My First Ever Mini: Progess Photos Inside!! (Advice Please?) :)

[Wihtesparrow]

Hey everybody!!

I'm making this thread for one reason: to gain help along the way of painting my first mini. This site has some ridiculously sick painters on it and I can not think of a better way to be refined other than practice and get advice from some of the best (or just generally better than me at all . It's slightly intimidating, but hey...I gotta start somewhere, right??

Anyway, as promised there is a photo for the first amount of progress. I started base coating today (haven't finished yet as you can see). . . and I have to say, it was a lot harder than it seemed. I'm using vallejo game color to paint by the way. I'm also trying to follow(ish) this tutorial ---> http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?51102-Tutorial-So-you-wanna-paint-White for painting white, however I really feel like my white base coat really went on thick as you can see some brush strokes.

I tried several different paint:water ratios none of which really seemed to work that well. Cap'n Ghool here says that he used a 6:1 paint:water ratio for base coating. Tried that and before I even put any paint on I knew it was too thick...so I dropped it to 5:1 and that's generally what I used here for the white base coat. At first I tried a bit smaller paint:water ratio and it just started to pool in the little crevices. Seemed I couldn't find the sweet spot between pooling-thin and brush-stroke-thick. Also, why is it that my grey came out as almost globs of grey while the white were plain drops (as I imagine it's supposed to be) of white? I REALLY had to add a huge amount of water to my grey to thin it down. And is there a way to prevent your brush from getting that super tiny "hook" at the tip?! It's SUPER annoying!!

Let me know what you guys think I should have done differently/did correctly (if anything!!)/answer those questions about the grey vs. white and brush tip thing. Thanks in advance!! Keep in mind that my prime job came out pretty grainy (fixed that for the other stealth suit that I'm not painting right now):

 

[boubi]

Hey everybody!!

I'm making this thread for one reason: to gain help along the way of painting my first mini. This site has some ridiculously sick painters on it and I can not think of a better way to be refined other than practice and get advice from some of the best (or just generally better than me at all . It's slightly intimidating, but hey...I gotta start somewhere, right??

Anyway, as promised there is a photo for the first amount of progress. I started base coating today (haven't finished yet as you can see). . . and I have to say, it was a lot harder than it seemed. I'm using vallejo game color to paint by the way. I'm also trying to follow(ish) this tutorial ---> http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?51102-Tutorial-So-you-wanna-paint-White for painting white, however I really feel like my white base coat really went on thick as you can see some brush strokes.

I tried several different paint:water ratios none of which really seemed to work that well. Cap'n Ghool here says that he used a 6:1 paint:water ratio for base coating. Tried that and before I even put any paint on I knew it was too thick...so I dropped it to 5:1 and that's generally what I used here for the white base coat. At first I tried a bit smaller paint:water ratio and it just started to pool in the little crevices. Seemed I couldn't find the sweet spot between pooling-thin and brush-stroke-thick. Also, why is it that my grey came out as almost globs of grey while the white were plain drops (as I imagine it's supposed to be) of white? I REALLY had to add a huge amount of water to my grey to thin it down. And is there a way to prevent your brush from getting that super tiny "hook" at the tip?! It's SUPER annoying!!

Let me know what you guys think I should have done differently/did correctly (if anything!!)/answer those questions about the grey vs. white and brush tip thing. Thanks in advance!! Keep in mind that my prime job came out pretty grainy (fixed that for the other stealth suit that I'm not painting right now):

First of all you will need to remove most of the paint from your brush on a paper towel, a quick stroke will make it. Your brush must be damped not wet. In that way you can control your paint, it will only follow your brush strokes, if you have too much paint it will go over the surface and fall in all the recessed parts of your mini (later on than base coat this can be a disaster). You will learn this technique later on if you want to glaze the surfaces with feathering technique, a bit less with wet blending. But combination of both gives you really good results!

For the bent tip of your brush, it often happens with synthetic brush. If you consider doing more miniature painting, only one advice spend a bit more money in some good brush. You will find plenty of articles about it but always two names are mentioned, Raphael 8404 and Winsor&Newton Serie 7. I personnaly prefer small brushes. I can almost only use one 00 size for a complete mini... Conclusion: --> Good brush changed miniature painter life!!

Keep us posted! Have a good painting session on your first mini!

 

[moetle]

Yep you have to start somewhere.

I used to get the "hook" thing too. At a guess, your probably using an old or cheap brush and after several uses they tend to do that. There are alot of nice brush brands, some affordable, some kinda high. If you can, experiment around till you find the one you like. All brushes wear out though. Personally i tried the raphael series and never looked back. Alot of folks here swear by the davinci series of brushes, but i didn't care for them myself. I also keep a cheapy set for the oddball stuff, like baseing.

As for your paints being a different thickness, that could be for many reasons. But, as you get more into the hobby, your going to find a lot of thickness variation between paint, paint companies, types (acrylic, enamels, oils, etc), styles (HD from reaper or basecoat from GW for an example VS their normal stuff). Your grey might be alot older, or maybe your white was right out of the factory. As long as it isn't crusty and lumpy you should be ok. Just add some water and shake the piss out of it till its how you like it. I keep mine semi thick so i can dilute to my preference.

Next your going to ask what paints should you use. Some folks will say "GW all the way! or Vallejo always!". The real answer is "whatever you like." Again experiment around. Get some colors you like from everyone. Unless you know for sure your going to love a certain brand I would stay away from shelling out the high cost of an entire set. Personally i have paint (a lot of paints) from every major company and they all have good ones and some that are just "ok". Right now i use reaper master series more then anything, more for quality, availablity and price, then any other reason. But i do use them all depending on what it is I'm painting at the time.

As far as thickness goes for your water ratio, well, Thats also your preference. Most folks will say "the consistancy of skim milk". I like mine between milk and water but i do a lot of thin coats. If your going for showcase quality i would suggest alot of thin coats. If your just wanting to get stuff on the table and not worried too much about show, thickin it up a bit. there is no "magic" ratio IMHO except the one your comfortable with (skim milk is a good start though HAHA).

As far as the pic goes, it looks to me that your off to a real good start. Practice makes perfect and all that rot.

Hope that helped some.

Moe

 

[TrystanGST]

Listen to these guys. They know their stuff. As for thinning paints, it does depend slightly on the brand, but I generally go 1:1 for layering, and usually for basecoating too. Although at times I won't thin the basecaot at all, if it's a hard to cover color.

 

[Wihtesparrow]

Wow!! Quick replies and a lot of great advice!! Thanks, guys!!

First of all you will need to remove most of the paint from your brush on a paper towel, a quick stroke will make it. Your brush must be damped not wet.

I seemed to have done that as I had watched others do it in my hours of research before painting. I'll keep trying though.

At a guess, your probably using an old or cheap brush and after several uses they tend to do that.

Yeah, pretty much. Each cost me around 8ish bucks. But I haven't even used them more than once and after about 2 hours of painting I got the hook. Oh well. I can't get W&N brushes locally so I'll probably order some off of Dick Blick very soon.

Next your going to ask what paints should you use.

Actually did my homework on this. haha!! Really it seems to me that I shouldn't be too much concerned about what's "best"...my style will tell me that.

If your going for showcase quality i would suggest alot of thin coats. If your just wanting to get stuff on the table and not worried too much about show, thickin it up a bit. there is no "magic" ratio IMHO except the one your comfortable with (skim milk is a good start though HAHA).

I DEFINITELY want to reach a display quality as I don't plan on actually gaming with my models. But yeah, looks like good ol' experience will get my thinning ratio. Also, should I make a mix of 1:1 Matte Medium:Water for thinning? I've heard people talk about that some, but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[QuietiManes]

Using an acrylic medium in your thinning mix helps prevent pigment separation. Using a matte acrylic medium helps tone down the gloss effect on some of the shinier paints, inks, washes, etc. As with all the additives we have available for our paint or thinner mixes, it just depends on you and how you work and what you want to achieve. The more you are going to thin down your paint, the more you'll want to start using some medium in your mix.

 

[William T.]

Definitely get the Series 7's. Even if you don't shell out the extra for the miniature series 7's, the regular line is amazing! I've been using a combination of the two for the last week and will say that unless I am doing some grunge painting, I will not be using anything but them!

As for a first model, I think you've got a good start here!
For some great tutorials check out Miniature Mentor. They have a lot of great stuff. Also try this site.
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2009/10/tutorial-overview.html

I usually paint with a ratio of 2:1/4:2/6:3 ect. ect. Another thing I use a lot of is Flow Improver from Reaper.

 

[QuietiManes]

2:1/4:2/6:3

Those are all the same ratios. ")

Lots of people don't like the mini s.7's, because the bristles are too short and the points aren't any finer. So they hold less paint, dry up faster, paint sneaks up into the ferule way faster, bristles more rigid, and probably a few other reasons. Others like them for similar reasons. But it's just something to be wary of, just because they're called "mini" doesn't mean they're the better option all the time.

 

[Wihtesparrow]

I usually paint with a ratio of 2:1/4:2/6:3 ect. ect.

Is that paint:water or wateraint? I'm assuming the first.

 

[William T.]

Those are all the same ratios. ")

Lots of people don't like the mini s.7's, because the bristles are too short and the points aren't any finer. So they hold less paint, dry up faster, paint sneaks up into the ferule way faster, bristles more rigid, and probably a few other reasons. Others like them for similar reasons. But it's just something to be wary of, just because they're called "mini" doesn't mean they're the better option all the time.

I was hoping someone would notice they're the same!
And while you are correct about the difference in the brushes, they're amazing for detail work and freehand because of the shorter bristles.

Is that paint:water or wateraint? I'm assuming the first.

You sir are correct!

 

[Willdorling]

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the mini series 7 brushes. I like the normal ones as the paint flows better for. Have a play with both though as its each to their own.

 

[Alexandra]

As for paints, brushes and mixes I think you got the basics covered.

As for your minis, well, you did choose a tricky colour to start with! White is difficult to paint.

What I usually do is to give a base coat of light grey ( you can choose the hue depending of the temperature you want on it ) and only then I start to give it white layers until I reach pure white. This gives me easily ( I'm a bit on the lazy side ) a even base to work with and I can figure along the way where I want the shadows. Then if you feel the need, just push the shadows with a careful applied wash.

 

[Wihtesparrow]

Just a quick update!! I painted the optics earlier today (along with more base coating, but I don't have pics of that yet) . I've also got some W&N Series 7's from dickblick.com on their way. They should be here Thursday. Anyway, I think I'm getting a better feel for how thin paints should be...and it's apparently pretty darn thin. haha!! Having a blast with it so far. Critiques etc. are always appreciated.

 

[moetle]

The optics look great! Pretty good for a hooked up brush

Moe

 

[QuietiManes]

People give hooked brushes a hard time but they're so useful. So don't throw it out when you get the new brushes. You'll love them when you're glazing ridges, highlighting edges, etc.

And I have to agree with Moe, the optics do look great.

 

[Wihtesparrow]

Thanks guys!! It's encouraging to know that I've done something kind of good on my first mini...even if it's just the optics that turn out alright in the end.

I do have a question though: I use yellow sticky tack to hold my mini's base onto a wine cork, but the dang stuff keeps getting weak and just falling off and becomes all stringy. Does anyone else have this problem/know what's going on?