Model aging technique. Sailing Modeling Lesson Aging Models

Modern trends sometimes require giving things and products a kind of “aging” (“weathering”), which finds its expression in the fact that the model does not look like a newly acquired or assembled one, but has all the characteristics of the one that was already in use.

Giving the product "aging" is not at all a panacea to make up for inaccuracies in assembly and painting.

To give a typical aging standard, a dark wash is applied to the product, which is then lightened with a dry brush, thereby emphasizing individual details of the product.

The result of such creativity is a spectacular view of the model. The only question remains how correct it looks after giving it such an effect so that unnecessary questions do not arise: why does it become lighter when the part protrudes significantly from the surface of the armor? To make "aging" natural, you need to achieve the maximum repetition of several actions that occur in real life and then the thing will turn out to be contaminated with traces of use.

We all love looking at old photos in family albums. And the older the photo, the more reverent and tender our attitude towards it. It seems that people were kinder then, and the world is cleaner and the trees are taller. You can look at old photos endlessly, reverently and bowing before every crack, because behind each of them there are years and decades.
Is it possible to create something similar using modern methods? Something like that, with torn edges, a worn surface in some places ... Feel like a "woman from an old photograph", slightly touching the era of romanticism? Or a respectable man in a strict trouser suit, peering through the decades, which are hinted at by dilapidated yellowed edges?
As the notorious character used to say: "Elementary, Watson!". I will show you how I do it and I will reveal to you all my simple secrets.

Only the hero, or rather, the model of our today, depicting a look from the past, will be the little girl Alexandra. Toilet items hastily selected for this occasion, in my opinion, convey the atmosphere of the past as much as possible, like the Teddy bear cub and even figured for some reason on almost every baby photo that time a deflated stocking. And only modern Velcro shoes will not let us forget that this is just a stylization. And, more precisely, as it turns out below, the sublimation of the past and the present. Let's start with the fact that today it can be done with just one click. For example, this is what happens when using the OldMovie Photoshop plugin:

Or, at worst, turn your photo into a grunge picture of dubious artistic value using the Befunky.com on-lain editor:

But we are not looking for easy ways! Where are the raggedness and scuffs, for the sake of which this lesson was started? Chewed corners, scratches, stains and vintage frames - that's what we should strive for!

First, let's decolorize the original photo.

Convert Image >Adjustments >Desaturate. And here's what happened:

Now let's give the photo a yellowish tint. This can be done in several ways. For example:
Image >Adjustments >Hue/Saturation
or Image >Adjustments >Photo filter and choose the desired shade there from dark yellow to sepia, depending on what you want to see in the end. Well, today we will go
Image >Adjustments >Color Balance and just move the slider to the yellow side.

As you can see, the photograph just turned yellow, more or less, but still resembles the attempts of a negligent teapot (nothing offensive, because in fact I am one) to clumsily imitate the old days. Eh, a pathetic Chinese fake, as they would say in KVN.
But... And now heavy artillery enters the battle, a zest, a cut of our crystal, a vignette of that very, essentially false essence, because of which many asked questions " How is it done?"and which I thought was my own invention until I realized it wasn't.
Phew! But, if it were not so, I would still have to come up with this way. So (drumroll sounds), meet:
Her Majesty Substrate! Or texture, if you like. In this case, it's a scanned back of a photo from over a century ago, taken from here:

It remains for us only to "try on", to merge the real antiquity and the entourage of the present into one whole, which is what we are doing:

Transform the texture to fit the entire size of the photo and click on it with the Magic wand tool (" Magic wand”), which highlights a continuous area of ​​pixels of the same color. We clean them with a brush. I usually do this with one of a specially downloaded set of vintage brushes. The same spots, scratches and even fragments of the inscription remained intact on the surface.
Merge layers:

And here, in all its beauty of the past century, the maiden Alexandra looks at us with wide-open eyes, as if through time. Voila!

The same can be done with any photographs found on the Internet. Just clean the middle and try on the right one. Just like a fried egg!
And here's another, as options, we change only the "clothes":

Finally, I would like to say that the hand is stuffed as a result of long experiments with color, with substrates and textures. Could add graininess Filter >Artistic >Film Grain. But I don't always find it necessary to do so. It would be possible to make the photo more dull and faded, but here I considered it inappropriate. Everyone has their own idea of ​​antiquity.
Don't be afraid to experiment and combine! And one more tip of mine, if you are going to seriously approach the issue of aging a photo, you cannot do without a set of brushes, textures and even fonts.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to age the bottom of a wooden ship model. In order to get the job done quickly and accurately, I will use the following materials:
- the actual model of the ship - in my case it is from the Zvezda company (9037).

Model putty "Tamiya", gray

Toothpick (where without it :))
- linen thread or sanitary linen

So let's move on to step by step process"spoilage" of the model:
1) We take a tube of putty and, after squeezing out the contents a little, we begin to dot the future growths on the bottom of the ship. Repeat until you are satisfied with the result.

2) Now, with a toothpick, we level the applied putty, and give it a more natural shape. I made "stabbing" movements with a toothpick so that there was an imitation of overgrown corals and other marine life. For greater persuasiveness, you can dig up on the Internet and see photos of corals, and if you're lucky, then the growths themselves.

3) We will imitate algae with a linen thread. We take a clean toothpick and begin to unravel the linen thread into strands, the thinner the better. In truth, if you use plumbing linen (you can get it at any plumbing store), it will be much easier. I, without looking for easy ways, took a toothpick in my hands more comfortably and set to work. After you are satisfied with the result, you can start gluing linen to the bottom of the vessel. The more carelessly and messily it sticks, the better, and most importantly, our algae will look more natural.

4) After letting the glue and putty dry, you can proceed to further work - priming and painting. When priming, I used Tamiya primer, painted with MasterAcryl black paint from Zvezda, which has a very good liquid consistency and is compatible with its use in airbrushes. After the paint had dried, I covered the model with Tamiya matte varnish and worked the bottom of the ship with a dry brush, highlighting all the necessary areas. It seemed to me that the result obtained was not enough and I decided to cover the bottom with a light pigment for greater clarity. You can see the result of all these researches in the photos.

Thank you for your attention and see you soon!
Yours sincerely,