Perhaps I will be struck blind by soa^H^H^H non-toxic paint poisoning.
My guess is that their claim above about drying time, blending and mixing has to do with the fact that their paints are liquid pigment based as opposed to everyone else who uses a powder. You can thin the P3 paints as much as you want and not lose the original color. The downside is that they don’t work well for things like drybrushing.
One more awesome thing. I’ve recently seen the light and need to try this out immediately.
http://www.helldorado.fr/figurines/helle-moller-step-by-step-painting-guide-by-thomas.php
The article is a bit short but basically it is pre-shading using an airbrush or a lighter color spray. You pick a direction for a light source and then use the airbrush (or spray can) to add a lighter color from that lightsource. After that you use fairly thin washes and highlights (sparingly) to finish up quickly. There is a fantastic video of this from Miniature Mentor as well, same guy. He knocks out models better than anything I have ever seen on a table in 1-2 hours per model. The video is definitely my favorite one from MM. I’m a bit hesitant to recommend them in general since they want $70 up front now and an $8 subscription, but you can buy the speed painting one for $25 which is a decent deal. It’s 4ish hours long, 1080p, and the miniature always fills the frame so you can see exactly where and how the brush strokes go. The narrator/camera guy is a bit annoying but it’s worth it to see how a master paints things.
Spit thins the paint as you’re blend it. I don’t know of any miniature paints that can be wet-blended without some intermediary thinner; spit just happens to be the easiest one to acquire.
I used P3 paints at the end of my painting career; unlike all the other mini paints the pigment is a liquid so it thins much better. I wish they came out of a dropper bottle though; when you’re blending up a custom color having some level of precision measurement beyond “One brush full” is nice. The Vallejo droppers aren’t super precise; but they’re better than nothing!
This thread got me to rummage through my stuff and I found a nice set of unpainted minis: a complete Fellowship of the Ring. But then I found my paints: I guess bone-dry 8 year old Citadel acrylics are beyond any salvage attempts.
I’ve done it without extenders, saliva, thinners or anything but the paint and a brush. Haven’t met an acrylic that I can’t do it with, be it tube acrylic like Liquitex or Winsor & Newton, or hobby paints like Ral Partha or GW. It’s easier with oil paint (if you can stand the stink), and maybe saliva makes it easier with some hobby paints, but it can be done. But perhaps I have more experience with paints and painting than most, having gone through a full art program in college.
I used P3 paints at the end of my painting career; unlike all the other mini paints the pigment is a liquid so it thins much better. I wish they came out of a dropper bottle though; when you’re blending up a custom color having some level of precision measurement beyond “One brush full” is nice. The Vallejo droppers aren’t super precise; but they’re better than nothing!
Yeah, getting brush-fulls is imprecise and tends to get the paint all over the parts of the brush you’d prefer the paint not to end up on.
They can be revived with the addition of water, but at a certain point, it may still be soft but won’t mix with the water. Bone dry would be beyond that point. Sometimes a thick layer has irreversibly bound, but if you puncture that you can get to paint that hasn’t reached that stage and can be revived with some water (assuming acrylic).
But beyond that, time to buy some fresh paint.
This seems as good a place as any to brag^H^H^H^H solicit criticism on my painting skillz. I built an Ork Big Mek with Kustom Force Field from scratch, and it’s the only model I’ve fully painted yet.
The KFF was built from a pile of pewter pieces mostly scrounged from Heavy Gear and Star Fleet Battles. I’d ideally like the electricity arcs to look a bit more lightning-y, but a white basecoat and drybrush of metallic blue didn’t seem to do the trick. Any ideas?
Edit: Oh, and I should note that all of the light effects are due to actual light. I’m not going to highlight anything until I’ve got the entire army to a minimum standard.
Ok, well first things first, it’s neat and mostly tidy. A few things jumped out at me as immediate points of advice though.
Firstly, preparation is key. You cannot produce a good result over crappy preparation. There are a number of very visible mould lines on the figure that should have been cleaned up before it was primed. The arm with the tool-thing is the most obvious example. A few seconds with a file and an X-Acto will do wonders.
Secondly, as you’ve no doubt noticed yellow doesn’t cover onto black at all. You can see the black basecoat through the yellow paint in quite a few areas. with some colours you can fix that by painting a few additional thin layers over the top until you have a nice smooth coat but, for yellow, you’d need so many layers you’d obscure all the detail. The best way is to paint the yellow areas brown (for a darker, warmer yellow) or white (for a bright, cold yellow) first. You will still probably need a couple of coats to get a smooth coverage but nowhere near as bad as trying to paint yellow directly onto black. Citadel Foundation paints are particularly good for this - a thin coat of Tau Sept Ochre or Iyanden Darksun is a great base for a yellow topcoat over black.
Bases make the entire figure look more complete. Paint it and then flock or sand it and you’ll be amazed at the difference this small step will make. In the same vein try washing the silver areas with either a black or dark brown ink wash. This will shade the metal and make it look pleasingly oily and grubby.
Regarding the lightning effect. I don’t think it’s possible to make realistic looking lightning from wires. I don’t know how I’d approach that to be honest. It’s easy to paint lightning effects onto a flat surface but making a good 3d representation would be very hard.
Overall, it’s a good kitbash and a creditable first effort.
I was hoping the black bleedthrough would result in a grubby effect. It’s notably ineffective at doing so on the mount for the dish (the rumpled surface resulted in the yellow pooling in the crevices, giving exactly the opposite effect I’d want from a wash). Speaking of washes, I’d kind of like to do a black one to junk it up some more but I’m not sure how to prepare/use one with enamel paint.
As for the mold lines, I’m kinda screwed on that front. I didn’t think about it as much of an issue and I’ve got over a hundred figs primed already.
For bright yellow, start by painting the area a uniform Fiery Orange.
Use an extremely thinned down brown wash to darken the recesses (rinsing agent is your friend here).
Use a hard & relatively large brush to paint the outermost parts of the area white. You’ll want a reasonable amount of thin white paint on the brush, and apply it by sliding the side of the brush along the surface.
Finally, use a soft & relatively large brush to paint the outermost parts of the area with the yellow you want. Use rapid, soft brush-stroked with the tip of the brush.
Of course, that’s how I do it. It won’t necessarily work for you at all, and there may well be equally quick & simple ways that give much better results.
Speaking of washes, I’d kind of like to do a black one to junk it up some more but I’m not sure how to prepare/use one with enamel paint.
Unfortunately I have no idea. But why use enamel paints?
As for the mold lines, I’m kinda screwed on that front. I didn’t think about it as much of an issue and I’ve got over a hundred figs primed already.
Mould lines are very easy to scrape off with the dull edge of a hobby knife or scalpel.
While you’re at it, get a hold of some Green Stuff or similar, and an eraser you can carve some brush-like & brush-sized pieces out of.
Chances are you have at least a couple of large multi-component kits in the hundred, where the components unfit together in their own little homage to Frankenstein’s Monster. That’s very easy to fix with a modelling putty. The only problem is modelling putty is really hard to use if you don’t know to use a brush-like bit of eraser dipped in water to manipulate it. On the other hand, once you do know, it becomes downright shockingly easy. And very fast, too.
Primer-wise, there won’t be any weirdness as long as you smooth the areas you’ve scraped, with some 1000+ micrograin sandpaper.
If you can be bothered, it’s a good idea to give your minis an extremely thin coat of GW basecoat. Assuming they’re Orks, green would be a good choice. Unless they’re all going to be very yellow, in which case you will hate yourself if you don’t use white.
Here’s how I imitated painted Ork skin before I had enough practise to do a better job actually painting it:
Start with Snot Green as the base colour.
Do a very heavy wash with Green Wash. Mind the mini will need to dry for some hours afterwards.
Wet-drybrush with Snot Green.
(Very-)Drybrush with Sunburst Yellow.
(Extremely-)Drybrush with Skull White.
Wet-drybrushing means that your brush is dry enough that you can avoid leaving paint in recesses when you draw the side (as opposed to using the tip) of the brush along an area, but that it is wet enough to leave an actual coat of paint. I’m pretty sure it’s not even a home made term.
Very/extremely dry drybrushing probably are home made terms, but the idea is simply that your brush is so dry that you only leave dust/flecks of pigment behind.
If you do the above, the end result will be a sort of fake highlights that look reasonably good from across the table. But get any closer than that and the poor, abused minis start looking more like they’re covered in weird-looking dust. Because, well, that’s exactly what they are.
I actually have a Gorka Morka mob lying around were painted both the yellow & green I’ve just outlined. Unfortunately my hateful camera will not focus on anything if there’s the slightest chance a mini might get caught in the frame. I don’t know what to do about it, but… I may try to figure something out once I’m nice & hung-over next year. You should probably let me know if you’d appreciate it. Motivation kind of thing, you know ;)
Because I’ve got a pre-existing collection from childhood model building, and it would cost me at least a hundred dollars to replicate my existing collection with Citadel stuff.
While you’re at it, get a hold of some Green Stuff or similar, and an eraser you can carve some brush-like & brush-sized pieces out of.
Chances are you have at least a couple of large multi-component kits in the hundred, where the components unfit together in their own little homage to Frankenstein’s Monster. That’s very easy to fix with a modelling putty. The only problem is modelling putty is really hard to use if you don’t know to use a brush-like bit of eraser dipped in water to manipulate it. On the other hand, once you do know, it becomes downright shockingly easy. And very fast, too.
I’ve been using green stuff quite a bit already. It and JB Weld both seem invaluable for kitbashing, wherever two pieces that were never meant to intersect need a good solid join. Thanks for the tip about the eraser. That sounds like a much better idea than the toothpicks I’ve been using, or for that matter the $20 “official” metal sculpting tools. I’ve already noticed a marked tendency for green stuff to stick to metal in a thin layer; is it less likely to do that to the eraser?
Unless they’re all going to be very yellow,
This is going to be a motley mob. I want to try paint schemes for each of the Ork clans, so at least one unit each with primary colors of red, blue, yellow, brown, black, and camo. I also intend at some point to do a batch of Juggalorks with black and white face paint and magnet iconography.
Here’s how I imitated painted Ork skin before I had enough practise to do a better job actually painting it:
Start with Snot Green as the base colour.
Do a very heavy wash with Green Wash. Mind the mini will need to dry for some hours afterwards.
Wet-drybrush with Snot Green.
(Very-)Drybrush with Sunburst Yellow.
(Extremely-)Drybrush with Skull White.
At the moment, due to the aforementioned price differential between enamel and acrylic for me, what I’m doing is just painting them one of three different colors: green (that’s the plain green on the Mek there), olive, and beret green (which is a dark forest green). Once I’ve got everyone done up in half-decent colors all over, I plan to come back and drybrush highlights of a mix of the base color + a little white.
I actually have a Gorka Morka mob lying around were painted both the yellow & green I’ve just outlined. Unfortunately my hateful camera will not focus on anything if there’s the slightest chance a mini might get caught in the frame. I don’t know what to do about it, but… I may try to figure something out once I’m nice & hung-over next year. You should probably let me know if you’d appreciate it. Motivation kind of thing, you know ;)
Yeah, I’d like to see that. I don’t have much reference for what Orks should look like in the range between HAY GUYS I USED KRYLON GREEN and $25 a fig pro paint.
I would pick up some black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, brown, silver & gold Vallejo paints, and a set of GW washes. Or maybe get the Vallejo starter & ink sets. Either way it shouldn’t cost more than a pricey XBox game (which is another way of saying: less than 50$)
I tried to use enamel paints back when I started trying to paint stuff, but they were a bitch to use. Acrylics on a wet palette are much easier to work with, and much less work.
I’ve been using green stuff quite a bit already. It and JB Weld both seem invaluable for kitbashing, wherever two pieces that were never meant to intersect need a good solid join. Thanks for the tip about the eraser. That sounds like a much better idea than the toothpicks I’ve been using, or for that matter the $20 “official” metal sculpting tools. I’ve already noticed a marked tendency for green stuff to stick to metal in a thin layer; is it less likely to do that to the eraser?
I don’t know JB Weld, but at least with Green Stuff & Milliput you do not want to use metal sculpting tools. Because as you note, it sticks to the tools. Good tool materials are rubber and wood. But regardless of the material your tools are made of, they must be wet.
You can buy sculpting tools of eraser-like material if you really want to, but they’re no better than proper erasers, they’re way, way more expensive (seriously, you could probably buy a pound of erasers for the price of one of those tools), and they can’t even be used as erasers :p
Dentist spatula thingies - what are those things called anyway? - are a great basis for making your own wooden sculpting tools, and chances are you can get a couple of handfuls for free next time you’re at the dentist.
Apropos dentists, those guys know tonnes about sculpting. Granted, it’s tooth-related sculpting they know about, but it’s roughly the same scale & mostly the same materials. Point is, note down your questions as they come up, and if we can’t help you out, try asking your dentist.
This is going to be a motley mob. I want to try paint schemes for each of the Ork clans, so at least one unit each with primary colors of red, blue, yellow, brown, black, and camo. I also intend at some point to do a batch of Juggalorks with black and white face paint and magnet iconography.
You may already be doing this, but in case you’re not: consider drawing a colourbook-style Ork & scan it, so you have a paper doll sort of thing to try your paint schemes on before you start on the minis. Yes, I’m aware it sounds silly. But I promise you’ll feel less silly colouring your cute little drawing than you will paint-stripping 5 minis for the Nth time ;)
At the moment, due to the aforementioned price differential between enamel and acrylic for me, what I’m doing is just painting them one of three different colors: green (that’s the plain green on the Mek there), olive, and beret green (which is a dark forest green). Once I’ve got everyone done up in half-decent colors all over, I plan to come back and drybrush highlights of a mix of the base color + a little white.
In that case, you might want to try this for the skin:
Beret Green as base colour
Wet-drybrush with your second-darkest green (Olive?). You want lots, so you probably want to do this step twice.
Drybrush with the green you used on the mek.
Do the last two dust-drybrushing steps I mentioned earlier (yellow & white)
But again-again: the methods I’ve suggested in this thread will destroy your brushes incredibly fast, and the kind of paint jobs you end up with will never make anyone go “wow”.
They’re wrong & shitty ways to paint stuff. But they’re fast, require very little brush control, and as they do involve putting a brush with paint to your 28mm minis, they will give you practise. Which is why I’m suggesting them, because at least for me, painting was a shitty unfun chore until I resorted to the wrong & shitty methods I’ve just mentioned, and suddenly got a lot of practise in a very short time; enough to start painting my minis properly without them looking like a 4 year old had savaged them with an unfortunate furry & paint-dripping pet.
Yeah, I’d like to see that. I don’t have much reference for what Orks should look like in the range between HAY GUYS I USED KRYLON GREEN and $25 a fig pro paint.
Eh… It turns out I lied. Or at least, I can’t find my Gorka Morka mob anywhere. I think a couple of us may have had a game while very, very drunk, because mine isn’t the only mob missing.
But while searching for them I came across a long-forgotten mob of Gorka Morka plastics, intended as a 40K mod. I painted a bunch of these just as GW renewed their line of 40K Ork plastic kits, so a couple of the units were never finished. This is the only one with some yellow.
Finally, this is as good (and I use the word incredibly loosely here) as the quality gets, unless someone decides to give me a camera with manual zoom & a tripod or something.
Pics, part teh secondest:
Pics, part teh lastest:
Put some strong light on the figures (don’t be afraid to take them outdoors), or use a flash. Know the minimum focus distance of your camera. Try and keep the shutter speed to at least 1/60 if hand held and no form of image stabilization (there’s a whole formula for it depending on the lens, I’m just giving the shorthand version). This may require more light or a flash. If you have a macro mode on your camera, you may wish to use it.
Either that or I’ve simply gone blind…
;-)
Maybe the pics made you blind?
All of them were taken in front of a very large window in direct sunlight, amplified further with a 40watt imitation bulb pointed directly at them from maybe 12" away.
The 12 posted are the best of around 100 pics, taken over two days. The vast majority were taken using the flash (a few of the posted ones included). All of them were taken at shortest exposure speed, and from roughly twice the minimum focus distance. About half were taken with the cam fixated, including at least one of the ones posted above.
The 'Nid pics - which I suspect are about the best my cam can do - were taken after sundown, and with the sole bit of trickery that the cam seems to approach something you might generously call focus a very little bit closer, when I shake it like a spraycan.
When I buy a new camera at some point (in the hopefully distant future - it takes perfectly good pics when there’s no minis in the frame), I’ll bring a mini to the shop & stuff. Until then I guess it’ll either be no pics or night pics with shaky-cam. Because doing it “right” just doesn’t fucking work. Yes, I did read two different guides on how to take pictures of miniatures, and no I cannot be bothered to fuck around with this problem any more. My apologies.
EDIT: I forgot to post pics of these two, to show of the drybrushed Ork hide. But hey, gave me a chance to re-take them in low light, while shaking the cam. Much better. I guess my camera hates wargames.
You don’t need to replace your whole collection, just the 10-15 paints you’d need for 90% of your stuff. Crossing over to acrylics will probably be the one single thing you can do that will improve your painting the most. It opens up a lot of techniques that simply aren’t possible with enamels.
Green stuff will stick to anything that isn’t wet or oily. I dip whatever I’m using to sculpt with in my water pot periodically to stop the greenstuff from just sticking to it, at least one professional sculptor that I know uses the oil from his forehead to keep his tools non-stick (ewww).
I’m not a fan of drybrushing in general. It’s not a good technique for anything that isn’t heavily textured such as fur, feathers or hair. It will (as noted) make the figures look chalky and it tends to be messy - it’s hard to keep the figure neat and tidy overall. Neat and tidy should be your main goal over and above any clever techniques or awesome highlighting. A neat but basic figure will almost always look better than a rough one with a lot of ‘advanced techniques’ applied to it. I would recommend instead that you lay down flat and clean colours across the entire model and then apply a wash. When I really need to paint a lot of guys in a hurry (like when I need 40 Chaos Marauders for a tournament the next day) I use exactly this technique. The miniature below is painted with flat colours and then given an all over Devlan Mud wash. That’s literally all I’ve done, there’s no extra highlighting or clever bits to it at all. Takes me about 8 minutes to knock out one of these.
This is an Orc I painted for the WAR newsletter. I wrote a how-to which is on the Mythic site.
No.
Old game magazine that now seems to only deal with Games Workshop games but used to be broader in appeal.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to judge the quality of the paint job because of the blurriness, Disconnected. I recommend using a tripod… it won’t improve your painting skills but it’ll help your photography!
I found this guide to assembling and painting a Skaven Doomwheel instructive. The painting section where it shows the impact of washing and highlighting was particularly interesting.