How to darklining?

[flagoon]

I was wondering if someone can share with me their methods to make those nice dark lines near minis details? I tried GW Badab Black wash for this, but I failed a little (should dilute more). I really would appreciate for some pointer in that matter. Right now my minis look quite flat.

[mahon]

Don't blackline with washes - you don't have enough control over such thin paint. Inks would be better as they're not as translucent and more opaque. Or use thinned paint.
If you want to use a fast way of achieving "similar" results - try dipping. Otherwise jus take a fine-pointed brush, paint thinned to consistency you can easily control, and try painting those black lines....

[arctica]

Like Mahon said, i actually usually use brown ink because it's not as harsh as black so it looks a bit more natural.

[mahon]

oh yeah, that's a good point - I used to use brown inks for years. if you check my works (especially the ones painted in 2005-2006) many of them have this brown tint in shadows. that's because of my use of Smoke for shading.

[flagoon]

Don't blackline with washes - you don't have enough control over such thin paint. Inks would be better as they're not as translucent and more opaque. Or use thinned paint.

I'm not familiar with using inks. Should I dilute them as well or I can use them right from the bottle?

[mahon]

just try. I think for darklining they're fine straight from the bottle

[arctica]

Depends alot on what you're comfortable with and what areas/colours you have before you apply the ink. One point of advice when trying it, is to dab your paintbrush on a piece of paper before you apply the ink to the model as excess can end up with a messy outcome.