Galladril's Garrison - Aug / Sep Edition

[galladril]

Continued from here

 

I have been shopping. I invested pretty heavily in Bones 3. I also needed to try to fill out my paint collection a little bit more....and found myself spending a ton of money on new paints from Scale 75.

 

I do not wish to sound like an advertisement. We do a lot of tests and reviews here, and this might be informative for someone.

 

So, let me get this out of the way, here and now:

 

I am all about a person getting, and using, what works for THEM. That can be a computer brand, a phone OS, a guitar, a car, paints, and brushes. Whatever allows YOU to do your job easier, and works for YOU is what YOU should be using. However, what works for you may not work for me.

 

While I have around 40 bottles of them, I do not personally prefer Reaper MSP. They are just too thin for me. I have tried more than a few ways around this, but honestly, I will usually go to my Vallejo stuff first. The thickness of my Vallejo is just easier for me to control.

 

When I heard about Scale 75 paints being thicker than Vallejo, that immediately put them on my radar. Hearing that they dried incredibly matte was an extreme bonus. I knew that at one point I was going to need to give them a ride.

 

A member here, in this forum, mentioned that they were on sale (points at the "enabler" ub3r_n3rd, and gives him a high-five). If you know anything at all about them, then you already know - they aren't exactly cheap, and there are only a few vendors that carry them. I took the plunge, because of the sale, and got a total of 52 bottles, 51 colors (I bought a single, and it was then included with a set.)

 

Having them, finally, in my hot little hands, after coveting them for 2 years, and I KNEW I was going to be painting this weekend.

 

I put the skeleton army temporarily to the side, and pulled a fresh miniature out of my storage bin. I wanted to paint an entire mini using ONLY their line, and the skellies were already in Vallejo.

 

77251: Bloodhoof, Minotaur Barbarian

 

Immediate first impression: "Holy cow, these things are thick." Like - you put a dot on your pallate and it stays there-thick. I thinned ONLY with water, no additives or any kind for this entire exercise.

 

There was virtually zero separation when the water was added - they don't "break apart."

 

First & second coat:

 

 

 

Thinned on a 1-1 ratio, the coverage is supremely good. I always have trouble with my vallejo browns. They take a long, long time to build up properly before they begin to stick. These went on with no isseus.

 

So far, so good. Let's try a different color.

 

 

 

I want to say this was 3 coats, and if you notice in the recesses, there is a little bit of spottiness. I want to say that this was more due to improper primering on my part, and Bones being repellant to water. I was able to fill those recesses in, I believe, with 2 more coats.

 

Hopefully, you can see: it's consistant, rich color throughout, and the matte is (to me) georgeous.

 

Ok, the metallics are supposed to shine. Let's see.

 

 

 

Wow. There is just nothing more I can say. The pigments and smoothness are absolutely INCREDIBLE for their metallics, in my opinion, better than even VMA, which I thought was king for the past 3 years.

 

It was, however, around this time that I realized: my primer had missed several important spots, and I had to go over the axe and his shoulderplates several times to get decent coverage. I probably still need to go in and do more, but it was at this point that I was done for the day.

 

The next day, when I sat down to paint, I realized he was not as dark as I wanted him to be - he was just a little bit too orange, so I mixed some black and a darker brown, and came up with a dark brown, deep grey?

 

 

 

There we go, that's what I am after.

 

Painting over wasn't a hassle at all. Again, I know it was a darker color, but even thinned down, there was no "orange bleed-through."

 

Now, the real test. Lets see how well these layer.

 

 

 

Oh, my Good Gods. Did I actually just do that????

 

They truly blend and layer like magic, and the end results speak for themselves.

 

I have said countless times that I do not consider myself to be a great painter. I am mediocre at best.

 

These actually made me feel like a good painter, and reminded me that painting can be fun.

 

They stay exactly where you put them, no bleeding over, and even thinned they simply lend themselves to a crisp, clean application. By the way – every single thing that you see above? I did that with a size 4. Think about the ramifications of that for a moment, along with controllability. 

 

They don't break apart, and while they cover amazingly well, their transparency in layering is spectacular. It's like they know exactly what you are trying to do, and help you accomplish your end goal. I did not, at any time, feel like I was fighting them. I felt like we were just working in complete unison.

 

I still love my Vallejo, and still think those are amazing paints, but I will flat out admit – I am planning on purchasing every single one of these, sooner than later.

 

They say that the best camera is the one you have on you. As a guitar player, I could say the best guitar is the one you play.

 

The best paints are the ones you wind up painting with, and I can see myself painting with these for a long, long time. 

 

More to come, we’ve just gotten started...

Edited August 24, 2015 by galladril

[ub3r_n3rd]

Wow, he looks FANTASTIC! Great job! So happy you are enjoying those new paints, I really enjoy them too.

[Arc 724]

This is turning out well. I'm gleaning a lot from your technique.

[galladril]

Wow, he looks FANTASTIC! Great job! So happy you are enjoying those new paints, I really enjoy them too.

 

Thanks. I know you love their Ink set. Can you give any specific reason why? I keep reading amazing reviews on them., and I'm considering grabbing those, but I have 8 inks that I already don't use, so I wonder if they would just sit there. I've actually been trying to get slightly away from washes and inks in general, as I feel they adversely affect my actual painting. if I can achieve the same effect of shadows without washes, I would rather do that.

 

This is turning out well. I'm gleaning a lot from your technique.

 

Hopefully good stuff, and not "this is what I should never, ever do." :)

 

My paint technique is somewhere between "masterfully controlled" and "glop-on-and-pray."

 

In general: I always use thinned paint, and once I put a little bit on my brush, I touch the bristles to a napkin to pick up the extra, unless I am doing a basecoat.

 

I don't care too much about slopping it on during that, cause I know that I am going to cover up whatever mistakes I initially make. I see no point in perfecting lines and getting things exactly to the edge when I know I will need to do it again **for basecoating.**

 

Layering I am still learning, but I have done enough now to at least understand how to do it. Now, I need to work on getting proportions right, as I always feel I leave too much of a "gap" between the darkest recesses and the next color.

 

If you (or anyone!) ever have any specific questions, please, feel free to ask.

Edited August 25, 2015 by galladril

[ub3r_n3rd]

 

Wow, he looks FANTASTIC! Great job! So happy you are enjoying those new paints, I really enjoy them too.

 

Thanks. I know you love their Ink set. Can you give any specific reason why? I keep reading amazing reviews on them., and I'm considering grabbing those, but I have 8 inks that I already don't use, so I wonder if they would just sit there. I've actually been trying to get slightly away from washes and inks in general, as I feel they adversely affect my actual painting. if I can achieve the same effect of shadows without washes, I would rather do that.

 

I really like their ink set because they help produce vibrant colors when you need that extra kick. A little bit added to a similar color can brighten it, or you can really thin it down to create a glaze to punch things up. I don't use them as washes ever, I go the opposite with the highlights. I have a few Reaper inks, they are nice too, but having used the Inktensity set, I'm not going to go out and buy other inks to try out. 

[galladril]

A while back I began to paint the tops of my bottles so that I could easily look in my painting case and see exactly what color I wanted. When they are fluid, you get a sense of what color it is, but things change colors as they dry.

 

While its a fast way of looking for something, it's really not a large surface area to compare against.

 

So, I made swatches based on the pamphlets, something I could actually paint on and actually see, with a surface area larger than a bottle cap.

 

 

Didn't take especially long, just a few minutes in Photoshop.

 

Vallejo and Reaper are cool in that they easily lay out their entire color selections for you. Scale 75 doesn't, so, I took it upon myself to make my own swatch for it. Finding the color names and SKU numbers took a long time, but I feel it was worth it.

 

 

 

Yesterday, my 3rd order (this month) from Scale came in, completing the paints out of their initial offering. Up next is their inks, and I'll pick up a piece of their fantasy line to test probably next month.

 

I originally had them all in their SKU number order, which kept them ordered by set, but that didn't work for what I was used to doing with my Vallejo (ordering by shade.) I literally just look in a specific section of my case and know : my reds are here, my blues are here, etc.

 

 

Their shading selection is...different, and I really like the color choices.

 

So, after "filling out" the collection, I couldn't stop myself from continuing to work on the Minotaur.

 

This is an odd little miniature, in parts, and I was kicking myself for not cleaning the figure properly, and not looking a little bit more in-depth at the mini. See, there is no real "clear" separation on this figure that shows you what is what. Its one of those figures where I found myself saying: "Is this part cloth, metal, or skin?" more than once.

 

Because of that, I found myself not working on the middle section of his pants / armor section, and made it slightly difficult for myself to get in there with a brush after doing his skin tone.. I'm going to need to try not to do that in the future - I paint in to out for a reason, and this is it.

 

 

 

The "tan" straps were just too bright and stark, and when I initially painted them that way, I pretty much immediately knew I was going to switch them to red leather. Now, I don't know what color to highlight the edges in, so if you have suggestions, please, let me know.

 

I'm also trying to figure out what to do with his eyes. A very large part of me wants to paint the entire eye red, and do a THIN line of white or pink, but I don't know how goofy that would look. It just doesn't seem like he should have a typical "black and white" eyeball.

 

More to come, and as always, questions and comments are appreciated.

 

Thanks, and Happy Painting, All!

Edited August 28, 2015 by galladril

[robinh]

go with a solid black eyeball with  amber for the iris  and a dark pupil with a spot highlight in white

Edited August 28, 2015 by robinh

[Corporea]

Looking great!!  You could still push the skin highlights up a hint on the top areas.  For the red leather, try using a tan- even the tan in your skin.  it would probably lighten it enough.  An alternative would be something like the equivalent of saffron sunset, bright skin or a burnt orange.  A peachy sort of color?

[galladril]

go with a solid black eyeball with  amber for the iris  and a dark pupil with a spot highlight in white

 

For the longest time, all of my eyes are the same. Ivory, black dot. Maybe its time to take it up a notch and do something like this, with color.....I can't use the excuse that I don't have brushes small enough anymore, and the only way to advance as a painter is push limits....Yeah, I may need to do exactly this - thank you. :)

 

 

Looking great!!  You could still push the skin highlights up a hint on the top areas.  For the red leather, try using a tan- even the tan in your skin.  it would probably lighten it enough.  An alternative would be something like the equivalent of saffron sunset, bright skin or a burnt orange.  A peachy sort of color?

 

I'm planning on doing 1 or 2 more skin highlights, I just didn't get a chance to last night - I just need to be real careful, cause I don't want him to look like he has the same "spottiness" all over the place. Your suggestion of the tan on the red leather is actually exactly what I was initially thinking, I was just worried the stark change in contrast would look odd. I'll have to look and see what "peachy" options I have....Thanks for your input, now get back to work on that beautiful dragon! :D

[Crowley]

That's looking really fantastic, and the swatches thing... that's a really good idea.

[knarthex]

Looks Great!

 

I have 2 sets of their paints, 4 more on the way, including Inktensity.....

Love them, Love them!

 

For me, this is like getting good brushes, the better tool is helping me paint better!

 

8)

George

[CashWiley]

Oh man, I want a set of blank swatch pages for Reaper! Nice idea.

 

Also, congrats on some layering goodness. Finding materials that suit your own taste and style helps so much.

[galladril]

Oh man, I want a set of blank swatch pages for Reaper! Nice idea.

 

Also, congrats on some layering goodness. Finding materials that suit your own taste and style helps so much.

 

I was actually going to make one for Reaper, but haven't gotten around to it yet. As those are the colors I have the least of (with the exception of my Secret Weapon Washes,) I didn't find it as "high priority" as the others.

 

IF ANYONE WANTS COPIES OF THE SWATCHES I HAVE, SEND ME A PM WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, AND ILL GET THEM TO YOU, IN JPG AND PHOTOSHOP FORMAT. You may need to do a little 'shopping or handwriting of your own, but at least you will have something. I could also make a generic blank easily enough......

 

Cash, it feels like these paints were designed for me, no joke. They do exactly what I want them to do.

[Talae]

Count me in for a set of Reaper Swatches! Do you plan to have the HD line and Limited Edition Paints as well? Also, some sample paint locations would be great!

 

As for the mini, it is looking great! Maybe I should pick up some of the Scale 75 paints...it is just that I am 17 paints from owning the entire Reaper paints offered. I need to finish that first ;)

[galladril]

Count me in for a set of Reaper Swatches! Do you plan to have the HD line and Limited Edition Paints as well? Also, some sample paint locations would be great!

 

I hadn't even thought of that, actually.....I was specifically planning on doing MSP's (but in fairness, this probably wouldnt happen for a week at least.)

 

As for you finishing your collection off, that is actually part of the reason why I began doing Scale 75 to begin with - I was missing a lot of basic colors and figured getting "an entire set" would pretty much fill in the holes. Weird how many ways we come up with to convince ourselves that we need more paint, huh? :)