Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

[Zardnaar]

Yep, that's a great example. The detailed areas look pretty decent because of how the contrast action but large cloaks behave like that torso. I'm getting "better" at it. The drow set I just finished almost all have cloaks and I make sure to paint them in full strokes with lots of paint.

With that said, I just got back from walking to the mailbox and I have my "Rose Skin Tones" warpaints air to experiment with.

My cloaks.

Velvet Red (Vallejo) contrast paint plus highlights.


Normal paint.

 

[MGibster]

A xenomorph I tried to paint closer to the way Giger originally painted them versus what was in the movies. Oh, man! I painted and repainted the carapace on the head three times and I’m still not happy with it. That’s okay though. This was a learning experience.

 

[MGibster]

My xenomorph bust needed a base to stand upright. I bought this wooden base at a crafts store, used epoxy putty on the top surface, and used my “sci fi” texture roller. I painted it a metallic, added rust and grime, and glued the bust on.

 

[el-remmen]

Anyone have advice for painting a hippo?

I recently got a great looking hippo mini, but I want to try to paint it to look as close to an actual hippo as possible. I usually don't worry about that kind of thing too much given that most minis are of impossible creatures anyway, but I'd like to make the hippo not look too weird. So suggestions of colors and/or techniques for achieving realistic animal hide is appreciated.

I have a plastic hippo toy I have been using and I guess I could try to use that as a guide, but it is kind of cheap toy, so I would not call its coloration up to what I would ideally want it to be.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Look at photos of hippos.

Mottled grey on top with an olive tone. Pinkish (I'd use pale flesh) underneath and in places around ears and eyes. Black toenails.

I'd go with washes over a white primer. Do mutliple layers, let the pink and grey blur where they meet.

Thinking a bit more - I've found that flesh tones frequently don't make for good washes, the particulate seems to be too large. So I'd experiment with that before applying.

 

[MGibster]

I recently got a great looking hippo mini, but I want to try to paint it to look as close to an actual hippo as possible. I usually don't worry about that kind of thing too much given that most minis are of impossible creatures anyway, but I'd like to make the hippo not look too weird. So suggestions of colors and/or techniques for achieving realistic animal hide is appreciated.

I've never painted a hippo, though I made an attempt at an elephant man a few years back. A hippo has a pinkish undertone with greyish or grey-brown skin. I think the best place to start would be flesh tutorials. The key to realistic flesh is to paint in thin layers letting them fully dry before applying another layer.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Maybe try it bass ackwards? Base the hippo with the pinkish flesh color and then apply a few layers of various shades of brown or grey in the appropriate spots? Never tried it with a hippo, but it's worked a few times on other things.

But definitely seconding the search for reference pics - no matter how you want to paint an animal, chances are Mother Nature's already done it...

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Some Darksword miniatures that are probably the oldest from my pile of shame. I think I bought these over 10 years ago. This was my first go at gluing and painting metal minis. Most of them glued together well, the ranger (technically a Game of Thrones Hedge Knight I think???) joint points did not line up well at all. I ended up using tiny bits of green stuff and glue to finally jab the arms into place. Thankfully the paint masks most of that patch work.

Overall I was pretty happy though I think I'm going to redo some colors on the cleric.

These were done with Army Painter Speed Paints 2.0 plus some Army Painter Airbrush paints brushed on for the faces.

 

[el-remmen]

TFW you drop a mini you are nearly done painting and a tiny yet prominent piece not only breaks off but disappears into the recesses of the room never to be found again.

Now to see if I can figure out some other way to salvage it.


Edit: I was able to clip a piece of another broken mini I had decided to not bother trying to fix and I think it will work as a replacement!

 

[MGibster]

Maybe try it bass ackwards? Base the hippo with the pinkish flesh color and then apply a few layers of various shades of brown or grey in the appropriate spots? Never tried it with a hippo, but it's worked a few times on other things.

That's a good idea. And remember, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Personally, I've always felt a bit more pressure when painting something that actually exists, like horse or dog, because we've all seen examples in real life. It's easier to paint a dragon or a Space Marine because nobody really knows what they look like.

I think I bought these over 10 years ago. This was my first go at gluing and painting metal minis.

I do not miss metal miniatures. Nice job!

TFW you drop a mini you are nearly done painting and a tiny yet prominent piece not only breaks off but disappears into the recesses of the room never to be found again.

We've all been here at some point. Or we're almost done and realized we glued something wrong, missed something, or otherwise made a glaring, obvious mistake we somehow missed. Glad you were able to find a replacement.

I lost two eye stalks for my Reaper Fathom Tyrant. I used some putty to cover the stalk holes and moved on with my life. I found the stalks a few weeks after I finished the miniature.