Painting Miniatures

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There doesn't really seem to be a thread for this topic anywhere in the forum, other than a couple of aborted attempts that are more than three or four years old, so I thought I'd try again. In my pre-children life, I used to paint a lot of minis for RPGs, and now I'm looking at starting to get back into it, especially as I've picked up a few of the CMON board games that come with really nice plastic figures.

Is there anyone around who paints... well, anything, really? Board game figures, Reaper Bones minis, Games Workshop Resins, anyone's pewter figures, and so on?

I'm going to take a stab this summer at Arcadia Quest's figures. We'll see if my painting muscles have atrophied in the time I've taken off.

I'm very new to painting. I have invested in every product in the Imperial Assault series thus far. I've begun painting with the dip method. I don't really have any of the high quality products yet, as this is my first time. I've painted about 25 of the minis so far. You can definitely tell that a novice has done the work, but it's quite fun.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnCjEDKWgAA7wM2.jpg)

I'm slowly learning how to paint minis for the first time... Above is some work I did a couple weeks ago. I was at a board game auction awhile back and picked up the latest edition WH40k starter set for $40. Other than the box being a bit damaged, the contents were intact, and it was something on my geek bucket list I've always wanted to do.

I've been painting up the Dark Angel marines and now Chaos Warriors. Trying to stay with the "official" colors but being red/green colorblind has made it difficult. Kind of wish I had just gone ahead and painted them as blue Ultramarines and red/black Chaos Marines...

And some lessons I've learned... Good paint is worth it! I painted car/starship models years ago using Testors enamel, never felt I did good work with it. I am picking up Citadel pots as I go (there's a Games Workshop store walking distance from my home ) and yeah, they're pricey but the difference is great! All in all, it's been a great zen experience, painting when I can, not even really caring about the game itself.

There was another thread out there, I don't recall anymore, that had some of us sharing painting tips/accomplishments.

I've not been good about it this year, but I have a couple Warmachine/Hordes armies that need more painting! I'm still not very good, but I'm willing to say that my paint jobs are at least adequate now. It just takes me forever to complete them!

I couldn't find a nothing after five minutes with the search bar, Farscry, but if you can point me in that direction that would be great.

I used to use the Citadel paints, but as a long-term painter (I did WH models for 15+ yrs) it drove me nuts that they "refreshed" their paint lines every five years and I couldn't get the same colours anymore. I also remember when their paint pots used to have pop-up lids that actually sealed - I have paints from 1994 that are still fine to use, and then they switched to screw-top lids that dry out in six months.

A couple of years ago I switched to the Reaper Master series, which are excellent and I'll never go back. I just wish I had a FLGS that stocked them regular instead of having to mail-order everything.

Hey, here's a thread I can really dip my brush into (pun intended).

I typically try to paint a board game before I play it, but since I rarely play anymore I have a huge backlog of stuff.

I've mostly finished Descent 2nd Ed plus a few expansions and lieutenant minis. I'm partly through Imperial Assault, but that has a long way to go. Part way through the Epic quest that is Kingdom Death... but that will probably never get finished completely. I fully painted a friends copy of Zombicide: Black Plague in exchange for part of another game.
I've done a few wargame armies: A 40k Black Templar, FOW British.
I just picked up a copy of 'Tanks' so may try to blast out the small number of vehicles in that, soon.

I'm going to be painting the Banner Saga Warbands figures as soon as they show up next month. Fortunately, my younger brother is very experienced painting Warhammer figures, so I'm able to borrow all of his painting stuff and get some advice/help with layering procedure. I'm really looking forward to it!

Thread bookmarked! I've been meaning to get back to the painting table this summer...

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm going to be painting the Banner Saga Warbands figures as soon as they show up next month. Fortunately, my younger brother is very experienced painting Warhammer figures, so I'm able to borrow all of his painting stuff and get some advice/help with layering procedure. I'm really looking forward to it!

There are banner saga minis?!?

I just got back into Warmachine and will be doing some Cygnar painting. More pics soon.

Well, they've not atrophied at least, though I've slowed waaaaaaay down.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/iwJ4ROJ.jpg)

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Johan:

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I've been getting back into D&D in a big way with 5th edition, logged about 20 hours of play time in the last 8 days. Consequently, I've dug out my old Grenadier lead figures, of which I painted about 50% while buzzed from coffee, paint fumes, and Rush on vinyl as a kid.

Today I ordered a bunch of Reaper Dark Heaven Legend miniatures, metal ones. Does anyone know how different metal figures will be to paint, compared to the old lead ones? It took me about 4 hours to fully paint a few lead miniatures in those days, but that could also have been due to a caffeine/prog rock/turpentine haze.

It's fundamentally the same, except that the metal is harder. This only really matters if you're reposing or converting (replacing weapons, or combining two different minis completely.). I never encountered any real variance to the standard "prime, paint, seal," from lead to metal to molded plastic to injected plastic - it's all pretty much the same.

tuffalobuffalo in the board game thread wrote:

It finally came!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/6vYmFt0.jpg)

It's the most beautiful board game box I've ever seen! Looking forward to painting all the minis really well, but it'll realistically take me several years to get to it given how busy I am.

As usual with complicated Kickstarter projects, they screwed up a couple things I guess. I haven't looked into it too much yet. The most noticeable thing is the boxes aren't numbered for the backers which I didn't even realize was going to be a thing. It would have been cool, but I doubt this game will be all that collectible except to the people who bought in in the first place.

Got the first figure painted with a little help from my brother. This is going to take awhile. Crappy mobile phone pic:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/YCuQzNR.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/118Kz3v.jpg)

The base isn't done yet. It's not a terrible job which is what I'm going for given I have no prior experience.

Looks nice! It is hard to get the cloth draping right and you did a really good job with it.

Cross posted at the "thing you created" thread.

I got a whole bunch of Reaper HD paints for Christmas. They don't coat as well as the citadel paints I used to use, but I'm going to try layering more.

My berserker ax man (54mm)
Front
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0818.jpg)

Back
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0819.jpg)

I'm not happy with the coverage there. The brush strokes show too much. We'll see how a second coat works.

After that I'll do a shading wash and a highlight dry brush.

Experimenting with colors on space marines (29mm):

Front
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0820.jpg)

Side
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0821.jpg)

Back
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0822.jpg)

Again, more brush strokes all over the place. It needs some touch up before I give it a wash. I'd also like o work on the backpack exhaust vents to see if I can make them look like they're glowing. I've seen the technique done, but I don't know how to do it yet.

Classic dwarf (29mm)

Front
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0823.jpg)

Back
IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0824.jpg)

The detail work on the shield came out awful, and at least part of that was the paint. It's labeled "shining mithril" on the bottle, and it's supposed to be a metallic, but it comes out a gloppy white. Maybe I didn't shake it enough.

Other than that this one just needs a wash and dry brush.

I also have this beast that I sculpted myself primed. I haven't decided on a color palette yet. He's inspired by the heavy, and the fact that the portable rolls of disposeable diaper bags we had struck me as perfect gun barrels for this sort of project.

IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0827.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0826.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n369/pat3ot/IMG_0825.jpg)

You might want to experiment with gray and black primers. I only use white if I'm going to paint a bright color like say yellow. Can also save some time buying a primer of whatever bulk color will make up the majority of the figure. Like instead of painting all that purple on the chaos marine I would primer it in purple. The little details I would paint white or black and then add the color. Metals like gold and silver tend to look better over black.

Been a long time since I painted anything. I hate how much GW paints cost but they do work better than the walmart/michaels paints.

The white on the figures looks shiny is it a matte finish? Painting on glossy can make it look streaky.

Also you could do some dry brushing on the dwarf to spruce it up. Like a lighter grey on the hair. Could try a black wash on the chain areas to make it pop. I tend to paint messy by doing a black wash over areas by watering down black paint so it is real thin. After it dries I do some dry brushing to clean it up a bit.

Ognitinoc wrote:

You might want to experiment with gray and black primers. I only use white if I'm going to paint a bright color like say yellow. Can also save some time buying a primer of whatever bulk color will make up the majority of the figure. Like instead of painting all that purple on the chaos marine I would primer it in purple. The little details I would paint white or black and then add the color. Metals like gold and silver tend to look better over black.

Been a long time since I painted anything. I hate how much GW paints cost but they do work better than the walmart/michaels paints.

The white on the figures looks shiny is it a matte finish? Painting on glossy can make it look streaky.

Also you could do some dry brushing on the dwarf to spruce it up. Like a lighter grey on the hair. Could try a black wash on the chain areas to make it pop. I tend to paint messy by doing a black wash over areas by watering down black paint so it is real thin. After it dries I do some dry brushing to clean it up a bit.

I used to use GW paints, but they changed the formulation and they don't sell the ones I used to use. I decided to try Reaper because they don't have a billion specialty paints viscosities (this is for washes, and this is for layers, and this is for dry fishing, and this is for Let me mix my own you micromanaging pratt!)

I was already planning on doing a black wash on the dwarf, followed by some dry brushing for the highlights.

I honestly don't know if the paints are matte or glossy. It doesn't say on the bottle. I'd guess they're matte, judging by how they've dried.

I hadn't thought of priming with the color I wanted to show through. I may want to go back to a black primer, because my earlier minis were primed black and they came out much better.

Thanks for all the advice.

I don't have a link handy but Tabletop Minions on YouTube showed a trick (contrast priming?) where he black primes his models from below, then uses a grey primer from above to build in the start of a highlight. Seemed to make a huge difference to mine so I do it on everything.

Also, after 8 months of mini painting, I think I finally learned the right tricks like how to thin paints to the right consistency too. Helps avoid brush marks. I also started making my own wet palettes which are kind of fantastic!

Working my way through Blood Rage, almost all of the Raven Clan painted so far and all the 'small' monsters. Here's the Raven Clan!

IMAGE(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic3387972_md.jpg)

Ooh, those are nice. What paints are you using?

Love the blood rage pic!

I have been working through Imperial Assault using Sorastro's tutorials. Now I'm starting in on the Twin Shadows expansion. I've learned so much following the tutorial.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/2ygfCGr.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/H9b3dMS.jpg)

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I've only done the Frost Giant and haven't touched any other minis from Blood Rage. Again, thank you Sorastro. On this one I learned about zenithal priming

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/O4ntbA2.jpg)

Feegle wrote:

Ooh, those are nice. What paints are you using?

Thanks!

Reaper paints. I've got the Reaper Bones 3 kickstarter arriving in April (finally) and to prepare my wife and I bought the "Learn to Paint" set and enjoyed painting the included minis and finally getting started on the Blood Rage minis. We had been painting with straight up Acrylic paints, but I'm glad we made the switch since it's a lot easier to conserve paint and mix paint with the reaper bottles and they honestly look a lot better on the minis.

Big bonus was that the included instructions worked great for both of us (I have a history painting minis from a long time ago, my wife is new to this) to explain how a few different techniques work. While I 'knew' how to wash and dry brush, I really didn't understand how the color mixes chosen to do each one interacted with each other rather than just dark vs. light.

After that we got the "Learn to Paint 2" set, which finally included enough colors to round out the primary colors and has a bunch of flesh tones. While we weren't a huge fan of the highlighting style that was taught in the instructions it was still a valuable lesson.

Super excited to keep moving on Blood Rage and jump into the Bones kickstarter when it arrives.

Omnivore wrote:

Frost Giant

Nice! I'm pretty intimidated by the large monsters. PlusOne did the Sea Serpent already and it's really amazing (she wants to go back for more details). I'd like to do the Fire Giant next, but apparently what I want to do is non-standard to the Blood Rage canon and has me a little worried about how it will look.

Basically, I want to do the skin in a base coat of red, do a wash in bright yellow and then highlight with black to see if it makes all the joints and crevices look like magma under a coat of ash.

Also, your Star Wars minis are amazing!

Jolly, you definitely need to check this out. Life changing stuff. I haven't set aside the time or worked up enough courage to start on this one.

The Star Wars minis are my first "grown up" attempts at painting. I was super intimidated by painting anything, but I just have to relax and realize each mini is a chance to get a bit better.

I've seen parts of that video before, but again, that's part of why I'm nervous about deviating so heavily from the established canon art scheme. I've not seen anyone do such a light wash / dark highlight and I'd love to see how that worked out elsewhere before committing to it on such a big/important figure.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4gpC5oW8AAgRMl.jpg)

Finally finished up my Blood Bowl Ork team last week. Working on my Human team now. Decided to go with the traditional color schemes.

All in all, in less than a year this hobby has absolutely taken over my free time. Whenever we had weather above 60 here this past Winter, I'd prep a batch of models in advance for priming. Now my ToDo list is kind of insane...

Convert a WH Treekin into a Bloodbowl Treekin player
20 Tactical Marines, 5 Assault, 1 Rhino, 2 Dreadnaughts
20 Fire Warriors, 10 Pathfinders, 1 Devilfish
12 Terminators, 20 Genestealers from Space Hulk

And I'm thinking of asking for either a Triumvirate of the Imperium set or a beginner's airbrush kit for Father's Day. Should probably get the airbrush first...
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US...

That sounds like my to do list for Blood Rage. I.... don't actually want to type it all out and look at it.

When I think of all the minis to paint my head spins a bit. I prefer to bury my head in the sand and work one at a time.

I've been thinking of painting Zombicide Black Plague but I'm not sure if it's a game I'll enjoy or not.

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