awong
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Posts posted by awong
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My set (1 and a 0) have started to get ragged lately (about 2 years of sporadic use). I've noticed that I'm getting a lot of breakage but I think it's happening during my cleaning process. My cleaning water bowl is pretty rough with all the buildup of paint over the years. I have a bad habit of rolling my brushes against the sides while trying to clean them. I'm guessing that's what is wearing down the hairs and causing the fraying and breakage. Also, I don't condition as often as I should. I'm going to have to just rely on swishing the brush around in the water from now on.
A note about conditioning...I recently cleaned my brush with Pink Soap and then went right back to painting. I noticed a big difference in the performance of the brush. I couldn't get a thin layer of paint to lay down. I would pick up a little thinned paint, dab the brush on a towel, but when I reached my mini, nothing. It was driving me crazy. Then I remembered that I hadn't dabbed any conditioner onto the bristles after washing. After conditioning, everything went back to normal.
-AW
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Just an FYI,
Miniature Mentor has just sent the heads up that the Monique DuNoir DVD will be available this coming Monday (May 23 2011) barring any additional computer glitches. Looking forward to seeing whose suggestions they followed up on :)
-AW
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One week away, see y'all there!
Ack, One week and I'm still slapping paint on my pieces...why oh why does it always come down to this!!!
I'll be there Saturday bright and early. I promised to take up a volunteer position for an hour or two.
-AWhang
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Otherwise, acrylic is acrylic. It likes other acrylics.
That is not to say that I don't think some are better at a particular pigment, others at another. Just that acrylics freely mix with one-another.
I also regularly mix Vallejo, Reaper (both lines) and GW (haven't tried the P3 line yet). I do want to make one observation about the above comment, you need to be careful with some brands of "Acrylic" paints. They clean up with water but need a different thinner (I think Tamiya and Gunze Sangyo fall in this category). These acrylics do not play nice with the lines you mention. If in doubt, always test a little on the bottom of your mini's base or on a "test mini".
-AW
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Great! New people to meet!
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
-AW
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Cool. Are you going down Friday as well or just the Sat? I've only gone on Sat. Is Friday mainly set-up and shopping or do they do one of the presentations?
Also, since you're one of the officers...:) Do you think they would be amenable to the idea of a paint and take table (or two?). I haven't seen anything about Reaper's Black Lightening lately (discontinued?), but I always thought that painting mini's with acrylics would be a great way of introducing children (and maybe even a spouse or two) into the hobby...without breaking the bank. Can you image sitting down to paint next to someone like Bill Horan or Steve Durling :)
Just thinking out loud.
-AW
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Just wondering if anyone from this board might be attending this year. I'd love to touch base and meet anyone that will find themselves in Orange, CA March 19th (Sat). I hope I'll have some pieces ready, although this year has been an abnormally slow paint year for me (since last March, one finished, one near complete, 3 started):(
Here's some info from their site.
When: March 18th -19th, 2011
Where: Doubletree Hotel Anaheim/O.C.
100 The City Drive, Orange, CA 92868
For reservations call (714) 634-4500 between 8am and 5pm PDT
They have a decent sized competition with some really top notch painters, a sellers area, an auction to benefit the club, and this year, I believe a sculpting demonstration given by Bill Horan and a flat painting demo as well. Although mostly geared toward the Historical Figures, I've never had any problems being inspired by the sheer beauty of some of the pieces and I know that fantasy minis are entered and garner prizes (just ask KatieG!). They use the Open System for awards so one basically competes against themselves.
I hope to see some of you there...please look me up! I'll be the one looking so closely at figures that I look like I'm trying to smell the paint color off the figure (bad eyesight :) ).
-AW
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You guys haven't forgotten about me, have you?
Me too! I was told that my sender was close to sending (that was some time ago), but I haven't rcvd anything yet. I hope it hasn't gone missing in the mail.
-AW
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I've gone through Amazon with these but I remember the price being much lower...around $.99 each. I must have gotten them at a good time, or my memory is completely Kaput
I use a combination of glass craft beads and snipped Reaper "broccoli bases" and base tabs to act as agitators.
You might also try these guys
-AW
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His huge wrench just cracks me up
This is what I painted for the 2010 June - Sept. Mini Exchange.
I had a blast with the rust and distressed metal. My mixing of NMM and real metalics was a mess...I don't think I'll be doing that again.
The monocle was an interesting experiment as well. Hope you like him!
Thanks for looking.
-AW
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Not to get off topic, but...well, to get off topic...what exactly do you look for on a mini painting artist's website? I'm working on a redesign of mine, so I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. Are videos something really desired? I guess I'd like to see free videos of Aaron Lovejoy or Jen Haley painting, if they were available on their website. Not so sure anyone would want to see one of me, though!
Oh, don't be too sure. When I was first starting out, I would have killed for a good repository of even the simplest techniques clearly explained and illustrated. The whole "thin paint to skim milk" thing is an example. One only needs to look at the subjects that keep cropping up in this "Painting Tips & Advice" section to get some good ideas of what you could cover. If not painting, how about pinning, priming, finishing/polishing, proper care of brushes. And, the fact that the artists you mentioned DON'T have free videos on their sites means people will have to go to other sites for that help. They may very well visit your site, right?
Anyways, I say, go for it!
Oh, and I also like in-depth tutorials with lots of nice, clear pictures.
-AW
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Marika did a voodoo witch a while back: http://www.destroyerminis.com/display.php?sub=voodoodark.jpg . I find inspiration on a regular basis on the site...
Perfect! I don't know how I missed this one.
Many thanks to you Jabberwocky for bringing this to my attention!
Ah...I feel the warm rush of enthusiasm flowing again.
Thanks also to Cyradis and Ironhammer for your words of encouragement and ingenuity. I've worked with fibre optics before and they're fun. Maybe if I were to put this in a little box vignette.
Thank you!
-AW
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Congrats Kit!
She's beautiful.
-AW
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This is really very cool. I had no idea they could actually 3D print in color!
Can you take any close-ups? I'd love to see the level of detail possible. Makes me want to
play WoW just to get one of these made
-AW
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Do you have a test sprue of clear plastic to practice on? You could even test on the bubble plastic packaging that comes with a mini.
Thinned paint can be very transparent, that's how we get nice transitions...with thin applications of paint.
I would test before doing it on the actual piece though.
-AW
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Great Job!
You've definitely got bone and stone down.
The two statues flanking the bossman really look like they're made out of stone.
-AW
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I'd like to add my voice to the masses...bravo.
Very neat idea for the base!
Looking forward to seeing the display version as well.
-AW
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Overall, he's a very cleanly painted piece. Your color choices and the separations that you get between materials and objects really make him read well.
The only thing I would suggest is to do something with the basing. Granted, you're probably moving on but for a fast enhancement, that's where I'd go for "more bang with less bucks".
-AW
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Definitely get those group shots in...those are going to look incredible all together!
And "freckles on ALF 24"...brilliant! Maybe screw heads or cooling vents?
Looking forward to seeing more.
-AW
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As always, very very cool.
I like those metallic-y, liquid-y, looking eyes too!
-AW
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Awong, how is the Jen Haley MM dvd? I was thinking of maybe buying it, seeing as how she is one of my top 5 fav. painters.
That and the Allan Carrasco DVDs where my first with MM. She is demonstrating the Monochrome technique but I thought most of what was discussed worked just as well for full colored mini painting. She discusses her thought process, how she's distributing darks and lights, even details like the color temperature of the lighting she used. I just revisited this DVD and I believe her's is one of the longest "Interview" sections of all the other DVDs. In some of the later artist DVDs there's only a quick-ish intro, then off to the races.
Overall quality of the DVD (actually all the DVDs - I'm a subscriber now
) is excellent. Clear images, great sound, pertinent banter. Yes, there are times when I catch myself drifting off, but only because it's difficult to watch a pair of disjointed hands for any length of time. I find that I am fascinated by how the artists use their brushes. Jen has some very interesting, quick, almost violent strokes...you can hear an audible "click" as the brush is snapped down and across a fold. Neat.I'm always inspired, and more importantly, optimistic after watching one of these DVDs. I think, for me, that's the biggest benefit I get with them. I still haven't found the time to join a paint club, so this is about as close as I can come to pulling up a chair and looking over one's shoulder as they paint. And whose shoulder would be better to look over than JenH or AllanC's?
Short version - money well spent
-AW
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Oooh, lovely! You make me want to strip and repaint mine...
Thanks MamaG!
I paint by a big window in our house so I'm always at least in my undies when painting
Bad joke, sorry.Glad you like her though.
-AW
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Do the DVDs have a big advantage over searching the internet for advice?
That's an interesting question. Looking over all the DVDs I've seen, I will say that, even if you go to Jen Haley's site, you won't actually see her apply paint to mini. The Miniature Mentor DVD featuring Jen follows some of her thought processes and you get to see how a true master works her magic. How thin the paint is, how it's applied, little things like that. It seems that very few of the painters with Blogs or websites actually produce videos of themselves working. WIP stills are good for certain things, but the first time I saw paint applied so thin that it only left a sheen and dried behind the paint brush stroke, I could hear a bell go off in my head.
What I've seen on YouTube is OK, but I think the quality and length restrictions limit the videos to very specific explanations. A blessing if one is searching for a quickie tutorial or refresher, but a bit disappointing if one really wants some in-depth visuals or thought process. That being said, not all DVDs will go into excruciating details. Whom ever produces the thing has to make a call as to what is too much detail, and what can be glossed over as "general knowledge".
It's definitely a YMMV sort of thing...
Which is why I really appreciate reviews like what started this thread. Keep'em coming
-AW
P.S. My suggestion is to explore all the resources at one's disposal. And don't limit yourselves to just Mini painting tutorials. Historicals, armor, plane, train, ship, general crafts, these all have something to offer our hobby. It may just need to be bent a touch to fit our needs...
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I second the comment on the great color choices. I especially like the transitions on the scales running down his/its back.
I agree that a little darker tone between scales could really help them pop. Maybe try a very watered down wash that is guided along the scale edges.
Very nice.
-AWhang
Shaken not Stirred
in Tips & Advice: Painting
Posted
Hello,
Sorry for the resurrection but this looked like a relative thread...
MicroMark is currently selling the Robart paint shaker, on sale for just a week, on-line only, @$35, with
only $4.95 shipping.
A little cheaper than usual.
I also use a lab vortexer type mixer so I can't say how good these are
but if you search other threads, the reviews seem positive.
Thanks
AWhang