Painting order

[Niceman]

Hey,

 

When I was first taught to paint miniatures I was instructed to paint a miniature like getting dressed: Working from inside out. Skin, then under items, then outer. Now that I'm older and wiser I'm questioning this line of thought, but old habits are hard to break. It always seems I'm messing something up that I've already painted and have to go back and play clean-up.

 

What order to people around here tend to paint things? Skin first? Skin last? Armor? Any suggestions would be appreciated

[Heisler]

I paint from the skin out as well. Its the way I was taught and I'm very comfortable with it. I have not run in to any more difficulty fixing mistakes made working this way than I would going from the clothes out. So no particular reason for it other than I don't feel that it requires quite the precision that going from the clothes in might require.

[Ironworker]

That depends greatly on the fig. I often paint the largest area first then the smaller areas to avoid getting the larger area paint on the smaller details. I'm always more focused on the small details than the larger areas so I am less likely to sloop the detail color paint on the larger areas. I almost always paint the weapon last though especially if it is sticking out away from the body. That gives me a balance point to grip the mini with a little better. I find If I try to paint the weapon earlier I end up rubbing some of the paint off of it before I am finished.

[Laralu510]

I paint what ever part of the mini looks to be the most fun to paint first, then I go onto the stuff I dont want to paint as much. Ok ok, so its not a method...but its fun, and that is what is important to me..(though I am getting a bit tired of all the touch ups!...maybe i should think about this some more...nah!)

[Lars Porsenna]

Depends on the figure, what paints I have at hand, etc.

 

If I'm painting a figure with a lot of plate armor, I usually paint that first...my technique involves a final drybrush of bright silver and this usually gets on everything. Better to do it first. If the figure has a lot of mail armor, I paint that first because for some reason I love painting mail armor...

 

Damon.

[Enchantra]

My painting order?

Eyes

face

hair,

basecoat the rest of the mini,

shade,

highlight

fine detail.

[paintminion]

Skin, Face, Hair, then clothes, though clotese are not always inner to outer. Using Dullcote between sections...paint, when finished with a section, spray it, let dry, paint another section...Messes are easy to clean up then.

 

Working from the inside out gets you a couple things...you are inevitable working the deeper recesses first, and you can get a cleaner job on the flesh and face without worrrying you'll mess up anything else. Once your skintones and hair are done, it's easier to choose colors that go well with them. Pretty much like dressing a doll. <g>

[bushido]

I usually do the skin first, as my technique is rather messy (lots of washes). After that, it depends on the mini. To save time I usually select minis with as little clothing as possible... *ahem* I tend to paint faces last, though I've heard it's better to get this out of the way first, just in case you mess up.

[:0)]

I paint the darkest, hardest spots to get to first, then the large area, and then I focus on smaller points like bluckles, face, eyes, hair, etc.

[ixminis]

Order, we don't need no stinkin' order? Weeell, I use 2 methods that share a commonality:

 

1. Lowest parts up (pretty much the "dress the mini technique"

2. Whatever the heck I want to do

 

The commonality is that I tend to paint the entire mini in a base coat. Then do the shading, then the highlighting.

 

MG/IX

[Ray]

Face outward. If I don't nail the eyes first I would worry about them thewhole paint job. The last would be any thing I would hold onto like the sword or hair (yes, I know I shoulsn't do that).

[Cade]

I don't think there is a right way to do this. It's all about personal preference. I probably use a different order ever time. It depends a lot on the mini too. On some minis it just seems easier to do certain parts first. I typically like to base coat everything first, then darkline areas. After that, I go area by area shading and highlighting.

[MinipainterUS]

#1 - Any metallics being done.

#2 - Eyes, then all flesh

3# - Everything else, usually decided by what is wet on the pallette. The pants on fig#1 may be the backpack on fig #20 and the bracers on fig #17. If that is the case, that is the order things get painted in. :)

[Rodnik]

I've recently had a change of heart in my approach, and it's helped me in a very dramatic way....I was surprised.

 

Anyway...my current approach:

 

I paint the eyes---that way I can carry on a conversation with the fig I'm workin' on...

I then work from deepest, hardest to reach, recesses, outward.

However, I complete a portion of the mini at a time. That is to say,

if I'm workin' on the pants, I work the pants from basecoat/blacklines all the way to highlight.

When I finish the "last highlight", I go back and add "hotspots" that I may need to bring up. Check for alignments, smooth blends I may have missed, etc.

 

I do my freehand work after dullcoting.

Kev

[Niceman]

Thanks for all your input! Everyone's work looks so clean compared to mine so I thought I'd ask. It seems that I'm not doing as wrong as I thought so that gives me hope