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

[Malificent]

Been painting Aftermath minis, which is a fun change from all the traditional fantasy or horror stuff I'd been painting"


Meziah


Grumple

[Blackhawk]

Great colors!

[YellowKing]

Nice! Those look fun. I know the STUFFED FABLES minis were some of the most fun I've ever painted.

[Malificent]

Nice! Those look fun. I know the STUFFED FABLES minis were some of the most fun I've ever painted.

These have been fun enough to paint that I almost want to go get Stuffed Fables and Mice and Mystics and paint those too...

[Tao]

As usual some really nice work but have to say you did an exceptional job with the eyes on both figures.

[Malificent]

The minis made it easy, honestly. The eyes were really well sculpted and very clear and the minis were pre-washed, which also made it easy to feel out.

One more - Whisper

[Blackhawk]

During today's Zoom painting session I made an attempt at using contrast paints on a large surface. I have an ettin that I need to get painted, it isn't a high-quality model, but its skin has lots of detail, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Note to self: Do not use contrast paints on large surfaces. It looked godawful, blotchy and uneven. I stuck it under the faucet and I'll go back and do it the old-fashioned way.

[hentzau]

Yeah, I haven’t had great results with contrast over large figures. I want to try it on some supermutants from FWW though.

[YellowKing]

Note to self: Do not use contrast paints on large surfaces. It looked godawful, blotchy and uneven. I stuck it under the faucet and I'll go back and do it the old-fashioned way.

Yeah, I noticed that too. However, I did use it to my advantage on one of my Fallout minis. He had a large swatch of smooth armor that I wanted to paint a camo green. I went with the contrast because the mottled look added to the camo feel and beat up condition of the armor. But yeah, overall if you wouldn't throw a wash on it, it's not going to look great with contrast paint.

[Blackhawk]

After a second coat (an attempt to rescue the paintjob) I took the ettin and stuck him under a faucet, then toothbrushed him a little. It got enough off that I can just paint over what's left. It left an interesting pattern, though. It looked like a person with vitiligo, or a vehicle with half-peeled paint. I'll have to remember that. It could be a useful effect someday.

It's been a year since I've done any serious painting, and it shows. My stuff is pretty rough right now.

For personal reference: Over brush primed white base, one coat dried completely, second coat was half dry, put under a hot water tap for three or four minutes, lightly toothbrushed.

[hentzau]

I’ve heard people state that you should never attempt a second coat of a contrast paint. Never been in a position to try it though. I have touched up spots of course.

I have this model of Modok from M:CP that I have still sitting in a box because frankly the idea of trying to paint that huge expanse of flesh on his face locks me up.

[hentzau]

Last nights completed work...finished off a French frigate. At some point I need to get flags on these things. But next, I have a British and a French Third Rate ships to paint up.

[Blackhawk]

I’ve heard people state that you should never attempt a second coat of a contrast paint. Never been in a position to try it though. I have touched up spots of course.

I normally never would. The first coat came out so bad that it was that or restart the piece, and I already had the tone I wanted mixed up, so nothing was going to waste.

[hentzau]

First mini off of my 3D resin printer (for those that aren’t checking out the 3D printing thread. ). Captain Nemo from the Pirates and Cthulhu Kickstarter.

[hentzau]

Primed...

[Isgrimnur]

Very nice.

[Blackhawk]

Wow, that's very nice quality. How brittle are they?

[hentzau]

They aren’t soft and flexible like some of the modern resin minis. They really feel much closer to a hard plastic. I put some pressure on the legs and arms, they didn’t flex at all, but neither did they snap. Of course, I didn’t put much pressure on the sword, I’m sure I could snap that off easily.

[Zarathud]

My project during the Zoom paint was Nolzur's Owlbear:





Turned out really well due to painting tips and inspiration from RealmSmith. The gloss from the Purple ink and Army Painter Washes will resolve with a clearcoat.

[Zarathud]

Green Slaad Nolzur's Miniature:





I really should go back and drybrush some of the fireball, but I'm worried that too much more paint will lose the transparency. And my Reaper oranges never seem to go on as smoothly as I'd like.

This was my last project before breaking to paint some scatter terrain -- two beds, shelves, a broken pillar, and wooden raft.

[Zarathud]

The other miniatures I finished recently. An Reaper Elf Wizard (Anthanelle) meets a (Reaper?) human traveller.





And then a Reaper Bones Winter Wolf:



Not entirely happy being unable to add depth to the wolf's eyes, but the drybrushing turned out nicely. But my goal is always to get something to the tabletop that will look decently with my large prepainted miniature collection. That's why I keep using the boring black bases.

I have a little more work on a Deep Cuts Female Warrior from the Townspeople set, to accompany the Town Crier. I might switch over to the Pathfinder Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon if my leg stops bothering me. Painting large figures like a dragon is so much easier.

[Malificent]

Smokey


From Saturday's painting session, Smokey the cat.

Also, a Gecko (not Geico)

[Blackhawk]

A work-in progress. The ettin from the Temple of Elemental Evil board game. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out so far.

[hentzau]

Think I’ll name this one the HMS Ariel...

[hentzau]

Tonight’s work...

[YellowKing]

That was a ton of fun hentzau!

Here's my contribution to the evening, Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride game. I was initially unhappy with the contrast red I used, but after it dried it turned out pretty good. I might go back and soften out some of those highlights, and base needs to be painted, but after that he's plenty ready for the table.

[Malificent]

Finished with Aftermath minis and moved on to Folklore: The Affliction. Got all 18 heroes painted to varying levels of success. Won't post them all here, but I'll post some of my favorites...

Magus



Viper Maiden



Archeologist (poor man's Indy)



Butcher (said in Diablo 1 voice)



Slayer (poor man's Buffy)

[Malificent]

More Folklore - let's see how much I can get done before Altar Quest shows up!

The Mad Druid I actually painted several portions with straight ink, which created a nice effect over the zenithal (in my opinion).

Mad Druid

[Blackhawk]

The cloak - I'm guessing that was a 'grainy' prime under ink? My first thought was you'd stippled it. It creates a really nice texture.

[Malificent]

Yep, no stippling from me. Just a zenithal priming, which I do with spray cans, so probably not super smooth. But I'm okay with this one.

[Malificent]

Just painted the Night Stalker - these were interesting for me because I got to try a couple of things I hadn't done before. Because the face was pale yellow (that's the art), I didn't really have a good shade. So I combined two contrast paints, then thinned with contrast medium. The combination was pretty solid. I then used that as a shade/wash, which also worked out pretty well. New techniques are good!