?

You could also try the Dry brush method. Use a small brush and coat it very lightly with spray paint or only dip the very tip into the bottle, then wipe the majority off on a rag or towel. Now brush lightly starting at the edges or corners in your armor and paint inwards so that you have the effect of fading into your overcoat color. Be patient and don't over do it.

[Liq]

how do you create that scratched effect for paint. i have done 2 layers of silver, then 2 layers of white (MY CHOSEN ARMOUR COLOUR) but when i start sanding down the white, it eiter dosent take enough off, or goes straight through the silver and into the filler! do i need to put a coating over the silver, like a scratch resistant coating?

before you went over the silver with the white you were supposed to squirt mustard, toothpaste or vasoline on the areas you wanted to keep silver and make look like chips. You have 2 options here, either repaint the piece silver and do the condiment thing, or dry brush silver spraypaint on it with a cheap paintbrush.

[Dundee]

I found the brush method surprisingly easy. Gave the brush a one second burst of chrome spray paint and then just hit the edges, and smudged some of the flat surfaces with the brush almost dry.

One thing I did learn is to do the black (when you spray then wipe it down to give it that dirty weathered look) wait untill your base coat is all the way dried (read cured after 24hrs) or when you try to wipe it will pull on the base coat and not come off even. In the end it worked out for me because those spots looked like burn marks.

[Boba Fett]

before you went over the silver with the white you were supposed to squirt mustard, toothpaste or vasoline on the areas you wanted to keep silver and make look like chips. You have 2 options here, either repaint the piece silver and do the condiment thing, or dry brush silver spraypaint on it with a cheap paintbrush.

AH!!!! NONONONONO!!!! Not toothpaste or that crud! It gives you a very soft edge. For combat chips, you want HARD edged chips, straight lines and jagged lines. Not curvey stuff. What you want to do is use masking tape in the shape of the chip you want, and possibliy combine it with salt. Wet the area, sprinkle salt, and let dry. Spray, and remove. That gives you a very jagged edge that looks like shrapnel blasts and chipping. toothpaste makes it look totally unrealistic, unless you're trying to mask off say a burn mark.