[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:53 am

I'm working on a set of minis that one of our gaming group picked up to replace his Dead Panic tokens. He found some Reaper Chronoscope figures that roughly match up to the various roles in the game. Just have some primer and base colors on right now; I need to go pick up a few more paints. Once I get a couple completed I'll try to post some pics.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 9:04 am

My next painting task is to paint up some townsfolk for Zenda. I recently finished one (except for basing) and have a second primed. After I finish these, I'm going to start mass painting lines for them. Since they're townspeople, I'm going to spend less time on them than on the gangs. My goal for every fig is to have it look good on the tabletop, not in a gaming mag.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 9:09 am

How many times did Hepcat glue his fingers together this weekend while attempting to assemble plastic miniature parts roughly the size of a micron? I'd hold up the number using said fingers, but currently you'd only think I was telling you "one".

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:17 am

It's all in the wardrobe.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:47 am

Good Lord, the kid is missing his left arm. How rough is Boy Scouting these days???

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:51 am

hepcat wrote:Good Lord, the kid is missing his left arm. How rough is Boy Scouting these days???

He has the merit badge in gator wrestling.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 11:24 am

Popeye and Bugs Bunny have taught me that if I'm ever attacked by a crocodile, I simply have to rub his belly and he'll fall soundly asleep within seconds.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 5:11 pm

$iljanus wrote:
hepcat wrote:Good Lord, the kid is missing his left arm. How rough is Boy Scouting these days???
He has the merit badge in gator wrestling.

He's a boy scout, not a Mouseketeer.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Aug 01, 2016 5:13 pm

hepcat wrote:Popeye and Bugs Bunny have taught me that if I'm ever attacked by a crocodile, I simply have to rub his belly and he'll fall soundly asleep within seconds.

I am NOT a crocodile, hepcat!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 4:57 pm

That costume you wear to every convention seems to indicate otherwise...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 5:04 pm

Anyone want to subsidize a trip to ReaperCon for me in exchange for the goodies? Or just come down so I have someone to tag along with?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:03 am

Can't do that, but I'll put you up for the next Octocon if you come up.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:11 am

Pencil me in for spring. Between merger at the month end, and a work conference in September, getting away for the (still unscheduled) fall event is unlikely.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:36 am

Isgrimnur wrote:Pencil me in for spring. Between merger at the month end, and a work conference in September, getting away for the (still unscheduled) fall event is unlikely.

October 28-29.

(Scheduled. Just not announced.)

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:12 pm

Blackhawk wrote:I'm starting up a new batch after several months of avoiding painting due to burnout.

The boys and I have started playing the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game recently, and are working on the Rise of the Runelords adventure path for it. I've decided to paint the Bones iconics for the characters included in the game that we're playing in order to use them as location markers.

So far all I've done is clean them up, replace the bases with homemade versions, and prime them. Painting is to come.

Update:

I'm not terribly happy with them (especially the eyes), but I've decided that when it comes to Bones humans, I'm not going to devote the time to a AAA paint job. They are just too lacking in fine detail. I'm perfectly fine with that, given that they're extremely cheap. It is really only an issue with humans(/elves/dwarves/etc), as the loss of detail in their faces marches them straight into the uncanny valley.

Since these are based on specific predesigned characters, I've painted them based on their official art. If they had been the metal versions, I might have taken the time to paint in some of the detailing on the cleric's clothing, too.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Aug 28, 2016 9:58 am

Change of pace...

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 2:15 am

Ugh. Hit some quickly painted Reaper Bones fantasy miniatures with a coat of Army Painter spray coat and it immediately fogged. It's humid, but I hoped to get a little coverage then rush the miniature to dry overnight next to the dehumidifier. It looks like I hit it with too much, too quickly and, the spray reacted with the paint where it was painted on too thickly (due to my rush job and limited skill). I'll have to see how it dries under the fan and the dehumidifier over night.

Next time I keep searching for that missing bottle of Liquitex matte varnish.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 3:08 am

Zarathud wrote:Ugh. Hit some quickly painted Reaper Bones fantasy miniatures with a coat of Army Painter spray coat and it immediately fogged. It's humid, but I hoped to get a little coverage then rush the miniature to dry overnight next to the dehumidifier. It looks like I hit it with too much, too quickly and, the spray reacted with the paint where it was painted on too thickly (due to my rush job and limited skill). I'll have to see how it dries under the fan and the dehumidifier over night.

Next time I keep searching for that missing bottle of Liquitex matte varnish.

When the humidity drops, spray it again and then put it under a warm bulb for about 4 hours. The toluene in the spray will liquify the varnish again and you may be able to save it. I've been able to rescue a couple of figs that way.

I now just use the army painter brush on anti-shine because of this.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 9:57 am

I've had the best luck with plain old Testor's Dullcote for finishing. I've never tried the Army Painter varnishes, although I swear by their primers. I live in Indiana, so spraying with 80%+ humidity is a constant.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 7:28 pm

First four of the 2nd edition Mansions of Madness investigators are done. I picked the ones that are mostly mono-chromatic to start...I'm not going to lie, painting the priest and butler were quick.

Still have final detailing, touch up work and probably a bit of ink shading, but they're absolutely table ready. I also picked up the clear bases and will be re-mounting them all as I do like seeing the game board artwork.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:58 pm

Nice work!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:53 am

Very nice! I especially like the bearded older gent.

Have you started up with malifaux miniatures yet?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:58 am

They're assembled, but not painted. There was a rush-order on trying to finish the MoM stuff (I'm doing the investigators, my buddy is doing the monsters) so we can start playing ASAP. But I think I'm going to finish the other 4 investigators this week and go finish the Malifaux starter set. There's a local gaming store that opened up back in June and I think they have a weekly Malifaux session. He has boxes and boxes of the stuff there, so it could become a problem.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:28 pm

What faction did you go with?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:38 pm

From what I understand, the starter set is two sets of stand-alone figures that may or may not be added to the official factions? I'm not 100% clear, but I'm a big fan of starter kits - here's the details.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:47 pm

I believe they included models that have the Mercenary keyword, which means they can be hired by other factions. A really nice touch if you don't play either of the base factions they belong to. But they do still have a base faction. In this case, the Guild and the Neverborn. You can tell by the color of the banners that appear at the top of every figure's (or figures') package. Dark orange/brown is Guild, purple is Neverborn.

The Guild are the police/authoritarian type faction in the world of Malifaux. The Neverborn are the monsters and creatures of the night.

I'm partial to the Guild as they have some great wild west/victorian england/steampunk characters.

And yeah, starter kits rock. I just ordered a starter box for Infinity, and the amount of stuff I'm getting for 70 bucks is insane. The Hordes/Warmachine starters are even more ridiculous. You get almost 30 figures in those for around 80 bucks at online stores.

I may eventually pick up the malifaux starter set. The custom fate decks alone are drool worthy.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 3:46 pm

I'll probably need to start a Malifaux thread eventually - I've really just dipped my toes in the game and don't quite yet understand all the factions and groups. I'm trying to be more protective of my time, but I really do enjoy painting minis. I guess as long as I play with them some day...

EDIT: I also switched over last night to using the Army Painter "Insane Detail" brush. Would recommend and I'm actually going to try and find an even smaller brush for more detail work.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:44 pm

Just need to touch up a few things and switch them over to clear bases. Other than that, 2nd edition investigators are done. Eagle-eyed fans might see that I repainted some of them. I tried matching them as close as possible to the "official" artwork.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:18 pm

I'm all in on Mansions of Madness 2nd edition. I bought all the expansions already...and I picked up a couple of Descent expansions to play with its app too.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:26 am

I'm a copy-cat painter and the sample images I'm seeing for the Malifaux Starter Set figures are giving me pause. They're up next so I guess I'll see what I can do.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:55 pm

I've given up trying to get my miniatures even close to some of the paint jobs I see on the internet. I'm just too old for the patience, steadiness and eyesight required. And Wyrd miniatures are amazingly detailed, so I feel kind of bad when I see my amateurish efforts on the table alongside Seppe's far more impressive work.

The fun of Malifaux is in playing it though, so just get them table ready and have at it. And when you get to the campaign mode (Shifting Loyalties rulebook), you'll never look back.

I picked up a two player box on the cheap for Infinity and I'm trying to assemble those right now. It's reminding me why I absolutely hate metal miniatures and was happy when folks started going with plastic.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:18 pm

In the past year I've finally taken to wearing a magnifying headset to paint. I refused to use magnification for the longest time.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 11:10 pm

Blackhawk wrote:In the past year I've finally taken to wearing a magnifying headset to paint. I refused to use magnification for the longest time.

I have to use reading glasses. My contacts just don't cut it on the close up stuff.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:40 pm

I don't need a magnifier yet, but my buddy uses what he calls "old man" reading glasses to dial in the details. Here's hoping I don't need to go that route any time soon.

I think I need to look up techniques or something, but I want to give the Deep Ones a "fishbelly" white finish on their chest area. I was thinking it would just be a dry brushing technique but I'm not sure. Seems like what I want to do is what air brushes are made for. I also figure it would be wise to finish their fins and webbing in a slightly different color as well to help ID them on the game board.

...and this is our fishman display.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:58 pm

A 5 dollar pair of magnifying glasses from a Walgreen are a gift from God for me when it comes to painting minis.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:55 pm

I got these: Amazon I have been very happy with them.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:08 pm

Squadron.com is having a sale on Vallejo paint sets.

J.D. · Post by **J.D.** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:21 pm

This is something I would like to try out as a new hobby, but like anything else, getting started seems like a daunting task. What do I buy? Where? What techniques are good? Etc.

Really cool stuff in this thread though, guys. Very impressive.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:32 pm

I'm slowly trying to get back into this and finally get all those Imperial Assault figures painted. Finally purchased some decent brushes (Winsor & Newton Series 7......so sexy).

Unfortunately my nine stormtroopers were painted with my crap brushes and I'm just not happy with them. So first order of business is to try to salvage those before moving on to anything new.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:05 pm

J.D. wrote:This is something I would like to try out as a new hobby, but like anything else, getting started seems like a daunting task. What do I buy? Where? What techniques are good? Etc.

I'm far from an expert, but I'm thankful I started my painting hobby by learning on Zombies (Zombicide figures, to be exact). Because they are undead, I'm of the opinion that you really can't go wrong. There are plenty of tutorial videos on Youtube but the crew here is also quite helpful. If I could go back in time and give myself advice it would be:

(1) Buy higher quality paints sooner (not $1 craft store squeeze bottles). They're great to learn with and the low cost won't break you if you decide that painting isn't for you, but if you do like it, ditch them sooner than later.
(2) Buy higher quality brushes sooner. It's the same as the paint. I used cheap brushes for far too long and in switching to higher quality brushes (and paints), I've noticed a huge difference. I still use cheap brushes for some application, but having higher quality brushes for detail painting makes the job so much easier.