ILM workshop painting style. Discussion and tips

to me it looks like another way to apply a super light wash to a subject... almost like drybrushing a wash... if that makes sense. :facepalm

honestly many of the techniques they use are things that are no-no's in trying to get a nice finish. I've seen variants of the dot and wipe technique used to make blast marks etc... the dot spray and wipe appears to be yet another variant of the very light "localised wash". I WILL be trying this one... :)

Jedi Dade
 
I was about to ask this question and came across this thread, in the last 3 years has anyone gleaned any more techniques from ILM model making panels, thanks
 
The chipping paint on models like the X-Wing was achieved by dabbing rubber cement over the base color as a making, spraying the over coat color, then rubbing the rubber cement off after the paint had dried.
 
I can't speak of actual ILM techniques, but in my experience in replicating the heavily-weathered ship finishes (Falcon, X-Wings), I think the most important thing I've learned (or can share) is that not one square millimeter should go untouched. Every bit of model should be weathered to some degree.

Beyond that, rock solid, highly detailed reference material makes a huge difference. With high quality reference, I think the actual technique used takes a back seat to simply ensuring you get the result you want/need.

For example, I am very air-brush shy. I prefer pastel chalks, and get the same or (in my opinion) better results.
 
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At 9:15, this Japanese documentary on Apogee shows Grant McCune weathering a space shuttle.
An exact translation is as follows:
"In order to capture realism, 'dirtiness' is necessary. For example, paint the body of the plane along the welds with black ink, then smear the ink with an airbrush for the effect of corrosion by fuel."

 
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NAZGÛL said:
Thanks guys!
Went ahead and messed with the airbrush. First dark gray, and then a gentle layer with the basecote again, trying to get this look.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2470/3721034434_b920437e44_z.jpg

Then started to add washes in different shades, black dark brown and grey, trying not to overdo them. It blends the effects together.
Click to expand...

Don't know if this has been addressed yet (haven't finished reading the thread) but I don't think you're looking at airbrushing or washing here.
This appears to be charcoal or black chalk pastel rubbed into the flat base coat, probably just with a finger.
That's why only the raised parts are discolored, and the recesses still look clean.
I don't know for certain if that's how ILM did it, but this is how I do it, and it looks just like this picture.
 
The video clearly shows dabbed ink with an airbrush and liquid to thin it and make it run. In my time at Apogee, I don't recall anyone using pastel or charcoal weathering. It's just not permanent enough. Also, back in the era in which this video was shot, which was around the time I was there, Apogee used reverse blue screen, which required spraying a laquer coat with red phosphorus to pull a matte. Under white light, the phosphorus was clear, but under UV light, it glowed red.
 
We used to use the reverse blue screen at Dream Quest occasionally as well. Mainly for models that were very glossy and would tend to show reflections from a traditional bluescreen. Remember back in those pre-digital days having to go in a rotoscope matte contaminations was a PITA! As I remember the formula for the glow juice was a super duper top secret mix, only one guy knew what was in it. The base was a nitrocellulose lacquer (old school automotive stuff) and it lost it's strength fairly quickly after being mixed so it had to be used right away.
 
I think those were off the shelf primers ?
The cans can be seen in several ILM shop pics.

They used a lot of different primers, for ANH they used white, yellow/sand, dark gray, black... For ESB they used a lot the regular light gray primer.
 
jayroth said:
The video clearly shows dabbed ink with an airbrush and liquid to thin it and make it run. In my time at Apogee, I don't recall anyone using pastel or charcoal weathering. It's just not permanent enough. Also, back in the era in which this video was shot, which was around the time I was there, Apogee used reverse blue screen, which required spraying a laquer coat with red phosphorus to pull a matte. Under white light, the phosphorus was clear, but under UV light, it glowed red.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the confirmation, sometimes it's really obvious it's airbrushed liquid , lower left of this picture looks like someone started and then decided to stop
 

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Well at least that kind of effect is pretty easy to figure out. What about this? After looking long and hard (and at better pix) I can only guess that they layered the styrene
 
Wow, never saw the ship from that angle, Swiss cheese.....yeah it looks like after the holes were made they heated it , or maybe they dremelled it for so long to allow it to warp the surface , or maybe a studio lamp was left on too long LOL , ...Faustus your images always reveal more details
 
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