kanli

I’m happy with the progress so far, but every time I take photos I can see missed spots or places that would benefit from more attention. Apologies for double post. Admins, Plz erase one of your choice.

I’m happy with the progress so far, but every time I take photos I can see missed spots or places that would benefit from more attention.

I’m happy with the progress so far, but every time I take photos I can see missed spots or places that would benefit from more attention.

I’m happy with the progress so far, but every time I take photos I can see missed spots or places that would benefit from more attention.

I’m also new to intentionally “edge highlighting”, though I’ve known of the technique forever. It’s a very tricky thing to do well, but it seems an imperative to make models pop when viewing them from over a few inches away.

Thanks for your feedback, everyone. I’m finding this part is the slowest! The back and forth highlighting/shading seems to be the most time consuming. Lots of adjusting and correcting minor slips of the brush. And I haven’t even started on the really small details yet. After everything is painted, I know there is a point I will get when to I should accept a paint job as good enough, and start on a new piece with what I’ve learned. Otherwise I’m not sure we would ever make progress.

Hi Cyradis, I think we’re on the same page. Very rewarding to zoom out, figuratively and literally, to see what works and adjust as necessary. *spelling

Hi all, I took a 6 year break from painting minis and am getting back into it with a vengeance. One of the reasons I fell in love with miniatures in 1988, when I saw Citadel’s book Heroes for Wargames, was that I loved the detail and the “pop” that could be demonstrated on such small things. It’s interesting what some time away can bring to one’s approach. I wanted to post progress here and see if anyone was painting similar models with extensive details like this. I’m taking it slow on this one, but I am getting back in a (new) groove pretty quickly. Any thoughts on stages re: armor vs base color shading first or a back and forth method are appreciated. Right now I’m shifting back and forth with both, using two water mugs; one for metallic, and one for non metallic paints. Makes painting and “corrections” much faster. I know it’s a GW mini, and I love Reaper. I have painted many Reaper minis and am a huge proponent of reaper paints!

Hi all, Messing with my new iPhone 4s camera and it's working great. I started this mini and worked a few hours on it. There is a lot of cleanup and work left to do. I am going for NMM gold, which I have never done, and I am trying to bring up the highlights and add more shading, but I'm a little stuck on the exact places to put them. At first I thought this mini was supposed to be some kind of geisha-type thing, but she turns out to have a more sinister side to her once you get some paint on. Plus, I later saw the concept art and understand where it's coming from more. The pics are super ZOOMED if you click on them, so you can really see the imperfections. I've cleaned up the flash on the staff and the shoulder. Any tips from folks about technique are appreciated.

If you keep a paper towel, I fold it in fourths, next to your palette and water, you'll make a habit of wiping off the excess thinned paint almost every time(unless you are using a very small brush). I like to do one light swipe towards myself while giving the brush a little half-twist to help shape the point before taking it to the mini.

Cool, good to know. I could tell there was some art background there.

First attempt?! How many other half finished first attempts did you warm up on? Looks very nice!

I am always interested in learning what paints people find themselves using most often. I have to admit I am somewhat of a paint collector/junkie, having accumulated most of Reaper, P3 and GW's lines as well as many single colors and additives from various art manufacturers. However, the longer I've been painting, especially since moving to always using a wet palette, the more there are certain paints that I have either become very accustomed to or find to be superior colors for the effects I want to achieve. Of course I know a lot of it depends on what you're painting and your style, but I think most serious painters still have those standard colors they keep on coming back to. Just to name a few of mine off the top of my head: REAPER: Nightshade purple and midnight blue (dark, great for shading various hues) Burgundy Wine (rich dark red/purple) Ashen blue (nice desaturated blue) P3: Jack Bone (old bone/sand) Menoth White Highlight (yellowish white) Tie between Battledress green (grey olive green)and Ordic olive (warm olive green) Cryx bane base (dark brown/grey/green) Sanguine base (deep red/magenta) Coal black (very dark turquoise) GW: Boltgun (ol' reliable, sure I'm not the only one) I happen to find these paints to mix well together and are great for mixing rich shades and highlights. I, like most people here it seems, tend to avoid black. It's not so much that I don't find it to look "realistic", it just looks boring, even when highlighted. Perhaps, because black, reflecting very little light, leaves a "hole" in the composition of a miniature. If you had to choose your favorite/most used paints and colors, what would they be?

You've already got me down for the class but I think we should bump the topic up. I'll be there! I am also really looking forward to meeting some other local painters. Maybe we can make it an ongoing monthly meetup after the classes as the painting community doesn't seem very united around here and none of the gaming stores have any get togethers (maybe the GW stores, but I rarely go there). Any other DC-area painters out there???

Good advice here. I made a wet palette using a sandwich-sized tupperware type container, a standard dish sponge and parchment paper. I found everything at my local grocery store. Works great for me, though I have to admit, I never find myself keeping the paint "for days", because I usually have so many individual drops, I change the paper everytime I sit down to paint in order to find space. It's nice to start with a fresh palette anyway. The main advantage for me is keeping the paint wet through a multi-hour paint session. As mentioned above, another problem I could see with keeping paint on a pallette for days is that the dillution is bound to change by evaporation and the absorbtion of water through the parchment paper. So, just remember or write down the basics for a recipe to be able to make it again. Of course this is a lot easier when you aren't picking and choosing from 100+ bottles of paint each time! The more I paint the more I find myself going back to the same colors again and again. It makes mixing a shade or highlight and picking up where you left off much easier. Some of the store bought palettes look very shallow and like they might not hold very much water. The advantage of using a regular sponge, about an inch thick, wrapped in a sheet of parchment paper, is that it holds more moisture and continues to draw from a pool of water in the bottom of the tupperware. Just wash the sponge out every few weeks to prevent mildew.