Varnish for effect not to protect?

JonAtron

Member
Esteemed painters and hobbyists,

Can we talk vanishing and your opinions on it for effect rather than to protect the model. i.e gloss for shiny metal, satin for dull metal to accentuate its painted effect / qualities?
Now, sure I could just go slap it on and find out, but I've spent literally days painting something and I'm not risking it if its going to undo it all. I've also noticed in the past that a matt varnish really seemed to reduce the contrast and lovely gradient of blending as opposed to if I had just left it unvarnished. This might be for a painting for a competition, maybe the golden gobbos :grin:
 
FWIW, I’ve found the same thing with the Matt varnish I previously used (Testor’s). Frustrating, isn’t it?

If it’s for a competition, you might be best leaving it unvarnished until afterwards.
 

Juxt

Member
Most of the time I matt varnish my models before painting metallics, finding that the varnish evens out my blends and highlights and tones down contrasts to a more realistic level. Some colours like blue always end up looking slightly glossy for me, so I find that the matt sorts that out nicely too. I don't varnish metallics at all, gems, visors, screens etc get a gloss coat, bloody bits and the inside of mouths get a gloss, eyeballs large enough to warrant it get a gloss too. Any special effects like pigments, blood, slime, mud, dust, rust etc generally get applied right at the end after any vanishing to maintain their textural qualities.
 
Back
Top