Neon Squig Rave!
Coming in hot is one of my all time favourite models to paint, and thats the Mauler Squig from Games Workshop! This fantastic sculpt has some a dynamic and fun composition with great volumes to work with, and characters in the faces of both the squigs and riders to boot! Of course I pulled a big mistake on painting the initial airbrush stages without hitting the record button properly and only to find out during the editing that I was missing the entire first half of the footage! But being me and my commitment to showing such a favourite to you all, I’ve primed it again and went through the entire process to record for your eyes.
Here are some still images of the completed stages through the airbrush for your reference when going through the first tutorial in this miniature. The hardest part is actually photographing these models as neon makes it particularly tricky to get the right exposure and true colour.
The real battle with the airbrush and making this technique work for you is going to be your angles of the airbrush and making sure you position it correctly. Remember that the airbrush acts also as your source of light and that you need to keep that consistent throughout the process, or else you are going to have some wonky lights that possibly make an impossible bend around the round subject. Think of the squigs as a sphere and you can’t go too far wrong with placing highlights overall. I highly recommend that if you aren’t comfortable yet laying down the highlights and not getting the right angle. Practice first on a black primed miniature and then using a thinned down White Ink like the stage I use prior to laying down neon and doing a Value Sketch. This is a perfect way to find the angle you want and to see how the airbrush will affect the contours of the miniature. And with a bit of practice, you will get the feel for it and be ready to commit to some real colour! Even going over your value sketch completely and following the highlights, you’re sure to get it with no problem!
Just take your time, there is no need to rush things, keep the paint and the application thin, and you should crush this OSL Clamshell lighting effect.
The PSI I set my airbrush to is around 28psi. This may be higher than some of you are using it, or hell maybe too low. A lot of the PSI settings are more to do with comfort and personal control. Shooting higher means you will be a more consistent spray that accelerates quickly and cleaner, but at the disadvantage of you being faster on the trigger. A lower PSI offers more control as you doing have to be as quick and nimble on the trigger, but going too slow I find that the spray is a bit loose and possibly has a higher rate of spitting and less fine spray pattern. Keeping it between 18 - 30 is a safe bet and you should play around to find the best pressure for your touch.