Hobby Cheating 62 - Distressed Leather

In this Hobby Cheating tutorial, I take you through creating old, distressed leather for your miniatures. This is a way to get interesting depth, scratches and wear on your leather. Hope you enjoy.
Twitter: @warhammerweekly
Vince's RPG Podcast: itunes.apple.c...

[@HiveMind3006]

Haha! Yes another Citadel (oversized) wash bottle disaster confirmation! I saw this guy on some Facebook page showing off his nail polish bottle holder and thought to myself this isn't required, just be careful. The very next day about two minutes after opening a new pot of Nulin Oil -boosh! Knocked the pot over it rolls off edge of my desk and everywhere! I suddenly saw the value in a £3 nail polish holder ! I ordered one and make a point of using it, it is probably surplus to requirements but accidents can and do happen and I'd hate to lose a pot especially if it was my last of that particular shade and it leaves you without any to finish what you're working on not to mention the mess factor! Still working my way through these tutorials and gaining a wealth of valuable information. I keep saying it but I can not emphasise how much I appreciate these videos. Thanks again.

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome, glad to hear they are helping and yes, there are few things worse at the hobby desk than the wash spill, especially with the new larger pots.

[@monkeySkulls]

Vince, I just discovered your channel. Working through a bunch of your stuff now.... Love it! You are my new favorite mini painting master. Thanks, and nice work!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, that is much appreciated. Glad to have you along on the Hobby Journey.

[@NesredepEvo]

Same here, like discovering a treasure! Best channel

[@spencertitus5496]

i know I'm pretty randomly asking but do anyone know of a good site to stream new tv shows online ?

[@jasemisael646]

@Spencer Titus I watch on flixzone. You can find it on google :)

[@Ethnarches]

Around 4 years of painting all together and never spilled an wash, not even back in the day as a kid. Knock on wood! :P Great tutorial as always.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you, happy to help as always and good luck keeping the streak alive. :)

[@shaneflickinger]

Thanks for the tutorial Vince. I would have never thought about painting leather with an approach like this. I really like the results!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, it's a technique I have sort of accidentally discovered over time, glad it helps :)

[@giancarloamente1604]

Your videos are just top notch sir. Subscribed and will be following closely. Thanks for sharing with the community!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, that is much appreciated. If there is anything else you want to see as part of future videos, I always appreciate suggestions.

[@DeathOfTheGoodUser]

Took me 1.5 years to spill my first wash. RIP Druchii violet, you will be missed

[@VinceVenturella]

It happens to all of us.

[@S-Mags]

First thing i did when i got back into painting was transfer my gw washes to vallejo dropper bottles! Dropper bottles for everything!

[@VinceVenturella]

I am not opposed, I do love me some dropper bottles. ;)

[@darkadrenaline8246]

This looks fantastic, thanks for a great tutorial as always.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you, always glad to help and thanks for watching. :)

[@mikeljokinecheveste1287]

A useful and complete tutorial, as usual. Maybe I've missed the possibility of using different base colors or glazes to get a worn patchy looking leather, maybe a future tutorial?

[@VinceVenturella]

I did a previous video on doing light leather with only washes and this builds on that. In my experience, different warm whites, yellows and even desaturated oranges will all produce very different shades when Sepia/agrax/similar inks are put over the top and you can then start mixing the two to do highlights and add even more variation.

[@mikeljokinecheveste1287]

Thanks for the answer. In another vein, I've still got some paint boxes tinted in green since the green ink great disaster of the 95 (not to mention the shirt I had to throw away)

[@jcsminiatures366]

Is this a technique you'd recommend for the wings of a black dragon? I am also wondering about working in some purples instead if the yellow tones. Thanks and keep up the good work!!

[@VinceVenturella]

Yeah, I think this would be perfect for a creature for leathery dragon wings, especially if they are very smooth and this is how you can add texture.

[@joem1480]

suggestion, use your black micron pen for your black lines. works a lot easier

[@VinceVenturella]

It's still too big, no disagreement that it's quite accurate, but the reality is even the smallest one can't get as precise as using a sharp brush for the lines, but it's a good suggestion and certainly the pen is a great tool.

[@VictorQues]

Great technique Vince, more tools in my tool box.

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad to help as always sir.

[@roderblue]

Looks great Vince, nice work here.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, that is very much appreciated.

[@KerfluffinMcWooly]

My local game store did not have the dark grey wash, just the grey wash. Is the gray wash dark enough, in your opinion, or should I also add a little nuln oil. I like the thinness of the wash, and flow.

[@VinceVenturella]

I would a little nuln oil and that should be fine.

[@MrStatistx]

I haven't really found a tutorial for it, but what would you suggest to make the leather straps on the legs and arms look like dirty bandages? I have a dark skinned mini with straps around his leg and arm (Fomoroid Crusher) and since the skin is already pretty brown (almost like in your dark skin video, only that I kept it a bit darker overall), I thought it would look better if they were bandages and not brown leather for more contrast, but I have no idea how to approach them. I already painted them white and added grey wash, similar to how you set this up at first.

[@VinceVenturella]

So you generally want to then do what I am doing with the straps themselves here. Once you have the basic color laid down, you generally want to have a dark line in between and then have the edges of the bandages being brighter and higher whites in a hashing like pattern.

[@MrStatistx]

@@VinceVenturellaso I best aim for some offwhite that still leaves room for brighter texturing and do everything in the video except the sepia or brown wash

[@mikebreazeale2563]

Great video as usual...Thanks very much.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, very much appreciated.

[@johntailby74]

Nice and useful technique Vince.

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, I like it because it's also relatively simple, but has som great effects. Thanks for watching John :)

[@huwjones7468]

Hi Vince, when you are placing the white dots and dashes I assuming they are also a highlight spot, are you thinking of where the light is coming from or does it not matter too much for this effect? Thanks very much!

[@VinceVenturella]

Some of it is highlights, some of it is discoloration in the fabric, you are actually doing both tings at once and then through the controlled washes/glazes you are hiding the latter more. Hope that helps.

[@huwjones7468]

@@VinceVenturella thanks very much, I will give this ago today!

[@MrStatistx]

At first I thought this was a kitbashed Gargant, but then I realized the pose is waaay to different to just be a kitbash of one. Read in the comments which it is (sadly from a company that seems to have gone under). Anyway: I am now doing a similar thing (even wanted to use the Gargant to train tattoos), but since my skin is more on the brown/sunburnt side, I decided to go with a more grey pants style, but probably gonna go the same steps, just tone it down in the end, so I end up with the contrast of yours in reverse. That way I don't have brown everywhere.

[@VinceVenturella]

Makes sense to me, giants are super fun to paint. :)

[@roderblue]

If you were going to distress black leather, like for a Chaos guy or something... same start, then just change the washes from Agrax/Sepia to various black washes, or would that wipe out too much of the scratching? You took Agrax straight outta the pot, but I'm guessing for black we're talking about using some water or medium to thin it and build up the color a bit more?

[@VinceVenturella]

So when you want to do darker leathers, the key is they still have a brown tone of course, but the black is going to show up less. I would use something like Light Sand from Vallejo for the cuts, stipling and then just use alternating black and black/brown washes (Nuln and Agrax for example), then just mix in some other cuts in between the layers. If you have some inks, you could thin them and probably get stronger coverage, but otherwise, probably just plenty of layers of the aforementioned shades. You could then even stipple in some true black at the end before your final shade washes to really get some spotted dark tones.

[@TheRunesmythe]

This is an interesting question and I can really dissect the answer; a little over a year ago now I started in leatherworking so I now have some practical experience. Starting from the ground up, as the saying goes, most if not all leather begins the same color, which is sort of a mix between khaki and sepia; its a little darker than the former and little lighter than the latter. I mention this because it will come into play when recreating this weathered, distressed look; if the scratches and cuts are deep enough and you're looking at a fairly heavy piece of hide, then it would show than that original color would start to show. You also have to take into consideration leather dyes and the dyeing process; all of the black dyes I've seen have a very prominent blue tone to them. When replicating this, I would look at adding some blue either mixing it in with some of the light color for scratches/cuts, as a layer of wash or possibly both. Also, I would recommend for your secondary color a mid-tone gray of some sort; you want it to still be noticeably darker than your white/off white but light enough that it shows up against the black.

[@IDICBeer]

Great stuff Vince

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you sir, much appreciated.

[@awesomepossomable]

This is excellent! I have a fair amount of leathers to do soon, and i think i'll give this method a shot. Also which model is this? He's badass looking.

[@VinceVenturella]

It's the enforcer giant from the guy who did the creature caster's previous company. Sadly, they are all out of print now.

[@awesomepossomable]

Aww that’s a shame it’s out of print. But I now know about Creature Caster :)

[@hl1796]

Vince, can i ask this question ? i want to do the same technique, but to represent dirty cloth wraping , what glaze color did you think i should use instead ?

[@VinceVenturella]

Basically the same thing, but move up into the white spectrum and make your final wash very, very thin sepia (thin it with thinner, medium, etc.).

[@hl1796]

@@VinceVenturella Sorry i don't get what you mean by "move up into the white spectrum"

[@hl1796]

i wonder can i do the same technique on a brown leather like basecoat ? there is one guide teach make the stretch , worn down lighter color of leather using airbrush over a jagged edge of a sponge, but i think a drybrush and stippling it like you do is far more easier and simple

[@VinceVenturella]

Sure, if you put it over base brown, you will want to stipple a little more ivory/bone if you want the hard variation of lighter leather.

[@hl1796]

@@VinceVenturella Vince, i forgot to ask this the last time, but when doing the this technique on leather that have crest (for example a leather cowl or leather coat) , should i do the highlight and shadow on the Ridge and Crevice part first THEN apply ink on all of those part ? or doing the same as your guide then do the highlight ?

[@bethanygraham427]

Great tutorial!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you, that is very much appreciated.

[@generallee185]

Thanks!!!

[@VinceVenturella]

You bet! :)

[@generallee185]

Vince I know ou don’t do man historical figures, but I could use some help painting a World War II German tankers black leather jacket

[@VinceVenturella]

I think this same tactic would work, just swap out the brown for black wash or thin black ink and I think you'll get a good effect.

[@danielchalmers9815]

i like to stipple with some blue and green inks also :P

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, adding some additional colors from around the wheel can have some interesting effects when mixed and set against the sepia tones.

[@lumberfoot2004]

Always enjoy tips on working in the butt area.

[@VinceVenturella]

You have to pay lots of attention to that area. ;)

[@mc1csmo]

It's like you have a copy of my painting que lol.

[@VinceVenturella]

Please ignore those cameras in your house...I mean, what a coincidence! ;)

[@Validate-This]

What mini is this?

[@VinceVenturella]

This is an old OOP giant from the company that became creature caster. Sadly, it's no longer out there. I believe it was called something like the Mercenary giant.

[@Validate-This]

@@VinceVenturella thanks for the reply on an old vid! Love your work!

[@hl1796]

i try to this on the cowl of my Lord Executione... it harder to full of than i though

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, it's several simple techniques, but it can be a little tricky on space that large.