Mini Painting Tutorial

[Silverlion]

I do need more explanation, I mean I used to paint miniatures but it was standard acrylics and mixes, not "washing" or anything like that. It was mostly easy to do for me, and my minis didn't look horrible they turned out pretty well and didn't look like they were being probed (the white eyes black dot things I saw regularly.)

I'm also trying to find appropriate colors, since they don't make a "set" for the figures I'm using.

 

[joetheok]

I do need more explanation, I mean I used to paint miniatures but it was standard acrylics and mixes, not "washing" or anything like that. It was mostly easy to do for me, and my minis didn't look horrible they turned out pretty well and didn't look like they were being probed (the white eyes black dot things I saw regularly.)

I'm also trying to find appropriate colors, since they don't make a "set" for the figures I'm using.

Which figures are you painting? Otherwise, my preference would be to think first about the place, the game venue, the figures are most likely to be used. If it is used in a home with rather dimmer light, you might want to pick bolder, brighter colors than if it is going to be used mostly in a commercial store or a public place with big bright light tubes, where you might want to pick more subtle, natural colors. That of course doesn't say much about what those colors ought to be.

As for the eyes, I have had good luck by beginning with them--prime the face (in the case of human miniatures, I have begun priming the flesh olive drab.) Then paint a line of white or off white or white with a drap of yellow from left end of left eye right across to right end of right eye. Then two black lines, perpendicular to the white line, where the dots ought to be. Only after all that has dried does one paint the face the base flesh tone. Detail work and a pain, but works well.

 

[TristramEvans]

I do need more explanation, I mean I used to paint miniatures but it was standard acrylics and mixes, not "washing" or anything like that. It was mostly easy to do for me, and my minis didn't look horrible they turned out pretty well and didn't look like they were being probed (the white eyes black dot things I saw regularly.)

A wash is just acrylic thined down so the pigment flows towards the edges.

You can buy washes from citadel, but these actually come thicker as a glaze, you need to thin them to get them to work properly as a wash.

 

[Silverlion]

Which figures are you painting? Otherwise, my preference would be to think first about the place, the game venue, the figures are most likely to be used. If it is used in a home with rather dimmer light, you might want to pick bolder, brighter colors than if it is going to be used mostly in a commercial store or a public place with big bright light tubes, where you might want to pick more subtle, natural colors. That of course doesn't say much about what those colors ought to be.

Legion of Mutates for Monsterpocalypse (lions mostly giant monster, small units, one bat.) At least when the latter comes out.

 

[joetheok]

Legion of Mutates for Monsterpocalypse (lions mostly giant monster, small units, one bat.) At least when the latter comes out.

Ok, lion and bat. Do you want the lion and the bat to look like natural versions of lion and bat, or are there game related colors for these things? My thought is to try to give the illusion of light striking the figure in the same way it would the full sized creature.

If you are going for a naturalistic look then a good photo is the place to start, and analyze. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_waiting_in_Namibia.jpg
This lion has a brown mane, that is simple enough, but part of it, at the top where the light strikes it, is more orange. (not orange, more orange). So a dark brown primer might be a choice, followed by a brown mane color for the lower mane, gradually adding more and more orange to the brown as we move to the top. Instead of applying that color with a heavy hand, one would brush very lightly, with very little paint, hoping to add the accent.

If you are going for a fantasy coloration, the lion can be any color you like, but the same 'rule' would hold, a dark primer, a slightly lighter lower color and a much lighter top color where the light hits it.

 

[Silverlion]

The small figures aren't out yet, but the giant monster is a humanoid lion, though his mane is way too light for me since I know that lion manes serve multiple purposes. I was considering a dark gray primer before you said something

Here is the core figure though this pic slightly darker than the actual box art. (The same reason I couldn't get any color matcher program to match it)

 

[TristramEvans]

I'd actually start with a prime of Zandri Dust spray



Then from there move up to Balor Brown (a very yellow brown) for the midtone, adding white for the highlights, moving into pure white fr some of the edge highlighting, and then a seraphim sepia + devlan mud wash for the darker brown shading on the mane.

 

[Silverlion]

Does Zandri dust work as a primer? Or is that on top of a light or dark primer?
Back in my day, we had one color of primer, and people who did eyes wrong made them look like they had a surprise prostate exam. (Really, I remember the absolute overdone white of the eyes.)

 

[joetheok]

I would defer to TristamEvans on any question--he knows vastly more on the subject than I do and I freely admit it, but my tendency is to prime figures dark, and then add two lighter colors. I have been experimenting with the priming method he describes above in this post, which is to go lighter on the top, and have been pleased by the results. I haven't quite adjusted my thought process to take it on board though.

Now as for the eyes, I find they come out just fine if I do them at exactly the right moment, which is after any and all priming is done, but before any "flesh" (or in our lion's case fur) color is applied. The "white" (in the lion's case I would reach for a yellow with just a touch of brown) goes on as a horizontal line across the face and the "black" (a dark brown here would be my pick) goes on as two vertical lines perpendicular, and centered as we can get. The flesh/fur then goes on, and we cover up any excess white paint--if it ends up looking like the eyebrows/nose are a bit elevated and lighter then so much the better. It takes a bit of practice, but the pop-eyed effect goes away.

 

[TristramEvans]

Does Zandri dust work as a primer? Or is that on top of a light or dark primer?

Yeah, GW sell it as a spray primer, and it matches the paint itself, so you could subtly build up from the primer colour.

 

[Silverlion]

Thank you for all the help. I've even messaged the original painter on what he used. (Because privateer press hired him, and didn't get the paint info--seems strange to me, but whatever.)

I'm going to paint this guy first:
https://store.privateerpress.com/savage-swarm-monster-xixorax/

So suggestions on it? I'm tempted to paint his carapace ladybug red with dots, just because it seems silly and fun.

 

[TristramEvans]

well there's this....



But that's a very different colour scheme.

If you went with a red carapace, I'd contrast that with very cool colours for the body (meaning temperature, see my tutorial on this earlier in the thread) - maybe a cold yellow-brown, such as Vallejo's ice yellow shaded by Army painter strong tone, and then vibrant green eyes as a direct contrast to the red.

 

[joetheok]

I'll put this question to TristamEvans, to improve my own education somewhat--I have always found red a fiddly color to work with, and locally I am being told that for it to look right, we prime it and mix it only with black. Is that correct? If we were to take a red color scheme for this critter, how would we proceed? How would we use zenithal priming or would we at all, since if we aren't careful we could end up with pink?

 

[joetheok]

And oh, yes, having it as a lady bug scheme sounds wonderful. If there is no room for whimsey in a gaming group then I don't wanna play. Also, the key take away from that video even with the different color scheme is that irredescence. How does one get that with red?

 

[TristramEvans]

I think the issue with red is twofold -

one, people tend to try to lighten or darken the colour hue by adding white or black, which is going to end up either dulling the red (when it comes to black) or turning into into a pastel pink (when white is added). Here's where using the true colour wheel comes into play - if you want darken red, add a bit of green. If you want to lighten it, use yellow.

two, due to the pigments used red is often not very opaque. Meaning you really need to layer it on. There are exceptions (GW's Mephiston Red is particularly good). And this means of course, you really have to watch the paint consistency.

The primer isn't really that big a concern - obviously over a white primer it's going to be brighter or more vibrant, but if it looks pink, it's because the paint is translucent, and you need more layers. But you'll also need more layers over black to et it up from a dulled, dark look. I often use it over brown primer, but that's mainly as I paint a lot of Skaven.

The real trick with read that I've found is that if you want a deep, rich, vibrant look while still blending and shading as you would any other colour is to paint the red first and then, once dried, go over it with a glaze of red ink. I use Daler-Rowney Crimson acrylic artist's ink.

 

[TristramEvans]

And oh, yes, having it as a lady bug scheme sounds wonderful. If there is no room for whimsey in a gaming group then I don't wanna play. Also, the key take away from that video even with the different color scheme is that irredescence. How does one get that with red?

red ink glaze, a filter using tamiya clear red, and then gloss varnish

 

[joetheok]

I think the issue with red is twofold -

one, people tend to try to lighten or darken the colour hue by adding white or black, which is going to end up either dulling the red (when it comes to black) or turning into into a pasel pink (when white is added). Here's where using the true colour wheel comes into play - if you want daren red, add a bit of green. If you want to lighten it, use yellow.

two, due to the pigments used red is often not very opaque. Meaning you really need to layer it on. There are exceptions (GW's Mephiston Red is particularly good). And this means of course, you really have to watch the paint consistency.

The rimer isn't really that big a concern - obviously over a white primer it's going to be brighter or more vibrant, but if it looks pink, it's because the paint is translucent, and you need more layers. But you'll also need more layers over black to et it up from a dulled, dark look. I often use it over brown primer, but that's mainly as I paint a lot of Skaven.

The real trick with read that I've found is that if you want a deep, rich, vibrant look while still blending and shading as you would any other colour is to paint the red first and then, once dried, go over it with a glaze of red ink. I use Daler-Rowney Crimson acrylic artist's ink.

I think where the comment comes from is that some of the people painting in my club are trying to assimilate it to 2-d artistic painting, where we see things like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe..._St_Mark_Enthroned_with_Saints_-_WGA22765.jpg

That sure looks black down in the recessed parts, and of course there is no such thing as "too much Titian." I of course come to this from amateurish attempts to get the British line infantry to 'look right.' In any other context I simply avoid red.

 

[TristramEvans]

Oil paints have VERY different characteristics than Acrylics.

You could certainly model that effect (mostly using stippling), but you have to approach acrylics in a completely different manner.

 

[joetheok]

Oil paints have VERY different characteristics than Acrylics.

You could certainly model that effect (mostly using stippling), but you have to approach acrylics in a completely different manner.

Got it! That counts as an important informational advance here. I should add we are dealing here with some figure snobs at this end so I am not surprised oil paints figure in the equation.

 

[Silverlion]

Oh, nice. I've one friend who thinks the ladybug scheme would be awesome. So, I may go with that. Not sure what primer to use for it though. I really appreciate the help and suggestions. Now it's figuring out what color to do the wings the model's wings are semi-translucent, and I may not want to lose that, so it looks like inks applied thinly might works, not sure how well it will hold to the model without primer (I watched a video of someone doing a fire elemental using inks that is more translucent than the wings. It turned out well.

 

[JamesV]

Short and to the point, is it a big deal to prime then assemble plastic/resin minis?

 

[DeadBob]

Short and to the point, is it a big deal to prime then assemble plastic/resin minis?

IME, it's a Very Bad Plan.

 

[Brock Savage]

Short and to the point, is it a big deal to prime then assemble plastic/resin minis assembled and cleaned up

You want to have the mini assembled, cleaned, filed, etc before you prime

 

[Bunch]

Short and to the point, is it a big deal to prime then assemble plastic/resin minis?

If you paint first I think you have to clean the paint off wherever you plan to glue or it might not adhere well.

 

[TristramEvans]

Short and to the point, is it a big deal to prime then assemble plastic/resin minis?

No. I often do sub-assemblies - painting a mini in pieces to make it easier to get to certain parts and then assembling. However, you do want to scrape the primer of of the join when you assemble, so you aren't just gluing paint to paint.

EDIT: or, yeah, what Bunch said, above. Scooped like a mofo.

 

[Bunch]

No. I often do sub-assemblies - painting a mini in pieces to make it easier to get to certain parts and then assembling. However, you do want to scrape the primer of of the join when you assemble, so you aren't just gluing paint to paint.

EDIT: or, yeah, what Bunch said, above. Scooped like a mofo.

Too slow old man.... Too slow.....

But on that topic I assume this then precludes doing things like zenthwhateveritacalled priming. Right.?

 

[TristramEvans]

Too slow old man.... Too slow.....

But on that topic I assume this then precludes doing things like zenthwhateveritacalled priming. Right.?

Yeah, that wouldn't work, insofar as indicating a light source. However, one could still prime black and then overbrush with a light grey primer to indicate areas of natural shadow

 

[Fenris-77]

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but source lighting really doesn't have a lot of shortcuts if you want to do it well. I would seriously recommend a white zenithal spray over black primer to give you an idea what need to be done, but that only works for lighting outside the fig. If you want to OSL (object source lighting) like where the torch lights part of the fig, you need to actually plan and execute. That shit isn't easy either. I have three Golden Demons and I'm quite shit at it, even when I'm practiced up.

 

[TristramEvans]

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but source lighting really doesn't have a lot of shortcuts if you want to do it well.

Yeah...uh, I don't think source lighting is part of the discusion when it comes to priming unassembled

 

[Fenris-77]

Someone said light source and I may have geeked out a little. Insomnia is kicking my ass and I'm a little, well, foggy might be the right word.

Edit: I'm not completely dumb, someone did mention "zenthwhateveritacalled" I just missed the "priming" right after it.

 

[Godfather Punk]

For the euro crowd, what is a regional equivalent to SimpleGreen?
(He asked, looking at a pile of 80's lead failures)

 

[Stumpydave]

I've found Flash all-purpose cleaner to be a good paint stripper. Soak 'em for a day, toothbrush and running water and it works on plastics too.
Or if its pure lead - Diall paint stripper from B&Q and a toothbrush.

 

[Godfather Punk]

Thanks. I'll see if it's available in Belgium.

 

[Fenris-77]

Greenstuff is actually a tool for plumbers (originally), so you can probably find it under some brand name at a hardware store.

 

[Bunch]

Someone said light source and I may have geeked out a little. Insomnia is kicking my ass and I'm a little, well, foggy might be the right word.

Edit: I'm not completely dumb, someone did mention "zenthwhateveritacalled" I just missed the "priming" right after it.

I HAVE A NAME!!! I'm a human being!! I'm not just "somebody".

 

[Atelerix]

For the euro crowd, what is a regional equivalent to SimpleGreen?
(He asked, looking at a pile of 80's lead failures)

Pure isopropyl alcohol works on metal or plastic figures, and is cheap as chips. Will clean a mini down in hours.

Biostrip 20 is a clean solution too, but more expensive.

Acetone removes superglue on metal, but will melt plastic figures completely.

Resin figures are tricky, as alcohol and Biostrip turn them rubbery, but pine-oil-based solutions work. Original-formula Dettol disinfectant (stinky) works, but only rinse the model in more Dettol - with gloves. Water turns it gloopy.

 

[TristramEvans]

I use acetone for all my metals. It's just easy - pop em in there, take em out haf an hour later and clean them off with soapy water and let them dry.

I've never bothered to try and strip Resin. For plastics I used Detol, which worked - OK< but generally I won't bother stripping plastics, easier just to buy more