I've developed a way to paint leather fairly quick and with pretty good results.
I started using this method to paint the pouches and such on Space Marine Scouts, so when it came time to paint Inquisitor Lok's leather coat, I figured why not give it a go on a larger area.
If it works for small things, it should work for big things right?
Well, it does, I just needed to tweak it a little bit for this model.
It doesn't take much along the lines of paint either.
A light base color, two washes (Devlan Mud and Gryphonne Sepia) and a highlight color. What's wierd is that the "highlight" color is actually darker than the "base" color.
The base color is really the most important part. Make sure your paint is smooth and you've got a nice, consistent finish before moving on. Any imperfections at this point will show up as you move on.
By using the light base color, you allow the washes to build up the shadows in the recessed areas.
Next is the washes. It's usually 2 washes of Devlan Mud followed by a final wash of Sepia. In this case, I went with three washes of the Devlan before finishing with the Sepia because I wanted it to be fairly dark. There are lots of open, smooth areas on his cloak as opposed to just a pouch where the detail is already there and much smaller.
And last is the highlight. It's just a shade lighter than the final washed base color so I do some layering on the edges and that's all it takes.
This is just one highlight, I went back in with a slightly lighter brown and added a second highlight to really make the folds pop and draw attention to certain areas.
All in all, it's a quick process and you'll spend more time waiting for your washes to dry between each application than you will painting.
My Project Link: Inquisitor Lok
