Personal Prop shading tip and insight (Patreon)

So someone asked me why I would bother to weather a gun when DVA is a pilot and would probably use her gun as last resort therefore would not get as battered as other characters. While they make an extremely insightful valid point, cosplay kind of make prop painting a funny thought regarding that issue. If I was drawing Dva I would not bother to paint her gun the same way I painted it here. I wouldn’t add the weathering because they like that person said it probably wouldn’t be used often. BUT in regards to cosplay when the prop will be shot under various light sources weathering is very important to making a prop stand out. Adding highlights and lowlights to anything on a costume, props or even clothing really make it stand out! Just like how one would contour their face with makeup to create dynamic lighting same goes for materials in cosplay!

Now I get this isn’t everyone’s style but I prefer bold pronounced eye catching details! So maybe that’s a signature style of mine. Dunno but I also was mainly trying to take this toy nerf gun and change it into a more realistic looking prop. So again weather the prop or don’t weather it but I would suggest not leaving it flat colored and to also just go over edges and lines with a dry paint brush and black paint and some white highlights. That way Ian no matter what lighting you encounter, indoor, outdoor, bright, dark the prop will generally always look contrasted from its surroundings.