- Undercoat - spray if possible it will give a better base and good coverage.
- Use a good quality brush and keep them in good condition.
- Thin your paints - this will help smooth the paint and create a smoother finish. Applying 2 or 3 thin coats will create less build up than 1 heavy coat which can dry lumpy.
- Focus on neatness, Keep the paint in the right areas and plan your design before hand. Don't worry about shades and highlights at first just block in the basic areas.
- Don't rush - take your time and it will pay off, speed comes with practice not trying to finish before you start!
- Be careful of messy techniques like dry brushing and washing as they don't have much control and can get everywhere (these techniques are explained later). They are useful if used well but don't relay on them as quick fixes.
- Choose natural colour tones for shading and highlights. This is good for speeding up painting a little it will make the effect smoother.
- Be prepared to touch up as mistakes always happen and it will produce a better paint job if you neaten up a bit once the main paint is over.
EGO Painting Guide
Before we begin please note that this is a general guide and not hard and fast rules. You can and I'm sure you will use and do whatever you want to express your EGOs and come up with some cracking designs! Remember you can to submit them to the Hall O' Fame!
In this Guide
What is the best way to undercoat?
Using pale colour's on dark undercoats
Pieces of EGOs
EGOs are packaged in a way where the pieces come separated. This is for painting reasons, as most 'vinyls' have to be broken down to spray and sand etc to avoid back spray and over spray. This makes them ready to go! You can also paint them assembled however can be trickier!
A few other things to note about EGOs are the joints. Once they are assembled the joints shouldn't be removed as this will cause slackness as the plastic is stressed due to the tightness of the joint.
However they can be taken apart if needed. The head is an example of this as the under plate is not fixed in place this is so you can pop the eyes back out! By taking the plate out to gain access (bit like the hood of a car). This can cause the neck joint to slacken but if you apply pressure to the under plate it will tighten again to hold the head up.
Prepping an EGO...
EGOs are made using a process known as injection moulding, this process causes lines on the model called flash or mould lines where pieces of the moulds meet and the plastic is injected. This can be sanded of with a piece of sandpaper.
EGOs should be given a general sanding and primed before painting, this is because the plastic surface is smooth and it gives the paint a better bite on to the surface so it wont peel or scratch easily. I recommend a plastic filler spray this can be picked up at any car shop (Halfords have a very good own brand spray can or you can use tined for a spray gun).
This will give a good start for painting the model.
After you're happy with the base you can undercoat in the basic colour of your design.
What is the best way to undercoat?
Undercoating is recommended because again it makes subsequent painting coats adhere better and gives a good consistent flat surface to paint on. You can undercoat in a few different ways:
- Normal acrylic paint
- This is the cheapest option and can give very good results when done with care. All you have to do is apply a coat with a normal paint brush. One thing to keep in mind is to water down the paint to give a smooth coat, so the pigment isn't diluted you can use inks instead of water.
- Spray Cans
- They will give very good results and come in all colours you could possibly want. They give a smooth and even coat however watch for hot spots (this is when you hold the can to close and create a pool of paint) and runs. Always spray in even strokes in short bursts across the model. Be careful when mixing brands of sprays as not all are compatible and you might end up with blisters! >.<
- Spray Gun
- spray guns are something that are very technical and can be expensive however does give a professional result and a lot of flexibility with types of paint and control over the pressure. If you have a gun and compressor then I'm sure you'll know what to do if not seek advice from the manufacturer.
Paints and tools
There are millions of choices out there for customising and getting your designs down.
- Paints
- Acrylics are the best choice most are no toxic and user friendly. There are tons of brands out their and its worth trying a few before settling on a brand. Popular paints for models are Citadel (GW), Vallejo, Coat D'Arms and Reaper. This is not a exclusive list however are built for painting models therefore give better results than your general acrylics which might not give the smooth finish you'd like however it's all about what you like and are comfortable using.
- Brushes
- Brushes are all about quality, there are again tons out there to choose from. Find one you like however personally sable brushes are a lot better than synthetic as they will keep their point better and longer. Brands I use are 'pro arte' and 'Winsor and Newton' but again a personal choice.
- Pens
- I don't generally use pens in customs however the word on the street is that 'Sharpies' are the best but can be hard to find in some places Sculpting: This is a huge area to cover so I'll be doing a Sculpting and moulding/casting tutorial at some point, however if your looking to add areas to your EGOs Super Sculpey and Millputt are both easy to buy and use. Put a bit of cling film over the model and mould it on (if it's Millputt you can work straight on to the model however rough the area using heavy grit sandpaper to give it bite or it will fall off). Once your happy with it let it cure (if Scupley bake it in the oven - remember not to bake the cling film, don't bake the EGO... you'll expand the joints and they wont fit) and glue it on using super glue.
When sculpting tools come in all sorts - it's about whatever makes the right mark, however the best and most basic tools are dental tools - you can either buy them or ask your dentist for old ones they don't use any more.
Paint Brush Basics
Painting neatly is the real trick to a well painted model. From the basis all other techniques and styles can be done well but without being neat the overall effect will be a struggle.
Paint Coverage
Getting a good cover of paint is an issue especially seen on large smooth areas, and is critical to a good finish. Regrettably it comes down to a lot of differing issues i.e. the manufactuerers of the paint, the age of the paint, colour etc.
To improve coverage you can do a few things - hunt around for good quality paints in each colour. Shake and stir the paint before use to mix the pigment in well. Apply a few thinner coats rather than one think coat. Apply an appropriate undercoat that matches the base colour.
Using pale colour's on dark undercoats.
In some cases you'll want to cover a dark paint with a lighter one for example white over black - when you do you'll find it hard to cover it and the dark shows through. To prevent this use there are a few things you can do. Mixing the colour with a similar but differing coloured paint - preferably one that is reliably good at covering, paint a caot with that mix, and then paint the required colour. For example, you can mix white with a light grey or yellow with cream to paint over a black undercoat. Then paint white or yellow on top. This takes a little experimenting for best results.
Highlighting
There are 3 main methods to highlighting:
- Drybrushing
- very fast, messy useful for stressed effects and metals. Using and old brush, put some paint on and wipe it of until the brush is quite dry, flick the brush back and forth across the area to build up the highlight, this is repeated using a light shade to build up the effect.
- Layering
- simple to do and very effective from distance. Good for smaller areas and built up detail. Start with a base colour and then with a lighter tone paint an area on the high area the repeat even higher with a lighter colour. The more subtle the change in tone between areas and the more areas you paint the better this effect will be. If you want the model to look like the light is hitting it in one direction then paint all highlights to the same light source.
- Blending
- this is a slow method however give avery smooth and natural looking lighting effect and is very useful for large open areas. Start the same as layering, however use a slightly thinner paint and as each layer applied quickly use a clean damp brush to smudge and feather the edges into the next. This will make the colour blured back into the basecoat colour. You'll have to do this a few times for each layer and repeat for evey layer of tone applied.
All these method will take time to get right and experimenting with them in different ways can create great effects.
Shading
There are 3 methods if you need shading:
- Layering
- Start with the darker colour as your basecoat and build up in the same way you would layer highlighting, your just starting a the dark colour rather than a mid tone.
- Recessing
- Paint a dark tone into recesses/lower areas. This is basically highlighting backwards with the darkest tone being applied last into recesses or lower areas of the model from the mid tone down.
- Inking
- An easy and effective method however messy and can affect the texture of the paint. Here you pool an ink (darker tone than your mid tone) in the lower area and drag it up the area to the mid tone from the recess. Then blot the ink to smudge it in with an old rag or sponge.
Freehand Designs
Freehand designs can often be the focus some of the best vinyls however can be hard to achieve.
If you're a dab hand with a design package like Photoshop you can get transfer paper for inkjet printers which can be a great way of getting really sharp images and designs on to your customs in a matter of minutes! However these don't work very well on curved surfaces when using large design.
If you are going to attempt to paint these there are a few useful points to keep in mind
Always plan these out:
- Preferably both a sketch and a practice run on heavy paper to work out any problems you'll have.
- Break the design into stages and smaller shapes that can be less daunting.
- It can be useful to draw on the outline of the design onto the model to get the layout and size correct. Be careful to keep these faint so the paint will hide them.
- Don't use to thin paint as this will cause runs to happen when trying to be accurate. Once the design is blocked out then thinned paint can be useful to create the finer details.
- When you need to touch up the design use the base colour of the design and reapply.
Lettering
Lettering is hard to achieve through freehand unless it's script and written on with a pen. However it is possible if treated like a design and built up - one thing to note is to pick a font or style and keep to it in all the lettering.
