Painting minis; getting started

[payn]

Thirded.

 

[Aeson]

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!

I am beyond jealous of this mini.

 

[MGibster]

Still deployable on a table

Even if you don't get the results you want, a painted miniature always looks better than an unpainted miniature. And if you don't try something new, you'll never improve.

With that in mind, I'm working on another Games Workshop giant. One of my goals with this project was to paint a darker flesh tone and I'm fairly happy with the results. I started by using Pro Acryl Dark Golden Brown and followed that up by mixing the original base coat with more and more Pro Acryl Shadow Flesh until the final layer was just the Shadow Flesh alone. Because the paint is slightly transluscent, I got a pretty dark finish.

But other than a reddish nose, the flesh looks flawless. How many of us have flesh that's so uniform free from freckles, moles, or other blemishes? So every painter gets to a point where they have to make a decision, "Am I done with this, or should I keep going? Will I ruin this if I keep going or improve it?" And that's a tough decision, it took me a while to get the skin on this miniature to do what I wanted it to do and screwing up means starting over. But I'm going to give something a try and I'll let you know the results. Maybe it'll work or maybe I'll fall flat on my face. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[Aeson]

That reminds of this video released yesterday. Has anyone tried airbrushing?

 

[MGibster]

That reminds of this video released yesterday. Has anyone tried airbrushing?

I've been known to dabble. One of the best things about an airbrush is that it saves you a lot of time when it comes to blending colors. But I must admit, my airbrush is both hated and loved by me. It's a different skillset than your brush technique and sometimes the airbrush will treat you poorly, but when everything is working it works great. As Angela learned in the video you linked, sometimes you have to even thin paint specifically designed for the airbrush.

If anyone here wants to start airbrush, I recommend purchasing a middle of the road airbrush and set up just to make sure you like it before you go crazy. Don't go super cheap, because you might have a bad experience with cheap materials. But don't spend $400 for a super good airbrush either. I currently have an Iwata Revolution CR I purchased in 2020 for about $100. The total cost for my airbrush, compressor, and other tools was probably in the $350 range.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Eyes... Hates them, we does, my Precious...

This is why I always do the eyes first, lol - easier to fix if I screw em up and don't need to worry if I get paint on other things. Plus I can just hold their little heads underwater in the stripping bucket until they stop struggling and decide to cooperate, hehehe...

This guy in particular is a good example - not only is he wearing a hood, but his eyes are also deep set into his face behind that beak of a nose and the bushy eyebrows...

I've kinda stalled out on this guy, but I really need to change the color on his sleeves to a less green color - I was using an undead skin tone triad from Reaper, but it's a little too green for what I want to be old linen. I haven't even started highlighting his hood, and need to finish basecoating everything below the edge of his tunic and his staff.
I also need to grab something better than my crappy camera phone to take pics with, lol. I spent a lot of time on his face and beard for a just-slapping-paint-on-something-so-I-can-still-claim-I-paint-minis guy, but you can't really see it in the pics.

 

[MGibster]

I didn’t do much. I loaded my airbrush with some burnt umber ink. Normally I would spray ink around 15 psi, but that would have resulted in a smooth application which was not what I wanted. I applied the ink at 5 psi which got me these little dots and am happier with the results.

 

[el-remmen]

Allow me to show you my failure of a bear

Does not remotely look like a failure to me. Later, when I am feeling less vulnerable I'll share a real failure.

 

[el-remmen]

Do you need a wash labeled paint to do a wash? I've seen the word used and I've seen paints. I don't know much about it.

While it is possible to make your own washes, my advice is to buy a set of basic Vallejo washes and use those just until you get the hang of using them. They can even be thinned further to make them flow and last more.

Personally, my attempts at making washes have mostly left my minis looking dirty and uneven. (Once I learned to use a few drops of dishwasher rinse aid they got better - but still I mostly use homemade washes for terrain and vallejo ones for mins).
I stick to lighter colors drybrushed over darker colors, working lighter as I go and as necessary - and have not had as much success drybrushing dark over light. Cheap make-up brushes you can get on Amazon work great for dry-brushing - but any old brush will do - in fact, the older and shoddier the brush (up to a point) the better they can be for that purpose.

My experience is that once you get the hang of dry brushing and using washes to even the most basic degree you will end up with results you never though were possible from your level of skill. I am not a great mini painter, but I do have stuff I am proud of because it is far beyond what I ever thought I'd be capable of when I decided to paint a handful just for use on the table when we switched to remote play using a table camera when the pandemic started (before that I just used unpainted minis as DM with players painting their own or asking others to do it - and occasionally I'd have a player I could trust to separate knowledge paint a special monster for me - I did it that way for about 23 years!).

 

[el-remmen]

Eyes... Hates them, we does, my Precious...

I hate eyes so much I save them for last before deciding if they are even necessary. Sometimes the shading of a flesh wash on a small mini does enough to suggest the presence of eyes and that is good enough for me.