Miniatures close-ups
- Thread starter Alexi Z
- Start date
Wren
Member
Okay I\'ll play, mainly so I can goof around with my new camera\'s \'super zoom\' mode.
Also I think my minis support the above point. While I\'m not in the league of the top painters, I think my stuff looks pretty smooth even blown up this large. If anything, I\'d say in general my minis look better in photographs or close examination with good lighting than they do at even a moderate distance in moderate lighting. It\'s very interesting to see the photos of skilled painters posted here that have both smoothness and \'pop\', even at high magnification.
Wren
Member
Nice stuff Cindy, I think your camera isn\'t the only one earning a passing grade here. ;->
krom - nope, I use Reaper Master Series paints almost exclusively, and particularly enjoy them for skin. The tanned skin triad is a little cold, I usually mix it with another colour for a base, I think I used paints from the tanned and rosy triads half-and-half. The pale skin triad is very pale for my style of painting skin, so I don\'t use it much - the other girl is based in the pale shadow colour but her shadows are done with paints from the golden skin triad, which is one of my favourites.
krom - nope, I use Reaper Master Series paints almost exclusively, and particularly enjoy them for skin. The tanned skin triad is a little cold, I usually mix it with another colour for a base, I think I used paints from the tanned and rosy triads half-and-half. The pale skin triad is very pale for my style of painting skin, so I don\'t use it much - the other girl is based in the pale shadow colour but her shadows are done with paints from the golden skin triad, which is one of my favourites.
Ian Newbold
New member
You guys and gals are all totally awesome, without exception. One of the best threads I\'ve seen here in ages. I have absolutely no idea how you can all see that well never mind have the delicacy of touch to go with it!
I wanted to join in so much I almost went and blew one of mine up. Fortunately in the nick of time I remembered that I can\'t paint for toffee. All my flaws are perfectly visible at normal size!
I wanted to join in so much I almost went and blew one of mine up. Fortunately in the nick of time I remembered that I can\'t paint for toffee. All my flaws are perfectly visible at normal size!
Been trying to get a better picture of this guy. He was my 40K entry 2006 UKGD.
Kinda shows where I\'m at painting level wise at the moment.
Kinda shows where I\'m at painting level wise at the moment.
generulpoleaxe
New member
@ian, nothing wrong with understanding where your at with painting skills. every body is at different standards with different techniques.
@dragonsreach, that\'s the only one of yours i didn\'t get a good look at as the one hour of sleep before the event had caught up with me at the end of the day.
@dragonsreach, that\'s the only one of yours i didn\'t get a good look at as the one hour of sleep before the event had caught up with me at the end of the day.
It\'s been said over and over, but I am really appreciating this thread. Now for the embarrassment... I finally bought a digital camera a few months ago simply for the purpose of posting pics of my minis here. It was not user friendly on any level, and I hated it, so I took it back. In the meantime, I had taken a few pics of some of my minis, and the paint in the pics looked chunky, just like that pic of Avelorns on page 1. Any ideas on exactly what I am doing wrong? Was it the paint? Too much zoom? Both?
generulpoleaxe
New member
if your worried about people poking fun at the pic then send it to someone you trust who paints.
they will probably have a good idea of your problem once they have seen it spazzy.
they will probably have a good idea of your problem once they have seen it spazzy.
Wren
Member
I\'ve experienced/seen chunky in the past from a few different things.
* Prep. The metal surface of some minis is not so great, and even a well sculpted, well produced mini is going to need prep. To start getting things smoother, you can go beyond just looking for mould lines and give the overall surface a sanding or buffing. Some people use sandpaper (good to go up from a mid to fine grade prolly), fine steel wool or Dremel type buffers. I\'ve used sandpaper and this Dremel attachment. Sometimes you also will have pinholes or cracks in the metal to file down or fill. I\'ve used tiny drops of superglue in small pinholes and then file it down after it sets. Sometimes I\'ve even smoothed parts out or filled holes with thick applications of brush primer.
* Priming. Spray primer can have issues that result in a slightly bumpy appearance on the mini, or a totally fuzzy obvious to the naked eye look. You can get dust in the primer, spray from a little too far away so specks are dry before they hit the mini, humidity causes problems, different brands work better or worse for different people and styles. I brush prime a lot to avoid this, but you can probably find tons of threads with discussions of good primers.
* Paint thinning. This is the first thing most people will jump on when a mini looks at all chunky or bumpy. If you\'re painting right out of the bottle, this may be an issue. Assuming you\'re using paints designed for miniatures (craft and artists paints have different textures/thinning requirements), you\'ll want a base coat roughly the consistency of cream, or where you can run a toothpick or brush through it on the palette and the paint fills in pretty quickly as opposed to leaving a visible streak for some time.
* Miscellaneous other things, like old paint, or bad paint batches, which happen sometimes. Also if you use paint in flip top or screw lid bottles the paint on the lid and rim can dry and flake off into the main paint and cause bumps. They\'re usually fairly big though.
I used to use a wet palette. I stir my paints with toothpicks. Sometimes I\'d scrape off fibers from the palette paper this way, so I was turning my paint chunky/fuzzy. The wet palette also did a great job of capturing the dust and animal hair that\'s all too common in my house. The unsmooth surface on this mini are part gunked up paint and part primer - http://www.coolminiornot.com/35579. There are probably other ways to gum up paint, though I\'d definitely look at the first three items before working too much about miscellaneous paint issues.
* Prep. The metal surface of some minis is not so great, and even a well sculpted, well produced mini is going to need prep. To start getting things smoother, you can go beyond just looking for mould lines and give the overall surface a sanding or buffing. Some people use sandpaper (good to go up from a mid to fine grade prolly), fine steel wool or Dremel type buffers. I\'ve used sandpaper and this Dremel attachment. Sometimes you also will have pinholes or cracks in the metal to file down or fill. I\'ve used tiny drops of superglue in small pinholes and then file it down after it sets. Sometimes I\'ve even smoothed parts out or filled holes with thick applications of brush primer.
* Priming. Spray primer can have issues that result in a slightly bumpy appearance on the mini, or a totally fuzzy obvious to the naked eye look. You can get dust in the primer, spray from a little too far away so specks are dry before they hit the mini, humidity causes problems, different brands work better or worse for different people and styles. I brush prime a lot to avoid this, but you can probably find tons of threads with discussions of good primers.
* Paint thinning. This is the first thing most people will jump on when a mini looks at all chunky or bumpy. If you\'re painting right out of the bottle, this may be an issue. Assuming you\'re using paints designed for miniatures (craft and artists paints have different textures/thinning requirements), you\'ll want a base coat roughly the consistency of cream, or where you can run a toothpick or brush through it on the palette and the paint fills in pretty quickly as opposed to leaving a visible streak for some time.
* Miscellaneous other things, like old paint, or bad paint batches, which happen sometimes. Also if you use paint in flip top or screw lid bottles the paint on the lid and rim can dry and flake off into the main paint and cause bumps. They\'re usually fairly big though.
I used to use a wet palette. I stir my paints with toothpicks. Sometimes I\'d scrape off fibers from the palette paper this way, so I was turning my paint chunky/fuzzy. The wet palette also did a great job of capturing the dust and animal hair that\'s all too common in my house. The unsmooth surface on this mini are part gunked up paint and part primer - http://www.coolminiornot.com/35579. There are probably other ways to gum up paint, though I\'d definitely look at the first three items before working too much about miscellaneous paint issues.
hmmm...I somehow forgot about the possibility of a primer issue. I have since switched to a brush primer, just to give it a try. We\'ll see how that works. As far as thin paints, I don\'t think my paints could get much thinner! I\'ve considered trying a wet pallette, but haven\'t made that jump yet.
After I returned the camera I deleted the programs in my computer that held the pics, but now that I\'ve seen them in the screen I can\'t help but see them when I look at the minis. I\'m going to have to look at them all again, as my daughter\'s new kitten has attacked them all. Damn cat!:~(
After I returned the camera I deleted the programs in my computer that held the pics, but now that I\'ve seen them in the screen I can\'t help but see them when I look at the minis. I\'m going to have to look at them all again, as my daughter\'s new kitten has attacked them all. Damn cat!:~(
automaton
New member
looking great everyone - great pics!
As for the roughness issue, I spend a lot of time in preparation on my minis - after filing as much as I can, I use very fine sand paper to smooth as much of the surface as possible. 800-1200 grade paper. I cut off little rectangles and stick them onto the end of a matchstick, or little plasticard rod, or something, which makes it easier to get to the small areas on a mini.
After sanding, I scrub the miniature with a toothbrush in warm water with some dishwashing liquid - that gets rid of all the residue from sanding, plus anything left on the surface from the casting process - the miniatures become very shiny after washing like this, there is a drastic change. So it must be doing some good.
Well, here\'s another couple of mine. Sorry, I\'ve probably posted too many - I don\'t want to bore you all! And I\'m not looking for compliments, either, let me be clear - I\'m only posting this in case it is useful or helpful to someone. Purely for academic purposes! haha
As for the roughness issue, I spend a lot of time in preparation on my minis - after filing as much as I can, I use very fine sand paper to smooth as much of the surface as possible. 800-1200 grade paper. I cut off little rectangles and stick them onto the end of a matchstick, or little plasticard rod, or something, which makes it easier to get to the small areas on a mini.
After sanding, I scrub the miniature with a toothbrush in warm water with some dishwashing liquid - that gets rid of all the residue from sanding, plus anything left on the surface from the casting process - the miniatures become very shiny after washing like this, there is a drastic change. So it must be doing some good.
Well, here\'s another couple of mine. Sorry, I\'ve probably posted too many - I don\'t want to bore you all! And I\'m not looking for compliments, either, let me be clear - I\'m only posting this in case it is useful or helpful to someone. Purely for academic purposes! haha
AinuLainour
New member
First the NMM recipe via PM and now this.. I am in debt to you, automaton! You are a great guy
khavor
Member
Wow, I\'m super impressed by this thread. This is what cmon is really supposed to be about, people sharing pics of their
minis despite the flaws so everyone can learn from them and get inspiration.
Wren, I\'m very impressed with the smoothness of your minis at such an incredible magnification. Of course it\'s still
hard to find any flaws on your minis Automaton, but the chance to see the brushwork more closely is great.
Anyway, here\'s my addition. I\'m not quite ready to show off anything I\'m working on now but here\'s one from last year. I
wish I could get closer but my camera and the image size allowance on photobucket won\'t let me.
minis despite the flaws so everyone can learn from them and get inspiration.
Wren, I\'m very impressed with the smoothness of your minis at such an incredible magnification. Of course it\'s still
hard to find any flaws on your minis Automaton, but the chance to see the brushwork more closely is great.
Anyway, here\'s my addition. I\'m not quite ready to show off anything I\'m working on now but here\'s one from last year. I
wish I could get closer but my camera and the image size allowance on photobucket won\'t let me.
RcNiles209
New member
@Automatan: how in the world did you paint that blood...speechless
:~(
:~(
