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Ravus Ursus posted:People sleep on artist tools and resources for bespoke mini specific stuff.
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Nov 19, 2023 02:14
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| # ? May 9, 2024 23:31 |
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I painted some minis and will post them worst to best All of these I primed black and then tried to dry brush and I don't think it made a difference. this guy looks like Mega Man from Street Fighter Cross Tekken. I hosed up!  I didn't have a plan with this one and it shows  I'm happier with this one. turns out that skirt isn't metal but I like the way it looks. the metal is the leadbelcher from citadel that I picked up. it's shiny.  Shrek Like Individual (SLI)  I used some leadbelcher metalic paint with the dark red and got a Cool Looking Guy.  I picked up new paints and I picked up some frame work minis for my first time putting together little men! I picked up the tiefling warlock and the human warlock for a few reasons
  It's pretty straight forward except I couldn't figure out how it wanted me to put the flaps for the tiefling's hood and I only spent fifteen bucks they're not gonna print at 300 dpi or double side it. I wanted to kitbash one of the human heads onto the tiefling body because it had a real witch hunter general kind of hat, so I soaked it in very hot water so I could bend the hair against the human body. I couldn't get the horns on right though, and a tielfing without horns is hardly a tiefling at all. So that is just a part in my brand new parts pile! Which I have now. They give these neat transparent effects for the spells, but I don't really know how I'm supposed to paint these. How am I supposed to prime them and have them still be transparent?
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Nov 19, 2023 02:51
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I like gesso because it is cheap and I paint so I always have it. Also yeah, doing hobby stuff and getting online in the early 00s.
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Nov 19, 2023 02:58
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Z the IVth posted:This really dates you to circa 2005 TMP - not knockong the technique but that's the only place I've seen gesso used with any regularity. it's also a mark of people who actually paint on canvas though
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Nov 19, 2023 03:48
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Disclaimer that I've only ever tried Golden Black Gesso on plastic models, but given the choice between that and Vallejo surface primer, I'll take surface primer. Both adhere great and shrink down as they dry, but in my experience basecoating over gesso always takes several more coats because the paint just soaks into it, leaving you with a rough, chalky finish until you've built up enough layers, which may lead to some of the finer recesses on the model getting filled in. It certainly works, and I've gotten decent results with it, but I've also gotten much better results with surface primer.
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Nov 19, 2023 04:22
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Ominous Jazz posted:I painted some minis and will post them worst to best All of these I primed black and then tried to dry brush and I don't think it made a difference. Okay hold up dude. These range from fine to pretty cool. It sounds like you're despairing because these don't look like what you want when you're looking up close at them to paint them, but on display or in use in a game they already look good. (Look at how each of them looks solid in timg!) Plus, the work you've done is already most of the way to a more refined look if you want it. This dwarf looks good! He's wearing solid, practical clothing, cloth dyed in blue woad and workmanlike leather, but either he's still a showoff or part of a proud gang in battle since he's dressed in canary yellow. It goes with his big styled beard and fancy hammer made of/finished with some unreal metal. This doesn't look like a goofy video game cover, it's a guy with personality. The yellow look somewhat uneven but that's fine. The signs of your inexperience double as organic variation, and you've already started putting together a more intentionally varied look with the blue. Clothes shouldn't look perfectly flat! The only problem I see is that the unevenness of the lines makes the unevenness of the color look a bit artificial and sloppy. Luckily, ink washes basically exist to solve this problem. Ink washes are diluted paints, and in this case you use brown/black wash to fill in the recesses on your miniatures to accentuate them and make them look more shadowed. This also naturally cleans up uneven lines between colors; that's why everyone calls them liquid skill. You can dilute your own paint, with water or medium, until it's very thin and watery, to make your own ink wash, but this can be a bit challenging with acrylics as a beginner. Alternately, you can buy premade ink washes (Citadel calls them Shade paints) in game hobby stores, or use nice artist's acrylic ink washes (Liquitex acrylic ink is outstanding). You can also use these inks as a glaze, to give an overall tone to a larger area. Want to make something look filthy? Brown wash will do it! This guy is solid. The quiver came out well in particular. The tabard being fluorescent is weird but reads as something fantastical in context. Dye from weird flowers or minerals? Magic? A soldier in a very strange army? Like the dwarf, outlining things with darker wash will make the shapes more distinct and the bright colors pop. It's also good to make the metal parts a little less silvery, and give his face more contrast. Of the five, this or the dwarf is my favorite. The clothing woven from metal is another fantastical detail. One thing I have always appreciated about fantasy/SF minis over historical ones is that you can just roll with doing things "wrong" and that quality is interesting rather than an error. The orc rules, especially deciding to paint that midsection as an apron. Feels like a farmer going to kill a chicken for dinner but it's firebreathing and carnivorous. This is definitely a cool looking guy. BTW you can also get metallic/sparkle medium to mix with other paints, to give any color that metallic flake look while preserving the color exactly. For the transparent parts, there are a few approaches. First, you can just leave them unpainted and paint the rest. There's no law that every single part needs to have paint on it. You can also just paint them with opaque paint and not worry about the transparency. If you want to preserve the transparency, you'll mainly want to use translucent paint. Prime them with clear acrylic medium or gloss clear topcoat. For translucent paints, washes are translucent, as are contrast/one-coat/speedpaints (there are lots of brand names). You could easily just whack them with whatever color contrast paint you like and call it a day. There's a lot more technique to discuss here but it would depend on what you wanted to do.
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Nov 19, 2023 04:31
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Nebalebadingdong posted:your stuff looks good for just starting out! i wouldn't worry too much about the brush size for now, focus on fundamentals and getting comfortable with it all I picked up a Series 7 size 2, and it feels completely different from synthetic brushes. I agree that you don't "need" one of the fancy brushes to paint a mini, but if you want to copy all those youtube tutorials and do what they say you should do, you need one of those brushes. It does feel like the brush and paint just flow over the mini when you use it, and it remains more pointy even after you load it up with paint.
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Nov 19, 2023 04:42
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Ominous Jazz posted:I painted some minis and will post them worst to best All of these I primed black and then tried to dry brush and I don't think it made a difference. Seconding that these arent bad at all, especially considering you posted your first ever minis less than a month ago and you are working with craft paints! When you say you primed black and tried to dry brush, do you mean before you applied colour (slapchop style)? The main benefits of that are 1) they let you see all the little details on the mini which sometimes get lost when its just primed black and 2) it sets in undertone for your shadows vs highlights, particularly when using transparent paints (contrasts, speedpaints, inks, glazes). You arent going to get a lot of value from point 2 with craft paints unless your thinning is spot on, but point 1 is still (for me) a useful thing to do. These particular figures dont have a huge amount of tiny details (not a criticism, perfectly good figures) but when you come to paint a figure in overdetailed armour with a million tiny decorative touches (looking at you here GW...) it can be handy to have them picked out by the drybrush so you can easily see/decide whats main armour colour, whats decorative trim, where exactly tabard becomes robe sleeve, if thats supposed to be 3 small pouches hanging from the belt or one lumpy pouch, if those lumps on the sword hilt are an abstract pattern or supposed to look like a skull, that kind of thing. You can also drybrush/overbrush a little more on the bits you are going to be painting lighter colours because lighter colours go on better over white than black. You'll have noticed that yellow is a bastard of a colour. Any darkness in the undercoat and it wants to turn green. Trying to neaten up where you got another colour on the yellow? Green again. Trying to cover up that green with more yellow to bring it back? GREEEEEEEEEN. Can still look okay (especially if you chuck a wash over it and accept that yellow cloth will look dirty sometimes) but if you are looking for clean bright yellow you need to first do a decent coat of white (or pink, which can be a better choice if your white paint doesnt cover black well) then when its dry go over that with your yellow. Washes will definitely help these figures as well. Theres a reason they're sometimes called "liquid skill" or "skill in a bottle" as they sink into the recesses immediately making the model look more realistic at scale (and also dirtier if you shotgun wash the whole figure instead of pin washing the recesses. Shotgun wash is my usual tbh, I dont mind grime on fantasy/dark sci fi figures). Can highlight back up afterwards with your base colour if you want. As for the transparent magic effects; If you want to take advantage of the transparency you need to make sure you dont put opaque paint on those bits. Mask them with poster tack or similar before doing your undercoat on the rest of the figure. You might be able to get away without undercoating the clear parts at all, failing that use a clear varnish as an undercoat. Then use a transparent paint/ink/wash (dealers choice depending what you have/want). If you want you could start by pushing a thinned down white paint into the recesses, then when you glaze transluscent paint over the whole thing the internal parts of the flames (where the white is) will be brighter than the parts further away from the centre (which is how real life heat sources work, but this is magic so it doesnt need to be realistic!). Cant really go wrong with colours for magic flames, but I'm personally passing fond of cold ghostly blues, verdigris-type turquoise or a neon yellow or green. Light drybrush with a white/light grey if you want the flames to look ghostly at the edges or a black if you want them to look smokey, or dont bother if you dont want either. Or you can just paint the whole thing as if it wasnt transluscent, it'll still be a cool figure. Or mix and match, maybe you want the figure with the transluscent arm to have regular paint up to the wrist and have the hand onwards (or just the sword, or just the blade and flames) be ethereal.
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Nov 19, 2023 12:03
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I've noticed that an undercoat of yellow ochre (AP Desert Yellow in my case) makes basically any red or yellow go on in a single coat and look a million times better. Just amazing coverage, to boot. In fact, I'm questioning my decision to basecoat stuff grey instead of ochre right now. 
Siivola fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Nov 19, 2023 |
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Nov 19, 2023 12:59
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Cease to Hope posted:it's also a mark of people who actually paint on canvas though Yeah though I suspect from the crowd it was less previous artist experience and more "cheap alternative to GW Chaos Black". It was ages ago though and there was much less variety in miniature specific or adjacent stuff. Choices were pretty much GW, craft paint, Tamiya with Vallejo being difficult to source. Ravus Ursus posted:I started painting in 2018 or so? Plenty of good artist grade materials will do just as well if not better than miniature bespoke stuff. Though I think for the longest time "artist paints" tended to be equated to "craft paint" which is cheap and nasty. You could go further and overlap with the janitorial supply cupboard as well - Future Floor Polish and it's newer incarnations is still the premier gloss varnish and can't be beaten for price or quality. Nebalebadingdong posted:when i started doing 10mm and smaller scales, i used a W+N series 7 size 0. it was nice, but the brush seemed to go bad quickly and they cost too much money to constantly replace. eventually i got a da vanci maestro size 1 series 10 and it was sooo much better because it has longer bristles. now im using the da vanci maestro series 35 size 1 and the brush looks gigantic next to the minis, but it holds a perfect point when its wet. i love it Continuing a convo - how do you find the stiffness of the Da Vincis? I switched from Series 7s to 8404s for very much the same reason you did and love them, but recently I've had a number of defective brushes on top of their prices becoming truly astronomical. I got some Rosemary brushes and while nice I find them a bit softer than the 8404 and not as good for detail and edging work. I'm wondering if the Da Vincis are stiffer?
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Nov 19, 2023 15:02
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I was a firm follower of black gesso priming because I live in a windy wet cold hellhole where spray priming outdoors is often not realistic half of the year. I switched to vallejo surface primer because it makes for a much more solid foundation that is more resistant to paint flaking off. But for large terrain pieces with styrofoam and such that makes spray cans non feasable? Bring out that gesso pot.
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Nov 19, 2023 15:09
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lilljonas posted:I was a firm follower of black gesso priming because I live in a windy wet cold hellhole where spray priming outdoors is often not realistic half of the year. I switched to vallejo surface primer because it makes for a much more solid foundation that is more resistant to paint flaking off. But for large terrain pieces with styrofoam and such that makes spray cans non feasable? Bring out that gesso pot. I mean is black gesso all that different from the mod podge + black paint mix that seems to be the most popular way for priming foam terrain? Less faff since as you don't have to do any mixing. Can you mix sand into gesso to make diy texture paint?
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Nov 19, 2023 15:16
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SiKboy posted:
 Agree with all this, Ink or a wash or really thinned paint is really the way to go. And doing very thin layers is key..it's far too easy to get impatient and putting too much on.
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Nov 19, 2023 16:23
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Ravus Ursus posted:I'm pretty sure most brush on primer is just an in house blend of gesso. gesso is just a kind of primer, and the distinction is more in the application than the composition. it's hard, thin, generally white, and can be sanded smooth. "acrylic gesso" itself is often a misnomer: it doesn't necessarily have the chalk that gives gesso its name. acrylic gesso just an acrylic primer that serves the same role as traditional gesso. it's just a generic name people use because the original name was "liquitex" and calling it that would be kinda confusing, lol Z the IVth posted:I mean is black gesso all that different from the mod podge + black paint mix that seems to be the most popular way for priming foam terrain? Less faff since as you don't have to do any mixing. gesso is harder than mod podge. better for sanding, worse for flexibility, generally more durable but easier to damage in some situations. you can mix sand into any binder for texture. i've never tried it with gesso myself so idk how well it adheres long-term but i'd guess it would be fine. Cease to Hope fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Nov 19, 2023 |
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Nov 19, 2023 16:56
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liquitex is also a registered trademark now, so legally troublesome too.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:00
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Lostconfused posted:liquitex is also a registered trademark now, so legally troublesome too. now and continuously since the founder of the original company invented acrylic gesso
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Nov 19, 2023 17:05
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Thanks for the history lesson. Sounds like everyone should have called it acrylic primer when looking for a generic name. As primer is also a generic term, unlike gesso or liquitex. Edit: I've started reading about primers on Friday and I'm still not sure what makes them a primer. At this point the most distinctive feature I've heard is the chalk in gesso. While everything else sounds like acrylic + medium + pigment, so same thing as acrylic paint but maybe mixed in different proportions. Lostconfused fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Nov 19, 2023 |
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Nov 19, 2023 17:10
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Almost everyone just uses acrylic gesso now. I have what I need to make the traditional stuff, but telling is that I haven't done that in like 10 years, I just buy the acrylic gesso. It works better imo too. As stated, it makes a great primer for minis when mixed with a thin arcylic medium. I'm sure there are far better products out there, but I buy it by the litre and it is very very cost effective.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:14
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Lostconfused posted:Thanks for the history lesson. Sounds like everyone should have called it acrylic primer when looking for a generic name. As primer is also a generic term, unlike gesso or liquitex. Gesso isn't a brand.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:15
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Virtual Russian posted:Gesso isn't a brand. That's because nobody was clever enough to invent a patent office at the time of its creation.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:17
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Z the IVth posted:Continuing a convo - how do you find the stiffness of the Da Vincis? I switched from Series 7s to 8404s for very much the same reason you did and love them, but recently I've had a number of defective brushes on top of their prices becoming truly astronomical. I got some Rosemary brushes and while nice I find them a bit softer than the 8404 and not as good for detail and edging work. I'm wondering if the Da Vincis are stiffer? i haven't had any issues with stiffness 3 more cars       vroom vroom brrrrrrrrrr 
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Nov 19, 2023 17:22
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Z the IVth posted:Continuing a convo - how do you find the stiffness of the Da Vincis? I switched from Series 7s to 8404s for very much the same reason you did and love them, but recently I've had a number of defective brushes on top of their prices becoming truly astronomical. I got some Rosemary brushes and while nice I find them a bit softer than the 8404 and not as good for detail and edging work. I'm wondering if the Da Vincis are stiffer?
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Nov 19, 2023 17:22
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This is what my Series 7 looks like almost brand new, there were three bristles sticking out of place out of the package. Which was a bit disappointing with it being an expensive premium brush, but using it was very satisfying.
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Nov 19, 2023 17:48
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Edut: messed up upload
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Nov 19, 2023 17:55
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Nebalebadingdong posted:i haven't had any issues with stiffness My goon you should play Gaslands also these are incredibly cool
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Nov 19, 2023 18:04
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Cease to Hope posted:gesso is just a kind of primer, and the distinction is more in the application than the composition. it's hard, thin, generally white, and can be sanded smooth. " I actually forget that I often use black gesso for prime. Means I can prime then zenithal with ink without having to base cost after or anything. The nice thing about the white gesso is that you can dump a bunch of ink into it to tint it for undercoating and primer in one shot. I know some companies make color primer but the white plus ink plus medium means you can take a very small quantity if it and tint the hell out it. I have gone more than a few shades into one color, but that's one of the first things I want to mess with when I get back into it.
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Nov 19, 2023 19:16
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Nebalebadingdong posted:3 more cars I'm loving onto you, Neb. 
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Nov 19, 2023 19:33
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Nebalebadingdong posted:i haven't had any issues with stiffness Thanks. I'll probably give them a go the next time I need a new brush. They're not the cheapest either. I managed to get a replacement for my most recent dud 8404 so I'm hoping it will not be another dud. Slyphic posted:Not to butt in, but as a long time fan of the 8404, I've had to start looking for a replacement because the the last two I bought this year had major bristle problems right out of the packaging and I'm not hearing that that's a fluke. I never liked the WN7s. Next time I've got some hobby funds free, probably Jan, I'm going to splurge on an array of size 1 brushes from a bunch of different places and see where the quality has run off to. See above. I complained to the shop after my most recent 8404 started splitting out of the box and manage to persuade them to replace it.
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Nov 19, 2023 19:50
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AndyElusive posted:I'm loving onto you, Neb. 
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Nov 19, 2023 19:54
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Lostconfused posted:Thanks for the history lesson. Sounds like everyone should have called it acrylic primer when looking for a generic name. As primer is also a generic term, unlike gesso or liquitex. gesso isn't a brand, it's just italian (by way of latin) for the main ingredient, either chalk or plaster of paris. "acrylic gesso" is (sometimes) a misnomer, especially if it's not white, but it's a misnomer in the exact same way english speakers use "chalk" to refer to all sorts of crumbly marking tools or dry hygroscopic powders, even if they aren't properly made of chalk. gesso is primer, acrylic gesso is acrylic primer, but not all primer, acrylic or otherwise, is gesso, or suitable for priming miniatures. historically, this is because when liquitex was invented, "acrylic primer paint" generally meant latex primer for painting walls. today, acrylic gesso is more or less synonymous with acrylic primer paint but it definitely means it's sandable primer, and sometimes it also implies that it tooth, texture, and/or absorbency are more like traditional gesso. acrylic gesso has a proper name to describe its function and qualities and it's something something ground, i do not remember. i haven't ever had any occasion to care. this is a lot of boring words but if you don't know what primer to use, my advice is to get vallejo grey primer. do not shake it, use it on everything unless you want to be lazy and use vallejo black primer. acrylic polyurethane is not the toughest, most adhesive primer in the world but it is the best water-based one for models so far as i know. gesso is fine but its main advantage is the fact that people who are already using it are used to its peculiarities.
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Nov 19, 2023 20:02
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Cease to Hope posted:
Why no shaking? I've always shaking my primers vigorously.
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Nov 19, 2023 20:12
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AndyElusive posted:I'm loving onto you, Neb. this explains everything
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Nov 19, 2023 20:27
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Nov 19, 2023 21:18
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I almost want some more new minis to paint. While I think the generic armymen look for 40K Cadians is about right, it's not very exciting. I'm also at the part where it's all painting minor metallic details along with other bits and bobs, and fixing up whatever mistakes I made.
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Nov 19, 2023 22:25
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Nov 19, 2023 22:56
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Z the IVth posted:Why no shaking? I've always shaking my primers vigorously. it doesn't settle or separate but it does froth up like a mfer
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Nov 19, 2023 23:35
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Some Gretchin Not completely done- I forgot to do the bone- but I’m burned out on green and will go back some other time
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Nov 20, 2023 01:39
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New thread title.
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Nov 20, 2023 03:36
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We got your whole rear end neb 
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Nov 20, 2023 03:49
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| # ? May 9, 2024 23:31 |
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I'm converting and painting a space marine kill team as a Christmas gift for my brother and I'll be bringing it with me on a long plane trip next month. The team is only 6 models, but I want to make sure that A) the figures are absolutely not damaged en route, B) I don't need to spend much on a solid container, and C) that the container doesn't take up too much space in my suitcase. Any recommendations? I was thinking of a small glass baking tray with lid stuffed to the gunwales with tissue paper, but I'm open to better options.
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Nov 20, 2023 18:26
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