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

[YellowKing]

I realized today that I painted my Middara Merk Hounds thinking they were Gedauvans. So all the time I spent painting red flaming tails and trying to figure out the best way to shade and highlight white fur should have just been a bunch of brown.

Oh well at least the fix will be fairly easy. It just sucks adding more work on top of an already daunting backlog.

[Isgrimnur]

Is there any part of a "wrong" color scheme that will impact gameplay? If not, play it as it lies.

[Malificent]

Is there any part of a "wrong" color scheme that will impact gameplay? If not, play it as it lies.

Yes, yes. I've gotten so used to painting to the accompanying art that sometimes I forget that if I'm off a color or what not, it doesn't matter, as long as it doesn't interfere with me playing and I enjoy looking at it.

[YellowKing]

No gameplay impact, just my inherent perfectionism. I'll fix it eventually but in no hurry. Even though I was going to paint as needed, I got so sucked into the campaign I've been playing mostly with unpainted minis so far.

[Blackhawk]

Going in there with enemy types having switched color schemes would make me go insane. They don't have to be perfect, or even a perfect match, but they have to be in the right proximity. It would be like playing an American Revolution game and fielding an army or redcoats with yellow coats.

[baelthazar]

I have been using my new airbrush and this is next level sort of stuff. Super smooth basecoats, amazing shading, I am very happy.

These Shadow of Brimstone Bone Eaters were done with Zenithal priming and contrast paints, with a post paint glaze and drybrushing. I did five of them in two hours with consistent results, which is fantastic.



My next project was Core Space Purge. I used Turbo Dork color shift paint as a base on top of primer. I still need to learn the basics of paint thinning, but it worked well. Then I am meticulously doing the small black painting with a brush and finishing with Nuln oil. I would be faster, but it takes a while to do the black parts carefully.

[YellowKing]

Those look fantastic baelthazar! I really like that glaze effect.

The Great Merk Hound Disaster of 2021 has been corrected. They are no longer fluffy white poodles and are back to their proper swamp-drenched murky brown. I was a little worried because I had already put a satin varnish coat on them, but the paint seems to be sticking just fine. Fortunately it wasn't a drastic color change and going from light to dark was an easy transition.

[Fardaza]

Excellent Baelthazar!

I haven't painted minis in about 35 years, and those are way beyond what I could have done.

[Blackhawk]

So, in my brief study of art so far, I've realized the answer to one of my problems that I've been fighting with for a while.

Years ago my minis used to be bright and colorful. For a while now, though, everything I've painted has been dark and has had poor contrast. I'd paint them with bright colors, and I'd highlight, but they'd end up dark and dull anyway.

I now know why: I was over-lighting them while I was painting them. I learned this while doing some research on studio lighting. I have been painting under such a bright light that the paints all look brighter, and I've been darkening them to compensate for all the extra light hitting them without realizing it. So, lighting: You can do too much of it. I have great bulbs, but I am going to have to move them further away.

[baelthazar]

Excellent Baelthazar!

I haven't painted minis in about 35 years, and those are way beyond what I could have done.

To be honest, the Bone Eaters were easy. I did a technique using the airbrush by priming black, then priming gray from above at a 45-degree angle, then a light spray of white from directly above. Citadel (Games Workshop) makes a new type of paint called contrast paint that is basically a glaze - strong color pigments that are heavily diluted to run into crevices and make natural highlights. It also "blends" fairly well if you put darker colors on top of lighter colors, so making the head green was just a matter of brushing it on. I did a quick bright yellow drybrush and then put a nice yellow glaze made by Games Workshop on top to make the yellow stand out more. It sounds complicated, but it was actually just applying washes.

As Blackhawk said, they came out a bit darker than I wanted, but that was largely due to the yellow contrast paint not interacting well with the darker primer coat as it does with the gray and white (it looks greenish). It works with these models, but - were I to do this again - I would prime with a mix of black and gray, then straight gray, then white, to lighten up the shadows.

[Blackhawk]

Citadel Contrast paints are inconsistent when it comes to how they react to primer value. Some really take on the shading of the underlying primer. Others end up completely washed out on darker primers. Still others go on so heavily that the primer makes almost no difference at all. Two tricks:

1. Zenithal highlighting can be done backwards if you know you want bright colors, and this can be especially effective if you are using an airbrush. Do what you've been doing, except swap black with gray, and mix white+gray for what you were using gray for and then white (so the same thing you've been doing, except take it up one step in value.) The trick is that after the first color (gray in this case) prime them from underneath, at an angle directly opposite your highlights, with black. So if you plan on highlighting from 45 degrees over the right shoulder, use the black from 45 degrees under from the left leg. It's a little tricky because you have to make sure the side of the body that's hidden from the brush also gets some (in this case, like under right arm.) This intensifies the deeper shadows while at the same time brightening the colors overall.

2. Contrast paint pigments are fairly dense for what they do. If you really want the zenithal highlights to pop, especially with the heavier colors or over metallics, experiment with a bottle of Citadel Contrast Medium. It's basically clear, colorless Contrast paints. When you mix a little with a contrast paint (in a palette, of course), it decreases the density of the color without affecting how the paint works. This lets the deeper layers show through better.

[baelthazar]

Contrast paint pigments are fairly dense for what they do. If you really want the zenithal highlights to pop, especially with the heavier colors or over metallics, experiment with a bottle of Citadel Contrast Medium. It's basically clear, colorless Contrast paints.

Yes! I think this would have really been a good move, particularly if I had used the gray, gray-white, white method you said above. The yellow contrast paint tended to pool in the recesses as brown and look more brown-yellow, even on the white primer. Since this was my first try, I am mostly happy with the result (particularly since these guys are supposed to be gross and weird) but I would have liked them to be brighter (more like the box).

The other thing I am learning is that zenithal priming doesn't do much when you airbrush regular colors on top as a basecoat. Even light basecoats need to be thinned to make them translucent enough to matter. I did the zenithal priming on my Purge and they don't look different at all.

[baelthazar]

Also Blackhawk, I really appreciate your guidance here. It has been very valuable!

[Malificent]

So, I've been painting Middara minis, as it is the next big campaign up on our docket. But as a palate cleanser, we decided to play Fallout with the Atomic Bonds co-op expansion. And what we had been "meh" about before turned out to be a blast. That was Tuesday. We're playing again Saturday, so I decided I would paint all 10 minis before Saturday. Thursday night and I've finished and I don't think I lost quality in favor of the speed. I did choose not to base, but I've never based before, so I'll let the Middara minis be my first experiment. Meanwhile, Fallout painted minis!

[YellowKing]

Very nice! There's something about those Fallout minis that really sucked me in. I did much the same thing and painted them all in about a week or two. I don't usually get that immersed in a single set of minis.

Fortunately the Middara minis (at least the monsters) are pretty quick to do. The characters are detailed and took quite a bit of time, but most of the monster sets are pretty one-note and you can get a little assembly line going. I've been painting them as I need them since you can look ahead to the next encounter and see what creatures are listed. There were a couple of times where I was hit with a surprise spawn and had to use an unpainted mini temporarily, but then I just added him next in the queue. It's worked well so far and has allowed me to balance painting and playing without getting burned out.

[Malificent]

Very nice! There's something about those Fallout minis that really sucked me in. I did much the same thing and painted them all in about a week or two. I don't usually get that immersed in a single set of minis.

Fortunately the Middara minis (at least the monsters) are pretty quick to do. The characters are detailed and took quite a bit of time, but most of the monster sets are pretty one-note and you can get a little assembly line going. I've been painting them as I need them since you can look ahead to the next encounter and see what creatures are listed. There were a couple of times where I was hit with a surprise spawn and had to use an unpainted mini temporarily, but then I just added him next in the queue. It's worked well so far and has allowed me to balance painting and playing without getting burned out.

Yeah, I'm about through the first chapter or so worth of minis. Fallout should take us a while and that'll give me time to finish Middara. Then while we're playing Middara, I can paint Chronicles of Drunagor. If I can stay one game ahead...

[Malificent]

Back to painting Middara minis. About halfway through...sort of. I'm attempting basing for the first time, so I have like 30 minis painted but not based, so more work to go back on. Although a few will not need to be based because it just doesn't make sense, like the Earth Loa below.

[YellowKing]

These guys were really fun to paint due to their rainbow butts.

I went with pure black bases for all the monsters for now since they have the base ring, but at some point I may go back and add terrain. At least with the black it will be easy to add stuff to them later.

[hentzau]

Hot off the printer…

[Isgrimnur]

Now all you need is some Lizardmen.

[baelthazar]

Per Blackhawk’s suggestion, I experimented with contrast medium. The result was quite good.

[Malificent]

Almost done with Middara. About 10 minis left, although many of those are the large minis (maxis?). Anyway, here are the heroes:

[baelthazar]

These look fantastic!

[YellowKing]

Those are awesome! Mine are......not my finest work. I was in a real hurry to just play, so I rushed the hell out of them. But considering this one will likely never get to the group table and I'm the only one seeing them, they'll do.

[Malificent]

Those are awesome! Mine are......not my finest work. I was in a real hurry to just play, so I rushed the hell out of them. But considering this one will likely never get to the group table and I'm the only one seeing them, they'll do.

Heh. We just got this to the table Saturday and played through the first scenario so I'm still ahead of the game right now.

[Blackhawk]

When I grow up, I want to be able to paint like hentzau.

All just trickery and boredom. But thank you! And here. This is what I got done this weekend. I still have to paint it, but it’s pretty cool IMHO.

I don't know if you're still on this project, but I had this video pop up today and thought I'd share:

[hentzau]

When I grow up, I want to be able to paint like hentzau.

All just trickery and boredom. But thank you! And here. This is what I got done this weekend. I still have to paint it, but it’s pretty cool IMHO.

I don't know if you're still on this project, but I had this video pop up today and thought I'd share:

Yeah, I’ve already watched it. I was mostly hoping to get a clue about his colors, but I haven’t bought into his oil paints method yet.

[Malificent]

Finished painting Middara, yay! Here are some adventurers from the promo box:

[hepcat]

I wish I'd backed for the promo box so I could do crawls. I didn't realize at the time that you had to play the 4 characters they gave you, or that the extra characters were coming in wave 2. Ah well, still having a blast with it. Just finished a 3 hour session, as a matter of fact.

[Tao]

Anyone have a recommendation for a YouTube channel on miniature painting hosted by a women? My niece has taken an interest in art and being creative primarily doing extreme make-up. I thought she might like to try painting miniatures as it's less ephemeral than make-up and I purchased her a miniature painting starter kit. I've also been looking for some how-to beginner videos and realized all of the channels I watch are hosted by men so I was looking for come content that would also show that women can and do enjoy the hobby as well. I've found reference to professional women painters, which I will share with her, but no videos.

[hentzau]

Anyone have a recommendation for a YouTube channel on miniature painting hosted by a women? My niece has taken an interest in art and being creative primarily doing extreme make-up. I thought she might like to try painting miniatures as it's less ephemeral than make-up and I purchased her a miniature painting starter kit. I've also been looking for some how-to beginner videos and realized all of the channels I watch are hosted by men so I was looking for come content that would also show that women can and do enjoy the hobby as well. I've found reference to professional women painters, which I will share with her, but no videos.

There is one channel by someone called Dana Howl, but I am not a huge fan of her style. There's also the Crafting Muse, but she's mostly terrain, not so much minis. That's about all I got.

[Tao]

Thanks I will look at the Crafting Muse. I actually watch a bunch of stuff from Dana Howl, I find her to be really talented and I enjoy her dry humor. Her videos are on my short list to recommend but I need to speak with my sister first. I personally have no issue what so ever with Ms. Howl, who she is, how she represents herself or her lifestyle, again I really enjoy her videos, but there may be some confusing aspects for my niece who is a pre-teen and I need to make sure my sister is okay if the conversation comes up.

[hentzau]

Thanks I will look at the Crafting Muse. I actually watch a bunch of stuff from Dana Howl, I find her to be really talented and I enjoy her dry humor. Her videos are on my short list to recommend but I need to speak with my sister first. I personally have no issue what so ever with Ms. Howl, who she is, how she represents herself or her lifestyle, again I really enjoy her videos, but there may be some confusing aspects for my niece who is a pre-teen and I need to make sure my sister is okay if the conversation comes up.

Yeah, I didn’t even blink an eye, so I didn’t think about it maybe being an issue. But I can see it.

[Smoove_B]

I was watching Sword 'n' Steele for a while, but she tilts a bit too heavy on Warhammer stuff. She does paint other figure types and covers various techniques and paint lines, but in terms of the types of models she seems to prefer, it definitely seems to be Wharhammer (or it was when I was regularly watching).

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzULIs ... OWA/videos

[AWS260]

Dana Howl is fantastic, if you're into dry humor and millennial riffs on the 1980s. Lyla Mev is also very good.

[Blackhawk]

I've always been fond of GirlPainting. It's like watching Mrs. Doubtfire painting miniatures!

[Tao]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

[Malificent]

Back painting to Chronicles of Drunagor and Marvel United. Real happy with how Scarlet Witch's face turned out:

[hentzau]

Got my paint on again!

[hentzau]