How to Use Washes and Shades on Miniatures

A wash is thin, dark, free-flowing paint that runs into the recesses of a model and dries darker where it pools. One coat turns a flat basecoat into something that reads as three-dimensional, which makes it the highest-return five minutes in miniature painting.

This guide covers the difference between an all-over wash and a targeted one, how to avoid the tide marks that spoil most first attempts, which shade colour to use over which basecoat, and how to fix a wash that has gone wrong.

What does a wash actually do?

Two things at once. Where the surface is flat, a wash leaves a thin, slightly darker tint. Where the surface has a recess — a panel line, the gap between armour plates, the folds of a cloak — surface tension pulls the fluid in and it dries several shades darker.

The result is shadow exactly where shadow belongs, applied by physics rather than by your brush control. This is why washing is the single technique that most improves a beginner's models.

Purpose-made shades differ from thinned normal paint in flow: they contain a surfactant that breaks surface tension so the liquid runs rather than beading. Thinned paint on its own tends to sit where you put it and dry with a hard edge.

Should you wash the whole model or just the recesses?

Two approaches, and both are correct in different places.

All-over washing

Flood the whole area, or the whole model, and let it settle. Fast, and it tints the flat surfaces as well as the recesses — which is what you want on textured, grimy subjects: Orks, Death Guard, Tyranid chitin, anything battle-worn.

The cost is that the basecoat gets darker and slightly duller everywhere. If you chose a bright colour on purpose, an all-over wash will mute it.

Targeted, or recess, washing

Load a fine brush and touch the wash directly into panel lines and recesses, letting capillary action draw it along the line. Slower, and it keeps flat surfaces at full brightness.

This is the right choice on clean, bright, hard-edged schemes: Ultramarine blue, T'au battlesuits, Custodes gold, anything with large smooth plates.

A useful default is targeted washing on armour plates and all-over washing on cloth, fur, chitin and metal.

How do you apply a wash, step by step?

1. Make sure the basecoat is fully dry. Not touch-dry — properly dry. Wash over a soft basecoat lifts the colour.
2. Stir the pot thoroughly. Shades separate; the pigment sits at the bottom. Unstirred wash is tinted water.
3. Load the brush and unload it on the palette. You want the brush damp with wash, not dripping.
4. Apply to one area at a time — a shoulder pad, a leg, a cloak. Let it flow rather than scrubbing it in.
5. Watch for pooling. If a puddle forms on a flat surface, touch the corner of a clean dry brush to it to draw the excess off.
6. Leave it completely alone to dry. Do not tidy it while it is wet, and do not go back over it — that is what makes tide marks.
7. Let it dry fully before painting over it, or your next layer will drag the wash around.

How do you avoid tide marks?

Tide marks are the hard, visibly darker rings left where a pool of wash dried on a flat surface. Five things prevent them:

• Use less wash. Most tide marks are simply too much liquid.
• Blot excess immediately with the tip of a dry brush while it is still wet.
• Work with the model angled so the wash runs towards recesses rather than sitting in the middle of a panel.
• Do not re-wet a drying wash. Adding more to a half-dry pool creates a second ring.
• On very flat surfaces, thin the wash further with medium — a weaker wash applied twice beats a strong one that pools.

If you already have tide marks, the fix is to go back over the flat area with a thin coat of the original basecoat, leaving the recesses shaded, then re-wash more carefully if needed.

Which shade goes over which colour?

This is mostly about temperature. A wash tints as well as shades, so a cool wash over a warm colour deadens it.

• Black or dark grey washes over metals, blues, greys, purples and anything cool. This is the default for silver and steel.
• Brown or earth washes over browns, greens, bone, leather, wood, and anything meant to look dirty or organic. Also the safest wash for a mixed, grubby model.
• Red-brown flesh washes over skin. A neutral brown works but reads slightly grey on flesh tones.
• Sepia or yellow-brown over bone, ivory, parchment and light cream, where a full brown would be too heavy.
• Coloured washes — blue over blue, green over green — for shading without dulling the hue. Slower to apply but keeps saturation.

The reliable pairing to memorise: black wash on metal, brown wash on everything earthy, sepia on bone.

Washing a Warhammer army

• Space Marine armour: recess wash the plates with a dark wash matched to the armour's temperature, then an all-over brown wash on the weapons, pouches and boots.
• Ork skin: an all-over green or brown wash does most of the modelling for you, and the uneven result suits the subject.
• Necron metal: a heavy all-over black wash over silver, then a metallic drybrush back over the raised edges, gives that pitted ancient look in two steps.
• Tyranid chitin: all-over wash matched to the carapace colour, since the plates have deep natural recesses.
• Astra Militarum infantry: one brown wash over the whole model after basecoating is the classic "three colours and a wash" tabletop standard, and it works.

Paints to use

Nuln Oil · Citadel Colour Shade

Agrax Earthshade · Citadel Colour Shade

Reikland Fleshshade · Citadel Colour Shade

Seraphim Sepia · Citadel Colour Shade

Dark Tone · The Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic Wash

What are the most common mistakes with washes?

• Too much wash. The most common problem by far, and the cause of tide marks. Blot the excess.
• Not stirring the pot. You apply water, wonder why nothing happened, and apply more.
• Washing over a wet basecoat. It lifts the colour underneath and mixes into it.
• Painting over a wash that has not dried. The next layer drags the shade out of the recesses.
• Using a black wash on everything. Black over warm colours — reds, browns, flesh, gold — makes them look sooty. Reach for brown instead.
• Trying to fix it while wet. Leave it. Fix it after it dries with a thin coat of the basecoat.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a wash and a shade?

Nothing meaningful — different brands use different words for the same product. Both are thin, flow-improved, darker paints designed to collect in recesses.

Can I make my own wash?

Yes: thinned paint plus water plus a drop of flow improver or dish soap, or paint mixed into a purpose-made wash medium. The medium is what makes it flow into recesses rather than beading, so do not skip it.

Should I wash before or after highlighting?

Wash first, then highlight. The wash sets your shadows; the highlights then restore the light on top. Washing after highlighting dulls the highlights you just placed.

How long does a wash take to dry?

Fifteen to thirty minutes to be safe. It looks dry sooner on flat areas while the pooled recesses are still wet underneath.

My wash pooled and dried shiny — what happened?

Too much liquid in one place, and the binder concentrated as it dried. Knock the shine back with a matt varnish at the end, and use less next time.

Do washes work over metallics?

Very well — it is one of the best uses for them. A dark wash over silver instantly makes it look like used steel rather than fresh paint.

What comes next

A washed model has shadow but no light. Restoring the light is what layering does — or, for a much faster version of the same idea, drybrushing.