Washes and YOU! Pin-washing tutorial

Wow - I went and did tons of posts and then things in life got hectic again.  Okay, so I made a trip back to AZ in January to watch my best friend get married to an absolutely gorgeous woman (both in looks and soul).  This trip was also about me getting to play some games, so I took an army with me.

Whilst on a break from playing games, I was talking to a couple of guys about painting and mentioned the term pin washing.  Okay, first things, people that know me know I have a tendency to be a speed painter.  Depending on the kind of model will determine if a speed painting is going to be the route to go.  Lots of washes, minimum highlighting, dry-brushing, etc.  There are 2 different techniques to using washes (and it really doesn't matter what brand you use, most are made up of the same things - a pigment, suspension liquid, and settling agent).

The first technique is what I like to call splash and go.  Block out your basic colors, wash the whole model, let it dry, pick out some highlights and done!  This works really well for natural feel models like Hordes, where you are dealing with lots of big beasts.  It also works really well for painting big model count armies, like orks and tyranids.

Now the second is pin-washing.  This is targeting washing, but only applying it into the very recesses of the area that you are going to shade.

I am going to run through a brief  tutorial on how to pin wash.  I am a tread head.  I LOVE TANKS.  However, I hate painting them.  However, I do happen to own a few Forge World tanks for the 30k Ultramarines legion.  And these are going to get pin-washed as a way to really do the tanks justice.  It is VERY TIME CONSUMING.  And the rivets.....damn you GW and your rivets.

Okay, first step - take your base coat blocked out tank.  And messy parts, like tracks, etc, go ahead and knock those out first.

On this model, I primed it Ultramarine Blue Surface Primer, and that is the main color of this army.  Keep that bottle handy for trimming up later.

Second step, select your wash.  In my case, I chose Drakenhoff Nightshade, which is a nice DARK blue.  Using an artificer detail brush, or a 000, or fine detail brush, using the very tip of the brush, paint the wash into the recesses.

Be as careful as you can.  On the left, you can see where it got a little squirrely, as those areas are packed in there.  On the right, you can see the area after it was sprayed.  Really drops some depth in there.

I work from the inside out when pin washing vehicles, because as you work on them, it is natural to hold the tank by it's sides.

When done, it should look something like this.  See what I mean about the rivets?  But you can also see that the armor plates and sections are pretty clearly defined now.

Yes, I know, you can pre-shade with an airbrush.  However, since my main color is a surface primer, and that is made to COVER everything, it doesn't work so well.

Once the pin-washing is all done, go back and trim up, and keep on painting. Although it is rather hard to see on the turret, there is some pin-washing on here, especially around the copula.

Okay folks - ENJOY, and get those brushes dirty!  Next round, applying decals, and maybe my own tips for battle scarring and weathering.

Because we all need dirtied up Space Smurfs. Until next time!