Painting minis; getting started

[MGibster]

Here’s a work in progress. This is a piece of terrain produced by Games Workshop for Warhammer 40k. In the first photo, I've put down some base colors and added a few details. First tip, don't automatically use white for white. I used Army Painter's Stone Golem, and I had to apply three coats to get it it to be completely opaque. Thin coats of course.

I applied an oil wash over the skull area. You can see that the wash did a lot of work here by helping define the teeth and adding some shadows. You can get a similar effect with an acrylic wash as well.

 

[Aeson]

I thought I'd try painting a bear miniature I have. I painted it black first with the idea of going over it with brown also. The idea would for it to be mostly brown with areas of black highlights. I'm not really getting the results I had hoped for.

 

[Andvari]

You'd probably get a decent result from painting it all brown and then covering it completely in a dark brown wash.
Make sure the initial brown paint isn't so thick it clogs up the recesses. Depending on how thin it ends up being, you may have to paint it over more than once before the black doesn't show through. Just wait for it to dry before applying the second layer.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I thought I'd try painting a bear miniature I have. I painted it black first with the idea of going over it with brown also. The idea would for it to be mostly brown with areas of black highlights. I'm not really getting the results I had hoped for.

Black highlights or recessed areas? (Highlights on the top of the surface, recessed are the creases). If you're looking for black recesses and mostly brown on the top, then paint black and drybrush on the brown. If you want brown with black highlights on the top most layers, then paint brown and drybrush black.

This is brown with black dry brush and then cream drybrush

 

[Aeson]

Recessed is the correct word.

 

[Andvari]

I'm getting a lot of painting done at the moment. 8th mini over the last 5-6 weeks. Making the most of it while the desire lasts. The box of shame is shrinking!

 

[Aeson]

Black highlights or recessed areas? (Highlights on the top of the surface, recessed are the creases). If you're looking for black recesses and mostly brown on the top, then paint black and drybrush on the brown. If you want brown with black highlights on the top most layers, then paint brown and drybrush black.

This is brown with black dry brush and then cream drybrush
View attachment 261548

That's the idea I was going for. Now I'm wondering if I can salvage it. I guess I can finish going over it in brown then do a black dry brush. I'll see what that looks like. Thanks.

 

[MGibster]

I thought I'd try painting a bear miniature I have. I painted it black first with the idea of going over it with brown also. The idea would for it to be mostly brown with areas of black highlights. I'm not really getting the results I had hoped for.

Allow me to show you my failure of a bear from 2019 or early 2020. I think this is a WizKids model, and while I don’t remember what I was trying, whatever it was failed and I just walked away. It happens to all of us

 

[Andvari]

Allow me to show you my failure of a bear from 2019 or early 2020. I think this is a WizKids model, and while I don’t remember what I was trying, whatever it was failed and I just walked away. It happens to all of us

Still deployable on a table

 

[Aeson]

Still deployable on a table

I agree.