Learning to paint, looking for advice

[MissMelons 32743]

Ahhh the days of limited paints. I remember those days. Though its not limitless now, I've got around 40 paints not including duplicates.

 

Anyways, the information given here already is fantastic!!! I hope you soak it all in and I can't wait to see what all you come up with. Many people have their own style here that brings unique life to every miniature posted. Seeing others techniques is the best. For example: I rarely ever use a wash. If ever. I'm awful at it but for those that can, I swear its like wizardry!!

 

So don't be discouraged! Some blood and tears might happen sometimes but they just make better medium for painting. Welcome to the forums and your new addiction.

[ShadowRaven 54663]

don't encourage him to paint with blood. Oh sure tears make for a fine soft blend, but blood does funny things

[MissMelons 32743]

It beats using 'Blood of the Gods' from citadel. Gives you a nice bit of authenticity when you use your own blood for the effect.

 

:P

[kay13 14512]

But seriously the most important thing about mini painting is having fun & flies

 

Paint & have fun.

 

And if you use them in D&D & other mini games.... paint is better than no paint... and it takes very little to get a better paint job than the prepaints.....

[djizomdjinn 1886]

If you've decided that you enjoy painting, don't be afraid to experiment with techniques and different materials!

 

My first minis were D&D prepainted minis that I repainted with acrylic craft paints.

 

Now, looking back, I've experimented with:

 

Enamel paints (didn't go so well, except for metallic enamels, which I love)

Conversions (with Reaper weapon packs)

<Bones KS1 arrives!

Reaper paints

Airbrushing and airbrush paints

<Bones KS2 arrives!

Green stuff sculpting

Apoxie Sculpt (not very good with by itself, but great mixed with GS)

Color shaper sculpting tools (how did i ever sculpt without these)

 

And right now my latest kick is dry pigments, which I am loving.

 

(this might get expensive though. at least with bones, the minis are cheap!)

[Pingo 108417]

When using dry pigments it's best to wear a NIOSH-approved respirator and gloves.

[djizomdjinn 1886]

Yep, safety first! Don't want to end up with silicosis or nervous system damage 5 or 10 years down the line.

 

Airbrushing is better to have the particulate respirator too, though the gloves aren't needed.

 

Enamels, whether brushed or sprayed, are better with a full-on organic chemical respirator.

[Cuig 17]

Well I've been going slowly on horse #1 over the weekend, spent about 6 hours on it. I'm sure I'll speed up later on but for the first one I'm taking my time and being patient with it. Some of the finer details haven't worked out amazingly (particularly the eyes) but I'm OK with that, I'll get more accurate as it goes on I'm sure.

 

Here's a few photos of him so far - I'll probably make a WIP thread after these pics, but if anyone has any thoughts or comments to close out this thread, I'd appreciate any tips or pointers you can give me :-)

 

 

[Pingo 108417]

It's a beautiful, smooth, clean paint job. Your brush control is excellent.

 

You may wish to give some thought to shading and highlights, which will bring out the detail even in suboptimal lighting conditions.

 

For future reference, if you look at horse's eyes you can see they are almost all black or dark brown and are almost always rimmed with black, even on white horses.

[Cuig 17]

For future reference, if you look at horse's eyes you can see they are almost all black or dark brown and are almost always rimmed with black, even on white horses.

Wow, I never even thought to look. That's a lesson a didn't think I'd learn; look at the real thing that you're painting before you do it xD The hooves probably aren't silver either; I was thinking "oh horseshoes, yeah silver" but really they're just a small ring on the underside. Thanks a lot for that, I'll definitely consider it for the second horse.

 

As for highlights and shading, I'm probably going to just drybrush parts of it and then wash it for an easy life with the first model, to get an idea of where I should be painting the highlights and shades. If I can just look at a previous one and pick out the places I'm light/shading, I think that'll be a bit easier for learning, for now :-)

 

Thanks a lot for the nice words and advice :-)