Question From Noob, Out of the "Lines"

[Ravenhex]

Hi,

Been lurking for months and finally joined
Just got into the mini painting hobby due to buying my first non painted minis at PAX Prime in September (Super Dungeon Explorer). Needless to say i have a lot more minis since then.... and paint... and base materials...

I know practice practice practice is the biggest way to improve but I am getting frustarted with my continually getting paint from one part onto another.
I have tried painting "inside out" starting with the most middle piece and working out. I have tried the "how I get dressed" method, starting with skin and working outwards as if the mini was putting on layer after layer.
No matter what I do I still manage to get enough paint on a finished part that it needs to be redone.

Do people get around this by just doing things over and over? Do you use a smaller brush? I tend to use one size for doing everything that has a very pointy point so I thought that would be good enough.

Any tips would be appreciated.
(I read tutorials and have watched some DVDs and I am starting to think I just have shoddy hand control).

Thanks!

 

[GunjiNoKanrei]

Ultimately it comes down to brush control which is a matter of practise - there is no shoddy hand control There are a few other factors though.

What size is the one brush you use? Maybe the body is just too wide despite the fine tip?

Another possibility is that you overload your brush with paint and thus just release too much onto the miniature making the paint difficult/impossible to control. After you pick up paint from your palette with your brush try dragging the brush across a piece of tissue or a towel. This will remove excess moisture from the brush while making the remaining paint/pigment much easier to control.

 

[BPI]

Hi RavenHex, Gunji's advice is good. Just to note, do not use toilet roll in place of paper towel, it's far too dusty

If I notice I've spotted paint into the wrong area, I grab a clean brush, dunk it in the water pot, then thrash it over the mispaint, usually manage to water it to nothing before it dries & then lots of brush to towel movement to mop it all up Might still leave a tint over a pale area but that's a lot easier to glaze over to make it vanish.

I will tend to basecoat the whole mini so that I can see the colours roughed in. Then do the face. Then paint the bits that were most difficult to basecoat neatly first. No need to do all the flesh, if one bit's easy & another tricky, do the difficult one. Then the colour around it, can always go back to another area of flesh later. I think this has come about since I made myself a wet pallet. Both it & the paper towel make useful colour reference clues if you forget what you used

Cheers, B.

 

[IdofEntity]

Hey Raven,

All of the above advice is great. Another thing I try to do is start with the darkest colour area first off, and proceed to work the next lighter area. This way if I do get paint on a part I didn't mean to it's either less noticable or easier to correct. Easier to fix a dab of thinned out golden yellow on bestial brown than vice versa.

 

[Einion]

Do people get around this by just doing things over and over?

Nope. I hate to say the words but this is one of those things that people get better at with practice. There are some basic tips that can help though, not sure what'll be most helpful in your case without more info.

Do you think you have shaky hands generally? Are you having trouble holding the mini steady while you paint or do you think it's the movement of the brush itself that's mostly to blame? Is the paint in the brush sort of blobbing further than you're expecting on a regular basis? Your problems with staying inside the lines could be due to one or all of these.

Do you use a smaller brush?

Than what.. what size are you using?

Honestly though, brush size shouldn't be a huge factor here within reason - it's possible to paint most things on a mini with a 2 about as well as you can with a 0 or a 000.

Even with experience you might need to repaint an edge every now and then - who has good enough coordination that they never make mistakes? - but you shouldn't consider it as a necessary part of day-by-day painting, to give you an idea of what level of control you can aim for.

Have a look at the way people hold and use their brushes in the DVDs you have; there are likely to be some slight differences in grip and the way they move the brush from person to person but try mimicking each one of them, see if one in particular helps.

Einion

 

[Ravenhex]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I use a size 2 normally (Raphael).
I have the mini mounted to a spice jar that I hold against a small table so my hands and mini are given more stability. (horrible description)
I wipe paint off on a paper towel but I am wondering if I could wipe more off.
No shakey hands here, I stopped painting while drinking coffee
Even with 2 good light sources sometimes I don't notice my over paint until it is too late. Which involves 4 seconds for it to dry.

I will try less paint (it's crazy how much is still in them after you wipe them off a few times) and doing my darker colors first and finally try out the wet pallete paper I got that is sitting in a box.

Thanks so much! I can see other stuff I am doing improving so this was just kinda bugging me.

I know I will never be perfect, lol, but the current mini I have will need to skin parts repainted, her thigh and parts of her boots. Very annoying, I start to feel like nothing will ever be finished and I will just keep painting layer after layer.

 

[Chern Ann]

OO... size 2 is a little large. Most painters work with size 1 for large areas and size 0 for details; and sometimes even smaller for competition painters.

 

[funnymouth]

a simple tip to reduce shaky hand issues is to join your arms/hands so that they shake in sync.

 

[freakinacage]

OO... size 2 is a little large. Most painters work with size 1 for large areas and size 0 for details; and sometimes even smaller for competition painters.

depends on the quality of the point. i use my rosemary and co 2 for just about everything. even eyes

 

[supervike]

depends on the quality of the point. i use my rosemary and co 2 for just about everything. even eyes

Did you paint that avatar you use with that?

 

[mattsterbenz]

Just about all I ever use is a GW Standard Brush. As long as the brush keeps a good point any size will do. The Necron in my avatar was done entirely with one GW Standard Brush, same thing with the recent stuff in my WIP. I occasionally use a 2/0 for things like eyes (if I'm actually painting the iris and pupils, otherwise I'll revert to the Standard).

The more you paint the more brush control you will develop. It's better to take your time and paint "clean" rather than have to go back and tidy up areas later. Having to tidy up areas is inefficient and the build-up of paint can look sloppy. You'll pick up speed with time.

-Matt

 

[freakinacage]

Did you paint that avatar you use with that?

yeah, damn i'm good

 

[Einion]

I use a size 2 normally (Raphael).

Okay, well a 2 is doable but why not try using a smaller brush and seeing if it helps?

I have the mini mounted to a spice jar that I hold against a small table so my hands and mini are given more stability. (horrible description)

No that's fine! And it sounds like a good aid to stability; lots of people use some method that's something like this.

I wipe paint off on a paper towel but I am wondering if I could wipe more off.
...
I will try less paint (it's crazy how much is still in them after you wipe them off a few times)...

Also try loading only the tip of the brush to begin with. This is a good habit anyway, since if you can avoid it it's best not to get paint up near the ferrrule.

Einion

 

[Ravenhex]

Thanks!

I am hoping we get out early due to the snow so I can get some extra painting time in tonight to try these tips out!

 

[IdofEntity]

Thanks!

I am hoping we get out early due to the snow so I can get some extra painting time in tonight to try these tips out!

Are you up in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region? Perfect night for painting and for soup. I wouldn't want to be out in that.

 

[Ravenhex]

I live just south of Boston.
Snow. Every. Single. Week. The first storm a massive branch fell on my car and it was declared a total loss. I am really sick of snow this year

 

[QuietiManes]

I know practice practice practice is the biggest way to improve but I am getting frustarted with my continually getting paint from one part onto another.
I have tried painting "inside out" starting with the most middle piece and working out. I have tried the "how I get dressed" method, starting with skin and working outwards as if the mini was putting on layer after layer.
No matter what I do I still manage to get enough paint on a finished part that it needs to be redone.

I think the general practice is to go from low to high points on the model. With some exceptions where it just makes sense to overide this general rule. Like if there is something really hard and/or important to do and not mess up after, like eyes for most people. Many do eyes last. Or like the previously mentioned going from dark to light colours or light to dark.

The other thing you may try, if you aren't doing it already, is to work the whole model in stages of detail, low to high. Doing the base coat everywhere. Then doing the shading everywhere...then the highlights...then the final details like eyes and jewels and tattoos etc with the same sort of base, shade, highlight (as required). Instead of doing all stages for theskin before moving onto doing all stages on the clothing/armour/weapons, etc. I know there's more to it but I think that conveys my meaning well enough.

Everyone has to do touchups though, it's all part of the fun.

 

[Ravenhex]

Ok, had a snow day yesterday (awesome).
After I got over my morning coffee high I tackled a mini with a size 1 brush. Going down a size really did help. I went over every area with a base coat first to figure out my color ideas, had minimal overflow I also wiped off more paint then I normally do and still had plenty in the brush. Amazed by the amount of paint they hold!
I started some shading and it was coming out ok when i took a break for the day.

The tips have been very much appreciated and are being put to use!!! Thanks a million!

 

[Einion]

Glad to hear some of the tips helped :good:

Einion