Hells_Clown

Funny, when I posted saying I was reaching burn out level most people said "challenge yourself! Pick a mini from the Reaper Gallery and don't stop until yours looks exactly like it!" If I had followed that advice I'd be having conversations with imaginary friends in a nice padded room somewhere. So far the advice you've gotten has been good. Take a break, the minis will still be there when you get back. Your skills won't degrade over night, and even if they do, so what? Just remember to breathe and everything will be fine.

Well in light of all this advice I think the best thing to do is find your own way. There are a lot of good paniters out there and they all do things just a bit differently (some do it very differently) from everyone else. Learning all those nifty techniques is nice but you gotta find your own way. There are people here who paint very well but don't thin their paints (painting from the cap!? *GASP*), or only use water or don't do xyz or whatever. It doesn't matter. If it looks good, then you did it right. Are you happy with it? Then you did it right. Not everyone wants to be a GD winning uber painter. Sometimes we get caught up in all that cuz we see it all the time, but do what you like, the way you like it. Now then, stop reading this stuff and go paint.

That's IF you can afford to go and IF you can get to see those prime-time painters through all the crowds and such. I think it wuold be much better if Anne and/or Jen would just come visit me once a week.

Just about everything I was gonna say has already been said, esp Kevin. Though I disagree on the drybrushing, it has it's uses. One must learn to crawl before walking. Learning to dry brush helps you learn about layering, highlighting, etc. Then you start seeing how you could do better with other techniques, or with more careful drybrushing. Carpenters who use a nail gun still own and use the trusty ole hammer. This is supposed to be a hobby, ie something you do for fun. There are some who make money at at, but not many and they didn't wake up one day never having painted a mini and say "Hey! I think I'll make my living painting lil lead people!". Yea the good brushes and paints are expensive, but worth it. I still use cheap brushes for some things and still use cheap paint for something but for the most part its all Vallejo baby. Sean Connery said in Finding Forrester "A writer writes." Same thing here, a painter paints. If you practice, you get better. Even I improve eventually. There are tons of places online that you can go to for ideas and help. Use them. Remember: this is FUN if it isn't fun, why bother?

I live in Houston, Tx. I'm on the WAB group but have it set to "no mail" right now. Not playing so why read all that mail for nothing, ya know? I'm not even sure what army or period I'd like to play. I've thought about picking an army, getting the figures, painting them and announcing on the local game list, "This is what I have, who want's to play? Something, anything, it doesn't matter." and see what happens.

As far as painting lots and lots of the same figures: If you are going to wargame, you are going to paint lots of figures (unless you use paper cut outs (which are available) or plastic army men or the like) that look alike. That's the point of an army. If you play skirmish games there will be less to paint, but depending on what era/genre, they may still look alike (modern Marines all wear the same uniforms, you can't paint one in desert camo and another pink and green). If ya don't want to paint the same thing over and over, don't wargame. There is also the construction issue: all those WH minis come in pieces. Ya not only have to paint the durn things, ya gotta put em together first! All this talk of WH has gotten me to take out the one Beastmen regiment I have and start to paint them. Maybe I will succumb to the evil empire yet... PS Lars; I have the WAB rules set, but no one around here is interested in playing. I'm looking forward to the Armies of Chivalry and the Japanese suppliment comming soon. Now I just need other who wanna play.

Nevermind that it's a game full of orcs, elves, dwarfs and undead critters. That part's ok, but the unrealistic combat...

I have yet to give in to the Dark Side (came close once) but know a lot of people that do play. The biggest complaint I hear about WH is that there are always rule changes coming out every month in White Dwarf magazine that you have to keep track of, as well as constantly changing army lists and minis (it's quite common for an army to be redone completely, with new models that will make all earlier versions obselete). There are also complaints that some power gamers create an unstoppable army with heros that can roll over your whole army by itself so that you don't even have to bother unpacking your figures, just look at the army list and concede. Then again, as I said, I don't play so I don't know how common all that is. Also, it's a VERY popular system and you'd be able to find opponents just about anywhere. Oh, one more thing. The figures often come in pieces, and I don't mean ya have to glue an arm on, I mean the upper and lower torso, both arms, the head, sometimes horns or other head gear, shields, etc. This gets old real fast, but ya gotta do it. Oh yeah, they are rather expensive too. They charge based on how powerful a character or unit is. If you are only going to need one of a particular model, it's not at all uncommon to shell out $40 US for said model.

Try adding a drop of PVA (White) glue to the ink. That will keep it from spreading around so much.

They have neglected to tell you that pinning such small parts is nigh impossible. It does work...once you manage to get the pin set and not destroy the piece in the process.

I haven't used the fantasy line of paints, but I have used some of their Acryl line of paints and found them to be really nice, though a bit glossy. I'm not totally sure but I could swear that I've seen Polly S paints at one of the hobby shops around here...

Oh, one more thing. You might try shaking the ink before using if you don't already. Just in case the binder has seperated. I don't know if this is a problem or not with inks, but it can't hurt.

Also might want to try not using so much ink, possibly not thin it so much. Once you've got the shading you want, use the brush (after cleaning it) to mop up any excess ink that's lurking around in the cracks n creaveses. Because ink has more liquid than paint it takes longer to dry. The more water you add, the longer it takes to dry.

Has anyone actually heard of anyone else wanting to play Warlord? I don't mean the fanboyz n grlz on these boards, of course they say they want to play, but I mean out in the world. In my neck o the woods (Houston, Tx) I don't think anyone that's not on these boards has even heard of Warlord. I know a guy who runs CAV games that was surprised when I told him about the upcoming Warlord game. So really, honestly, is anyone gonna play this or will it fade into obsecurity like most other things?

Picked up a set of Testor's acryllic gloss paints. So far, so good.

My metallics are fine, but I don't have a blue or red metallic. I've got some Warmachine minis I want to paint with some glossy blue to give it that metal look.

Does anyone use glossy paints, for painting armor for instance? I'm wanting to get a set and was wondering what some good brands were. I'd prefere acryllic for ease of clean up, but enamels are ok if there aren't any good acryllilcs available.

Rusted and beat up metal is easier to do that nice, shiney metal. There are all kinds of ways to do this. 1. Polish the areas of the mini that are to be metal using steel wool. Use inks to add dirt, grime, blood, rust, etc. 2. Basecoat black or brown. First coat with GW Tin Bitz or Vallejo Game Color Tinny Tin (more or less the same color - Reaper doesn't as of yet make a comparable color.). Then dry brush with the color the armor is supposed to be (steel, bronze, etc). Use inks to add dirt, etc as above. 3. Basically a combo of the first two. Base coat in black or brown, then the final layer of metal, then ink to get the desired effect. They all work, it's a matter of preference and how much work ya wanna put into it.

Alas no. The cam I have access to has a macro mode but it doesn't seem to want to cooperate. I've tried the reapplication of the base color and it does work though doing that often causes the highlights to be covered as well... Just have to experiment with it till I get it right...

Hopefully this will make sense, I'm having a hard time even describing it to myself. On a couple of figures I'm currently working on, I've got some fairly decent highlights so far. The problem is they end up being too subtle. When I try to increase the intensity they end up to obvious and glaring. They don't look natural, the look painted on. I'm not sure what to do about it. I suppose adding more layers is the answer and perhaps I'm too impatient but does anyone have an answer or lil ole me? Some earth shattering tip that will lift the fog and make things better?

NMM= Non Metallic Metals. Basically you use ordinary colors to simulate metal. It's a hot, trendy thing to do now.

I'm painting a mini with, for lack of a better term, Drow skin. I got a nice, deep black/purple color that I like but am having a hard time adding highlights that look natural. I don't suppose any o' you top o' th' line painters (Anne, Jen, Alex...) have any words o' wisdom to impart upon me do ya? WELL?! DO YA?!

Dice, pennies, cardboard markers, sometimes draw Xs on the battle mat. If ya spend all yer time painting hoards ya don't have time to paint nifty heros and villians n stuff. They are just cannon fodder after all.

I have a camera but the macro mode doesn't work very well (at least I can't get it to work) and taking any good pics would be difficult if not impossible. I think Durak did a bang up job on the mini. A nice, simple color scheme (red, black and blue) with a partial water base. He put a patch of felt on the bottom of the base to keep it from sliding around, and it works nicely. I had him up on my dashboard for a day or so (it's still not Houston Hot yet so the temp is less that 1,000 degrees so minis don't melt if ya leave em on the dashboard) and he didn't slide around. I'm rather partial to samurai and Japanese culture myself so I was pleasently surprised when I unwrapped (and unwrapped and unwrapped... ) it. If I can get my cam to co-operate I will take some pics. Ganbatte HC

Yup, he's right about that one. I use Vallejo almost exclusively and they all do this to one degree or another. Even if all I use is water to thin them.