Boubi WIP

Darthmarsh

Active member
lots of awesome here. That cherub looks great dude as does the stonehorn. Never used oils before. What can they achieve that you can't get from acrylic?
 

boubi

New member
Oil paint don't achieve more than acrylics. It is just a different experience, it is only wet blending with a really small amount of paint. For me it is quite enjoyable experience. Then you need to mix your color much more then learning a lot about colors and how they mix together, it is also a great experience! You also constantly mix color and paint, the process can be quite fast and again really enjoyable.

The best use and advantages, is to finish a mini in acrylics then add finished touch of oil like extreme highlights or even some mid tones (purple, green, blue, etc...) on top of you acrylics blends to add a special color tone, and this is done really easily.
I did it on my Rackham mini below 98% acrylics, 2% oil paint:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/345816
 

dennis.

New member
Yeah! I'm almost finished a DE witch in oils and have really enjoyed the process. Dabbling with driers so was just wondering what drying medium u r using? ..and yeah, brushlicking is an aquired taste, possibly fatal :D
 

Digganob

New member
I loved seeing your ork in the painting comp and even more glad I found your wip. Stunning work here my friend. I want more :p
 

boubi

New member
Thank you Digganob, I have stopped my WIP for a while. I am not so consistent and always jump from one project to another, but generally I finish them, it is just a matter of time!

I will try to be more active on this WIP even if my job doesn't really allow it. Right now I have some free time to experiment a bit, that's why I am using oil on a Reaper Bones mini. I want to finish it 100% with oil in order to really understand the advantage and disadvantages of this medium. I have a pretty good idea right now... When finish I will try to share more about it so if somebody is interested in mini oil painting he will be able to get my point of view...
 

Digganob

New member
That's great boubi. When I first started painting mini's it was with oil paints. Took forever to dry but in some ways it looked better than my painting to date.
 

Stewsayer

New member
Hey Boubi he's looking great mate.

Demi. I'm pretty sure you need to get different brushes for oil paints. The glue used to assemble the bristles is different. The medium in the oil paint will degrade the glue in your usual brushes and the tips will collapse eventually.
 

AndyG

Active member
Thank you Andy!
Good idea for the base. I will make it simple... I will keep you posted with the final mini!

One question to you Andy, it seems that you are using the technique I called "rough then smoothing", meaning that you apply your highlight quite rough with not good transitions then you smooth it and detail it. Am I right? I saw recently many people using this technique allowing much richer mid tones because while smoothing the color the painter often use slight variations of its base colors.
Hi Boubi sorry I didn't reply to this earlier I've had a lot on my plate the last couple of weeks. Yes I tend to be a bit rough when I start off as the thing I want to do first is get the light placement spot on. Getting the contrast is next I'm a big believer in pushing the contrast as far as it can go without messing it up and then smooth smooth smooth with glaze after glaze. This not only blends everything but allows you to add colour contrast and depth to the piece. Then back in and pick out the extreme highlites and touch up anything that needs seeing to.

This is isn't to everyone's cup of tea but I think as most of the minis I do are only three or four cm tall it needs that extreme contrast and forced lighting to make it pop.
 

boubi

New member
I keep wanting to try oils too. Do you use your regular brushes?

Hey Boubi he's looking great mate.

Demi. I'm pretty sure you need to get different brushes for oil paints. The glue used to assemble the bristles is different. The medium in the oil paint will degrade the glue in your usual brushes and the tips will collapse eventually.

I actually use older brush for oil paint, the tip is really hard to keep anyway because you need to brush your brush between colors on a dry piece of absorbent paper, so the tip disappear pretty fast, I didn't find a way to wet it again in order to keep the point. you can almost use toothpick to add a really small amount of paint and then use a wider brush "bright" or "filbert" type to spread and mix them from the lightest color to the darkest color, in a small wiping movement.
See below picture of the brush type
View attachment 29662

Hi Boubi sorry I didn't reply to this earlier I've had a lot on my plate the last couple of weeks. Yes I tend to be a bit rough when I start off as the thing I want to do first is get the light placement spot on. Getting the contrast is next I'm a big believer in pushing the contrast as far as it can go without messing it up and then smooth smooth smooth with glaze after glaze. This not only blends everything but allows you to add colour contrast and depth to the piece. Then back in and pick out the extreme highlites and touch up anything that needs seeing to.

This is isn't to everyone's cup of tea but I think as most of the minis I do are only three or four cm tall it needs that extreme contrast and forced lighting to make it pop.

Thank you Andy, I was thinking about this. I saw it quite often, and I tried myself. I found this technique quite enjoyable because you constantly jump from one color to the other without break and without applying the same layer again and again. I will try again, to define rough highest highlight and shadows, then refine them with mid tones glaze layers.
 

Demihuman

Active member
Good to know! I feel like I need a mini with some nice big robes and some dynamic movement to try it out on. Maybe Wrath of Kings or some e-bay rackham...
 

dennis.

New member
U can preserve the tip of a series7 with diligent care when using oil (provided you are painting on smooth surfaces). Never leave the brush sitting with oil paint, the turpentine will erode fine bristle very quickly, rather after each colour dip in a cheap vegetable oil and swirl around until the pigment has been removed. Set the brush flat on absorbent paper (i use kitchen roll). Prior to reusing give a very quick rinse in turpentine. If you are leaving the brush for any period of time over painting time, wash brush thoroughly with a good brush soap, daVinci is good, and warm water, cleaning away from the farrell, rinse with cold water to maintain the tip. Albeit time consuming and the life of your brush will not match when using acrylic, I have brushes i use for oil painting that have gone 12 months or more, and that is working on a rough gesso primer.

As for driers, or alkyd mediums, i wouldn't dismiss them, speeds up process and allows you to create ultra thin glazes, providing you are using a quality oil paint. Cheaper brands tend to have particles of pigment not quite ground enough, or mechanically ground. Alkyds give a rock hard finish, and you can get them in ultra matt finish to high gloss.

Good luck, it's a wonderful adventure exploring the potential of oil, just avoid oil metallics! far too heavy, man.... ;)
 
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boubi

New member
Thank you Dennis, that are really good advices! I will try to find some Alkyd mediums. Do you have some references of the one you used? Then for my oil paint I only use Windsor Newton Artist, Luka and Rembrandt, the one easy to find in China.

Here the almost final mini. I want to add a darker was to some areas to add some contrast. Not the best quality but I still like it. The sculpt was a Reaper Bones so not much details, and the oil paint job is still new for me, so here the result so far:
View attachment 29689
View attachment 29690

Then the base for this mini, here I would need help from the community. I want to use some transparent resin, I have bought 3 types, one is really good after try. But how do I make the "chamber" around the base? I also realize that some of the sand/stone are going over the border of the base so I am doubtful that it will work well without leakage everywhere. do you have any technique to avoid leakage? I was thinking about some blue tack but then it can be a simple disaster!
Here the base in question:
View attachment 29691

And here the base WIP for the librarian with some basic colors:
View attachment 29692
 
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