brushforhire

Yeah. i was really bummed about the red not showing the highlights at all in this pic. the lights not being diffused really washed out them out. i am gonna try and retake a photo or too using wax paper sunday and see what happens. will post results here. i even did each little scale with red highlights. no drybrushing at all. and the picture shows none of it.

those frogs are very, very nice. i love the realistic colors. and the gloss works to well.

Well here is a mini i have been working on for some time now. Just trying to work my way through all the stuff i bought over the years. Bought him maybe 2.5 years ago and finally decided to paint him. Trying to push myself to new levels here. This pic was also posted over in shutterbug under my lightbox thread, but i figured it wouldn't hurt to post him here too. Any suggestions to help me along?

wife just bought some wax paper last night. i think i will go ahead and try some of the tomorrow and see if any of the detail on the mini comes out better. i wonder if my problem is more so the mini "glowed" from the lights and the camera didn't get fine lines because of it.

well here is the coolest starwars item i wish i had. awsome desk

LoL. no i don't work there. I work in at a car dealership in the parts department. i am a parts pirate. Argh!

I've been fighting with a friend at work who has yet to see any of the star wars movies. i told him i would beat him senseless with the dvd set if he didn't watch it. he makes me sad. i love 4,5,6 and couldn't imagine growing up not having at least seen them. then again he has never seen the movie Airplane. i'm pretty sure he lives under a 2 ton rock in a 20 foot deep hole. oh yeah i want one too.

that is some of the things i came to realize. It is a bit cumbersome to use, but for just some stuff laying around the house it gave me a good idea what i need to be looking to improve on. I think my next investment after i move will be a light tent. Also it is about 12"x12"x10". So far that is best lit pic of any mini i've taken yet. thanks for the compliments. also i used Reveal bulbs, 60 watt.

I have decided after three years of painting almost nothing but commission table top quality armies i have decided to really move more towards display pieces and stuff that i like. In turn i figured i better get good at taking photos also. So this is a document of my first light box and camera setup to take nice photos. i am reasonably happy with the way it came out in the end however the camera i have doesn't seem to want to take nice close-up photos. It has no white balance setting, no fstop, none of the good features. Oh well. It does well for everyday use though. But here is a pictorial of what and how i did. The plywood and underlayment i used. Also use some 2x4 pieces for supports. This is the point at which i decided to start taking photos. So i have primed the wood, and then painted it with gloss white paint. I attached the 2x4 blocks to the plywood to use for the back and bottom. The underlayment is used for the sides. Here you can the sides attached. I used screws for the 2x4 blocks and finishing nails for the sides. Well here is the finished box. I live in a padded room! Here is my lighting setup. Wasn't sure at first how this would work. But the camera fits nicely right in the middle of the lights. Inretrospect i might have made the box bigger to give some more wiggle room but hey, whatever. Well here is about the best pic of my WIP tyrion that i could get my first try. I did use the self timer on my camera and that helped tremendously. So in turn i learned some stuff. Got some decent results my first try. In a week i am moving to a new house and have a room dedicated to miniature work now. Weee! So i can work on setting up a more permanant picture taking setup. Well let me know what ya'll think. Love it? Hate it? Wanna hit me with rocks? Send me large amount of cash?

oh man, i was like awsome cowboys. Then i read chainsaws. i mean what could be better than cowboys with chain saws!! yeah.. freakin' rocking out.

wow. this looks great. keep this up and it will be one impressive army.

after reading the page kristof65 posted (thrush's page) i am definitely changing my opinions here. i think i will be using only actual primer from now on. Also as a side note. I had used almost nothing but black for years, but now i've started to use grey and like it so much more. thanks for the link. what a good demonstration. the adhesion decided it more for me than anything else.

when me and wife first got married and moved in together i had about 5 washer fluid boxes full of minis. easily about a 1000 minis if not more. now i have like one box full. for me i realised that i had gone from painting to just collecting unpainted minis. so i started selling loads of stuff on ebay and now am working through the stuff i really really want to paint. as the guy i paint for always says: "you don't have to feed them and they don't poop on the floor." he has a basement, closet, and attic full of miniatures. I guess that's what happens when you have been in the LGS business for 30 some years. LoL. If i ever need anything odd or rare he almost always has and it and sells it to me for almost nothing. nice to have good friends with lots of minis. Remember the redeemer limited mini from GW/black library? He has a couple and sold me one for like $20. as a tidbit one of his customers is buying over 20,000 PAINTED 15mm minis from him.

I am so in for this. I was just sitting here being bummed out that there was no way i would be making it to reapercon this year or any year soon for that matter. 20+ hours away here. But hey at least i get to compete now! woo-hoo.

i think the color scheme you chose looks spot on. Very nice. Love the Se-nmm too. One thing i gotta work is to be able to paint a mini without having to use eye piercing colors all the time.

vote placed!

very nice painting. and welcome.

i usually lay them on the sides and spray them. let 'em dry, flip, spray again. Then stand them up and get the tops. Anything that is just to finicky to get i usually just use some thinned black paint to get in the cracks. I also prime the mini and base separately if possible.

just to chime in one more time here. I do agree that primer will deffinately be better than regular flat paint, but i do have to say that i have painted thousands of minis (table top quality) for the LGS and have always used flat black spray paint. that is what he requested/recommended i use it. He has been using it for about 30 years now and hasn't had a problem. I think it is also important to state that we always use at least 3 coats of clear coat, the first layer being gloss. honestly i don't see it being that big of an issue as long and you clean the mini, don't handle the paint surface while painting and get it clear coated before touching it. i have a mini i paint 8 years ago with a black spray paint undercoat that has yet to get a single chip. even after being dropped. if it were a bigger surface like a model car or dragon miniature i will always use primer! but after much babble and rambling on my part my final input is: use primer. better safe than sorry. for my primer i use krylon gray. got it at wal-mart.

i apologize if i came across as taunting but i meant no such harm. I hadn't thought of mistakes and redo's. I had took it as $50+ all put into that one piece. I was thinking that it had a base of fiberglass and then smoothed over with plaster. overall i do think it really is a neat piece. It has inspired me to do something similar. at first i thought it was made out of that foam/clay stuff crayola makes that looks just like that when it dries. i would suggest maybe a little chimney and a window in the cap, maybe?

I don't like several things about GW paints. Selection of colors, thickness, ease of getting paint out for the little pot, how little paint you get in a pot, mixing, etc. But the other guys are exactly right about it being personal preference. I paint alot of commission army stuff for the LGS so it pays for me to have $800 in paints sitting there. For the average color i have 5 shades light to dark. So it makes commission work very quick for me. As a bonus it also makes mixes inbetween shades much quicker to when i do decide to do a display piece. I am currently working on a GW high elf Tyrion that i had sitting on the shelf for like 3 years. I have about 20 hours into it so far and about 60% done with it. First real display piece i've done in about 2 years too. Finally had enough table top commission work and decided to really start pushing myself with my paint jobs.

i will agree with mattmcl about the folkart paint here. I tried playing with some of the stuff years ago only to throw it away about about 5 minutes. I have used GW paints, and vallejo paints over the years. I hate GW paints and no longer use them except their mettallic paints. However i now use cartoon colour they are actually animators paints and they are amazing! They have 100's of colors and shades. For instance the middle blue comes in 20 shades. i usually get 5 shades of each color.

i actually have been using the cheap black flat paint to prime with, for table top speed painting. I have been for over 8 years now and never had a problem. Just make sure you wash and clean your mini properly. If the mini has been cleaned the paint will stick no problem. I always clear coat with Krylon gloss followed by Floquil flat. As for display pieces i use a primer. Like krylon grey primer. I have also just painted on paint as an undercoat also. Alot of it has to do with proper mini preparation. Such as removing all the mold release agents.

just out of curiosity what products did you use to make it that cost over $50 to make?

cheapest i found was $200. Kinda wrestling with it in my head whether or not i can justify that. possibly. I spent $80 on Marthrangul, what's another $120 or so for something like Viszeralyn. My big thing now, however, is as to whether i actually like the dragon enough to do it. or if i can even get one. Which seems like they are on eternal backorder from what i've read.