Slatejunco

Agreed. I'm loving the color choices here, and the shadows on the dress are excellent. And it's probably TMI, but bum shadows are some of my favorite shadows to paint. Now that I see it written out, it's definitely TMI. No doubt about it.

Very cool -- makes me want to pick up this figure. Love the eyes and the greenish black cloak vs. the reds. This immediately made me think of Darkest Dungeon, where one of the character types is a plague doctor.

Interesting that they cleared up. Maybe I do need to clean or replace the tips and see if that helps.

Dang. Looks like they're continuing several of my favorites that I intentionally sought out doubles for against the coming famine. I nearly panicked when I thought Suntan, Caucasian, and Maiden Flesh were going away. On the other hand, it makes me glad I got a spare Ashen Brown, Twilight Purple, and Field Grey. So, guess that's a wash.

Thickness doesn't seem to be the issue, exactly. Thinning, even slightly, tends to really exacerbate the coverage problem and "slick" feel. I've been playing around with water, flow aid, and Jen Haley's gunk (water/flow aid/slo dry) and have yet to find something that makes it behave like 90% of my Reaper paint. It's like it doesn't quite want to adhere to primer (Reaper and Vallejo) or the underlying paint layers. Brush strokes are super evident until you get several layers down. Really puzzling. It's possible. I'm not sure if that'd cause the other behaviour (slick, coverage issues, not leveling well) that I'm seeing once the paint hits the figure. I've cleared the tips with a little bead reamer that I usually use for fully dried tips. Perhaps a soak in something might clean them up properly? Thanks for all the suggestions, btw. Reaper is my paint of choice, and I love how most of the colors feel and flow, so this has been bugging me.

I'm not sure if I can explain with taking a picture, which would be tough, but I'll give it a shot. The best I can do is this: most Reaper paints I've used will separate neatly from the bottle tip when you squeeze them onto the palette from a height of, say, half an inch or more. They drop neatly onto my palette or wet palette. The ones that handle strangely usually drop to the palette trailing a thin "string" of gooey paint to the bottle tip. It's closer to how egg whites behave, as opposed to cream, though of course on a smaller scale. Like there's something in the base that's stickier. Maybe 1 in 4 of my Bones paints exhibit this issue to some degree. No amount of shaking seems to improve this -- the pigment seems fully mixed through the medium, but the paint itself is kinda... mucousy. I've been tempted to take it to the extreme and pick up a second-hand Vortex mixer to see if that would solve the problem. Typical "guy" instinct, I guess: if it's not working, add wall current. :/

I've been meaning to ask about this now that I have the full Bones line. There are a few colors that I love but won't use because they're gooey, slick, and don't seem to self-level that well. I can usually tell I'm going to have this issue if the paint creates "strings" when I drop some onto the palette from the bottle. No amount of shaking changes the overall feel. Eldritch Purple, Dungeon Grey and Nut Brown come to mind, but there are others. Like Wren said, none to the level of Umber Brown, but enough so that using them is a pain, and I revert to something similar in old HD or Core. The thing I loved about the original HD sets was the feel of the paint -- creamy, smooth, and willing to jump right off my brush without any conditioning agents. One or two coat coverage, and more importantly, *even* coverage. Bones has been much more hit and miss for me, which has been a disappointment because the colors are amazing. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions for a workaround? Or is it possible I've gotten some bad paints? I'm hesitant to suggest the last one, simply because Reaper quality control seems top notch.

Fantastic. I've always wanted to tackle a box set. The green and orange on the Brass and cold blues on the Platinum might be my favorites.

Just wanted to pop in to thank you. Even if the kinks haven't been totally worked out, this file is immensely helpful.

Thanks for your help! I primarily use Reaper, but I've got a healthy collection of Citadel washes and paints. Straight Reaper bone triads haven't gotten me where I want to go (darker, yellowed-brown in the deepest shadows up to an almost polished look for the highlights), so I need a better approach. And it's likely that I have the colors you used, either Citadel or their Vallejo, Coat D'Arms, or Army Painter analogs.

Okay, I actually laughed out loud at this. The overall composition (and execution!) here is fantastic. If you don't mind me asking, what was your approach on the bone parts? I'm trying to get that exact effect on a suit of armor right now, and haven't hit on the right colors yet for base and shade.

I really dig some of the old-school style orc sculpts by Bob Olley and Sandra Garrity. This guy just oozes White Box cool. If you don't mind me asking, what colors/paints did you use for the skin? It might not have been what you were going for, but I think it turned out great.

I'd echo everything said here, plus I love the tasteful but deliberate basing. The flower tufts really place the vardo in a scene. Me, I imagine it parked in a high mountain pass for the night as the owner travels between villages.

Thank you all for the great advice and for sharing your experiences. It's always heartening to hear that I'm not the only one with these sorts of struggles. I've started paying more attention to the WIP board, and I find it particularly inspiring to see the variety of ways people manage to turn chaos into art. My hope is to come up with some sort of simple photo station and share more of my stuff. Maybe not any proper WIP threads -- my method doesn't lend itself well to the awesomely detailed writeups many people do -- but at least getting my work out there in the name of charting progress and asking for some C&C. I'd also like to respond to some of the specific advice ya'll have given, but perhaps a bit later; it's late here and I'm not focused enough to dive in too deeply. But I wanted to express my gratitude for all the feedback!

(Wasn't sure where to post this -- if it belongs in a different forum, please let me know!) So, with January come New Year's resolutions. One of my resolutions this year (aside from the Big Three: being kinder, handsomer, and richer) is to break out of some of my longstanding painting ruts and, hopefully, discover some new things. The question for y'all is: What approaches have worked for you to reawaken your sense of painting adventure and expand your skillset? Some things I'm considering: Posting more work on this forum, even if it's just a running tally of the stuff I've done. This is #1. Starting a painting blog. I've never blogged before. Creating a smaller "core" paintset from my sprawling collection, and working just from that. But good lord, I love ALL THE COLORS. Moving on from humanoid figures. This is a big one; I haven't completed many monsters, and fur, feathers, and scales intimidate me. Working on more simple figures to practice technique and color choice. Modern minis often have this wonderful, Wayne Reynolds-level of detail and fiddly bits, but sometimes that's a rabbit hole that distracts me from practicing composition. Finding a way to value finishing over fiddling. This is a big one; I want to sling some lead and get practice-by-repitition. It's time to give up on the idea of getting each mini perfect. But for someone like me, it is a tough mindgame to win. Have any of these worked for you? What other tricks, tips, or fun distractions have changed your mindset and opened up new possibilities for you? Thanks in advance! -slate