Sorry for the delay!

So sorry I have been missing in action.  I'm still up to my eyeballs in rabicano markings.  Once I get this mare done I will post some more photos and go over in a bit more detail what I did.  Nothing much except MANY, MANY layers but I still may be able to come up with something helpful.  So while I struggle to finish this blasted beast, here is a photo to tide you all over.  Stay tuned!

Rabicano pics finally

Ok, I had to get this horse, or at least, parts of this horse past the really ‘ewwwww’ stage so I could even come close to describing the technique I use for roaning, rabicanos, sabinos…whatever has a roaned out look to it.   This first photo shows the horse after the first layer of ‘ticking’.  The brush I’m using for this is a Kolinsky Reservoir Liner, series 1310, size 2.  This brush works very well for me for this technique.  Of course, you don’t have to use exactly what I use.  Any good, super fine point liner brush will work.

Ok, so back to this first layer.  The color used for this was a mix of Medium Gray (Folkart is what I had on hand) and Titan Buff by Golden Fluid Acrylics.  I just dip my brush in water first, then in the gray, then just the tip in the buff and mix them until I get a shade just a hair lighter than the medium gray.  I want my acrylics thinned but not too thin or they will ‘bleed’ instead of holding a sharp line. I always wipe them across a paper towel before I go to the horse with them.  That will help soak up extra moisture that will cause them to bleed.  I apply my acrylics in teensy eensy brushstrokes (most often spots or specks and not actual strokes).  This takes FOREVER for me to do because I have to constantly refer to hair charts and super duper large photos of my own horses so I can be very aware of every little swirl, whirl and hair direction shift.  But the first layer takes the longest in my experience.  After roughly about 19 hours spaced out over 4 days of working on this horse I had the first layer at a point where I could stop.  Here ya go, a pic of the side and a pic of the belly

Though this looked ok up close (color wise), when I sat the horse on the shelf I realized I could barely see this whole first layer.  Perhaps I should have gone lighter with my mix. At any rate, it was a little sickening but I could still make it work just fine.  If you look closely you will see a variety of different types of marks.  The strokes would get longer as I rapidly lost my patience and focus.  When this starts to happen I put the horse down and work on something else. 

So, for my next layer I used Quaker Gray by Ceramcoat along with the Medium Gray and Titan Buff.  The Quaker Gray is used to lighten the mix but still keep it ‘gray’ in color.  I won’t even bust out any white until probably the very last layer.  And heck, the horse might not even need it at the end and I can use by Titan Buff as my ‘lightener’.  For this layer I don’t mind doing a bit longer stroke in the areas that I know will need multiple layers.  When I say a longer stroke, I’m still talking tiny, tiny stroke, not some big streak.  Like, about 1/32” or thereabouts.   Nothing will funky up a nice roan-y look like a bunch of long strokes. 

So here is a photo with side by side difference of the look of one layer vs. two layers.    The center of the belly is obviously the division.

And then here is a photo of a section that has, oh I don’t know, maybe 7-8 layers on it (the flank).  And basically I’ve just hovered in this same area applying more acrylics.  Each layer being just a teensy bit lighter than the last.  For probably the 5^th layer on I stuck with strictly Quaker Gray mixed with a small amount of Titan Buff.  I left the Medium Gray out of those later layers.

And finally, I am getting out of the ‘ewwww’ stage.  At least in that flank.  The acrylics have not been sealed in at this point since I use a carbide scraper to remove areas or shape brushstrokes that are too big.  I want to make sure I'm thoroughly happy with the acrylics before I seal.  I'm not saying  be finished with them, I just need to be at a happy spot.  Remember sealer makes you commit to your mistakes.  You can still fix things after sealer has been applied but it's going to be a lot more difficult.

NOTE:  No white has been used AT ALL on this horse yet.  Not in the mixes or anything.  

If you notice choppy areas that look like they are lighter or darker those are stop marks or edges where I stopped my brushstrokes.  It will take more layers to smooth and even that out.  Don’t worry, it’s coming.  And of course she is not going to have such defined stripes down the sides.  She is still in 'rough draft' mode.

And just for example, here are the 3 colors I’ve been using and here are the little dried piles on my plates so you can get a better idea of the actual color going onto the plate.

I’m not even close to being done yet so stay tuned, it will get better.  I promise!

Sealer behaving badly...

While I try to avoid dealing with that rabicano for the moment I thought I would post a couple of really helpful links.  We've all had it happen (or you will at some point!).  We go to seal a horse and suddenly the horse turns a milky white.  Or we seal and suddenly there are white specks all over the horse.  Or maybe you've seen close ups of a horse that has a kinda, pitted look to the finish work (possibly orange peel).  Well here are a couple of sites that will tell you WHY that happens and how to avoid it.  

This one is specific to Testors products (e.g. Dullcote)

http://www.hubhobbyshop.com/hint12.htm

This one is not actually about sealers, but the causes for the condition still apply, at least in my experience.  Like humidity causing fogged sealer, etc.   And it has cool pictures to go with the description.

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/30


Well, I guess that was enough time to kill.  Back to that blasted rabicano.  Hopefully I'll have photos tomorrow so we can go over layering when roaning.

New to this blogging thingy

So I thought I would give this a go.  Because I don't already have 9 million things on my plate, what's a little ol Blog gonna add to that??  I'm not sure what I will be using this for but I'm envisioning it as a 'Tip of the Day' thing when I run into hiccups with my own painting.  I run into at least one problem every time I paint so perhaps by mentioning the problems, how to avoid them, and how to correct them I can save someone a headache in the future.  It won't be updated daily, but as much as I can squeeze into my schedule.

For today's 'Tip' I want to bring up a cool trick for sabinos, rabicanos, and roaning in general.  Instead of doing these details in straight white acrylics, start off with a pale gray.  Heck, maybe even a medium gray if your horse has a fairly dark basecoat.   Treat this as layer one.  As you progress or want to apply another 'layer' on top of that, do so by creating a slightly paler gray mix.  I like to use Quaker Gray Ceramcoat acrylics mixed with Titan Buff by Golden Fluid Acrylics.  This just gives me a warm pale gray.  Then on the next layer I will move up to a more 'white' mix.  By creating your roaned areas in this way you can achieve and soft and realistic look that will look quite a bit better than if you had just done it with straight white acrylics off the bat. 

I hear a lot of folks saying 'every time I try to do a sabino or rabicano, my markings look too harsh'.  Well, yes.  They can look too harsh if you are going onto a darker colored horse with straight white acrylics.  The contrast can just be overpowering for the piece.  I didn't use straight white on this little gal here except for the centers of the sabino spots and the face and leg markings.  All of those little 'hair ticks' are done with a a mixture of Titanium white, Quaker Gray, and Titan Buff to give me an off white color. 




And don't worry.  If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about I am going to show you,. I will be posting step by step photos of the rabicano I am working on.  So far I'm 17 hours into just the first layer.  Sadly you can barely see it because it's done in a medium gray.  But by building the color, the results will be far more realistic.  I know some of you are thinking '17 HOURS?!?!?!?!?!' but the first layer is always the hardest and most time consuming because I have to stare at references to be sure my hair pattern and swirls are correct.  After that, each layer will become increasingly easier than the last.  It should only take about 4 layers of acrylics to get it where I want it.  Stay tuned, photos should be forthcoming in the next couple of days when I get the first layer wrapped up. 

Jaime