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The Illusion of Cloth

Discussion in 'General Figure Talk' started by Larsen E. Whipsnade, May 6, 2021.

  1. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    I'm beginning to paint this guy...Hauptmann Georg Johann von Gambolputty of Ulm...
    Screen Shot 2021-05-06 at 5.19.27 PM.png
    ... and whomever painted the hauptmann made his uniform look as if it isn't paint, but rather made it look like textured cloth even though there is no actual texture.

    Aha! Says I.... must be an additive.

    I know you can add talcum powder to a glossy paint and it will make it flat. So I tried adding baking powder and baking soda to acrylic paint to try to simulate a texture but that doesn't achieve a satisfactory result... lumpy paint yes, texture no.

    Does anyone have any experience creating the illusion of cloth texture with paint alone? If so, how did you achieve the look? I can always just paint the figure but the illusion of cloth would make it so much cooler.

    Thanks for any help or suggestions.
    Rick
  2. Gary D PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Canada
    Looks like a Hardy Tempest paint job. I think he at one time was going to make a DVD on how to paint like this but it never happened. I imagine it was stippled somehow.
    Oda likes this.
  3. Oda A Fixture

    Mighty impressive indeed and I must admit that I do not have the slightest clue how it's done but I wouldn't search for additives in the mix.Nowadays many super talented modelers have invented multiple methods of painting imitation textures and it is not by adding anything in their colours.It all goes down to ingenuity and very skilled brushwork.If indeed it is a Hardy Tempest job I would love to watch a tutorial by him on this technique for it creates an amazing result.

    Oda.
  4. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Oda, Babelfish and Martin64 like this.
  5. Ray Stout Well-Known Member

    If painting in Oils, you canhave a certain degree of texture by the amount of undercoat used on the figure. Use an undercoat so thin, that you can still see the metal underneath, and you acheive a semi-gloss result which is fine for faces, horses etc. The more undercoat you apply, the more of a matt finish you can acheive, as the oil is absorbed by it, taking away the "gloss" of the paint. Certain fabrics can be acheived just by the application of how the light is seen on the cloth, Velvet is a good example of this, as the texture is determned by the way light is reflected back from the material. Ray
  6. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
  7. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks, Ray. Unfortunately I paint in acrylics not oils (never could get the knack of painting with oils) but you may be right that light and shadow are the best alternatives to the Rice method. Time to do a little exploring I suspect.
    Rick
  8. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks, Oda. I suspect your right about additives not being the way to go after having seen baking powder and baking soda turn my paint into porridge.
    Rick
    Oda likes this.
  9. Alex A Fixture

    Country:
    Canada
    No additives
    with acrylic, it is actually easier to do because paint dries faster
    establish lights and shadows loosely first
    then start the stippling with a round brush (not too pointed) : paint the maximum highlights, deepest shadows and transitions and carefully go all over it again and again until you are satisfied
    Oda and Nap like this.
  10. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks for the tip, Alex. I'll give it a try.
    Rick
    Oda likes this.
  11. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Ok guys, for what it's worth here's what I did to create a cloth-like (or cloth light) finish on my Prussian Officer as opposed to a cloth finish.

    Using AK ww1 German Army Paints I blended AK3091 Base and AK3092 Light approximately 2:1 light to base color to create a new base color which I applied to the entire jacket. I then made a very thin wash of both AK3091 and 3092 and began applying coat after coat of each, eyeballing the high and low spots until they began to shade the jacket in a realistic manner. I'm not sure of how many coats I applied, but there were many, and I may go back and apply some more especially around the collar.
    Screen Shot 2021-05-08 at 7.14.03 AM.png
    Thanks to everyone who made comments and/or suggestions. All were helpful and appreciated.
    Rick
    Billy Dickinson and Oda like this.
  12. MENTAL DENTAL A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Think about painting to scale.....imagine if that bust was a person standing some distance away from you and appeared in your vision as the same size....probably 15-20m away.....how much texture would you really see? Not a lot if any. Any 'dots' you apply would be so over scale if blown up to real life. Good luck!
    Nap likes this.
  13. Henkm Well-Known Member

    What you say is perfectly logical, yet, the picture used as reference in the first post is perfectly convincing. Our eyes and brains like to be tricked.

    Rick, I'm sure you're heading the right way but unfortunately the resolution of your photo is a bit low, which blurs the texture.
  14. Larsen E. Whipsnade Moderator

    Country:
    United-States
    Part of the problem may be that I enlarged the photo. Here are two more pics taken just a few minutes ago. Not much better, Henk, but that's the best my iPhone can do I'm afraid.
    Rick
    Screen Shot 2021-05-11 at 9.27.26 AM.png Screen Shot 2021-05-11 at 9.27.50 AM.png

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