18 replies to this topic

[Miar]

Forgive the double posts of the photos at the bottom I'm still trying to figure out adding photos in..

I'm know I'm making progress on some levels. But looking at things blown up my heart sinks. As pieces on the table they don't look to bad (for the most part the witch needs a lot of help).

I may be another victim of primer fuzz which may account for some of the issue with the paint jobs. But I'm also wondering how much of it is painting against the grain and things. My Brush control still needs a ton of work as well.





You can see the mold lines on this one. Looking at it without magnification though I didn't even notice.




This one I had some trouble with the lines on the back. I tried to do a bit of coverup and they look better than they did but blown up they look horrible. Have a bit of blue on the nose as well.







Here is another Ack! The primer fuzz or whatever is a big problem, not to mention my inability to get paint in the right spots.








This last one came out not to bad. My big problem with it was I would pick it up not realizing I had paint on my hands from something else and then I'd have to cover up my spots. You can see a place on the back that is still a problem.

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Edited by Miar, 14 September 2012 - 07:40 AM.

[Atramagus]

I see someone has Mansions of Madness hehe. Don't worry about it too much, especially if you're just starting out. It's going to take time to get good at painting such small details. One thing that might help are some magnifying glasses, or a desk-mounted magnifying glass. I'm a big believer in using an eyelash or an eyebrow hair when going for really fine details as well; I use them to do eyes, eyebrows, lips, anything that requires a lot of finesse.

If you don't have them already, I'd look into getting a cheap file set to remove the mold lines; you can usually find them for a couple of bucks at Harbour Frieght if you have one near by. If you can't find any files a hobby knife can work as well.

Some inks/washes might help give depth to the creases in clothing/flesh, and drybrushing gives great highlights very quickly.

Just keep practicing, you're doing well already, and with some more minis under your belt I'm sure you'll get even better.

[Miar]

I used a pair of reading glass to help up magnification. I have more of the same figures given they are from mansions so I'm hoping the 2nd set I do will turn out a bit better. Neat idea using a hair for detail work. I'd tried a toothpick and it was still too big. I was also going to check into some more stuff for clipping mold lines.

[Freiheit]

Pretty much if you like the way it looks, and its for regular play, it's right where it needs to be! Don't beat yourself up about things.

I like getting the shock of the closeups because I can see things that I couldn't even see with my visor/magnifier. Use the pictures as a tool to help you improve.

I've made a topic a week or so ago about the same thing, this helped me get over the "down" I got after seeing my work under the revealing eye of a camera.

[ThornDJL7]

I use a 3/0 fine tipped brush for the detailed work. I needle would do the same thing as an eyelash.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Pretty much if you like the way it looks, and its for regular play, it's right where it needs to be! Don't beat yourself up about things.

I like getting the shock of the closeups because I can see things that I couldn't even see with my visor/magnifier. Use the pictures as a tool to help you improve.

I've made a topic a week or so ago about the same thing, this helped me get over the "down" I got after seeing my work under the revealing eye of a camera.

This. My miniatures look hideous under macro. But, I still post the close-up shots as I work. I don't try to disguise it. Did you read my 'choose your WIP adventure #1"? Some of that was pretty grotesque, but in the end she turned out alright.

If you want to improve, pick one area and focus on getting that right. Then repeat for another one. Use a mini that's low pressure for this, preferably one you've already done and aren't satisfied with the result. Then look at the part you want to fix, and only that, first and . . . pick at it. Try to fix it. If it's your lining, try to tidy up around it with your base colours. If it's a mold line, remove it, reprime, and repaint the patch. Etc.

Sometimes focusing on the whole mini can just leave you scattered and frustrated. If that happens, divide it up.

Today? Today I am painting a nose.
And if I do the nose, perhaps I will paint some eyes.
And if I do the eyes perhaps I will paint some lips.
But today, I am painting a nose.

[smokingwreckage]

You're coming along fine, do a few more and call them basecoats, then try out drybrushing and/or washes. Washes especially tend to NOT work the way you'd hoped the first time around, so best try 'em out on something you're not too thrilled with!

Also, don't take the close-ups to heart! Unless you are dead set on being a competition painter, you're better off trying to complete a couple of projects first. Get some stuff to "what the heck, it's painted" level, then dress it up to "it actually looks pretty good there on the table".

EDIT: and I have NEVER painted lips. I went more for "today I am making this face roughly recognisable as human". It took a few tries :P I've done way more power armour than faces!

EDIT: and if you get burned out on what you're doing, try looking for something that is very different to paint. Skeletons, space marines, dudes in full plate that you can drybrush. Your monster worm is already looking good! Try some shading on that horrible sucker!

[Goblyn]

the worm looks very good IMO

[Miar]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm glad I'm doing these first as I don't care if they are not perfect. Before I ordered the Bones I cared more but now that those are coming I don't feel like I have to get them perfect. I'll do another set and see how that works.

Does anyone know the difference in size between these (Mansions of Madness figures) and Reapers figures?

[Adrift]

Miar, I agree with Atramagus, you're being much too hard on yourself.

There are naturally gifted artists that just pick up something artistic and do it perfect almost immediately. Then there are people like most of us who learn the hard way, practice a lot, and spend countless hours working at our hobby/craft.

Either way we do it for love and self-expression.

Paint on friend!

[Miar]

I'm in no way a natural the most I can draw is stick figures! I'll keep chipping away at it.

One thing I am looking as is getting some better lighting. Looked at some LED lights today but not sure how strong is good. I'm not looking for the perfect lighting just something that will do the job. What I'm using now is very jury rigged and not that good (though much better than before I started jury rigging).

[ObsidianCrane]

I can paint to a fairly high standard - taking photos of my minis, even with my phone, is enough to start finding flaws that there is no way I see with the naked eye.

These minis look fine, a little bit of a touch up to clean up the paint that is in the wrong spots and you are on the way.

One thing I suggest is paint a colour, do it on 3 or 4 minis that you want it on. Then leave them all to dry for a while (if its particularly cool where you are 24 hours, for me its usually 20-30 minutes but I live in the tropics). Then come back and work on the next colour, or even the next shade of the colour you last painted! Yes this means getting a mini done takes a few days, but it helps avoid the "OMG I spread the paint" problem :)

Also I love that worm...

[Miar]

That is a problem I'm having! I don't want to set the mini down to let it dry. Right now I'm trying to combat that with working on a few at once. It does help some. On the downside right now I don't want to prime more because the humidity is so high. We have a typhoon.

I'm fairly happy with the worm!

[Pingo]

Those are some fun looking minis. How does the game play?

As far as I know, the Bones minis are to standard scale: a normal-height human male is about 26 mm tall, if I'm not too far off.

[smokingwreckage]

If normal trends hold, the Bones, and most fantasy minis, will be around 28mm, and straight-from-a-boardgame ones will be smaller and less bulky.