After the importance of your primer layer*, your basecoat layer is next on the Most Important List. In this, it has to be a perfect jack-of-all-trades, needing to attend to coverage, opacity, the unifying tone, smoothness, and sturdy adhesion with the primer and for the oncoming pigments. To do that, I've found that our historic artists famous for the durability of their paintjobs often sponge-applied their basecoats then let them dry for at least a week before proceeding, ideally two weeks (Julie Froelich often let hers dry for thirty days beforehand). Why such long dry times? Well, we need the basecoat to be fully dry and de-gassed and stable before we proceed. Plus, if anything funky with adhesion is going to happen, it’s going to happen when processing the basecoat and we want to fully know how that’s behaving before we continue. We don’t want an unwelcome surprise after the fact! And frankly, I’ve found that the longer dry times make a big difference down the line based on my own work and in my experience with my Vintage Custom collection with some pieces going back 44 years.
But how to use sponges to create a good basecoat? Welp, I like to use triangular make-up sponges for that. I bevel the edges with scissors to help mediate seams, too. So mix up your basecoat color, say half a tablespoonish for a Trad scale, dip your sponge in to get about a dime-sized amount onto it, then tap tap tap tap away on your model. Work quickly! Don't linger on an area but keep moving. Tap down seams and bubbles as you go. In fact, you can go over it once more while it's still damp to tamp down excess texture, too. Once the first layer is on and dry, you can apply additional layers to ensure sturdiness and even opacity. Then let it all dry thoroughly for at least a week before continuing with your paintwork.
Caveats:
- Work fast to avoid pilling or dried bits of paint from the sponge getting stuck in your basecoat.
- Keep your surfaces and sponges clean to avoid debris in your basecoat.
- Overlap edges to avoid seams or ridges.
- Be mindful of handholds to avoid fingerprints. I like to hold onto the back legs, do all the body, then do those back legs last.
- Don’t dab dab dab too hard or you’ll likely create a foam-like effect with lots of bubbles. Just dab enough to get the job done so practice practice practice. It’s all by “feel.” Now if you do get a foamy effect with bubbles — no worries! — just go over it again more gently to tamp it all down. You can also blow on the bubbles to pop them and then carefully sponge over that area again.
Tips:
- Dampen your sponge a snidge to avoid pilling and bits of dried paint sticking to your basecoat.
- Use a fresh sponge if the paint on your current one becomes too sticky or dry. I usually go through three to five sponges per Trad scale horse.
- Practice on a junker first to get a feel for this technique. It takes a practiced hand to do it well.
- In the nooks and crannies that the sponge cannot reach, apply the basecoat with a brush or airbrush.
- You can also use cut up squares of upholstery foam for more texture.
- You can reuse your make-up sponges if you pop them into a water cup when you grab another, then wash them out immediately after you’re done. Indeedy, the best ones are used!
- Your basecoat should be the medium tone or “unifying” tone of your color. However, sometimes you’ll need to start dark or start light for the effect you want. The point is, the basecoat is an integral part of your paintjob so give its tone some goodly thought.
- You can sponge on the basecoat in all the places you can get, putting on two good coats. Then you can go over it all with an airbrush filled with your basecoat color to get every nook and cranny and one final once over for true opacity and coverage. This is what I do, and it works like a charm. Now why would I even bother to sponge on a basecoat rather than just airbrush it on from the get-go? Because I’ve found in my experience that a sponged-on basecoat is tougher and adheres better to the primer than one just sprayed on. This is why I sponge-on two layers of basecoat first then airbrush as a finish.
Side notes:
- You can use sponges to paint! Yes! Tap tap tap that paintjob on! And you can cut them into smaller bits for more control. However, I recommend upholstery foam sponges for painting rather than these make-up sponges (more on that in a bit).
- Don’t use a fancy make-up beauty blender, but those triangular make-up sponges. The latter are cheaper, more plentiful, and easier to handle.
- These sponges do wear out so throw them out when they become pitted, crumbly, ragged, and worn. But I’ve found that a single sponge is good for about three to five basecoats before becoming a problem.
- I do my basecoats in Liquitex Soft Body Acrylics. What’s great about this is that the Soft Body texture is nice and liquidy plus an acrylic basecoat will accept pretty much every kind of pigment from oils to pastels.
- You can thin your basecoat a bit with water (or the media-appropriate thinner) if that makes the process easier for you. Just not too much! Too much water can lead to a foamy texture. Plus, remember, you want coverage without drips and pooling. The more water you add, the longer you have to let that basecoat sit to dry, too.
Now as for painting with sponges, here's a side-by-side comparison of the textural difference between an upholstery foam sponge and the make-up sponge...
"A" is the upholstery sponge, cut into a 1" chunk and beveled. But you can see the pores are bigger and its texture is squishier with more spring. As such, its texture allows for easier, smoother blending, but also a more speckled effect so you have to be finessed with it. Lots of practice! And work fast fast fast! Don't dawdle or you'll create pilling or lifting. And don't put too much paint on it as you work otherwise you'll create excess bubbles and foaming. However, not enough paint and you create pilling. It definitely has its Goldilocks Zones so practice with it on a junker to get a feel for it. And go through a lot of them to avoid pilling and debris, like I'll go through about 5-10 per Trad size model in one painting session. For that then, I cut up and bevel a bunch beforehand so I can just rotate through them quickly.
Caveat: It's very easy to create a heavily textured, pebbled surface with these sponges if you aren't careful, so practice first and remember to work fast.
Tip: Consider making the sponge ever so slightly damp to mediate pilling and to dampen down texture. Also make the sponge's surface pretty rounded with beveling to help your blending best.
"B" is the make-up sponge, beveled. You can see that its pores are teensy tiny, almost velvety in texture being so dense, and the texture is firmer with slightly less spring. Now if you want a squishier texture, rinse the make-up sponge in water and squish out the excess water a couple of times, and let it dry. This will "loosen up" its firmer texture. But these sponges are more difficult to use for actual painting because they create more like discreet "blocks" of color that's trickier to blend rather than the diffusions of color that's easier to blend, like the upholstery sponges. This is why I use these make-up sponges for basecoating and the upholstery sponges for painting, as Julie Froelich and Laurie Jensen advised me to do. However, with pratice, you can make the make-up sponges work for painting as well, so give it a go and see which you like best.
So there ya go! Those are the basics, but the big takeaway is this: Practice practice practice on a junker first. Seriously. This technique takes a practiced hand and a sense of timing to avoid pilling, debris, and ridges, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes a breeze! And what’s great, the result is a rather sturdy basecoat that can take quite a beating and with enough tooth to accept paint or pigments really well. Like I drybrushed my acrylic paintjobs for years, grinding paint into the basecoat pretty strongly, and it all stayed put. So experiment, play around with this technique, and see if it works for you!
*For primer, I recommend Dupli-Color Sandable Primer in White, Grey, or Rust. Just keep in mind that it’s a transparent primer, not an opaque one, so don’t load it on to make it opaque. It’s also a very “tight” primer that won’t gum up your tiny details if you use it properly and thinly. But it dries quickly to a lovely chalky, very sandable finish that accepts paint beautifully. However, I suggest letting it fully dry and de-gas for at least three days before applying a basecoat. Ideally a week. Why? Because we want that primer to be “cold and hard” before you proceed. In fact, I like to let my pieces sit for 30 days in primer before I start, when I can.
"Creativity is contagious, pass it on."
~ Albert Einstein
