Miniature paints and inks suggestions?

[jdrakeh]

With the release of D&D 4e on the horizon, I plan on taking a break from RPGs (excepting HarnWorld) for a bit. I've just recently purchased the .45 Adventure rules from Rat Trap Productions (see link in .sig) and several sets of minis from Mr. Murch (again, see link in .sig) -- plus my boss has given me permission to paint in my cubical while I'm on breaks. How cool is that?

Anyhow, I'm soliciting paint and base suggestions over at CM (having not really done any minis painting since 1999-ish) and I thought that I'd hit up you folks, as well. I'm aiming for a Mignola look when painting (e.g., bold colors, heavy shading) and right now it looks like I'll be going with 25mm (3mm thick) wooden bases (100 of them at $11.95 was too good a deal to pass up). For paints, though. . .

I hear that the Reaper Master Paints are good, as are some inexpensive hobby shop brands (from Michael's, et al.), and Privateer Press pots. What are your recommendations? Additionally, do you have any recommendations for good inks and/or dyes?

 

[frankthedm]

I hear that the Reaper Master Paints are good, as are some inexpensive hobby shop brands (from Michael's, et al.), and Privateer Press pots. What are your recommendations? Additionally, do you have any recommendations for good inks and/or dyes?

Paints.

Cheap craft Acrylics all the way. You can get three to six 2 oz tubes for the cost of one 1/2 oz. hobby acrylic paint pot. You can get a decent assortment of craft paint much easier than hobby paint. Later, try a little hobby paint and see if the modest quality boost is worth a major price jump.

You want ink that can be mixed with water, but waterproof once dried.

Higgins and other drawing inks work fine.

For inks / glazes, clear paint on Gloss mixed with food coloring has gotten me some decent results.

Pogre has an awesome tread on the mini hobby here;

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=133078

 

[pogre]

Thanks for the link Frank!

It is no secret that I am a painting snob, but I think Frank has it right here. My only additional suggestion is to buy a spray primer so that no matter what paint you go with it will adhere to the model. I like using the Duplicolor sandable primer you can pick up at automotive supply stores. It is an awesome primer at a cheap price.

If you have a Hobby Lobby near you try this 40% off of one product coupon:
http://www.hobbylobby.com/site3/weekly/weekly.cfm
and grab a decent brush.

If you fall in love with painting you can take the next step to higher quality paints and brushes.

 

[Doug Sundseth]

1) Buy good brushes and learn how to take care of them. A good brush runs about $8-12 at Dick Blick, so it's only about the price of a single miniature more than a barely adequate brush. If you spend money on nothing else, get a decent brush. And a good brush (not too small; I use a #2 for nearly everything) will last for years and make painting much easier. FWIW, I am giving you the advice that I had and now wish that I'd listened to. I sacrificed so you don't have to. Recommended: Winsor and Newton Series 7, Da Vinci Maestro Series 10.

2) If you plan to aim for display quality, get good paint. If you plan to paint armies, get cheap, craft-store paint. Good-paint recommendations: GW, Reaper Master Series (not Pro), P3, Vallejo. (Note that each of these has very different characteristics. I recommend picking one and figuring out how to use it rather than switching back and forth. At least to start with.)

 

[frankthedm]

Thanks for the link Frank!

No, thank you for the compiled topic!

My only additional suggestion is to buy a spray primer so that no matter what paint you go with it will adhere to the model

Agreed. Brush on primers just don’t’ work as well for me

I like using the Duplicolor sandable primer you can pick up at automotive supply stores. It is an awesome primer at a cheap price.

[IMaGel]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5214/duplicatbritegp1ja4.jpg[/IMaGel]I find Brite Touch a very good primer. It goes on ultra thin [you won't see the first coat till it dries] and I have yet to have a can of it clog up on me or go fuzzy. Their black is very black and their grey is a nice light multipurpose hue. Sadly their brown oxide is a rich brick red. Great for dragons, but I wish it was more brown. {best brown I have encountered is the dribble prone Rusteoleum brown sand able primer.]

If you have a Hobby Lobby near you try this 40% off of one product coupon:
http://www.hobbylobby.com/site3/weekly/weekly.cfm
and grab a decent brush.

Or a Hot wire Foam Cutter for terrain! Also, when in hobby lobby, check the backwalls for clearnce sections. You might find inks, paints and even bits to use on minis.

 

[jdrakeh]

Whoa! Thanks for the links! Also, between you folks and der_kluge, I'm sold on the hobby shop paints (they're also what I used back in the day when I was painting armies for other people, and they worked just fine then, too). I might pick up some specialized paints for difficult to mix colors that will see use across the entire range of minis (e.g., natural flesh tones), though.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

A couple of notes from my 40k days...

I used the acrylic/water-based hobby paints, first from Games Workshop, and later I just bought bottles from Michael's.

I prefer not to use glossy paints. Once everything is painted and dries, then I spray a sealer. If you want to have a glossy look, then I'd use a glossy sealer. Mostly this is personal preference (gloss/non-gloss). A glossy sealer will last longer than a matte one, and will resist dirt and so forth better.

Depending on the paints you get and what you're trying to do, thinning the paint might be necessary. It's pretty common for people to use water, but if you want stuff to look nice I recommend not using water. Water breaks down the paints, which is why you can _use_ water to clean up afterward in the first place.

Instead, use acrylic medium/matte medium/flow enhancer.

Note: As I said before, my suggestions are more a matter of personal choice than "right" vs "wrong". If you're looking at painting something like a 40k army, I can certainly see going the easier/cheaper route. I certainly did with my Orks (Applebarrel craft paints). But for individual models, where you plan on spending some time working on them, I personally go just a bit further.

 

[smootrk]

I will second on the cheap craft store acrylics. I have found them to be essentially/actually the exact same mixtures as the (much) more expensive RPG marketed ones, except that they have much more mundane names... like brown, umber, orange, etc. and not cool names like Dwarf Skin, or Ilithid Mauve, etc.

 

[jdrakeh]

But for individual models, where you plan on spending some time working on them, I personally go just a bit further.

Yeah. . . when I was painting armies of 50 - 100 figures, I typically spent about 48 hours on each individual piece I used primarily craft paints -- except for metallics (as I recall, I couldn't get those in the cheap-o craft paint variety back then) but, when finished, you couldn't really tell the difference between one of my minis and something painted only with crazy expensive Citadel paints. Of course, it ate up all of my free time.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Yeah. . . when I was painting armies of 50 - 100 figures, I typically spent about 48 hours on each individual piece I used primarily craft paints -- except for metallics (as I recall, I couldn't get those in the cheap-o craft paint variety back then) but, when finished, you couldn't really tell the difference between one of my minis and something painted only with crazy expensive Citadel paints. Of course, it ate up all of my free time.

48 hours on each individual piece in a 50-100 figure army! That's insane!!! Did they look pretty special by the end of it or were you just like I am, spending hours going over the same little bits to try and fix up that tiny little bit that doesn't quite look as good as you would like it to?

Olaf the Stout