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

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

Post by YellowKing »

I used to be able to get by on just reading glasses, but now I have to use magnifying lenses you wear on your head (they've been posted in here before). It definitely gets harder year after year, and has in no small part contributed to my fading desire to paint.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

I take off my glasses as my near sight is good. Everything more than 18 inches is terrible. But my standard is always just tabletop quality to match my preprinted miniatures. And I can beat that.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

I use standard 1.5x reading glasses most of the time. Sometimes I’ll move to higher magnification but for most of my work the 1.5x is plenty good.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by telcta »

Do you find it comfortable concentrating on detail work for long periods of time or do you need a break every so often and are those breaks more frequent as you age? Working on miniatures or models always intrigued me but I figured trying to focus on something like that would be frustrating.

Honestly, it does seem very zen like where you can get into a zone and before you know it hours have gone by, but I don’t know if there’s an age threshold where it isn’t satisfying and seems like work, especially if one is new to the hobby.

I’m really in awe at some of the work you guys are posting here.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Having the right light to work with has been key (for me) - a small directional lamp makes a huge difference. I have a headset with magnification lenses, but I typically don't wear it. As with anything else, so much is practice, but the right paints and the right brushes also make a huge difference.

It is absolutely relaxing - both building the models and then painting them. Would definitely recommend it as a way to manage stress because you're right - you get to a point where you can't think about anything else except for the element you're painting. Excellent way to be mindful.

I'm of the opinion that any painted model is better than an unpainted one - if you're enjoying the experience. You might hit a ceiling and never get better or you might get interested enough that you start to learn new techniques or try to focus on specific skills. There's no wrong answer.

You can even pick up something like this which has all the basics and plenty of tools to see if you like it. There's always something new to learn about painting minis if you're interested. I didn't start until I was I was almost 40 - wish I'd found it as a teenager.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

I find that my painting process lends itself to natural breaks about every 15-20 minutes. Looking up colors, researching color wheels and examples of the mini, or watching what’s on the TV (I always have a familiar movie or TV show playing in the background.)

But at times I do need to stare off into the distance for about 2-3 minutes to refocus my eyes.

And it is very zen. I find it an extremely relaxing and satisfying hobby. With moments of frustration when you mess something up or when something you thought would look great looks poo-poo ka-ka.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

I used to paint with just my eyeballs when I was young, then went with just my glasses when I was a little less young. Now I wear my prescription reading glasses (to adjust my eyes individually) plus a magnifier a lot like this:

Image

In addition, I use a swing-arm lamp with a natural daylight bulb. It's a 5500K (natural daylight) 45-watt CFL bulb (about the equivalent of a 150-170 watt incandescent, so crazy-bright) designed designed for photographers' lighting umbrellas. I have this thing around 18" above the mini.

The important things here: the bulb is a true natural daylight, and the magnifiers are binocular (one for each eye) rather than being a big 'magnifying glass' style, which tends to make painting harder, not easier - it distorts, and it takes away depth perception.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by stimpy »

Found this shop out in the middle of nowhere Texas:
Image Image Image Image

Image Image ImageImage Image Image Image

I dont paint, but the guys that work there almost got me excited enough to start.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

The Warhammer cult will recruit you if you’re not careful. It was funny to see a few swarm my 11 year old who was asking about their books. Their suggestion made her friend happy, and she’s enjoyed telling about “that time those gaming guys wanted me to join their cult.”

Funny thing is that she’s right.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by stimpy »

They were all delightful folks and very patient with me.
My great nephew is getting into painting miniatures and they were very helpful with direction on what to look at.
But damn...it was pretty overwhelming.....
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

It can be intimidating because when you start looking at what people post online for display purposes, you really think all miniatures are supposed to look that way. What you don't realize is that they likely spend 25+ hours working on it, painted specifically for display or competition.

As mentioned at some point in this thread, even photographing a painted miniature is a skill. I can't tell you how many times I've loved a painted miniature I've been working on...until I've taken a photo, and then I lose my mind - because the camera lens sees it differently than your eye.

Painting things to a tabletop (i.e. "I'm going to use this to play board games") standard is all I try to do.

This video from last summer really highlights the time element:



For me the "sweet spot" is definitely somewhere around 30-60 minutes tops, but the Contrast paints have really changed that equation as well.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

And because a 1 inch miniature is 1 inch tall when you look at it, while a photo of the same miniature is probably 4 inches tall. Blemishes that stand out so badly in a photo are often invisible to the naked eye.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by AWS260 »

It has been a very long time since I followed D&D. Are space hamsters a real thing these days?

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

Post by Smoove_B »

Yes because the Spelljammer campaign setting was re-introduced for 5E D&D (coming in August).
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hepcat »

Blackhawk wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:13 pm I used to paint with just my eyeballs when I was young, then went with just my glasses when I was a little less young. Now I wear my prescription reading glasses (to adjust my eyes individually) plus a magnifier a lot like this:

Image
That's the EXACT same thing I use. Of course, I still suck at painting. But at least now I can clearly see WHY I suck at painting.

The little light is has on it I thought would be nice, but not all THAT useful. I was wrong. I don't think this thing works well until you turn that thing on. It's quite powerful for such a small light.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

hepcat wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:37 am That's the EXACT same thing I use. Of course, I still suck at painting. But at least now I can clearly see WHY I suck at painting.

The little light is has on it I thought would be nice, but not all THAT useful. I was wrong. I don't think this thing works well until you turn that thing on. It's quite powerful for such a small light.
I've had a number of visors over the years, and it is my favorite. It's not heavy or bulky like the headband style. It's not hot and doesn't leave grooves around my head like those, either. It just sits on my head like a pair of glasses, and fits just fine over my regular glasses, since the actual lenses are several inches out.

I don't use the light, though. I don't even keep batteries in it. It certainly is bright, but the light is very cool white, which means that it's tinting everything I point it at slightly blue, distorting how I see the colors. I compensate with the eyeball melting overhead bulb that I use (and since the bulb is broader, it kills point shadows, too.)

I also own this for it. I stumbled onto it when buying a plastic cement holder from the same shop, and it has been a perfect pair for the magnifier.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Isgrimnur »

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It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Here is the next member or our current D&D group. Cyfen the Arcane Dirty Trickster Rogue.(4hrs)
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Further proof I've lost my mind, I've had a copy of DVG's Thunderbolt Apache Leader forever and have always wanted to upgrade it with miniatures. Well, after poking around this week online, I found some 3mm metal minis that seemingly met my needs.

Image

Slapped some contrast paints on them and now I can do some detail work (no seriously). I'm just going to add some color elements to break up the solid presentation and see how it goes. Assuming my eyeballs recover, I'm excited to use them - they look great on the game board.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Helicopters use hover disks? I always wondered how they worked!
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Nah, it's just the shutter rate on my camera - makes it look like a solid disk. :wink:
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by baelthazar »

telcta wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:39 pm Do you guys wear special glasses working on miniatures or is it all through lighted magnifying lenses? I have such a hard time seeing my phone screen as I get older I can’t imagine working on such fine detail.

I’m really impressed at the photos here (when I pinch and zoom in to see the detail).
I have one of those magnifying visors that I use only with the extra detailed stuff like eyes, gems, lips, etc.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

So I probably should have asked before ordering but I'm all about jumping into things sometimes. What's the final verdict on Army Painter Speedpaints? I have a whole bunch of minis that I primed a while ago and brushed on a wash to give some contrast to the folds and crevices which looked okay actually but with some speedpaints I can actually give them some color and get them to the table looking somewhat presentable. Would probably add some highlights to a couple of minis and was wondering if I should give them a quick spray to seal the initial layer of paint before highlighting due to the possibility of reactivation or just a 24 hour dry time? I used to use the brush on version of Army Painter's anti shine varnish but I've read that spray might be better with these paints.

In any case I have the paints so there's no going back and I'm looking forward to not spending gobs of time painting a single figure!
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[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

I just use the Speedpaints straight up with no highlights and they look great. I’ve used varnish through an airbrush to no ill effects, but I would hesitate to use the brush on varnish. If you go out to the army painter website they only mention sealing using airbrush or rattle can. They also state they recommend sealing before doing highlights or washes.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

hentzau wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:27 am I just use the Speedpaints straight up with no highlights and they look great. I’ve used varnish through an airbrush to no ill effects, but I would hesitate to use the brush on varnish. If you go out to the army painter website they only mention sealing using airbrush or rattle can. They also state they recommend sealing before doing highlights or washes.
Thanks! Don’t have an airbrush but I do have a dullcote rattle can somewhere.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

$iljanus wrote:
hentzau wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:27 am I just use the Speedpaints straight up with no highlights and they look great. I’ve used varnish through an airbrush to no ill effects, but I would hesitate to use the brush on varnish. If you go out to the army painter website they only mention sealing using airbrush or rattle can. They also state they recommend sealing before doing highlights or washes.
Thanks! Don’t have an airbrush but I do have a dullcote rattle can somewhere.
Just all the usual cautions about dullcote and temp and humidity and holding your mouth wrong and not having sacrificed a chicken before using a rattle can. I only use rattle cans on vehicles and terrain because dusting isn’t bad on those types of models.

If you can afford it, even a cheap airbrush would be a great tool to get though.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Also, be wary of age on rattle cans.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

I wish I could offer insight for the Speed Paints, but I haven't busted mine out yet. I want to use them on a specific set of minis - relatively few - as a test.

Regarding the airbrush, I've been really eyeing up this one for priming after seeing some initial good reviews. I wasn't expecting miracles, but thought it might be useful to have for an "all seasons" approach to priming.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by baelthazar »

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 3:00 pm I wish I could offer insight for the Speed Paints, but I haven't busted mine out yet. I want to use them on a specific set of minis - relatively few - as a test.

Regarding the airbrush, I've been really eyeing up this one for priming after seeing some initial good reviews. I wasn't expecting miracles, but thought it might be useful to have for an "all seasons" approach to priming.
This image from the advert/page got an LOL from me.

Enlarge Image

I would be wary of these Chinese knock off brands. They are probably fine, but what you are going to get is more clogs, more cleanup, less precision, more "spitting," and less consistent pressure and results. The airbrush has been the biggest game changer for me in terms of my painting and I would say it is well worth a larger investment. If you are only looking for priming and perhaps some base coating, then I would consider a Badger Patriot 105 and any reasonably priced compressor. These Master sets are a little on the cheaper side, but could be a good start.

Also, you should invest in a desktop spray booth, because - no matter what it looks like when other people do it, I end up getting overspray everywhere. While some people might not mind or have a space where that works ok, I prefer to have a booth that vents it out the window.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Isgrimnur »

So what are you using for air supplies?
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

I would be wary of these Chinese knock off brands. They are probably fine, but what you are going to get is more clogs, more cleanup, less precision, more "spitting," and less consistent pressure and results.
All true. When I was researching airbrushes right before the pandemic hit, it seemed like a huge investment. Not just for the brush kit, but to also get the right compressor. Then at some point during the pandemic this battery powered job was released and I'd seen a few respected painters on the Youtubes review it and to their surprise, it was better than they thought. Of course it's not going to replace hardcore high-end airbrushes, but they'd commented at how great they were for priming or base coating.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Isgrimnur wrote:So what are you using for air supplies?
I got one of the numerous Master Airbrush kits you see on Amazon. It’s got a decent starter compressor but the airbrush didn’t last me more than a few months before I gave up on it. I ended up getting an entry level Iwata airbrush and it’s been a champ. Easy to break down and put back together. Much better than a Master, I would curse at that thing trying to get the trigger back in the right spot.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:59 pm Also, be wary of age on rattle cans.
That's something I didn't think about. I know humidity can really be an issue and luckily we're have some really pleasant low humidity weather in MA .Of course, we're also going away for a few days so hopefully it won't decide to get ridiculously swampy when we get back.

Every so often I think about an airbrush but I don't know where I would paint if I had to take a compressor into account
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:22 pm So what are you using for air supplies?
Personally, a dual tank airbrush compressor. You can get a single tank cheaper, but the dual tank has a much more even pressure. The compressor feeds tank #1, tank #1 feeds tank #2, and tank #2 feeds the brush, which prevents fluctuations in the pressure as the compressor kicks off and on. I bought it in this kit years ago (and it was about $100 cheaper at the time.) The brush itself is an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS, which is a good brush in and of itself. FWIW, I've saved it's value in rattle cans by now.

As for the battery powered one, I'd be leery. It could work for some things, but it would be seriously limited by the lack of settings. The needle is 0.3mm, which is fine. It's 30 PSI, which is at the high end. It's better suited to broad areas (painting a shirt, a sign, the side of a panel van with a wizard battling a space ship) than to anything small, as it will lack the kind of control you'd want. It may, however, be adequate for priming/varnishing where you don't need much control. Still, with varnish I'd probably start at 15-20 PSI with a sample piece and adjust upward a couple of PSI at a time until I got a good finish (exactly what PSI you'd work with would depend on the varnish, and this doesn't let you adjust the PSI.) You'd run into the same thing with primers. You'd probably need to try different primers and varnishes until you found one that worked right with the 30 PSI it gives you.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Here you go:

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

Post by Blackhawk »

$iljanus wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:41 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:59 pm Also, be wary of age on rattle cans.
That's something I didn't think about. I know humidity can really be an issue and luckily we're have some really pleasant low humidity weather in MA .Of course, we're also going away for a few days so hopefully it won't decide to get ridiculously swampy when we get back.
Spray paints (and similar) have expiration dates - they just don't tell you what they are You can usually count on them degrading after two or three years. And it's important to note that that is two or three years after their production date - who knows how long they were on the shelf or in a box in the back before you bought them. The actual date is encoded on the bottom of the can where you can report it to them, but most people won't be able to read it (mostly because they don't want people leaving older products on the shelf.)

Here, for instance, is how to read the date on a can of Rust-Oleum:
Spoiler:
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

Speed paints are thin and can rub off, so I agree with the advice not to use brush on sealer. It’s been useful to have a clean brush to brush an area with too much or pooling paint, or to pull paint off an edge to get a better highlight. There are some quirks, but I like the results. I’ll try to post my painted Reaper townsfolk who were all done with speed paints.
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$iljanus
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:49 pm Here you go:

Oh damn you, Smoove! :evil:

I just started watching but that compressor is just cute as a button!

And for just priming/varnishing it could be a fairly inexpensive solution…
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
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Zarathud
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

BTW, Army Painter Speed Paint Malignant “Green” comes out light yellow. Almost like straw.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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$iljanus
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

Zarathud wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:06 pm BTW, Army Painter Speed Paint Malignant “Green” comes out light yellow. Almost like straw.
Good to know if I need some blond hair perhaps?
Black lives matter!

Wise words of warning from Smoove B: Oh, how you all laughed when I warned you about the semen. Well, who's laughing now?
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