26 replies to this topic

[fanguad]

Hello to the Reaper forums! This is my first post, so a quick intro: I decided to get into painting minis after having fun at the Paint and Take at PAX East 2012. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my first mini turned out, due in no small part to listening in on an experienced painter walk one of his buddies through the process.

I'm posting this as someone who knows that he has a long way to go, and is hoping the community here (which seems quite friendly) can help me improve. So with that said, here's my current project.

I primed this in white, using The Armory spray primer. I did the eyes then the face, then hair/clothing/weapons then details. I've been using approximately 3:2 Reaper paint:thinner mix (Jen Haley formula for the thinner).





My next step is a wash. I plan to use dark brown (like on the belts and straps) for most of the figure, with something light on the flesh and blouse, a dark blue for the light fletching, and a dark red wash for the hair. Then highlighting, and details like buckles and the necklace.

Please let me know what you think; I'm excited (and a little nervous) to be soliciting feedback for the first time!

[klyons99]

Welcome aboard, and please, don't be nervous, the folks who post here generally go above and beyond in the Nice, Friendly, and Helpful departments.

Some commentary from a fellow new painter:

* Love the eyes, looks like you put a lot of work into those, and it paid off.
* Good sense of brush control, lines are very clean and I'm not seeing paint in odd places like I so commonly have
* The paint appears to be a bit thick, but that could very well be the camera, or perhaps some primer fuzz. I suspect it doesn't look that way from tabletop distance.
* Might try and add a little more of the blue into the mini, maybe redo the pants in that nice light blue you've got, to break up the grey/silver you've got there. That is, of course, purely a matter of opinion.

Great job so far, look forward to seeing more as this progresses.

[Sarah Devier]

Welcome aboard, and please, don't be nervous, the folks who post here generally go above and beyond in the Nice, Friendly, and Helpful departments.

Very true^^

If you have not checked out this section of the site I would recommend it http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft I have found a lot of great tips and such here that have helped me get started into the hobby.

But it looks like you are off to a great start, keep us posted as you go.

[LiquidLimn]

For your first mini, I'm impressed!

I agree with Klyons99 about your brush control. I don't see any paint in odd places either. I can also tell you spent a lot of time on the eyes. I haven't even done a mini yet with colored eyes!

[Hibou]

First let me welcome you to the hobby and to the Reaper boards.

I have been painting for years and none of my minis have eyes that look that good. Also i really dig the light yellow baby blue color choice. I agree with Klyons99 that you should add more of that blue color to the front of the figure.

Great start. I can't wait to see the rest of the process

[Argentee]

My husband said she looks like Scarlett from GI Joe!

Welcome to the boards

[fanguad]

For your first mini, I'm impressed!

I agree with Klyons99 about your brush control. I don't see any paint in odd places either. I can also tell you spent a lot of time on the eyes. I haven't even done a mini yet with colored eyes!

I've actually got a couple dozen under my belt at this point. Most of those are from the Wrath of Ashardalon game, and I decided to just have fun with those rather than worry a lot about quality. I'm planning on posting some of my finished "high quality" minis here shortly to get feedback on them as well.

I did a bit of work on Kara tonight, and I decided to take the suggestion about the pants. I am trying to go for a "semi-realistic" color scheme - something that might exist in a medieval fantasy world, and that an adventurer wouldn't mind getting dirty. So lots of muted colors, browns, greens, etc. I used the light yellow on another mini and thought it was a good feminine color that fell within that general scheme. The light blue less so, but it's mostly being used for a few splashes of color here and there.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and helpful suggestions!

[MonkeySloth]

As has been pointed out your flesh skin tone isn't watered down enough--this is a common thing with a flesh color as they tend to go on rough if you don't thin it some. You can fix this, sometimes, by doing several coats of a thin glaze (maybe 5:1 paint to water or more).

Another thing to point out is the same colors being used for different objects on the mini. You can get away with this but you'll need to make sure that you use a different shade color and\or highlight color for those objects.

The light blue is a very workable color. Try some purple-brown to shade it then highlight up to a white and you'll end up with something that fits what you're wanting to do.

Overall it's looking good so far.

[Adrift]

I'd like to point out that you've gotten some great feeback already, but felt the urge to get you to consider painting her hands a flesh tone. Looking at the picture, it looks as though the sculpt has fingernails...a feature you wouldn't have with gloves.

[fanguad]

As has been pointed out your flesh skin tone isn't watered down enough--this is a common thing with a flesh color as they tend to go on rough if you don't thin it some. You can fix this, sometimes, by doing several coats of a thin glaze (maybe 5:1 paint to water or more).

I ran into that problem on the cheeks because I painted the eyes first then tried to fill in around them. If I thinned the paint too much, it would just flow into the eye sockets, so I used unthinned paint. I got the control I needed, but it looks rough. Any suggestions how I can maintain control with thinned paint?

I'd like to point out that you've gotten some great feeback already, but felt the urge to get you to consider painting her hands a flesh tone. Looking at the picture, it looks as though the sculpt has fingernails...a feature you wouldn't have with gloves.

My picture doesn't show it well, but from the side it definitely looks like a glove. Looks like the Reaper model has fingerless gloves on the crossbow hand.
https://www.reapermi...ara_Foehunter_f

[klyons99]

I ran into that problem on the cheeks because I painted the eyes first then tried to fill in around them. If I thinned the paint too much, it would just flow into the eye sockets, so I used unthinned paint. I got the control I needed, but it looks rough. Any suggestions how I can maintain control with thinned paint?

Biggest thing I found that helps that paint flowing into the recesses thing was to keep a paper towel next to my palette. After loading my brush with paint from the palette, I usually brush it twice on the paper towel to get rid of most of the water and excess paint. That way I can judge how thin my paint really is (varies from bottle to bottle, color to color, and brand to brand), and gets rid of all that extra stuff that's going to run all over. When you're done, it often looks like you don't have any paint on the brush, but there's still plenty there.

[MonkeySloth]

As Klyons said except I use a sponge to suck up most of the liquid then, if I feel there's too much, my finger.

The only real difference between a wash and a glaze is how much fluid is on your brush, a glaze has very little so you can control it.

[Argentee]

I'd been having trouble judging paint thickness and brushload on a piece of paper or paper towel. But painting a quick stroke on the thumbnail of my off hand seems to be working for me.

Then again, I'm odd.

[klyons99]

I'd been having trouble judging paint thickness and brushload on a piece of paper or paper towel. But painting a quick stroke on the thumbnail of my off hand seems to be working for me.

Then again, I'm odd.

Bah, nothing odd about that. I'd wager at least half, if not more, of the horde of YouTube videos I've watched on painting feature a painted thumb going in and out of frame

[fanguad]

Photos of my work since Monday.

I painted the pants the same blue color as the fletching.
I applied a black wash to the armor, a dark brown wash to the leather bits, red-brown to hair and crossbow, blue-gray to the blue, and a yellow/grey (that came out kind of greenish) to the blouse.

I did several layers of thin glaze to the face - I think it did help smooth out the paint a little. I added a some dark brown color to the lips, and a thin line above and below the eyes.






I'm also working on this guy at the same time. It's a miniatures from the Wrath of Ashardalon game. I'm not putting as much effort into those miniatures.