Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

[MGibster]

More dragons. I am a horrible photographer, I have discovered, as no matter what I do, the colors seem washed together. In person, there are several shades of blue clearly visible, but in this photo it all looks the same shade...

Ditto. The majority of my miniatures look much better in person. So far only one looks a bit better photographed than it did in person. Nice dragon!

 

[Mad_Jack]

Photographing miniatures is tough - the lighting that makes photographs look better tends to wash out painted-on highlights and shadows... Yet another reason to always push your contrast as far as you can.

 

[Simon The Hunter]

Ran some bone drybrush over the wyrmling and redid the eyes (ugh eyes!!!). Then I printed some stands, I really like these ones as it lets you put a mini on the base:

 

[Zardnaar]

I started out with a tan basecoat. I mixed that tan with some Vallejo Japanese Uniform (Japanese WWII uniform color) and put on two more layers. I used some Citadel Darkoath Contrast paint diluted for a wash. Then I used a mix of Japanese Uniform and Vallejo Dark Sand. (Dark Sand is actually looks somewhat white with a brownish tinge.) I then applied two glazes of Japanese Uniform.

Reminder to myself. Bought some contrast paint today. Going to experiment.

 

[MGibster]

an some bone drybrush over the wyrmling and redid the eyes (ugh eyes!!!). Then I printed some stands, I really like these ones as it lets you put a mini on the base:

Black, or anything close to black, can be a difficult color to work with. Not as difficult as white, but difficult.

 

[Simon The Hunter]

Black, or anything close to black, can be a difficult color to work with. Not as difficult as white, but difficult.

Trudat

 

[Mannahnin]

Ran some bone drybrush over the wyrmling and redid the eyes (ugh eyes!!!). Then I printed some stands, I really like these ones as it lets you put a mini on the base:

The eyes look better!

My favorite cheat for bright/glowing solid-color eyes like these is to paint them in white, then dab in just a drop of wash, contrast paint, or in a pinch regular paint thinned down with water and a drop of dish soap to help it run better. This tints the whole eye while having more pigment accumulate around the edges/bottom of the socket, leaving the eyeball brighter in the middle.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The eyes look better!

My favorite cheat for bright/glowing solid-color eyes like these is to paint them in white, then dab in just a drop of wash, contrast paint, or in a pinch regular paint thinned down with water and a drop of dish soap to help it run better. This tints the whole eye while having more pigment accumulate around the edges/bottom of the socket, leaving the eyeball brighter in the middle.

Yep. The key, I've found, is to have a white base. I drybush white to get a fade effect around the eyes, and pure white for the eyes. Then drybrush a slightly darker green over the drybrushed white. Then put on contrast paint in the eyes themselves. I've just started OSL (Object source lighting) a month or so ago, so I'm still learning myself.

 

[Mannahnin]

Yeah, OSL is tricky to do well, as it really requires careful and complete observation of all the areas where the light would fall, to look realistic. As well as shading brightness/coverage based on distance from the source.

When it's done well it looks amazing, though.

 

[Mad_Jack]

The eyes look better!

My favorite cheat for bright/glowing solid-color eyes like these is to paint them in white, then dab in just a drop of wash, contrast paint, or in a pinch regular paint thinned down with water and a drop of dish soap to help it run better. This tints the whole eye while having more pigment accumulate around the edges/bottom of the socket, leaving the eyeball brighter in the middle.

I personally like Reaper's Liner colors for things like that - they have a flow improver mixed in already, so they work well for shading and darklining...