New to Painting Need Help

[daywalker786]

Hi,

I\'m Fairly new to painting, and need some pointers on some of the techniques that can help me with my minis not turning out flat and one dimensional, please any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[airhead]

Daywalker, welcome to the forums.

You are probably at the best site to improve your painting. Thicken your skin because the critics are like olymipic judges, they miss very little.

A bit of color theory:
you can paint a cloak red straight from the bottle, and it will look better than an unpainted mini on the table, but to give it depth, we artificially increase the range from shadow to light. Very much like a stage actor overdoes the makeup to allow the audience to see it. Three techniques are used for the majority of this: Drybrushing, layering and wet blending.

Next, the easiest way to learn these techniques is to paint with someone that knows them and will show you. You didn\'t mention where you are located at in your profile.

Without the aid of a tutor, start with the articles here at cmon:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/article

There are several other good sites with tutorials as well.
http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft
http://www.dragonsreach.org/
http://www.brushthralls.com/index.php

Finally, post your work and let us help. I\'ve moved from the bottom of the pile here to a respectible painter (not great) due to comments from people here.

 

[uglyamericanV1.5]

yea i get to help!!

i have been painting for a year and have found the articles here are excellent! so go dig through them. Also, here are some neat links..(some may be repeats of above, if so, i appologize)

http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/clinic.htm
http://www.drunkdwarves.com/pages/gamecraft.html
http://www.kaple.dk/v2/index.php?nav=tutorials
http://www.pendragonstudios.be/tutorials.htm
http://www.blacklibrary.com/bloodquest/bobbywongarticle8.html

some things i have learned....
1.) make sure you modles are clean when you prime them, or they will prime poorly. if they prime poorly they will look poor.

2.) try and use white primer, it will make your life so much easier, except white primer is a jerk to use. go to ace hardware for the primer because they have this cool nozzle that sprays alot more even, and its cheap. SHAKE for about 5 min, make sure its not hot and muggy outside (i live in louisana so i do mine inside) and do multiple THIN layers (allowing dry time between layers).

3.) the first color you paint on the mini should be the darkest shade you want (the base color) and it should be about 2 drops of paint per drop of water. Then as you add highlights it should be about 2 drops of water per drop of paint. and when you blend it should be about 4 drops of water to drop of paint (or even more water). This is important, try to thin your paints as much as possible. see my gallery, and look at the first banshees VS my banshee exarch
http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/uglyamericanV1.5
you can see how i progrssivly got better, and the majority of that is because i thinned my paints more and more.....

4.) For now, dont use enamels, dont use enamel spray paint, and use brushes that are labbeled Round or Monogram......dont use spotters and liners are hard to use at first so, use round at the begining and then see what you are more comfortable (usually i work first with a 0, then as i do little details i go to 1/18 or 1/10).

remember if you can get the simple basics right (Clean no mould line models with good primer technique and thinned paints) you will have a much easier time...

oh and beware inks...they are a great tool, but more difficult to use than one would think...

i hope i havent given you any bad habits.....

good luck

 

[daywalker786]

Thank You for the all the wonderful information, every bit of information is appreciated. Thank You


P.S. I\'m in Houston, TX