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Hi all, Here is one more step by step painting tutorial for the Sea Serpent for DeepWars, Blood Reef. This scaly creature is related to dragons so it has very heavy scales that work well with washes and glazes. Inks are Liquitex Pro inks and the Matte Medium is by Liquitex. Paints are Golden Fluid Acrylics. White and black are standard Americana brand craft paint. The first step was to paint the whole body in a light yellow shade over white primer, leaving only the mouth white. This was left to dry. Next, the body was given a wash of Pthalho Green ink, mixed with a touch of Sap Green ink, mixed with Matte Medium and water. The fins and mouth were washed with a Magenta ink, medium and water mix. The ratio of ink/medium/water was around 40/40/20. This was allowed to dry fully before the next step. Now comes the ugly step of shading down everything. The body, fins and mouth was washed with a mixture of Violet ink and a bit of black paint to darken it, and mixed with medium and water. The ratio was 20/30/50, so thin enough to go into all of the cracks but not so dark that it stained all of the green into oblivion. This was allowed to dry fully before moving onto highlighting. Finally, the step that makes everything pop out of the shadows again. The scales wee lightly drybrushed with wet layers of a mixture of Cerulean Blue ink, Sap Green ink and white paint. This was like a drybrush with a glaze, with the mixture at around 20/80, paint+ink to water. The key was to try to be subtle and give a bit more softness to the shading on the scales. The idea is not to paint completely over the green scales though or even to add a bright blueish highlight. After the glaze-drybrush, edges were painted in thinned white paint using the tip of a brush. This seems a bit tedious but is quicker than you may think since only the portion of the scale facing the light needs to be highlighted. Some scales on the neck behind the head needed a bit more highlight in the center, so a very thin glaze of thinned white was applied with the tip of the brush. The mouth was given washes of black to shade it more, then highlighted with thinned white, then glazed with Magenta ink. The tongue was shaded with Dioxazene purple ink, then highlighted with Magenta ink + white. fins were highlighted on the edges with white, then had some tiny white dots added for additional texture. The eyes were done with yellow over white, shaded with Burnt Sienna ink, then given a black slit pupil and hotspot reflection of pure white. To finish things off, the body was shaded with glazed of Deep Violet ink + black paint + medium and water (20/40/40) ratio of color, medium and water. adding the color more to the bottom of the body. An additional glaze of Pthalho Blue ink was applied to deepen the shadows. When these glazes dried, some scale edge highlights needed to be re-applied. The base was done with Raw Sienna ink first, then when dry, given a wash of Pthalho Blue ink + medium and water. Corals were glazed in Burnt Sienna ink and Violet ink. When all dry, it was drybrushed with a light golden sand paint.

Hi all, It has been a while since the last post, but here is a quick, step-by-step painting guide to the Silver Death Fish for DeepWars. This model is suspiciously similar to an ancient Xiphactinus fish, but has slightly different fins, with a few finlets near the tail like a tuna. This model was primed in white and painted using the techniques very similar to the Dire Fish-Lizard from the AMG painting guide, Painting Scaly Beasts. The key was to use washes and glazes to give it the basic colors, then lighten sections with thinned white paint and make edges pop with pure white. The majority of the colors were Liquitex Professional Acrylic Ink, while paint was Golden Fluid Acrylics and Americana white and black. All ink was mixed with Liquitex Matte Medium and water to give it more body to flow into the cracks. Otherwise it tended to stain the scales instead of flow into them. So the first step was to paint the upper sides, back with very thin washes, almost glazes, of Deep Turquoise ink and medium. The mixture was around 20% ink, 40% medium and 40% water. These are not exact numbers, but the mixture was light enough to apply color and flow into scales but left a lot of lightness. A key here was to set the model upside down while it dried so the color did not flow down the entire body. When it was dry, the next color applied was Quinacriadone Magenta ink, painted in a very light glaze around the middle of the body and onto parts of the head and the fins. The mixture was more about the same density as before but less was held on the brush so it did not run everywhere. The model was held upside normally while applying this glaze also. Next, The head, belly and lower body was painted with a glaze of the original turquoise mixture. Finally, a wash of Pthalho Blue ink (same medium and water percentage as before) was applied on the top of the back. The model was inverted and light brush strokes were used to push the glaze further down the back and blend it with the Turquoise scales. The next step was basic shading, done with more glazes or Pthalho Blue ink on the back and Turquoise ink on the sides, going over the Magenta scales. This glaze was very thin, closer to 10% ink, 40% medium and 50% water, with the here to tie all of the colors together with blue. Also applied were glazes of black paint mixed with Pthalho blue ink onto the top of the back and in the mouth. It looks pretty messy now, but you can make out the basic idea of the light and shadow. When all of the color had dried, the next stage was adding basic highlights. This was done with slightly thinned white paint, maybe 60/40 paint and water, applied lightly onto areas that would reflect light. This mixture was used with very careful drybrushing in multiple layers on the scales to build up edge highlights. It is important to brush perpendicular to the scales and not scrub in all directions here as otherwise the scales just get a coating of white. The goal is to just do the edges of the scales lightly and build up layers. Also, a glaze of white was applied along the upper third of the body to increase lightness there, allowing it to flow into the cracks and all. This glaze is just paint and water and was "scrubbed" around a bit with the brush to blend it. This technique is also called "feathering" but is basically just quick brush strokes to reduce the sharp edge of the glaze. The final stage was done with edge highlights of more white paint, mixed with less water, around 80% paint, 20% water. This mixture was used for some edge drybrushing on the scales, and on the fins and teeth, with some additional black paint glazed in the mouth and around the base of the teeth. This mixture was uses with a fine brush to pick out scales using the tip of the brush to add highlights where the drybrush missed. Some pure white paint was used on scales that were lightened in the previous step. On the fins, the edges were highlighted with 80/20 white, but some fine line details were added with 50/50 white using a fine-tipped brush. To finish off the glazes, a light mixture of Raw Sienna ink and Primary Yellow paint (10% color, 40% medium, 50% water) was applied along the middle of the body, above the magenta section, and on the head and around the eye. The eye was painted with a mixture of yellow and white paint, with a black pupil and a tiny dot of pure white for a hotspot reflection. The base was done in steps similar to the body, with a wash of Burnt Sienna paint, medium and water (20/40/40), then when dry, two washes of Pthalho Blue ink (20/40/40) to build up color. The base had some small cracks in it that were filled with extra Matte Medium and allowed to dry, then painting over them. Sections of sponges were painted with Pure Burnt Sienna ink and the starfish was done with Dioxazene Purple ink + white paint. Some Sap Green ink was applied as a glaze to add more color to the rock.

Forgive me if any of these questions are prominently answered somewhere. I've been reading through a lot of materials here on the site and forums and learned a lot, but a few things I still didn't find answers on. What is liner? I've seen several paints called liner but I have no idea what that means or how it's different from the other paints. I understand washes and drybrushing, what they're good for and how to do them, but can somebody explain glazing to me? What should I be looking for in a glaze, and when should I use one? How should I use one? When would one use an MSP HD paint instead of a regular MSP paint, and vice versa? I've seen a lot of people extolling the use of wet palettes, and I've seen discussion on how to make one, but what exactly are they good for? Is there more to it than simply keeping paint from drying out on your palette? Does it water down the paint? What, if any, effects does it have on mixing, exactly? Do you still need another palette alongside it for certain things? I also have a few more general questions that have no correct answer, but I'm kinda curious to get a few responses/opinions on, as somebody new to this hobby. When you're doing a mini, how long do you typically paint for, not including drying time? What do you consider speed painting? When I see these incredible professional paint jobs, how long did those take to paint? How quickly do you go through paint bottles? Does it make sense to get an extra bottle of one's most commonly-used paints, or do those bottles last a long time? Do you personally use a sealer? Have you ever regretted not doing so? What are your ten most essential paints, the ones you personally use all the time for whatever reason? What painter do you think I absolutely must start being a fan of? What painter have you learned the most from since you started this hobby? And, what the heck, tell me what your favorite Reaper mini of all time is. Has to be one you've actually painted. I think my favorite is 77021 Lindir, Elf Archer. I butchered the face, but it's a fantastic mini and I learned a lot from painting him when I was just starting out.

Hi all, Here is the painted version of the sculpt I did for the Jade Salamander, a 60mm tall brute of the lizardman made in FIMO classic. It is all cast up in resin now for the ShadowSea game and is currently going out to backers of the Rise of the Draconids kickstarter. The painted version was done with many washes and glazes of inks and transparent paints, followed by opaque paints for highlights. The sword was metallics and inks.

Hey all, SO, I've been scouring the forums here, on CMON, and Dakka; looking into how to mix washes and glazes. I have come away from this a bit confused and little overwhelmed with information I must admit. I completely understand the respective uses of washes and glazes, but, specifically whats confusing me is how I would go about mixing them. Everywhere I look there's a different answer, some people use only water for glazing, others use glazing medium, some matte medium, then some say forget medium it's cheating, and to only use flow improver+water/water alone. Then conversely there are those who use flow aid + water for washes and regular thinning only, and further yet those who will make a wash using only water, or only flow improver, or even flow improver + water + medium! I do understand that something like this can be highly personal and differ greatly from person to person, because of style, desired effect, etc. Also, I know I might get even more differing opinions here, but, hopefully a general consensus can form. So the real question comes to two things: A. How would you mix a consistent and smooth glaze, without getting the sort of "dirty/uneven" effect that seems can occur from only using water B. How would you mix a wash for any color, that will pool well into recesses, without really affecting the color integrity of the surrounding area, and without tide marks Whew! Thanks for any and all help ^.^

This is a fimir from Forgeworld. I bought a couple for use with the Hero Quest game (I play with my brothers kids). It was the game which got me hooked on the hobby as well back in the day, so the nostalgia vibes are high. ^^ Thought I'd post it here, too. As there was a discussion about painting with washes/glazes, and this miniature is painted that way. Based white, then hit with washes until the correct darkness levels were achieved: Here it was in progress: This is a new photo. It's seen a lot of use on the tabletop since the time it was painted early last year, and shows some flaking here and there:

I've read a lot that people like to put a glossy coat on first for strong protection, and then cover with a matte finish to reduce the shine. (It seems clear to me that Testor's Dullcote is the clear favorite for the matte finish. I've recently ordered a can of this.) I plan to handle the minis I paint a fair bit, so this seems like a good idea to me. I was in a craft store recently and wanted to get a gloss coat and ended up picking up a can of Folk Art Clearcote extra thick glaze and a can of Folk Art Clearcote Acrylic Sealer Matte finish. (At the time I knew Testor's was the favorite, but hadn't found any in store.) Both Folk Art cans claim to be good on minis, and I've seen the brand name tossed about in a few contexts, so I chose these. Now I'm second guessing the "extra thick glaze" as it sounds like it might be a bit heavy. I was wondering if people had any experience with this, and/or any comments, opinions, or advice to share. If people don't think its a good idea to use the folk art, is there any consensus on the best product for gloss coat? My local store happens to have the Testor's gloss coat in stock, but not the Dullcote. Thanks!