Squeaky new painter.

[Cerridwyn1st]

The "too humid" problem applies to anything that you normally might spray on minis: primer, paint, and varnish (aka sealer).

 

The tolerance of sprays to humidity varies. I've found that I'm generally okay with priming and varnishing up to about 65% humidity (Duplicolor primer and Krylon varnish) though the Krylon UV Resistant Matte goes on more satiny if the humidity is higher (I think).

 

Ron

 

Humidity of 65%? In Florida? Doesn't happen. That's why I like using Tamiya and Duplicolor. The work even with Florida's beastly humidity. I primed minis in the middle of a hurricane with Duplicolor (what can I say, I was bored) and they were fine.

[vutpakdi]

Humidity of 65%? In Florida? Doesn't happen. That's why I like using Tamiya and Duplicolor. The work even with Florida's beastly humidity. I primed minis in the middle of a hurricane with Duplicolor (what can I say, I was bored) and they were fine.

 

I'm not so sure about that: National Weather Service says that the humidity as of 1:56 PM EDT at the Jacksonville International Airport was 56%.

 

Houston is normally pretty darn humid too, but there are times when you can catch the humidity lower than others, typically in the 1-4 PM range unless it is raining. But, there are also weeks where I don't prime or spray varnish at all because of the humidity.

 

I used to work for a company that makes software for the airlines (among others). I went south a few times during one summer for site visits (Johannesburg, Santiago, Mexico City), and coming back to Houston, I almost always ran into what felt like a solid wall of hot humidity when I stepped off the plane.

 

65% is the highest of I tried with the Duplicolor. I haven't been brave enough to try higher yet.

 

Ron

[Versutus Vulpes]

Welcome - and if it hasn't been said yet - don't strip all of them just yet.

 

Hang on to one or two of them so you can see your beginings . Some day - when you are holding a Sophie Award or a Golden Demon - You can pull it out and inspire even more people to take up this hobby.

 

And BTW - great brush control for a rookie. Once you get some of the techniques down - you'll be a star!

[psyberwolfe1]

Your on a great start. Advice: 1. The moment you compare youself to others you will be disappointed. 2. Paint as often as you can. Even if it is for ten minutes. 3. Baby steps. You have great brush control once you are very confident with that move to a new skill. (I suggest color theory, but that is my opinion.) 4. Relax you are doing this for fun. The zen of painting is breathtaking when you get into the zone. 5. Do what feels right to you. None of us can control what or how you paint. 6. Ask questions. Most painters love to share their skill it helps them become better painters to. 7. Finally, all of us were where you are now, and some of us old hands, like me, are self taught.

 

Welcome aboard the USS Reaper Forums!!!

[Madog Barfog]

Welcome to the hobby.

 

Don't be intimidated. You will get better with practice, and the figures you admire have been done by people with lots of practice.

 

One tip I can pass on: paint monsters. The reason is that human figures are supposed to have a certain look, and they look like you've screwed them up of you screw them up. However, you have much more "flexibility" with monsters. You can experiment and make mistakes with monsters, and they can still look good.

 

Here is a hobby overview/tutorial I wrote you may find helpful: http://www.hacklopedia.com/Miniatures/tuto...ing_guide.shtml

 

I don't try to cover any particular painting technique, as that would be redundant, but it's still a lot of information.

 

Have fun!

[VelveteenRabbit]

Two other pieces of advice.

 

Mount your figures on some sort of holder. You have enough to worry about trying to stay in the lines without having to worry about how you're holding your model and whether or not your stripping off the paint you just put on with your fingers. I glue my figures to the top of old craft paint bottles which is a handy size.

 

Overpaint areas with the lighter color. You can paint faster if you start with light colors and the larger areas on a model. As an extreme example, it's much easier to paint a model's tabard yellow and then go back and paint his belt black, than vise versa. Especially starting out just throw paint out there. Get the basic colors on the model and then go back and worry about staying in the lines with your smaller areas and your darker colors. Try to look at the model as a whole rather than focusing too strongly on one area. I find that if you try too hard to paint parts of a model, you end up missing the spaces between. Black lining is one way of fixing this, but really it's easiest to just paint a little bit much the first time around and then fix it with the neighboring colors later.

 

Anyway, just paint. Practice is the best teacher. Every model is just practice for the next one. If you spend too much time trying to make a couple perfect models you'll get depressed by your slow progress and end up with no progress. A poorly painted model looks better on the table than an unpainted one. Learn to drybrush and apply a wash and you'll already be in the top 10% of painters from my experience, and that's not bad!

[Ironworker]

If your a miniature gamer make sure you check out the work other miniature gamers are doing. The miniature hobby has two main types of painters. Those who paint to play games and those who paint for display. Those who paint for display purposes spend a lot more time on individual miniatures than those who plaint to play games and some of their techniques are frustraiting to master if your trying to paint up armies. Most of what you see in catalogs and in official galleries these days are display peices and you should not take them for a wargame or even RPG standard. Don't expect a 4 hour paint job to compair to a 40 hour paint job. Either way no matter who you compair yourself against remember the best painters of either the display or gamer variety didn't magically start painting great from day one. Most of them produced figures no better than the ones you have shown here. Statments like "I'll never be able to paint that well" will get you noplace fast.

[tanker22]

I second what ironworker said. Most of the painting I've done until recently was game quality stuff. I would get like 50 25mm historicals and paint them up in 2 weeks. Thats with working full time and kids at home. More like an assembly line then an art, but we were more concerned with playing and having a decent table top quality army for whatever than display stuff.

 

Now all the larger stuff I paint is totaly different. More time and different techniques, I might finish one 90mm piece in 2-3 weeks by it self.