Pixel

I'll just point out now that her character in this campaign is a witch. I don't think you can rule that out. I figure she may as well teach me how to paint at this point. Lol not even close! Although the witch part is a fair point. She vomits spiders and everything.

Ya'll are hilarious! Did a little more after work. Svetlana is inspired by Mammoth in Snowy Village on page 34. She's going to have a lot more purple in various freehand but I find it easier to do that with the highlights and shadows complete, so I just put a bit on to get a feel for the color. The blue needs to be a bit more lavender as well but this is ok for a basecoat: Probably my last paint day until next week but happy with how far I've gotten in the last few days! Heidi

Excellent! I love the stocking idea and thanks for the tutorial as well! I was looking at the inspiration painting again and I need some charcoal gray in there, which will work well with a stocking. I'm thinking of doing her sash in that color as well. Yay!

Can't believe I've missed this thread! I'm having some serious jealousy over your blends!

Worked on Midrith after work. She's inspired by Saurian Steps on page 116. What should I do about her leg? It seems more like a legging than bare skin but cream did not work. Should I just make it flesh, or is there a legging color you think would work? PS would probably never have opened that bottle of mint green without the inspiration pic, but I think it's gonna work out great! Heidi

Finally picked up a brush to continue basecoating cloth. I identified a subgroup of five minis that had a couple of colors in common and started with those. A reddish brown and teal made it onto almost all of them: Then I filled in the rest, using the same color across minis where I could. I've been using a tip from Nic Daniel's color theory class I took at ReaperCon using paintings for color scheme inspiration, and for those of you who have a copy of Color and Light by James Gurney, I'll include the paintings I'm using as inspiration from his book. The mystery lady is inspired by Glowing Ferns on page 41. I'm pleased with how close the premix colors I found are so far, and I think when I do the leathers, feathers, hair, and highlighting, she will have a very close feel to the painting: Oleg is inspired by Old Hudson on page 38. The basecoat is a little saturated to match, but it's close and I'm hoping if I can get closer with generous desaturated shadows and with dark leather boots: Lanna is inspired by Cabin at Platte on page 34. The green I used is totally wrong, but I didn't have a premix that was right so this was my closest starting point. The painting has a lot more green than I found room for on the mini, so the base will have to help balance it out. Also, I have no idea how I'm going to make so many colors work together. The painting doesn't look garish but poor Lanna so far does: Kesten is inspired by Dinosaur Boulevard on page 151. I really should have picked a simpler painting! I'm going to try to focus on a part of the painting. I don't like his shield so far. Again the green is wrong but I couldn't find a right premix. Finally the Harrower is inspired by Oriana in the Moonlight on page 131. One of my favorite paintings in the book for one of my favorite minis. So far the colors are matching pretty well. There's a green I used in the stripes I forgot to put in the pic (I'm using the pics as a painting notebook for now) which are a straight-up steal of the stripes in the inspiration painting. So far I like the way this one is going the best! Here's the gang so far. Basecoating without any highlights or shadows is making me nuts but I am determined to plod onward! Any tips or ideas are welcome! Heidi

You are more than welcome to steal my thread idea! I looked at your link (beautiful work!) and the additional interest you created through your color choices is exactly what I'm going for. My problem is I've heard so many ways to add interest through color choices I'm not sure which I want to go with. A common highlight color is one I'm going to do (I think) and reflective colors I think is the other but unified shadows is a really good critique I got from Clever Crow who pointed out that my red shadows on my ettin's skin were great but I could have carried that over into other areas of the mini and didn't do it anyplace else. My confusion I think is picking the shadow colors. For example, I liked my experiment of doing the shadow in a complementary color (red shadows in green skin), but what do I do if my mini's coat is red but the pants are blue? Do I keep the green shadows for the blue pants, or do they get their own complementary shadow color? Is either a legitimate technique and a creative choice, or is there a better approach? What did you mean by your secondary shadow color (cuz I think that's what I'm getting at here)? For skin next to a red coat, does it get the main red color reflecting onto its skin? Looking at most of the minis it seems cloth reflections will be in skin shadow areas. So what should be in the skin shadows - the main color, a common shadow, or the common highlight? I'd like to work through all of this during this methodical paint because I really think color choices (and better blends. Always better blends) is what I need to level up. So thank you for sharing your own technique and any thoughts you have on my weird and probably ill-phrased questions Heidi

I think glazing sounds like a good approach. Nice thing is with 15 minis, I got plenty of tries to get it right !

Actually it's something I wanted to talk more about anyway to see if anyone had tips. I got a great tip from a pro painter at ReaperCon that flesh in particular tends to reflect the colors around it. Actually it was kind of funny because the tip was a compliment for doing something I hadn't known I had done, which was choose a skin tone for Libby that looked like I had mixed the green from her tunic in: Looking at a lot of the minis in this set, it seems like shadows under chins and arms is likely to be reflecting the color of the clothes the characters are wearing. So I'm going to try mixing skin tone shadows with a bit of the cloth color, to see if I can add more interest and harmony into my skin tones. On purpose, this time, lol! Heidi Edited because compliment is not the same as complement

Thanks for the tip! Carnage was a strong contender but a bit darker than I wanted, so I think you're right about shadows. Heidi

Working my way through a slightly more canny reading of Color and Light, trying to get a firmer grasp of what I'd like to do with color in this experiment and pick some more colors. First up for me was a red. If possible (for a bit of efficiency and in order to really get to know the colors I use better) I wanted a red that would work across five figures I knew would have red as a main color or significant accent. I wanted a red that read as red (say that three times fast) but had decent coverage and was a bit desaturated. I painted up some swatches and immediately felt drawn to Big Top Red. I tried blending it into the skin tones of the minis that would use the red to see if anything horrible would happen: It still looked good to me, but I was worried about coverage since red is bothersome that way and Big Top is not an HD paint. I decided to try it and was pleasantly surprised. A thin layer still had decent coverage and a few thin layers gave very nice coverage. I mixed in some Reaper brush on sealer but very little water and it had a nice consistency. So here are three that have big red areas. I'm still considering whether I want to use this shade on the Red Fairy, and the red on the Scary Elf is just an accent on her belt, so that will wait: Thanks for looking! As always, any tips are welcome! Heidi

Ok, skin basecoats are done! Totally weird for me not to jump straight into eyes and highlighting next, but that's not the plan, this time. Here they are: The fey are the hardest to get the feel for since the shading and highlighting of the skin will really change their look, but I wanted a bright base to start with: Ang ideas or tips are welcome. I'm picking colors for cloth next! Heidi

"True Metallic Metal" I believe. Using metallic paints to shade each other to give an effect of metal by using their hues and their tones, but also their metallic properties. Like Non-Metallic Metal, but with actual shininess. Yes, I think this is what I mean, although thinking about it I guess I don't know the difference between TMM or shaded metallics (if there is one) or which I'm planning on. I know going more extreme on my highlights and shadows on my metallics was a critique I got from several judges and something I want to improve. Which minis are the ones you did? I'm glad the methodical thing is appealing to someone besides me! I'm almost done with the skin tones basecoats, and I have to say I'm already liking this process. I got better at working with skin tones and getting a smooth basecoat through all the repetition. I do have to keep reminding myself that the point is to take my time and get better, not speed through each step!

If you go to the Reaper factory, you can see where they have shelves of these yellow bins that have all the minis they currently sell. You find the ones you want by catalogue number and pay by weight, which is an incredible deal! No blisters so you have to take care to keep all the bits together, but on the other hand if you want a specific mini and its bin is empty, they'll cast it for you! Mmmmmm, warm pewter!

I clearly need to take Shubert's class next year on expressive faces - looking very good!

Love the wings! The color scheme in general too, but OH the wings!

Great work on this project! You really did a great job on the contrast on the cloth and his boots, and while I'm not a great judge of gore, I think the story is VERY clear. I agree with a comment above about the hair, but I'd call him done and dang proud of him!

Ok, brownslobbering with Reaper brown liner is complete. This has been discussed in many places, but I'll share why I like to do this, even on minis that are not Bones (where brown liner appears to increase the adherence and durability of other paints). 1) Helps me see the detail in the mini. 2) Acts as a cheat for pseudo-lining, if I'm careful when basecoating and paint up to where I want the line to be. I find this easier than painting the line in afterwards. YMMV. 3) Gives me the experience of passing my brush over the entire mini while thinking about what areas are going to be hard to reach and should be painted first. So here's an intro to the 15, now that a pic will actually show some details. These minis were picked out by my DM and I. All are Reaper metal minis I got at ReaperCon "shopping the bins" which I highly recommend. One reason I decided to paint them all at once is that I'm so excited about so many of them, I couldn't decide which one to paint first! Pic for 1 thru 3: 1) 60137, Captain Kerdak Bonefist (by Tim Prow)... aka "Pirate Guy". My DM isn't telling me what all the NPCs are actually going to do in the game, so no real name for him. My initial thoughts on colors are very tanned skin with a red coat and dirty blonde hair. I'd like to try some coat weathering and freehand stripes on him, pay special attention to his feathers, and try to get a foamy beer effect on the mug. 2) 02835, Jolie Female Scribe (by Werner Klocke)... aka Midrith Bakkin (my character's rival). She's supposed to be fair haired and lovely, and I think I'm going to go with a rose color for her dress. I'd like to do something interesting with the freehand on her book. 3) 03531, Nalani Dancing Girl (by Jeff Grace)... aka Celeste. She will have dark skin, warm black hair, and a red skirt (possibly same shade as Pirate Guy), and I'd like to try some make up on her. Pic for 4 thru 6: 4) 02676, Female Halfling Thief (by Sandra Garrity)... aka Tella. I decided not to put the crossbow on her back and filled in the connection point with green stuff. Tella will be very tanned (possibly same as Pirate Guy) with a lot of warm brown leather and cool brown hair. 5) 60102, Trinia Sabor (by Patrick Keith)... aka Lanna, the party's cook. I removed the blade from her hip. I think she will be medium tanned with very blonde hair (lighter than Midrith's), with something like peacock green pants and a rust colored top. 6) 60121, Vencarlo Orisini (by Gene Van Horn)... aka Oleg, owner of the trading post. I removed the blade from his hand. I'm thinking an olive skin tone with cool black hair a cream shirt, and rust colored vest (like Lanna). I'd like to add some sacks or something on his base to make him look even more of a merchant. Pic for 7 thru 9: 7) 03317, Kale Nolan Heroic Warrior (by Bobby Jackson)... aka Kesten, a morose human soldier who is the leader of the guards protecting Oleg's trading post. I'd like to do a sunburned skin on him, with gray/white hair, and cool purple cloth (like Svetlana). I'd like to focus on his awesomely expressive face and do the best TMM I can pull off on him. 8) 03563, Tinley, Female Wizard (by Patrick Keith)... aka Svetlana, wife of Oleg and co-owner of the trading post. I've removed her staff and replaced it with a (very crudely sculpted; sorry, still not my thing) chalice). I'd like to do her as a warm brunette with olive skin (similar to Oleg) and a cool purple dress, perhaps with some freehand. 9) 60059, Harrower (by Gene Van Horne)... aka...well actually the DM didn't request this one. I just really want to paint her because I love the sculpt, so hopefully he'll find a way to use her. She'll have olive skin like Oleg and Svetlana, with cool black hair and cool purples, but I think lighter colored than Sveltana and Kesten. I'll have to do some kind of OSL power effect, freehand on the cards, and I think freehand on the bandana. Yikes. 10 thru 12) 02741, Fairies (2) & Nymph (by Werner Klocke)... aka...well the DM said he wanted some fey, and I love these sculpts. Well call them the blue fairy, the red fairy, and the nymph. Blue Fairy will actually be teal. Both fairies will have some kind of butterfly wing thing going on. The numph will be gray/blue and a water effect on the base. Pic for 13 thru 15: 13) 02762, Tuilin Female Elf (by Sandra Garrity)... aka Scary Elf Lady, who doesn't have a name yet but my character saw in a vision. Due to said vision, she must be wearing white robes with a red sash, very pale skin, and blonde hair. Also, she wasn't supposed to have anything in her hands, so I did a really hacky job of removing the staff from the sculpt. I'd like to do a freehand trim on the robes to distract from that ;) 14) 60141, Lady Moray Bard (by Patrick Keith)... aka Mysterious Lady since the DM isn't telling yet. She'll have a warm skin tone and red hair with cool purples and teals, like the pic the DM sent me. I'd like to do something with the feathered cloak. 15) 60075, King Castruccio Irovetti (by Patrick Keith)... as himself. He'll be tanned with royal reds. I'll have to decide if I want to use the same red on the other red figs (like Pirate Guy) or do a distinctive red for him. I'd like to do a contrasting teal, so I guess that will be factor. Not sure yet if I want to go dirty blonde (like pirate guy) or brunette. I think royalty demands some serious freehand on that cloak and a strong attempt at some TMM. Next up will be the Picking of Colors and basecoating. I wanted to do a variety of skintones and to use HD colors as much as possible because skintones are difficult to get coverage without piling on the paint. Here's the minis with the colors I'm considering as swatches: Thanks for looking, Heidi

Well. It was way longer than my usual one. We can't all be you! ;) And thank you for your help! Heidi

By request, my next round of mini painting will be posted to a thread without "noob" in the title. If you're interested in seeing more of my painting, my next project is a large WIP which can be found here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/54952-pixels-kingmaker-npcs-project/?p=880814 I had a lot of fun going from noob to something less nooby with ya'll in this thread, and appreciate all the great tips, criticism, and encouragement you all gave me along the way. Hope to see you on the other side!

As requested, new thread, and a WIP! For anyone interested in seeing my first 10 months of painting, my noob thread is here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/51059-helping-noobs-good-karma-painting-kickstarter-bones/?p=756353 This thread is going to be about my wacky next project, which is to paint 15 NPCs for my gaming group's Kingmaker campaign. Plus 5 PCs, but maybe those won't be in this thread. We'll see. My experiment this time around is to try to take my painting to the next level by painting the same thing on all 15 minis before moving onto the next thing. For example, all the faces, then all the skin, then all cloth, then all the leather, etc. To the extend practical. So kind of batch painting, but on really different minis and not using the same colors, although I'm going to use some core colors across the minis. I think. I'm hoping this will help me improve my technique on each type of material. Beyond that strategy, some things I'll be doing differently than before: - priming with gesso. heard from a couple people at ReaperCon that this may be more durable on metal minis than the brush on Reaper primer I've been using. And all these minis are intended for gaming, so durable is really important. - mixing Reaper brush-on sealer into more of my colors, for durability and cuz peeps on this board say it's nice to mix into glazes, which I use a lot. - base-coating all or most of each mini before I start highlighting/shadowing. Usually I "finish" each area of the mini as I go, so this is going to feel weird. But I want to get an overall feel for the color scheme of each mini, and some of the techniques I learned at ReaperCon require knowing this. For example, one tip I got to improve my minis was to blend some of the primary color of the mini into the skin tones of the mini, because that is more realistic than pure skin tone. - Mixing more of my own shadows and highlights, rather than using trios. I've done some of this before, I but it's a specific goal here. This will also let me do more interesting color variations in the shadows and highlights. So here are the 15 minis assembled, prepped, and roughly based. I'll refine the bases later, but I have a weird habit of liking to paint my mini on its base, so the basic idea is there. No you aren't imagining the random gray blobs on two of them. That's poster tack holding bits together while epoxy putty dries. And here are most of them with the gesso: So holy crap - 15!! Prep took forever, even with a friend's help, and just getting them primed was no mean task. In my experience the gesso works better on the thicker side. When diluted, it tended to form bubbles that stuck around when dry, while the thickness seems to not be a problem when the gesso shrinks and dries. I've read a lot of arguments about whether it actually shrinks or not, but whatever you call it, it looks like shrinking and does a nice job of revealing detail. I should have gotten the gesso done yesterday so I could brownslobber today but alas the good weather and my newly planted container garden distracted me. I think it's a good idea to let the gesso cure 24 hrs, so this is all I have for now. Thanks for looking! Heidi

Lies!! I saw you at Second Saturday with paintbrush in hand, much to my relief!

Really liking the direction this is going - way to level up!

I got my package yesterday from Nameless! I was hoping for some kind of monster or animal and I got an awesome one! The color choices are so great, and I love the base! I'm going to take him to gaming group and I know the DM will be thrilled. I love how much he pops at arm distance and how interesting the colors get when you look at him up close! This was really fun! I'm going to take a break from the exchanges to paint a ton of NPCs for our game, but I plan to be back for Secret Sophie!

And now you've advanced so rapidly that you've gone and taken home a Sophie Trophy. And that's exactly what my plan was: to break some ice, get people comfortable to paint and post, and hope they quickly get better than I am. This thread is like the ultimate validation of my theory. I'm just delighted to see how all this turned out, Heidi, and beaming with pride that you brought home that Sophie. You definitely deserved it. I hope this thread continues to serve as inspiration for lots of people for a long time to come, and I'm glad to have played some small part in bringing you on board to post, share, and give us all the chance to witness this incredible journey. *sniff* I got something in my eye... Buglips - you played a big part, not a small one. I was serious about your thread bringing me here, and this forum has exposed not just me but many new painters to so much support and really good advice, including your own fab threads (seriously, I still need to learn how to dry brush, tho 😜😜). Me and Cash and Kuro can tease each other about our awards (cuz we are a little mind-blown and giddy and some of us have a "condition"), but in truth there were a ton of forumites taking home lots of awards (Corporea deservedly took home a pile!). We had a pic with a bunch of us at the end. This forum gets a rep for being a little too easy on people's work. Sometime it is. But if you're a new painter... Well the new painters I saw doing well at ReaperCon were all posting here, not CMON. So the way you and so many others welcome and guide new painters is a big deal. And I wanna see you come and join The Next Generation at ReaperCon - even the ReaperPeeps loudly bemoaned the fact you weren't there this year! You would love the way we all obeyed the "keep the applause low" request...until one of our own got an award! Come so we can go nuts for your wins too! Heidi