Mimicing wood texture

[sami]

Ok! So... aside from collecting batman action figure I have a tendency to collect Disney action figures as well (generally Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and an others from movies that fit that kinda time period... hey I'm a girl :-p)

Anywhobaloo I recently got a Gypsy Caravan playset from the Hunchback line (I'll get a pic asap.. camera's dead on its battery and is currently recharging) and the Gypsy wagon looks like crap... the main color is yellow and the top of the wagon itself is a vibrant ugly pink with a brown (mock wood) door...

So! I wanna repaint the wagon to actually look wooden... along with the top of the wagon and the door. does anyone know how I can paint it to mock a wooden texture? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated <3

[Figuremaster Les]

Here's what I would do...to do wood...

Assuming you are using a water based acrylic....

OK, I paint a basecoat of Burnt Umber on whatever surfaces are supposed to be wooden, and do not even try to paint it thin. Let the paint have some naturally thicker texture (in proper scale if possible) and paint it in the direction of the grain. If you need to mask a surrounding area, do that, but paint it thick and one beam or board at a time. You can even come back and lightly score it with a needle or metal pin just a bit for the vein texture of wood. Let that dry completely. Then thinly coat it again with Burnt Umber to darken any sketched areas.

Then, after that is completely dry, drybrush increasingly lighter browns and tans across that, across the grain you have made, (again, make sure you mask areas if needed!) and after each pass, drybrush until this is the shade you want. Don't totally re-drybrush the same areas twice, so there is some variance in your browns and colors. Let that dry well.

Then, most important of all, wash it again with a thinned Burnt Umber and...wipe it off with your fingers, against or with the grain, depending on the effect you want. Fingers only here. If you use a cloth it may pick up too much. There is a sort of magic time where the paint is just starting to dry that makes this work perfectly. Plus, I use my fingers all the time. Hope you do. This is where it most works out.

Then, after that, dullcoat that area, and let dry. Then do another area adjacent to it, or somewhere else. Whatever.

Your finish should look very much like real wood.
Best I can offer without seeing it. Hope that helps.

Les

[sami]

Here we go this is currently the best pic i have of anything close to the caravan



Thank you so much for the tip on mimicing the wood... I'll definately try that out I just hope mine comes out so well. >.<

[faithfulbutler]

I can see why you want to repaint it,i really wish you all the best with that.
My recipe for wood texture isn't too different from Les's so i'd say go with that.