Do you lay out all basic colors first?

[Hammershield]

Just curious:

do you paint in base colors for all separate areas (skin, cloak, cloak...)before starting on shades and highlights...

...or...

...do you do one area at a time?

 

[Fuseboy]

I used to do the base colours first, but since I started highlighting and blending a bit more, I find it\'s easier to work with one set of colours at a time, so now I do one area at a time.

I think the \"one area at a time\" approach has a higher risk of stray dots of colour, since you\'re applying large quantities of paint near a final-quality area. It\'s very hard to fix a stray splotch in the middle of a blend, since reconstituting the colour may be very difficult.

I posted a work in progress slide show on another thread, which shows me doing one area at a time, more or less.

 

[Dragonsreach]

I find it\'s easier to work with one set of colours at a time, so now I do one area at a time.

As Fuseboy said it\'s easier to control the colour differenciation on the highlighting if your are working on the same colour. Working up many different colours you can loose control of the direction you want the mini to go.
I suggest that you just try one area at a time on a mini and see how you feel the results are.

 

[farseerlum]

huh! i find blocking in 3 or 4 main colors actually makes it easier to keep track of how your fig is doing overall.
i guess it\'s a case of whatever you like
try both ways!

 

[kittykat23uk]

I actually tend to concentrate on one area t a time rather than blocking out main colours first. I guess I just need to see an area finished so that I can see \'m making progress. But as the others have mentioned, this does have some drawbacks.

Regards

Kat

 

[U4-Welcome]

When I want to paint an area, I basecoat all surrounding areas then finish the one I originally wanted to work on. Planning ahead (like, checking if there are parts you just have to smear with paint in order to paint another) helps wonders too - learned that recently.

 

[frenchkid]

I do one area at a time, starting from the one the deepest in the mini, usually the skin. I don\'t like base coating evrything first since I always bascoat with the darkest color and then highlight, so if I were to basecoat everything first I\'d get a really dark mini witch would not really represent the finnal product.

 

[Horak89]

i just start with a base color in a certain area such as a jacket, or a weapon. then i start highlighting and shading.

 

[Trevor]

A bit of both. I usually start on the biggest, \"lowest\" area. If this is interspersed with other areas, then I will start them before I finish the first area, however if there are seperate areas, I will just paint along as fancy takes me. I always tend to do metals first where possible, because they are a real pain if you get them on other areas.

For my current work I was getting a bit down about it, the first colour didn\'t seem to be going anywhere despite a LOT of work, so I went and blocked in some other colours and the whole thing just came alive, it made it far clearer exactly what colours I should use for the different bits to get a nice balance with the colours complementing each other to enhance the overall look.

 

[LouisCypher]

i paint one area at a time, but i start highlighting and shading after painting the base colour of the surronding areas, so it\'s difficult to make a mistake and ruin the whole mini... i am clever, am i not?

cheers =)
Luca

 

[Cerridwyn1st]

As I fancy...

I\'m still fairly new at this, so I don\'t have a set-in-stone aproach. Most recently, I\'ve started with the face, then the either the largest cloth feature (like a cloak) or the next thing out from the face (like a shirt.)

It is a lot easier for me to \"work up\" the highlights and shades of a single area before going to another area.

Generally speaking, I will work on one area at a time. When it is complete, I\'ll paint another area. Sometimes I\'ll go back to an area and add a bit more to the highlights or shades after working on another area.

I haven\'t really tried basecoating all areas and then going bit by bit from there. I guess the main reason for that is I don\'t always know how I want to paint all areas of the mini until I get there.

This thread is giving me some ideas to try in painting my next set of minis. Thanks to everyone for posting, and helping out relative newbies like myself.

 

[Hammershield]

The reason I ask...

I do a bit of both but but here\'s the dilemma:

I have just recently started to lay out basic colors again and IMHO it drastically helps me to visualize what I want the end result to be. Shading and highligthing one area with bordering areas already filled in makes helps me decide whether to reduce or increase contrast with the area I am working on.

The problem is that I have also recently gone back to painting the deep shade colors first and work up to the high highlight. This method doesn\'t sit well with blocking ion colors first since a very dark miniature doesn\'t help the imagination.

H

 

[Impernouncable]

I also layer up from a black undercoat. To answer the question, sometimes yes and sometimes no. In general I would have to say that if there is to be a predominant color, say something that will be on 80+% of the surface I don\'t. In that sort of case I see no advantage to it. For more diverse color schemes where I have two or more colors with roughly equal coverage, I almost always basecoat out every color before starting my highlights. It cuts down on confusion as to what color needs to go where later for me.

 

[aon14]

No.

I paint 20 or more figures per batch.
Pre shade.
Stain up a colour, hi-light it , lo-light it.
On all 20.

Next colour...

 

[Taer]

Yep, one area at a time. Then I screw it up and have to start over. Oh, well!! :flip::bouncy: