|
I've never painted minis before, and this weekend I had a small painting party with my fellow local bones kickstarter supporters. I was ready for the day to only have one figure painted ... well ... 1 suddenly became 8. I'm not talented to any stretch of the mind, but I'm pretty proud of what came out. I still need to buy a more detail brush to paint eyes and additional details, but on first go, yeah ... awesome experience.
Warning before you click on the link, 2 of the figures are the medusa and sucubus.
You are an inspiration. I have never painted a mini before, and was apprehensive, but these look very good. If you can do it, so can I.
Those are gorgeous! Awesome shading on the first miniature's red cloth!
|
|
It was funny, the two others with me at the party were also knew to painting, and it was obvious that personality may also be a factor in painting. I'm more a "get to it" kind of guy, so I went straight in, didn't over think my colours, and just painted and learned. I was nicknamed, "The Production."
The other friend ended up painting 2, but he was agonizing over the colour choices, we nicknamed him "The Thinker."
The third friend, she had so many fine details, completing 3 figures. We nicknamed her "The Artist"
I figure, as long as you don't over think it, and just realize you can always come back and retouch your figures, you will do fine.
I also suggest ... PAINTING PARTY. OMG, so fun.
|
|
Those are gorgeous! Awesome shading on the first miniature's red cloth!
Actually, that was by accident, but I learned something because of it. I primed the figure before hand, I know I don't need to, but I go through the paces. I find that I see more of the details when they are primed in black instead of the starting white.
Well I started painting in red, but I didn't wait for the paint to dry a bit more before applying, so it was a bit runny when applying, and that was the end result ... and I liked it.
They look great for a new painter.
I will recomend 2 techniques that I think will help.
1st washes. They go a long way to picking up details and can take a only a few seconds per mini. The mimic's chest could use a dark brown wash to bring out the wood and maybe a muddy yellow for the teeth, the eyebeast and and naga can use one (black or dark green) to bring out the scales, the blue guy's doublet can use a black/brown one, and the succubus could really use a flesh wash on the skin and black on the hair/horns. Washes are very watery paints (you can dilute normal ones, but premade ones work better). After brushing them on, they pool in the cracks to pick up highlights. They help hide flaws and tend to bring the whole mini together.
2nd drybrushing. A little targetted drybrushing can really add some highlights to raised parts. Lightly dip a less decent brush in some paint, then paint that over a non-mini surface (I use my hand, I can tell when it isn't wet anymore) repeatedly until you see almost no paint coming off the brush. Paint quickly over an area of the mini and it will bring out highlights on raised surfaces. I would recomend trying it very lightly on the blue cloak with a slightly lighter blue, and trying a dark grey on the succubus's wings. After washing the naga's scales, a slightly lighter green could also add some higlights to her scales.
It was funny, the two others with me at the party were also knew to painting, and it was obvious that personality may also be a factor in painting. I'm more a "get to it" kind of guy, so I went straight in, didn't over think my colours, and just painted and learned. I was nicknamed, "The Production."
The other friend ended up painting 2, but he was agonizing over the colour choices, we nicknamed him "The Thinker."
The third friend, she had so many fine details, completing 3 figures. We nicknamed her "The Artist"
I figure, as long as you don't over think it, and just realize you can always come back and retouch your figures, you will do fine.
I also suggest ... PAINTING PARTY. OMG, so fun.
You did an excellent job, congrats on your entry into the hobby.
And personality definately plays a huge role in painting. Its art after all. Even in something as directed as painting a miniature (as opposed to having a blank canvas or a lump of clay to start with) your personality is going to come out. For instance, I am a sort of results driven, skip over details if you can kind of person. So when I paint minis I use a lot of quick and dirty dry brushing and washes. It works rather well, but it gives my miniatures a sort of grity look. I rely heavily on shading to fill in details as opposed to actually going in and filling out every detail directly.
My girlfriend on the other hand is a perfectionist. Every single piece of a mini is painted and distinct. Her miniatures end up looking alot brighter, and alot cleaner then mine. I get mine done faster, hers have more detail. We both enjoy our results.
|
|
They look great for a new painter.
I will recomend 2 techniques that I think will help.
1st washes. They go a long way to picking up details and can take a only a few seconds per mini. The mimic's chest could use a dark brown wash to bring out the wood and maybe a muddy yellow for the teeth, the eyebeast and and naga can use one (black or dark green) to bring out the scales, the blue guy's doublet can use a black/brown one, and the succubus could really use a flesh wash on the skin and black on the hair/horns. Washes are very watery paints (you can dilute normal ones, but premade ones work better). After brushing them on, they pool in the cracks to pick up highlights. They help hide flaws and tend to bring the whole mini together.
2nd drybrushing. A little targetted drybrushing can really add some highlights to raised parts. Lightly dip a less decent brush in some paint, then paint that over a non-mini surface (I use my hand, I can tell when it isn't wet anymore) repeatedly until you see almost no paint coming off the brush. Paint quickly over an area of the mini and it will bring out highlights on raised surfaces. I would recomend trying it very lightly on the blue cloak with a slightly lighter blue, and trying a dark grey on the succubus's wings. After washing the naga's scales, a slightly lighter green could also add some higlights to her scales.
Thank you for the info.
I have a black and flesh wash, but I think I was confused on how to use them. If you look at the succubus, the back side is a bit darker because I attempted to use a flesh wash, I didn't immediately like the result on the front, so I hastelly wet a brush to remove it there before it dried, but I'll be giving another go, but dry brushing after.
Someone had told me about dry brushing, but I think you've described it better than what I understood, thank you.
|
|
You did an excellent job, congrats on your entry into the hobby.And personality definately plays a huge role in painting. Its art after all. Even in something as directed as painting a miniature (as opposed to having a blank canvas or a lump of clay to start with) your personality is going to come out. For instance, I am a sort of results driven, skip over details if you can kind of person. So when I paint minis I use a lot of quick and dirty dry brushing and washes. It works rather well, but it gives my miniatures a sort of grity look. I rely heavily on shading to fill in details as opposed to actually going in and filling out every detail directly.
My girlfriend on the other hand is a perfectionist. Every single piece of a mini is painted and distinct. Her miniatures end up looking alot brighter, and alot cleaner then mine. I get mine done faster, hers have more detail. We both enjoy our results.
Thank you.
Sounds like you guys have lots of fun, makes me more excited
I've never painted minis before, and this weekend I had a small painting party with my fellow local bones kickstarter supporters. I was ready for the day to only have one figure painted ... well ... 1 suddenly became 8. I'm not talented to any stretch of the mind, but I'm pretty proud of what came out. I still need to buy a more detail brush to paint eyes and additional details, but on first go, yeah ... awesome experience.
Warning before you click on the link, 2 of the figures are the medusa and sucubus.
Those look really neat. Good job!
They look great for a new painter.
I will recomend 2 techniques that I think will help.
1st washes. They go a long way to picking up details and can take a only a few seconds per mini. The mimic's chest could use a dark brown wash to bring out the wood and maybe a muddy yellow for the teeth, the eyebeast and and naga can use one (black or dark green) to bring out the scales, the blue guy's doublet can use a black/brown one, and the succubus could really use a flesh wash on the skin and black on the hair/horns. Washes are very watery paints (you can dilute normal ones, but premade ones work better). After brushing them on, they pool in the cracks to pick up highlights. They help hide flaws and tend to bring the whole mini together.
2nd drybrushing. A little targetted drybrushing can really add some highlights to raised parts. Lightly dip a less decent brush in some paint, then paint that over a non-mini surface (I use my hand, I can tell when it isn't wet anymore) repeatedly until you see almost no paint coming off the brush. Paint quickly over an area of the mini and it will bring out highlights on raised surfaces. I would recomend trying it very lightly on the blue cloak with a slightly lighter blue, and trying a dark grey on the succubus's wings. After washing the naga's scales, a slightly lighter green could also add some higlights to her scales.
+1 for washes. I find that they provide a quick, easy and good result. Although I would not recommend drybrushing for anything other than areas that contain lots of uneaven surfaces (like fur, hair, some beards). On other areas I find that the "return on investement" with drybrushing isn't that great. I have to go back and forth between drybrushing and washes to get a decent result, and for me that just takes to much time.
I would instead recommend layering (or I think it's called layering) right from the start. I'm not good at explaining but I think this video does a good job. Then you can go back and forth with washes to smooth the edges. This works better for me than drybrushing (except fur, hair, chain mail, etc.).
Depending on how much painting you want to do you might want to look up the quick dip method. That's basically just a basecoat then you dip the miniature into the quickdip (you can make your own (don't know how but there is probably tutorials:) or you can buy some of the Army Painter Quick Dip), shake off any access and let it dry. That will get you a decent looking miniature in no time at all. You will not get the same result as if you went through all the shading and highlighting steps yourself but it is really really fast. I use the dip method for all "mass produced" miniatures (like repainted Pathfinder Battles, Mage Knight, DDM).
It might be dangerous to try it out. If I learnt about it when I restarted painting miniatures about 5 years or so ago I think I might have stuck to quick dip only. My regular miniatures would look worse, but on the other hand I would probably have most of them painted by now :)
In short: if you plan on "only" casual painting then I would suggest the quick dip method. If you want to end up with better looking miniatures you should stay away from it :)
|
+1 for washes. I find that they provide a quick, easy and good result. Although I would not recommend drybrushing for anything other than areas that contain lots of uneaven surfaces (like fur, hair, some beards). On other areas I find that the "return on investement" with drybrushing isn't that great. I have to go back and forth between drybrushing and washes to get a decent result, and for me that just takes to much time.
You can also use drybrushing on open areas to show shadow. (with the green skin of the pathfinder ogres, I use a brown to drybrush the light shadow of their muscles for instance) Since it gets weaker as you brush, it can add a nice effect of a shadow fading as light hits it
You can use drybrushing for that but I find that I can get a better result quicker and easier with layering. Although I'm not that good with drybrushing, which is why I only use it on fur, hair and similar things. Then it's a huge time saver.
You can use drybrushing for that but I find that I can get a better result quicker and easier with layering. Although I'm not that good with drybrushing, which is why I only use it on fur, hair and similar things. Then it's a huge time saver.
Funny, I can't get something layered to look right, but drybrushing works well for me.
Funny, I can't get something layered to look right, but drybrushing works well for me.
I'm not sure I can do it either, but it looks better than my drybrushing :)
Nice job. :)