Large areas of cloth on bigger figures and busts can appear rather monotonous when painted in a single color. Dark colors are especially difficult to make look interesting. The surface seems to eat any light that hits it, producing a flat, uninteresting finish that can obscure well-rendered folds and details.
One way to impart interest for cloth is to simulate its texture, especially if it is a coarse material such as wool. Some figure painters replicate wool by applying hundreds of tiny individual dots to give the material its nubbly appearance, a time-consuming technique and challenge for novice painters attempting their first bust or large, flowing cloak.
A “hack” for first-timers is to borrow a technique used by armor modelers to add chipping effects to vehicles. Small pieces of fine-pore…
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FineScale Modeler (Digital) - 1 Issue, May/June 2025