QPCloudy Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Hello everyone. I am so happy to have found the forums! This is my first post here, and as such I will be showing off my first five paint jobs! I will post them in order from first to most recent so you can see the progression. It is also important to not that I received virtually no tips or tricks when I started. I am only now starting to try to learn how to tweak my style. The way I was first inspired, is I bought the game "Drakon" 3rd Edition for my wife and I to play. I saw all these little grey plastic figures, and imagined what they would look like painted. Well, long story short, still only two of them are painted, and I moved on to pewter Reaper minis :p I do so need to finish my Drakon set. I started by using cheapo Folk Art acrylic paints, and about a week ago I discovered the Reaper Pro Series. I of course am now hooked, and can't imagine ever using basic craft paints again. Without further adou. . . . ~ 1st \ Female Thief \ Drakon ~ ~ 2nd \ Wizard \ Drakon ~ ~ 3rd \ Ranger w/Master Sword \ Reaper ~ *first pewter mini* ~ 4th \ Knight (currently being used as "Trenloe the Strong" in Descent campaign) \ Reaper ~ ~ 5th \ "Red Scorpion" for Descent campaign \ Reaper ~ *obviously this is the first mini where I discovered Reaper Pro Paints* Thank you for looking at all these!! Sorry the page is so long :) Comments and suggestions are most welcome. I really want to learn shading and inking, I'm just sure if I am ready yet. I have a few Mouslings to paint next :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercius Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Welcome to the forums and welcome to the hobby. These forums are where I got my start about a year and a half ago, and since that time i have learned so much that it hurts my brain at times. If you listen to the advice given here you will be amazed at how fast you improve. As far as your painting, you have great brush control and a good eye for color and detail, which are the key building blocks for mini painting. My first advice to you would be to learn more about how to thin your paint and real some basic tutorials on shading and highlighting. I am in class at the moment, so I don't have the time to find links, but if you check the sticky in the help/advice forum, you should find some nice articles. Don't hold off on learning things, jump into it full bore and you will be much happier. The best and easiest ways to see a little improvement off the bat would be to begin thinning your paint and also to buy decent brushes. The hobby brushes made out of synthetic materials tend to hook and just don't allow the paint to flow as well as a nice Kolinsky sable. Reaper sells some nice brushes in their online store. You can also buy the Learn to Paint kits that Reaper sells in the store. They come with a few miniatures and detailed instructions on painting them. Each set focuses on different techniques, so those might be a good start. I really need to pay attention to the lesson in class, but I am glad you joined the hobby and look forward to watching you learn and progress. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QPCloudy Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 Welcome to the forums and welcome to the hobby. These forums are where I got my start about a year and a half ago, and since that time i have learned so much that it hurts my brain at times. If you listen to the advice given here you will be amazed at how fast you improve. As far as your painting, you have great brush control and a good eye for color and detail, which are the key building blocks for mini painting. My first advice to you would be to learn more about how to thin your paint and real some basic tutorials on shading and highlighting. I am in class at the moment, so I don't have the time to find links, but if you check the sticky in the help/advice forum, you should find some nice articles. Don't hold off on learning things, jump into it full bore and you will be much happier. The best and easiest ways to see a little improvement off the bat would be to begin thinning your paint and also to buy decent brushes. The hobby brushes made out of synthetic materials tend to hook and just don't allow the paint to flow as well as a nice Kolinsky sable. Reaper sells some nice brushes in their online store. You can also buy the Learn to Paint kits that Reaper sells in the store. They come with a few miniatures and detailed instructions on painting them. Each set focuses on different techniques, so those might be a good start. I really need to pay attention to the lesson in class, but I am glad you joined the hobby and look forward to watching you learn and progress. Cheers! Thanks for the advice! Actually, my local comic shop, or maybe I should say geek shop since they have EVERYTHING there, has a TON of Reaper. Not only do they have hundreds of minis to choose from, but they also have a full turnstyle of Pro Paints, as well as a few starter sets, and a full brush set. Right now I am using some basic craft detail brushes from Wal Mart, and I picked up a couple Royal detail brushes from Pat Catans. I am curious to see how much of a difference a Reaper brush will make. I have noticed that after painting a few models, the brushes I have, as you said, started to hook slightly at the ends. Perhaps this weekend I will get some proper brushes along with a few new colors. I wanted to start my Mouslings tonight, but I just have to wait to get more colors and better brushes. After painting Red Scorpion, I've really started to see where I can go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyberwolfe1 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Here is a good starter brush from Reaper. Many of us use Windsor & Newton Series 7 Brushes, Da Vinci, or Raphael. All will work truth be told good brushes will help you enjoy painting more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercius Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I started with craft brushes and they would hook after just a few hours. The Games Workshop sables last me about 8 months before I need to replace them. I bought some series 7's 6 months ago and they have yet to show no signs of any kind of wear or use, brilliant brushes and well worth the money. I have never used Pro Paints, I started using Games Workshop paints but quickly started replacing my paints with Reaper Master Series Paints, they are thinner out of the bottle than the pro-paints so I am told. I thin my paints down a whole lot and find that the Master series paints work best for my paint style. I actually have a large order of them I am purchasing tonight. Another thing that might interest you about the Reaper Master Series paints, and this will be helpful when learning to shade and highlight. The RMS paints come in a triad system, 3 colors, a shade, mid tone, and highlight color. By taking these three basic colors and mixing intermediate colors from those you can basically make your shadows to highlights out of those three bottles of paint. When you get more advanced and start wanting more contrast you will have to move beyond the triad system, but I wish I had the triad system when I was learning, and I still use the tanned skin triad for all my dwarfen skintones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Hey QP, note that Reaper makes two kinds of brushes -- synthetic (red handles) and Kolinsky sable (black handles). I haven't done much painting with their synthetic brushes, but if they're like other synthetic brands, they will curl at the tip just the same. That's not all bad, and it is something you can adapt to. However, once you decide to move on to the next level of painting, you will most likely find that synthetic brushes will not help you achieve the best results. Kolinsky sable is far superior for layering and glazing techniques. Kolinsky sable also costs more than synthetic, but the good news is if you take good care of them, they will last a long, long time, and keep their points their whole life, so they're one of the best investments you can make. There are many other brands of brushes, too, so you may want to research it a bit before you buy a lot of brushes of any kind. The subject has been covered countless times on these forums. I haven't used Folk Art paint, but I've been told all along that Reaper and other miniature hobby paints work better than craft paint on figures, so I went with that advice. You've certainly shown that to be true in your case at least. The difference in texture is impossible to miss. If you like Pro Paints, you may want to check into Reaper MSPs, too. Pro Paints have been discontinued (not for lack of sales), but I believe MSP HDs are similar in their properties. I've been using MSPs for years, but haven't tried the MSP HD line yet. In the beginning, it is a bit easier to get better since even small things can make a big difference. Stay with it and keep showing off your work as you improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Hi QPCloudy, welcome to the Reaper forums and painting minis! I agree with the suggestions to try a Reaper brush (I've used the black handle, natural bristle ones), it makes a world of difference not having to adjust /fight a curling brush tip. Your painting is looking good, and I would also agree thinning the paint with water will help the blending smoother, not super watery, it helps to have a paper towel nearby to take some of the water out of the brush so you can get a good consistency for applying paint. I would recommend trying also to give dark lining your figures a try. Basically it's outlining the different areas on the figure in a darker color, to help make everything appear more distinct to the eye. It will also help even more toward developing greater brush control. There's lots of good threads on here and also on Coolminiornot, and Wamp for tutorials on different techniques that would be helpful too. Good luck with painting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyArgent Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Hi QP and welcome! Checking out your bladedancer. It sounds like we both started out using similar tools (I was all about the Folk Art paint before finding the Reaper line). You mentioned not being sure if you're ready for shading etc. I just want to say you'll never feel ready and just have to jump in and go for it. I have a few tutorials posted on my website (www.miniaturerealm.com), I wrote some of them and some are from other artists. I'm still building the tutorial section but if you're considering taking that next step in your painting, there's one in particular I thought may interest you. It's called, "Miniature Painting - How to improve." I basically tried to document the things I learned the hard way to hopefully make it easier for others just starting out. Good luck, I look forward to seeing more from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deguello Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Great stuff, very neat (clean painting)good brush control Good color choices (not always an easy task) I have no critiques..would be proud to put these on the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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