For all my Inner Sphere battlemechs, despite having all different color schemes and camouflage patterns, I've been trying to keep them feeling unified by giving them the same bases and cockpit colors. I try to make them appear to be very slightly glowing blue. The way I do this is very simple and fast for a well-reading tabletop standard!
1) To start, I usually paint the cockpit near the end of my miniature. There's no reason for this except that just tends to be how I roll. In this case, I've painted a Draconis Combine Jenner almost entirely done and I'm adding my quick blue glowy cockpit next.
Don't worry if you accidentally splotch some paint where you don't intend. I do it constantly. Just finish this layer, let it dry, and cover up your mistake splotch with a dot of red.
2) Fill in the cockpit areas with a really dark ocean blue color.
3) With a bright blue, like electric or sky blue, fill in the central area of the windows. Also add tiny little dots around the cockpit to cartoonishly "hint" at a glow effect. This is fast, easy, and is extremely easy to interpret from 8 feet away over an active game. Less is more, use subtlety when applying the glowy hints around the mech's head.
4) Finally, add a little white in the very center. Be extremely tight and small with this, pure snow white shouldn't show up on a miniature very often. This will help really sell the effect and make the cockpits seem to really glow.
And you're done! This whole process can take 5-10 minutes and you have a quick and pretty cockpit to stand out on your battlemech. If you want to get rid of the solid edges between the colors, cover the cockpit area in some blue inkwash shade paint. You may want to highlight one more time after doing so.
I shrunk this last picture down to try and emulate looking at him as if he was a miniature on a tabletop. Not bad, right? Don't forget to thin your paints with a brushtip of water and use a palette to avoid applying too much paint to your mini.
1) To start, I usually paint the cockpit near the end of my miniature. There's no reason for this except that just tends to be how I roll. In this case, I've painted a Draconis Combine Jenner almost entirely done and I'm adding my quick blue glowy cockpit next.
Don't worry if you accidentally splotch some paint where you don't intend. I do it constantly. Just finish this layer, let it dry, and cover up your mistake splotch with a dot of red.
2) Fill in the cockpit areas with a really dark ocean blue color.
3) With a bright blue, like electric or sky blue, fill in the central area of the windows. Also add tiny little dots around the cockpit to cartoonishly "hint" at a glow effect. This is fast, easy, and is extremely easy to interpret from 8 feet away over an active game. Less is more, use subtlety when applying the glowy hints around the mech's head.
4) Finally, add a little white in the very center. Be extremely tight and small with this, pure snow white shouldn't show up on a miniature very often. This will help really sell the effect and make the cockpits seem to really glow.
And you're done! This whole process can take 5-10 minutes and you have a quick and pretty cockpit to stand out on your battlemech. If you want to get rid of the solid edges between the colors, cover the cockpit area in some blue inkwash shade paint. You may want to highlight one more time after doing so.
I shrunk this last picture down to try and emulate looking at him as if he was a miniature on a tabletop. Not bad, right? Don't forget to thin your paints with a brushtip of water and use a palette to avoid applying too much paint to your mini.
