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.

Said I'd add a base, so here it is. Also another pic of a reaper mini. WIP. Background is a cool napkin I found on Halloween.

Very impressed! That makes me want to buy the DVD, too! I'm sure she also got a lot from seeing the time and dedication you put into painting yourself!

Very impressed! That makes me want to buy the DVD, too! I'm sure she also got a lot from seeing the time and dedication you put into painting yourself!

Cool mini and I think I see where you are going with the contrasting colors, or "bookending". I can certainly recommend Reaper's purples. I've got the whole MSP set, and though I don't use every color, it's nice to know they are there! I have come to terms with my constant search for new paint by deciding that I am both a painter and a paint collector! I hear you about the limited purples in most lines. P3 only has one and GW has basically one as well. Warlock (?) Purple is Magenta in my book).I believe reaper has 5 purple/violet triads, and two skin triads that are a desaturated purple (dark elf and dusky skin.) That's 21 purples! I really like the triad 9022-9024. Also, the color burgundy wine, a rich, purplish, well, wine color that is useful for shading green as well as blue. It's dark but still very saturated. Can you clarify a little more, how you choose the colors to "bookend" a specific hue and what the intended outcome is? I know you also mentioned this, when posting on the thread about my Nurgle Chaos Lord. Do the two bookending colors and the central color normally fall in a certain way on a color wheel? Any other examples would be cool to see. Thanks.

@Ferox - Yes, this is Alclad II applied with a brush. I didn't go by the directions, and it still worked pretty well!

Amazing. I'm really impressed by how far you thoughtfully push your highlights on the skin. That glow truely adds to the realism and makes the miniature look alive. Oh yeah, and that crystal...totally AWESOME.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Nice to share and have other painters' input, and I'll be sure to post a photo once I come up with something for the darn base! @Ferox - As for Vallejo Model Air, I've been looking to get into those as well. The Alclad II can be tricky but it's not as bad as I thought - for basecoating larger areas in bright metallics then shading them down with regular thinned paint ("TMM" basically). I was really impressed by this tutorial (TMM tutorial), which doesn't use Alclad II, but starts with bright metallics and shades down from there. For this mini I used Alclad II Chrome (might as well go with the brightest silver and deaden it down if needed, I guess?) over a basecoat of Model Master Acryl Gloss Black. This can be thinned with acetone or 91% isopropyl alcohol. I believe the gloss aspect is even more important than the black paint aspect. I'm sure it would work fairly well over other very dark gloss shades. The Alcad II is really cool stuff. It's probably 97% solution and 3% metal flake, which are small. Like silt. It's very thin, but it dries very fast. I've found it best to coat the area fairly generously on the first go, as you don't want too many layers and brush strokes, etc. As you probably know, the paint is made to be applied with an airbrush. As a close second for bright metallics, I've found Vallejo "liquid silver" to be pretty good. I have to stir it with a toothpick and shake it forever, and it requires dillution/cleaning with alcohol but shows a similar flashing, "sparkle" effect while the paint dries on the mini, so you know it really shines!

Hi all. First time posting one of my minis here. Same guy as in my avatar. He's pretty much done except the base so any suggestions welcome. I'm thinking just basic slate stones with some army painter swamp grass tufts here and there. Some of you may notice the (fairly) unusual approach I took with the armor, using two complementary colors for the shadows and highlights. I enjoyed painting this technique a lot and will definitely be experimenting with this further in the future. As for the turquoise holes and welts, I know it's not traditional Nurgle but I was experimenting with using it as a "spot color" as it is midway between the olive and the purplish-maroon color. I used tamiya color clear red and gw gloss for the edges holes in the flesh and Alclad II chrome for the mask and axe (shaded with thinned paint). Photos slightly washed out. I'm still working on my photo technique. Thanks for looking!

Nice work. It looks like you've got good brush control. Everything appears pretty clean. That rat in the background looks particularly good. It looks like you are ready to ramp up the highlights and the shadows in your technique. Tons of ways to do this (glazes, layering, washes, etc.) and tons of tutorials as well. Happy Painting!

Agreed with the above advice. I'm not sure if you are asking because you plan on working on mini's during the flight, but bringing a bunch of files on a plane is sure to attract attention. You should either just put them in checked baggage or prep the minis before you leave. I know that some TSA regulations in the states seem excessive, but also, I'd excercise some consideration for the other people flying. Personally, I wouldn't like to be sitting by someone fiddling with a bunch of little metal files (which could certainly injure someone), especially if I wasn't familiar with what they were doing.