My very first mini posting

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

So I painted two miniatures about 14 years ago (a chaos warrior and an orc) and haven't painted anything else until this year. After stumbling onto this site, I was motivated to get back into painting. A friend asked me to paint his Mordheim character Wilhelm that he had bought on clearance some years ago so I decided to give it my best effort. I hesitated to post a picture of him but I decided that if I never post, I'll never know what to improve so here he is:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/288762View attachment 8600

I wish that I had more pictures at the moment. I tried taking some with my camera phone but it was a disaster so my friend's girlfriend took this one for me and sent it to me. Thanks for looking and I hope to get much better with practice. All of the colors were specified by my buddy. I wish I had a good picture of his cloak as it was my first attempt at wet blending. This is also the first mini that I have ever based; before now I had just painted the bases green. I ended up using ballast that was far to big but I worked around it. I have since purchased several kinds of ballast that are much smaller.

 

[Osku]

I think the face looks nice, very realistic feeling. Nice and clear overall look so now I would recomend you read some advanced painting tutorials and start testing them out

 

[me_in_japan]

Seems pretty fine to me

The mini looks like a very acceptable table top standard. The skin tone is particularly good, but the robes and so on are nicely shaded and highlighted, too. To move up a step (painting-skill wise), you could try making the shadows darker and the highlights lighter. This will make everything a bit more clearly defined, but may not be to your personal taste. I like high contrast minis, but to each his (or her) own

 

[The Blue Scribes]

Good job! There's excellent skin tone shading on the face, making the cheeks and nose a bit more rosey was the right touch. You did well painting white on his robe and his hair looks fantastic. Keep it up!

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

Thank you all so much. I'm so glad I posted. Next time I try robes I hope to achieve the greater contrast that me-in-japan recommended; I never realized how darn hard it is to paint white!! I think I'll scour the forums here for painting white cloth lol. For the hair, I was inspired to try some wet blending after the robes turned out so well; now I'm wondering if I should have hit the hair with some light dry brushing in areas. I was afraid that dry brushing the hair would result in a chalky look.

My next project is for my wife and is a beastmen lord http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440030a&prodId=prod580016a

She wants him painted in natural tones with greens and browns so wish me luck I'm going to start on him as soon as my order of Vallejo Model Colors gets in. I plan on trying both Vallejo and GW paints on him to see what I can do.

 

[The Blue Scribes]

Your comment about wet blending made me think you'd appreciate this guide to painting with a wet palette. Also, this how-to make a wet palette should be good reference.

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

Your comment about wet blending made me think you'd appreciate this guide to painting with a wet palette. Also, this how-to make a wet palette should be good reference.

Thanks so much for the links. I bought a stawet palette from Michaels but I'm having trouble using it properly.

 

[The Blue Scribes]

I haven't used a stawet palette, what's the problem? You can build your own for $4-5, and changing palette surfaces is cheap and easy (just tear off a new strip of waxed paper). I haven't had any problems with mine, and I own the one seen in the tutorial. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

[Kretcher]

One area that you also could create a little bit more intrest in is the base. most people dont use the opertunity (me included ) to work on the base and let that be part of a "story" where the figure are. But if you are "just" going to use it with the standard base the options are less ofcourse.

Face looks really nice, hard to tell with other coolurs, there might be more shading and higlights needed and alos perhaps a little bit thinner colors. But hard to tell.

In any case it looks beatiful and I hope that you will post more pictures in the future.

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

I haven't used a stawet palette, what's the problem? You can build your own for $4-5, and changing palette surfaces is cheap and easy (just tear off a new strip of waxed paper). I haven't had any problems with mine, and I own the one seen in the tutorial. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I think the problem I'm having is actually with the paper that I bought. I read in an article you can use palette paper used for painting acrylics instead of using the over priced paper from the wet palette company. I've tried the palette paper and my paints dry out just as fast as they do in a standard palette. I followed the instructions for the stawet palette and soaked the paper for several minutes, got the sponge really wet, left most of the water in the sponge, and put the paper over it (waxy side up). So it's either the paper or the way I'm using it.

One area that you also could create a little bit more intrest in is the base. most people dont use the opertunity (me included ) to work on the base and let that be part of a "story" where the figure are. But if you are "just" going to use it with the standard base the options are less ofcourse.

Face looks really nice, hard to tell with other coolurs, there might be more shading and higlights needed and alos perhaps a little bit thinner colors. But hard to tell.

In any case it looks beatiful and I hope that you will post more pictures in the future.

Thank you so much. You are absolutely correct, I wish I would have used thinner layers of paint on the robes and I rushed some of the details like the pouches and belt. I was experimenting with shadows and highlights on the white robes and so the end result was a bit off and chalky lol. We have a decent digital camera now so perhaps I can post better pictures for future submissions.

 

[QuietiManes]

Re: wet palette. Sounds like you're using the wrong paper. If there is wax on the paper, you are using the wrong paper. Wax doesn't let water move through, so, you might as well put your paint on a ceramic tile for all the moisture you'd get from the sponge underneath. Those pads of "palette" paper really vary though, so it's hard to say for sure.

The paper you should try to get your hands on is parchment paper...baking sheet...it is in the baking section or beside the saran wrap and lunch bags. There will probably be wax paper beside it, they are very different. I think it might be called different names depending where you are in the world, sandwich and butcher paper might be more familiar. I've read some people have had success asking for and using wrapper sheets from fast food joints like McDonalds and Burger King.

If you don't already have parchment paper in your kitchen drawer, you can probably ask a friend or family member for a few feet off their roll, it will last a long time since you'll only use a few inches square at a time. It's only a few bucks for a roll of your own though, so it's not a big investment.

 

[The Blue Scribes]

I use waxed paper, not parchment paper. I haven't had a problem with the paints being too dry, granted, the paper isn't soaked. While painting off waxed paper the paints are most definitely more wet than off a dry palette. Personally I couldn't imagine using a more permeable palette surface, often times they're too wet and I have to dry my brush.

An issue that can arise which dries out your paints on a wet palette is painting where there is lots of overhead air flow (from a fan or otherwise). It will dry out the top layer of paint and create a "skin" on the paint while the bottom remains moist. Painting in intense direct sunlight may also have this effect. Also, adding too much paint to your palette will create multiple layers of paint on the palette, a bottom layer which benefits from the wet properties of the palette and a top layer which does not. This top layer will dry out and once again create a dry skin.

The best thing to keep in mind is to experiment and find what works best for you, there is no best answer for everyone! If you've tried waxed paper and adjusted your painting conditions with the above in mind, then I would definitely consider QuietiManes suggestion of parchment paper.

The pink horrors below were painted with my method, hopefully they're proof positive it works!

View attachment 8660

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

Re: wet palette. Sounds like you're using the wrong paper. If there is wax on the paper, you are using the wrong paper. Wax doesn't let water move through, so, you might as well put your paint on a ceramic tile for all the moisture you'd get from the sponge underneath. Those pads of "palette" paper really vary though, so it's hard to say for sure.

The paper you should try to get your hands on is parchment paper...baking sheet...it is in the baking section or beside the saran wrap and lunch bags. There will probably be wax paper beside it, they are very different. I think it might be called different names depending where you are in the world, sandwich and butcher paper might be more familiar. I've read some people have had success asking for and using wrapper sheets from fast food joints like McDonalds and Burger King.

If you don't already have parchment paper in your kitchen drawer, you can probably ask a friend or family member for a few feet off their roll, it will last a long time since you'll only use a few inches square at a time. It's only a few bucks for a roll of your own though, so it's not a big investment.

I'll keep my eye out for baking parchment. I hate to ask this but is it common in the US? I only ask because I've ran into some items that are common in Europe and not easily found in the US (I have no clue where you are located so I'd rather ask than not hah).

I use waxed paper, not parchment paper. I haven't had a problem with the paints being too dry, granted, the paper isn't soaked. While painting off waxed paper the paints are most definitely more wet than off a dry palette. Personally I couldn't imagine using a more permeable palette surface, often times they're too wet and I have to dry my brush.

An issue that can arise which dries out your paints on a wet palette is painting where there is lots of overhead air flow (from a fan or otherwise). It will dry out the top layer of paint and create a "skin" on the paint while the bottom remains moist. Painting in intense direct sunlight may also have this effect. Also, adding too much paint to your palette will create multiple layers of paint on the palette, a bottom layer which benefits from the wet properties of the palette and a top layer which does not. This top layer will dry out and once again create a dry skin.

The best thing to keep in mind is to experiment and find what works best for you, there is no best answer for everyone! If you've tried waxed paper and adjusted your painting conditions with the above in mind, then I would definitely consider QuietiManes suggestion of parchment paper.

The pink horrors below were painted with my method, hopefully they're proof positive it works!

View attachment 8660

First, your horrors are beautiful! I love the blue ones crawling out of the pink ones but the overall transition of colors looks amazing. I've never painted with pinks for the bulk of a model (which isn't saying much considering I've painted a whopping 3 models LOL) but it looks much more appealing as a color that I thought it would.

I don't have any air-flow over head but I do paint under a very low watt natural bulb so I'm not sure if that is drying them out. I think I'll take your advice and try both waxed and baking parchment to see which works best. Those replacement papers for the sta-wet pallets are just too pricey

 

[QuietiManes]

Yeah, it should be easy to find in the US. Grocery store - in the baking section or the section that has the aluminum foil/saran wrap/lunch bags/etc. Both the wax and parchment. The parchment is the one that is the same as the sta-wet stuff, I've read some folks saying the parchment paper breaks down a little sooner than the sta-wet paper does but I haven't noticed anything like that myself. Not sure if I'm just gentle or quick or if there's some mind tricks going on or what.

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

Yeah, it should be easy to find in the US. Grocery store - in the baking section or the section that has the aluminum foil/saran wrap/lunch bags/etc. Both the wax and parchment. The parchment is the one that is the same as the sta-wet stuff, I've read some folks saying the parchment paper breaks down a little sooner than the sta-wet paper does but I haven't noticed anything like that myself. Not sure if I'm just gentle or quick or if there's some mind tricks going on or what.

Excellent. Thanks for the response. I'll try to nab some on our next grocery trip

 

[Engineer Jeff]

Here in the mid-west, you should be able to find parchment paper at Kroger, Meijer, or even Walmart at one of there super stores. I found mine in the baking section.

 

[Hoodoo_Hermit]

Here in the mid-west, you should be able to find parchment paper at Kroger, Meijer, or even Walmart at one of there super stores. I found mine in the baking section.

I'll try the Super Wal-Mart in my area first then, thanks!