[Painting Miniatures] The War of Art 2: Brushes covered in paint edition

Dayspring

Mad props to Raslin for the op




A lot of tabletop games involve the use of miniatures or other play aids (hand-made dungeons, illustrations, paintings, etc), and this is the thread for them. Herein we talk shop about the full gauntlet of tabletop hobby activities: modelling, painting, sculpting, converting, and many more I am certain I have forgotten. Do not be afraid to ask questions! We all started horribly, and we have no problem letting you know our secret painting methods(in turn, making them not so secret).




There are some great sites out there for painters, converters, etc. While I am not personally big on using them, I know a lot of people do. Feel free to let me know any other sites you know, I'll throw them into this post!

Spoiler:

http://www.brushthralls.com/ - A long time favorite of many of the users on these forums, filled with good tutorials

www.dakkadakka.com - While its more community than anything else, the modeling and painting forums are a great place to get advice on things.

In this thread, a number of questions come up often about certain aspects of painting, so this is a small F.A.Q. for questions you have. If any of our regular viewers would like to add to this, just let me know!

Spoiler:

Q: I see these beautiful models people post, so why do my models come out so much worse?
A: This is a hard question to answer, although part of it may just be you being critical of your own models. However, there are a few things that mini painters tend to all do, that highly increase the looks of their miniatures. First, you should always use primer on your models, whether plastic or metal. There are black and white primers, as well as coloured ones, such as red and green. I prefer white, but many people swear by the others. Experiment!

From there, it generally goes to base coating, which is what most people think at "painting". This is getting the main colours on parts. For example, you would be putting blue paint mainly on an ultramarine, with gold on certain parts, etcetera. This is also a good place to mention that you should generally water down your paints, especially if you use the main citadel line of paints. Just a few drops of water will really help getting the basecoats done.

The next two steps can be done interchangably, though I prefer to highlight before washing. So highlighting. This is just the practice of painting lighter colours on the raised parts and hard edges of a miniature. For example, lets take an imperial double eagle(the one with the two wings and two heads). Lets say this was painted with boltgun silver. You might, then, use mithril silver with a small brush to paint the edges of the feathers. This helps the model really pop, and look more striking.

Washing is the other step here. A wash is a heavily watered down paint, meant to pool in the recesses of a model to create shading and depth. The citadel washes are amazing, quite simply. They just work. Devlan mud works on everything.


Q: Ohh no, I hate how this model came out. Should I just repaint over it?
A: No, that would really kill a lot of the detail. Models are not very hard to strip! Simple green is the commonly used solution to strip a model of paint. Just leave your models submerged in simple green for at least an hour(overnight works better), and take a toothbrush to them to get off the paint afterwards(You probably dont want to use the toothbrush on your teeth later). Acetone can work for metal models, but be careful to make sure they don't have plastic parts; Acetone will eat plastic.


Q: Do I have to use GW's paints?
A: No, although you probably want to use miniature paints of some sort. These include Citadel, Vallejo, Reaper, P3, and other paints. Make sure its a paint meant for miniatures, and that its acrylic, water based paint.

As it always comes up in these threads, here's Ashers method of painting his tyranids

Spoiler:

Asher wrote:

Recipe is dead easy:
White undercoat (Skull white Spray)
Paint carapace Bestial Brown in a couple of watered down layers to get even coverage.

Now this is where it varies. For baby bugs, you can skip the next for steps and go to the straight Bleached Bone Layer. For bigger things do the following:

Streak inwards with a large brush using a 60/40 Bestial Brown/Bleached bone mix. Maybe go 1/2 to 2/3 of the length of the plate with this layer.

Then do the same using 40/60 Brown to Bone instead. Obviously you don't streak in as far.

Then you streak in using straight Bleached Bone. Use a small brush and have a lot of patience to get a good result. You can see in that picture about how far to go in.

Now, once again it depends on whether you're painting a baby bug or big bug. For Big Bugs, I carefully wash any recessed areas with Devlan mud, then go back with Skull White to tidy up any accidental splashes. Baby Bugs don't need this step.

Then, go ahead and wash the whole thing with Badab Black. You can water it down to keep the look a bit brighter if you want.

Then go back and re-streak with straight Bleached Bone again. This will give the edges of the carapace some nice depth.

Final step, Big Bugs only, mix 50/50 Skull White and Bleached Bone and do some selective streaking on the carapace to add a bit of highlighting. I haven't done that in that picture.

Hope that helps!

and of course... The Showcase.

Sevorak



Altmann



Dayspring



Asher



Matrias



Mago



Zatar



J



Morskittar



Niklas



Althai



It Burns



Raslin

Brainleech

Thanks for reminding me I had bought Ruby and yet did not paint her because I got distracted on what dino's hides look like

Chrysis

So I airbrushed some Shadow Spectres last night, but I've got no idea where to go from here. I was kind of hoping that seeing them would inspire some sort of plan, but it's kind of ended up the opposite. On the plus side, Tamiya Light Blue is a very similar colour to the studio paint job. Although a little more green/grey.

Dayspring

How about mostly grey and white armour, with bright orange for all the flowy material and glowy crystal bits?

Asher

Requesting that the OP be updated with something I've painted this year .

I too hit the wall with my Shadow Spectres after assembling a grand total of one. My plan was to black undercoat, airbrush on Vallejo Light Grey and then blend up towards white, stopping when I was happy with the colours. I was going to do the robes green to tie them back into the craftworld.

Halos Nach Tariff

New paint thread needs to be christened with a new model I think.

Just finished up this Tervigon:





It's a nice kit, looks great amongst all the little bugs and looks kinda like the Heriophant which is cool. Had to quickly improvise a suitable bone colour for the claws and carapace spine thingies as otherwise there was too much green in those areas. Now I'll probably go add said bone to all my other big monsters claws though seen as I kinda like how it looks.

I would say though that it's a model which really benefits from painting each part seperately, the body alone took me like 2 hours to finish, I can't imagine the frustration of trying to get the bruch into all those crevices with limbs and things in the way.

-Loki-

I never make the OP

Dayspring

You should have been doing nothing but sitting staring at the internet hitting refresh over and over again on a saturday night like me.

I'll go through and update the gallery. Anyone want to PM me some images of stuff they've painted recently, go for it. Otherwise I'll attempt to find it from the old thread

-Loki-

I didn't mean that as in create it, I meant it as in getting a model into it.

I'll send a picture of my Carnifex if I ever have weather good enough to dullcote the arms.

Istvaan Shogaatsu

Shamelessly submitting potential gallery entry for the OP:

Two Night Lord terminators

Chaos Lord in terminator armour

Dr_Keenbean

Here you go:



Once I get done painting a backpack I'll have a full 5 man Blood Raven squad to post as well.

Accualt

@Althai what is this sweet, sweet model from?

Echo

That's Ruby from Studio McVey.

Mr_Rose

That link should probably be in the OP too; the same question gets asked every time…

PierceNeck

It's less fun to see who gets in the OP when there's submissions instead of it being a mystery.

Echo

If I ever produce something I consider OP-worthy I'll just edit it in there myself.

Chrysis

So, I've finished my last minute painting. The Shadow Spectres are done enough that actually using them isn't embarrasing, and I've got a Farseer as well now.

Spoiler:

Shadow Spectres:




Farseer:

Obviously, the bases aren't done. Neither are the ribbons on the Spectres. I'm still not sure how to do those ribbons, as doing them Orange as suggested ends up clashing horribly with the muted nature of the armour.

Also, I still haven't sorted out a decent photography setup, so you get the good old folded piece of paper against the wall in the brightest room in the house. If you want more photos of them here is the album.

Mr. Mojo Risin

Finished my latest project, my jumppack chaplain, I need to add a blood drop to his left shoulder pad but I've taken 2 tries already and haven't been happy with my freehand skills. Other than that I might still do a bit of touch up here and there and if I ever get unlazy and head to the art store to grab a micron pen Ill add the scroll work but I'm pretty happy with it the way it is. I also did my first attempt at drybrushing on the stone at the bottom and was pleasantly surprised at the results, might have to try it out on some more stuff in the future.

Dr_Keenbean

Blood drops aren't too bad to freehand. Just paint a little circle at the bottom and a dot up top where you want the point of the drop. Then just paint 2 lines connecting the dot to the sides of the circle and fill in.

I've also found it handy to put your elbows on the table and actually place your hands in such a way that the hand that's holding the mini is also cupping your brush hand. It provides a shitload of stabilization. Also it helps to do the actual painting while slowly exhaling to steady your hands further. My hands jump around like an epileptic hummingbird on meth.

Also that chaplain is boss. If you don't want to freehand surely you have a marine or BA transfer sheet somewhere?

Mr. Mojo Risin

I'm still pretty new to the whole 40k thing so no transfers, I might give the blood drop another go today but I have some real work to try to do and I want to get Brother Corbulo done today as well.

Mr_Rose

Zoom! DAKKA! DAKKA!

Dr_Keenbean

That paint job is entirely too pristine for Orks. Though how did you get the wash so uniform?

Mr_Rose

Alcohol and q-tips.
No, really.

Also, it's not finished yet; gotta randomise the colours on the belly plating and add all the appropriate dings and scratches to the skid/tailhook.
And maybe splatter it with mud, and put a flame decal under the wings.

Mikey CTS

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Alcohol and q-tips.
No, really.

Also, it's not finished yet; gotta randomise the colours on the belly plating and add all the appropriate dings and scratches to the skid/tailhook.
And maybe splatter it with mud, and put a flame decal under the wings.

So you washed it then removed cleaned it away in areas with the alcohol q-tip? Before or after the wash dries? Please share with me your secrets!

OtakuD00D

Here's a Heavy Gear Blitz! commission I'm working on. NuCoal, client wanted a scheme consisting of gunmetal blue-and-metallics. In other words, 100% metallics.

Mr_Rose

Mikey CTS wrote: »

Mr_Rose wrote: »

Alcohol and q-tips.
No, really.

So you washed it then removed cleaned it away in areas with the alcohol q-tip? Before or after the wash dries? Please share with me your secrets!

Yeah, basically. The wash goes over a coat of gloss varnish and is left to dry before removal.

Mikey CTS

Thank you, sir. I look forward to experimenting with this technique.

Accualt

My box of Cryx Revenant Crew showed up today and they are metal. METAL! Which I knew. What I don't know is how to work with metal. The one time I tried with a box of Eldar Warlocks the primer started getting scratched off before I even got to paint them. The annoyance was high and I swore off metal...but now I'm hooked on Warmachine and have no choice. So any tips? Any soap to avoid when washing?

Second question, sealing my painted duders. I have this Citadel Purity Seal but have seen people talk about putting a gloss finish down first and then using a spray like this. But then I remember reading on here the horror story of someone's whole army getting ruined by gloss. So, before I do anything, I ask for your suggestions. Is just this Purity Seal enough? Also should I seal the base after I add little pebbles and grass or just never seal the base scenery?

Dr_Keenbean

For sealing metal I use a brush gloss varnish I got at Michael's for way cheap. Then I spray with Testor's Dullcote to take the shine off. You can use the gloss at any point since the Dullcote with take the shine off in the end. Like to pick off extremities with the gloss varnish just in case.

For bases I glue down the sand once the model is finished (after I brush on the gloss but before the Dullcote). Then I paint a really watered-down glue on top to seal the sand down so it doesn't come off on my brush while I paint it. Then the whole thing gets a spray (or two!) of Dullcote.

It's the method I used for the metal Librarian I posted earlier in the thread.

Morskittar

I love both the NuCoal models and that color scheme. Very nice!

PierceNeck

I was like, "Hey, I wonder how I am at making hills!"
So I tried making a hill. It's my first attempt, so it's not really that great. The slope is too steep and the top surface has very little playable area. But I started several others that seem better.

Spoiler:

Man, my desk (folding table) looks like a garbage dump.

Asher

Accualt wrote: »

My box of Cryx Revenant Crew showed up today and they are metal. METAL! Which I knew. What I don't know is how to work with metal. The one time I tried with a box of Eldar Warlocks the primer started getting scratched off before I even got to paint them. The annoyance was high and I swore off metal...but now I'm hooked on Warmachine and have no choice. So any tips? Any soap to avoid when washing?

Second question, sealing my painted duders. I have this Citadel Purity Seal but have seen people talk about putting a gloss finish down first and then using a spray like this. But then I remember reading on here the horror story of someone's whole army getting ruined by gloss. So, before I do anything, I ask for your suggestions. Is just this Purity Seal enough? Also should I seal the base after I add little pebbles and grass or just never seal the base scenery?

I find that with metal models, so long as you use good primer (ie good quality spray on stuff) you wont have too many issues. sure, if they get thumped around you will get chipping etc, but sadly that's jsut the nature of the beast. I have primed a few metals by hand in the past and they're the ones I have issues with. Also, Black seems much more durable than white in my experience. My Tyranids chip all the time in normal use where as I've dropped some Eldar and had them come out unscathed.

Just prime a little heavier than usual and try not to let them bump into hard things until you are done is the best advice I can give I think.

As for sealing, I personally don't do it on the grounds that even if the chance of it fucking up is low, I don't want to lose hours of work. The Spray on varnishes are notorious for going wrong to the extent that it stopped being sold in Australia because the temperature fluctuations on the trip over ruined nearly every can.

As for the bases, add flock/static grass after sealing the rest, otherwise it will look wierd.

Sneakyperson

need some help with my tyranids going with an orange carapace with grey body or grey carapace with orange body, and not sure what colours the claws and carapace highlights would be

Spoiler:

skarsol

Use brush on varnish.

Heffling

A good trick I've found is to prime with Kyrlon Flat Black. Once dry overnight, I coat with Kyrlon Clear Flat, which gives a protecting layer over the black and has hugely reduced the amount of rub-off I've had occur while handling/painting.

Heffling

I would advise anything that is bone (ridges, claws, etc) as orange and bring it up to a very bright orange. Flesh type areas go for a bluish grey.

Chrysis

A dark grey with splashes of bright orange is the best colour scheme. That's why Yme-Loc is the best craftworld. I've been using Tamiya's German Grey, but it's a very similar shade to Adeptus Battlegrey (Battlegrey is a little lighter, so makes a good highlight for German Grey) so you could probably use that instead.

OtakuD00D

Finished my commish!

Morskittar

Chrysis wrote: »

A dark grey with splashes of bright orange is the best colour scheme. That's why Yme-Loc is the best craftworld. I've been using Tamiya's German Grey, but it's a very similar shade to Adeptus Battlegrey (Battlegrey is a little lighter, so makes a good highlight for German Grey) so you could probably use that instead.

Yeah, the grey flesh/orange carapace looks suitably alien and insect-like.

@OtakuD00D - very nice! Simple with a pleasing tech-military feel.

ElderCat

Hey guys, remember the Reaper Bones line? Plastic minis that don't need to be primed? They are kickstarting a massive expansion of it:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min

Echo

Here's a buddy's first attempt at making terrain. And it's darn good too.

It may not look like a very natural rock formation, but I actually like that style.