Willdorling
New member
Might just be the can?
Reaper's How to Paint Quadrilogy
- Thread starter MChez
- Start date
By the looks of it, Meph is right on target again, get a new can or buy some brush on primer.
By the way, when I say "Stay Frosty" I mean you stay frosty as in remain cool & collected under pressure. The learning curve can be a pain to go through but it's part of getting there. This is supposed to be fun so if it's not going as planned change the plan. While that one is being striped start another one. That'll help keep you in the mix. Have fun, learn, and you'll love it.
Good luck & Stay Frosty!
By the way, when I say "Stay Frosty" I mean you stay frosty as in remain cool & collected under pressure. The learning curve can be a pain to go through but it's part of getting there. This is supposed to be fun so if it's not going as planned change the plan. While that one is being striped start another one. That'll help keep you in the mix. Have fun, learn, and you'll love it.
Good luck & Stay Frosty!
VeristicalBlaze
New member
What I've noticed that will help the primer being less frosty is this:
- shake the can for a minute
- put it in a bowl with warm(not hot!) water
- shake the can again a minute
- put it in the bowl
- shake
If you do this after 5 min you're done and I've got perfectly smooth finishes with a can of GW's White that had the same kinda frostiness before.
- shake the can for a minute
- put it in a bowl with warm(not hot!) water
- shake the can again a minute
- put it in the bowl
- shake
If you do this after 5 min you're done and I've got perfectly smooth finishes with a can of GW's White that had the same kinda frostiness before.
PegaZus
Stealth Freak
Maybe that's why I never have had any problems? White automotive primer FTW!
TrystanGST
New member
It does, you just have to be careful about how long you let it soak.
MChez
New member
I'm keeping at it. After one more attempt with the first bottle using a warm water bath and still not getting the results I was looking for, I swapped out cans and sent my noble knight back for another bath.
This morning, I used the new can and primed before the heat really started to pick up. To the eye, the resulting primer job appears far smoother and if felt different going on. Blown up in the photo, I still see what may be some grain on the helm so dunno.
I was confident enough in the results however to press on with priming of the second mini for the first training kit; if nothing else as a comparison between minis. Furthermore, I primed the two mini's from the second training kit concerning skin tones with a barbarian flesh colored primer. The results there, for me, were the most promising.
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View attachment 14257
As always, thoughts are appreciated.
This morning, I used the new can and primed before the heat really started to pick up. To the eye, the resulting primer job appears far smoother and if felt different going on. Blown up in the photo, I still see what may be some grain on the helm so dunno.
I was confident enough in the results however to press on with priming of the second mini for the first training kit; if nothing else as a comparison between minis. Furthermore, I primed the two mini's from the second training kit concerning skin tones with a barbarian flesh colored primer. The results there, for me, were the most promising.
View attachment 14254
View attachment 14255
View attachment 14256
View attachment 14257
As always, thoughts are appreciated.
TrystanGST
New member
Exactly. That's smooth enough for most.
MAXXxxx
Well-known member
looks smooth enough for me.
To get smoother you'd need to prepare the surface more 'carefully' (extra smoothness with milliput-wash, steel-wool and similar things).
Also I'd say it's not bad if the primer has a bit of 'teef', so your paint can grip on it instead of sliding off the too-smooth surfaces.
To get smoother you'd need to prepare the surface more 'carefully' (extra smoothness with milliput-wash, steel-wool and similar things).
Also I'd say it's not bad if the primer has a bit of 'teef', so your paint can grip on it instead of sliding off the too-smooth surfaces.
meanmuttley
New member
I had the same problem with spray primer while I lived in Georgia. It did not matter which brand or what color it was always fuzzy. But glad you stayed on it, and keep on posting!
MChez
New member
Just a quick follow up, I've far from abandoned this effort. In fact I think I may have caught the bug. My wife and I happened to welcome a brand new baby to the world last week so I'll be away from the paint bench until grandparents can pinch hit some of the care giving. Hope to have some progress to show in the weeks ahead.
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MChez
New member
So, off the races. A few weeks after the newborn arrived we have settled out to the point where I was able to get my first real day of painting in.
For the most part, there was a lot of learning about brush control, paint mixing and consistency as well as just getting my workspace set up from the theoretical to the practical. Overall, while the results are lackluster especially when looking at the high resolution of the photos that allows me to see flaws easily, it was a lot of fun and I think I learned quite a bit. The whole point of these first 8 minis is simply to get my feet wet and get over the hump of never having done this. I also used the cheap brushes that came with the starter set, rather than the more expensive sables I have ready when I get more comfortable.
So the first photos attached. I started by doing a simple dark wash over the primer to get some definition between areas and see detail a bit better against the white. I did not wash the flesh areas, as I wanted them to retain their brightness and pop when I did get to the flesh tones. I was also hoping that this quick wash would give me a little flexibility with future lining, if enough of the wash ends up getting retained.
First off, my wash consistency had issues. While I was happy the pigment found it's way to the nooks and crannies, on the flat higher surfaces I did get a lot of splotching. Not a biggie at this point, since base coating will hide it but it certainly made me more aware of the potential pigment pulling with follow on washes. Moving on, I laid out my flat tones for the face and blue fabric areas of the piece. I buckled down for the eyes, knowing the challenge ahead, and after a few attempts I was able to get one eye done to satisfaction. Repair on the eye on the left of the photo will need to occur next time I get to it. Holding him in my hand, it was not as obvious an issue as it was looking at the pictures. Now it's all I see.
Following the base coating on the flesh and blue fabric, I went back to washing. Setting up two different washes gave me the opportunity to work on my ratios a bit more. The skin tone wash I think came out fairly well. The wash for the fabric had some pooling issues I didn't notice until the photo. I'll work on those as well next time in.
View attachment 15179 View attachment 15180
While the washes were resting, I played with wet blending on my second mini. While the picture doesn’t show it very well, I was overall pleased with the nice organic molting of color that ended up for his fur base coat.
View attachment 15181
For the most part, there was a lot of learning about brush control, paint mixing and consistency as well as just getting my workspace set up from the theoretical to the practical. Overall, while the results are lackluster especially when looking at the high resolution of the photos that allows me to see flaws easily, it was a lot of fun and I think I learned quite a bit. The whole point of these first 8 minis is simply to get my feet wet and get over the hump of never having done this. I also used the cheap brushes that came with the starter set, rather than the more expensive sables I have ready when I get more comfortable.
So the first photos attached. I started by doing a simple dark wash over the primer to get some definition between areas and see detail a bit better against the white. I did not wash the flesh areas, as I wanted them to retain their brightness and pop when I did get to the flesh tones. I was also hoping that this quick wash would give me a little flexibility with future lining, if enough of the wash ends up getting retained.
First off, my wash consistency had issues. While I was happy the pigment found it's way to the nooks and crannies, on the flat higher surfaces I did get a lot of splotching. Not a biggie at this point, since base coating will hide it but it certainly made me more aware of the potential pigment pulling with follow on washes. Moving on, I laid out my flat tones for the face and blue fabric areas of the piece. I buckled down for the eyes, knowing the challenge ahead, and after a few attempts I was able to get one eye done to satisfaction. Repair on the eye on the left of the photo will need to occur next time I get to it. Holding him in my hand, it was not as obvious an issue as it was looking at the pictures. Now it's all I see.
Following the base coating on the flesh and blue fabric, I went back to washing. Setting up two different washes gave me the opportunity to work on my ratios a bit more. The skin tone wash I think came out fairly well. The wash for the fabric had some pooling issues I didn't notice until the photo. I'll work on those as well next time in.
View attachment 15179 View attachment 15180
While the washes were resting, I played with wet blending on my second mini. While the picture doesn’t show it very well, I was overall pleased with the nice organic molting of color that ended up for his fur base coat.
View attachment 15181
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moetle
New member
Everything everyone has said was right on. Also i spry my mini's just like Tryst just posted. I didn't see anyone mention this ( i could have missed it) but i normally take a sprue or two with me before i spray anything to make sure what you got the first time (crystalin evil) wont happen to the mini. Thats saved me alot of time and hassle.
Moe
Moe
MChaz;
First off congratulations on the arrival of the money demanding, noisy, attention seeking, sleep depriving, worry making offspring. Just eighteen years or so til you can turf it off to college.
(Ok joking aside) Congrats to you and your missus after all she did the hard work.
On the painting side, you've had a rough (pun intended) start on the priming, but you've taken the advise and ended up with a workable state mini. Now being honest I'd say that the mini you've chosen isn't the best for a beginner as there is a lot of surface variation requiring differing techniques and there are a lot of "cramped areas" in which there is detail to work on.
However to work with what you've got I'd have suggested that you start with the metallic areas first as metallic paints show up on plain colours if there any errors. So I'd suggest that to protect the plain colours you invest in a pack of blu-tack and pull it out thin and use it to cover the colours while you work on the metals.
Hope this helps a little.
First off congratulations on the arrival of the money demanding, noisy, attention seeking, sleep depriving, worry making offspring. Just eighteen years or so til you can turf it off to college.
(Ok joking aside) Congrats to you and your missus after all she did the hard work.
On the painting side, you've had a rough (pun intended) start on the priming, but you've taken the advise and ended up with a workable state mini. Now being honest I'd say that the mini you've chosen isn't the best for a beginner as there is a lot of surface variation requiring differing techniques and there are a lot of "cramped areas" in which there is detail to work on.
However to work with what you've got I'd have suggested that you start with the metallic areas first as metallic paints show up on plain colours if there any errors. So I'd suggest that to protect the plain colours you invest in a pack of blu-tack and pull it out thin and use it to cover the colours while you work on the metals.
Hope this helps a little.
MChez
New member
Thanks Dragon for your encouragement on both fronts.
Interesting observation about the model. Even though being a complete noob I thought so as well. Interesting choice for Reaper to start of their how to series. Only thing I can think of, is it seems to take to washes well and presumably drybrushing which are the techniques they are highlighting in the package. For a first time face and eye trainer, it really seem to fall short, but alas..it's a training mini and while I'd like to take pride in the result, I have to keep that in perspective.
Great masking tip! Even though I am brand new, I get the challenges of using metallics but hadn't considered the dangerous of over paint. I will certainly take it to heart. Thanks again.
Interesting observation about the model. Even though being a complete noob I thought so as well. Interesting choice for Reaper to start of their how to series. Only thing I can think of, is it seems to take to washes well and presumably drybrushing which are the techniques they are highlighting in the package. For a first time face and eye trainer, it really seem to fall short, but alas..it's a training mini and while I'd like to take pride in the result, I have to keep that in perspective.
Great masking tip! Even though I am brand new, I get the challenges of using metallics but hadn't considered the dangerous of over paint. I will certainly take it to heart. Thanks again.
KruleBear
Active member
Looking pretty decent for a first mini. As i am learning use the photos to get better, but try not to obsess about the flaws it shows you. Heck the photo is probably ten times larger than the actual mini and you will not notice the little imperfections irl unless you are shooting fo golden demon level pint jobs.
MChez
New member
Continuing on, a great deal of progress. These pictures actually represent my third session of working in the mini. Day two, aside from getting the base metallic down, ended up being a lot of rework so I spared the thread the photos. With these latest images, I've completed the first set of Reaper How to Paint instructions that came with the Knight miniature. There are plenty of touch ups I could do, especially now that I'm looking at the pictures on a 25" monitor, but generally speaking the painting is complete-ish. I was not aiming for more then gaming quality at best with the first training kit.
Issues here and there non-withstanding, I feel comfortable saying I have a grand total of one mini under my belt (more or less). If I continue to tinker, definitely have some work to do on the shield front (not viewed) as my last wash to even out tones really darkened it too much. I'm also not happy at all with the sword. Inking and drybrushing really made the front look odd and not sword like. Painted as it is, does not give it enough character or define the blade portions enough. So areas to improve.
What I did learn was a great deal about brush and paint control. I also feel I have a much better handle on base and wash consistencies, and a lot of improvements to my own personal workflow. After many iterations, I'm no longer intimidated by eyes and faces so that's a plus. Other then that, getting experience with prep, priming, drybrush and wash techniques all improved over the handful of hours put in.
View attachment 15240
View attachment 15241
Next up, learning to seal this guy and moving on to the next issue. That rat awaits.
Issues here and there non-withstanding, I feel comfortable saying I have a grand total of one mini under my belt (more or less). If I continue to tinker, definitely have some work to do on the shield front (not viewed) as my last wash to even out tones really darkened it too much. I'm also not happy at all with the sword. Inking and drybrushing really made the front look odd and not sword like. Painted as it is, does not give it enough character or define the blade portions enough. So areas to improve.
What I did learn was a great deal about brush and paint control. I also feel I have a much better handle on base and wash consistencies, and a lot of improvements to my own personal workflow. After many iterations, I'm no longer intimidated by eyes and faces so that's a plus. Other then that, getting experience with prep, priming, drybrush and wash techniques all improved over the handful of hours put in.
View attachment 15240
View attachment 15241
Next up, learning to seal this guy and moving on to the next issue. That rat awaits.
