My first mini ever!

[Witzkatz]

Trying it out on paper seems like a good idea, I may try that out tomorrow.

I just added some brighter highlights on the old marine, as a result of the comments in the voting thingy, and maybe I went a bit too far with it...I\'ll post some photos of it tomorrow, when the light is better and maybe you can judge it.

Furthermore, I bought the Assault on Black Reach set today...so I guess I\'ll have to paint lotsa minis and will have to ask lotsa questions the next weeks, so this thread isn\'t going to die soon

The next marine has just been primed and I will proceed on that tomorrow. Maybe I will try using washes on that one!

Greetings and thanks for reading,
Witzkatz

 

[Mourner]

I just noticed this, these pictures you posted give a really good impression on where you should have placed your highlights and shadows, (if you\'d have used zenithal lighting)

Originally posted by Witzkatz

i should remember this, might be usefull sometime....

 

[Witzkatz]

You mean because of the sunlight reflections? Yes, maybe I\'ll keep that in mind for the next marine, too.

At the moment it feels like I\'m screwing up that one a bit...one problem is, that I mix my colours at the bottom of a little bowl and then working from there...and it seems it dries out too fast, so that I\'m not able to cover the whole mini in this special mixture. And if I try to reproduce this exact colour it gets problematic, because I have no way of measuring exactly how many percent of each colour I need to use...
...how do you guys get your paint to stay liquid for a while? Any tricks that I don\'t now about? ???

I\'d post some pictures, but atm I\'m really not content with that one...

Thanks in advance,
Witzkatz

 

[Mourner]

Originally posted by Witzkatz
...how do you guys get your paint to stay liquid for a while? Any tricks that I don\'t now about? ???

there\'s two options i know of:
1) more water :cussing: (and maybe more paint too)
2) use some slowdry (retarder), but be careful with this one, i\'ve had coats that came off 30 minutes after applying because they weren\'t dry yet

personally, i usually rely on a good brushlick to thin my paints.
as for transitions, these are usualy blended (either wetblended or Layered) using two (or more) \"off-the-shelve\" colors

 

[PegaZus]

Originally posted by Witzkatz
And if I try to reproduce this exact colour it gets problematic, because I have no way of measuring exactly how many percent of each colour I need to use...

A good way to do this is to count drops. I\'ve got dropper bottles now, but when I had the Reaper screw off lids, I used a toothpick to dip into the paint and then let the drops fall. Write it down afterward! You can then remix some more paint when you need it. Oh, and if you\'re not doing it already, move the paint bowl away from any heat source such as a lamp. I still keep doing that from time to time.

I\'d post some pictures, but atm I\'m really not content with that one...

Don\'t be shy! I\'m sure lots of people here can help point things out during a WIP that will help. And getting help early means you don\'t need to redo a bunch of work later when it doesn\'t turn out the way you\'d like.

 

[Witzkatz]

The thing about counting drops is an idea...till now, I just dipped a big, old brush in the paint and slapped that paint into my paintbowl...this way, it is quite hard to be sure how much paint there is.
But, anyway, I\'m going to buy some Mordian Blue so I have a nice, basic dark blue that I can use on the Marine, so that only highlights need to be made with Ultramarine Blue or mixtures between them.

Well, and here are some photos!




As you can see, the marine in progress is of quite a light colour right now. From this stage, I thought I could try some kind of wash to give it more contrast...is there anything to washes \'xcept that I need to water down paint really hard and then paint it onto the whole mini?

The \"finished\" marine got some more contrasty highlights on some parts (elbow pads, helmet, shin pads) since I put it into the voting...how do you think it looks right now?

Thanks for reading,
Witzkatz

 

[Thomgirl]

In regards to your \"keeping paint wet\" issue, you might could try using a wet pallet. I don\'t think I saw anyone mention this. There are a number of good articles on the site about making your own with common household items. I actually made the stackable type that\'s described in one of the articles, but I use cosmetic sponges for my sponge (didn\'t have to cut them to size for my pallet and being a girl, I have a ton around) and baking parchment paper in place of wet pallet paper. Check them out though, just another thought BTW, great start on your space marines! You seem to have a good steady hand which will take you far in painting. Keep it up!

 

[Lemmingspawn]

Nice neat start for a first timer Good work. I would offer a suggestion for the gap in the body section - on plastic models I usually use a diamond file or fine sand paper and just lightly sand the join. This tends to fill the gap over if it\'s small enough. Or if the gap is too large, some putty of some kind which I am sure has already been mentioned. A tiny tiny tiny line of plastic glue along the offending area can also help to weld them together BUT that is tricky to get right and you can stuff the model royally if you get it wrong.

Nice work on the base coating I\'d recommend the GW washes to help add some depth - they work a treat.

 

[Witzkatz]

Thanks for your answers and tips! I am trying to avoid the paint-that-dries-problem at the moment by having bought some Mordian Blue, so that I have a nice and ready basecolour that doesn\'t need mixing anymore (and therefore I\'ll get the same colour everytime I take it out of the pot). But I guess the problem will come up later anyway, so I may try out your suggestions!

I\'ll be staying the next week on the Danish west coast in a nice little holiday home, curing my operational wounds a bit...but of course I\'m taking my painting stuff with me! It\'s just that this way I won\'t be able to continue this thread (and ask questions) the next week, but there\'ll be photos after that (and questions ^^).

Having bought the Black Reach set I\'m going to try and paint an ork in Denmark...and of course I\'ll need your opinion and critique on that one when I\'m back!

Thanks for helping me so much here, CMON is great for learning stuff about painting!

Witzkatz

 

[Witzkatz]

Hello again!

In Denmark I found the time to paint my first orkboy. He is almost finished, I think...except that I need to work on his leather vest, pants and boots. Highlights need to be done there. But now..

...heres sum orky pickshaz!








Sorry for the bad quality...I may need to buy a better camera some of these days.

On my Space Marine, I was very careful with the highlights in a way there were sometimes barely visible and therefore not really helpful. So on this ork I used some pretty bright highlights for more contrast and I like it at the moment.

Ork skin is:
1. basecoat of DA green
2. layer of catachan green
3. (barely visible) drybrushed highlight of 50/50 catachan green an camo green
4. (really bright) drybrushed highlight of pure camo green

On the face this worked out quite well, I think. The left arm though as verrry high contrast, not sure about that.

I am particularly fond of the metals on this guy...I have to say, the camera doesn\'t get right how they look, especially on the shoota.
I painted the metal parts this way:
1. boltgun metal with a bit of chaos black in it (makes it a bit more dirty I like to think)
2. very dilute wash of chaos black to deepen the shadows in corners
3. a wash of 50/50 red gore and scorched brown for an overall rusty look
4. little fine lines of pure boltgun metal, where physical force has scraped the rusted patina on the iron away

In my opinion, this looks quite nice and orky.

Teeth are simply bleached bone over graveyard earth...the mouth interior is a mix of ultramarines blue and red gore, makes a funny purplish colour.

So, two things:

1. I\'d really appreciate comments and critique about how I painted this ork so far. I won\'t improve without knowing what to do better.
2. I hesitated to highlight the leather, as stated before. Has anyone tips how to highlight the leather parts? Atm it is only scorched brown with a liiitle bit of chaos black wash that made the shadows a bit deeper.

Thanks for reading and in advance,
Witzkatz

 

[Mourner]

on the leather:
i\'d have done it differently altogether, just paint the leather parts in (different shades of) light brown, and apply a devlan mud wash, instant highlight.
for some variation, just apply another wash of color. works like a charm.

on highlighting your leather:
just apply a lighter shade of brown onto the raised areas. (graveyard earth would be great for this)

 

[Witzkatz]

Thanks for the answer

Yeah, a wash seems to be a good idea, I\'ll try and buy some in the next days. I tried highlighting the leather with 50/50 scorched brown/graveyard earth and final graveyard earth highlights...I am somehow not really content with it, I\'ll take some pictures tomorrow when the light is better.

Thanks for reading,
Witzkatz

 

[cleen X]

You could try a wash on the ork skin to. It will make the highlights look like a seamless transition more or less

 

[Witzkatz]

Hello again!

I did what you suggested and bought some washes, Thraka Green and Devlan Mud, and used both of them on these guys. I really like how easy it is to get some nice shading on things like boots and clothes with them.

So, here are a few pictures of my two orks...the first of a whole mob, I hope.






I especially like this one...

OI! WHATCHOO LUKKIN\' AT, YA PUNY GIT?!

I\'d be happy to get some comments and critique on this guys. Everytime I look through the Top 7 of the week I think...damn...I need to improve

Thanks for reading and viewing and in advance,
Witzkatz

 

[cleen X]

Originally posted by Witzkatz
I look through the Top 7 of the week I think...damn...I need to improve

lol Know that feeling! The skin looks much better after the wash Your first minis are amazing comparing to my first minis.

 

[starchaser1]

Originally posted by Gapow
Water slide transfers are the bane of my life, but it works out too expensive for me to keep buying the pre-moulded pads.

I\'ve been advised to use gloss varnish on the pad before putting the transfer onto it, this way it wont stick to paint and tear as you try and move it. I\'ve not had chance to try it out yet, as I\'ve been busy doing other stuff, but it\'s worth a shot

try adding a very small amount of washing -up liquid to tepid water i find that works well

 

[obsidianpainting]

Hey,

A couple things you can do that may help you a little bit.
1) you can use your washes to also further every other part of your mini (give your horns a wash of devlan mud for instance, the teeth, you can even give the skin a wash of devlan mud, that would further the shadows and also kinda bring some of the colours together on the mini.)
2) next time start with a little brighter colour as a basecoat, then hit it with a wash, then highlight. Very simple highlight. (for example, start with a basecoat of your catachan green, then wash it with thraka green then hit it with devlan mud, then highlight with camo)
3) for your metallics, you can shade these with the washes aswell, one thing that particularly looks good, is basecoat boltgun/chaos black mix, highlight boltgun, wash badab black, wash devlan mud, wash gryphonne sepia(all of these watered down) and then bring back metallic pigments with boltgun drybrushed really lightly, then highlight boltgun/mithral mix.

I hope this helps, and always remember that water + paints = good
even if its just a little bit.

 

[Witzkatz]

Hello again!

@obsidianpainting: I basically tried to use what you suggested on 1) and 2) on the Orks you see there, with the exception of the extra devlan mud und the skin (the horns and teeth had devlan mud over bleached bone). I guess the photos are, again, not that brilliant...your way of painting metallics sounds interesting, I might try that on the next ork cleaver!

In the meantime, I looked back on my very first mini, the marine from the earlier pages...and realized I wasn\'t happy with it.

Joek\'s thread about his veteran marines inspired me and I so I went and painted the marine a bit brighter, mainly pure ultramarine blue, did some brighter highlights, remade the eyes in some parts (the reflection point is now bigger, which is better, I think ) and, the most important thing, I finally tried to do some freehand chapter and tactical symbols on the shoulder pads!




Well, I have to admit that it looks quite crappy in some places (especially the omega freehand), but nevertheless I have to blame camera and lightning for some parts.

However, I think the markings add some kind of focal point to this guy...he looked a bit blank before, if you ask me.

Next marine and ork are in progress and if you\'re interested I would happily continue to post about them.

C&C always appreciated!

Thanks for reading,
Witzkatz

 

[Witzkatz]

Just a quick question, I wasn\'t able to find anything regarding it in the articles, so...

...a friend of mine bought himself some Kasrkin and Commissar Yarrick as his very first minis, solely for gaming purposes, because he doesn\'t like painting. I offered him to paint those guys up and now they\'re standing here in front of me...

...they\'re my first metal miniatures. Are there any specialitites considering the removal of mould lines and stuff, cleaning, priming? Can I try to get those warped lasguns that three or four of the guys have straightened out somehow? By force, by force and heat or someway like that?

Would be thankful for any tips!

Thanks in advance,
Witzkatz

 

[mattsterbenz]

Not much more to metal figures. If you use only a knife to clean plastics, you might find files more helpful for removing mold lines on the metal ones.

Just carefully bend the lasguns back straight. No need for heat.

By the way, your first miniatures look great!

-Matt