The actual figure will look three dimensional because of the shading as light falls on it, but if nothing is done after painting, the figure can give a sort of flat impression, has little presence and becomes dreary. The technique used to emphasize the stereoscopic effect by changing the tone of even just one color is called "Color Modulation". In some cases where you have a small piece such as a model, it is not easy to see the change just by changing the color of each surface. So gradation painting is used to emphasize the stereoscopic effect.
To use, first paint the entire base color, then spray highlight 1, highlight 2, and spray the highlight in a gradation pattern on each surface, and finally spray the shadow in the recesses and shadow areas to expand the range of gradation. The
basic way to spray gradation is to spray highlights from front to back on horizontal surfaces and from top to bottom on vertical surfaces, and spray shadow in the opposite direction.
What is color modulation?
It is a painting technique that reproduces the light and shadow that appears when a real vehicle is illuminated by light, as a basic paint on the model, and is said to have been devised based on 3DCG expressions in games. It is attracting attention as a highly dramatic technique that adds gradation to each surface, increasing the amount of information in the model and enhancing its presence. Since the paint reproduces light that cannot be compensated for by natural light, the state where each surface has light and dark is in contrast to the real thing, but works finished with a painterly approach will have more depth of color, and even a single color paint can dramatically change the appearance.
