techniques to master

[Hoblit]

Ok. now my painting sucks, mainly because I don\'t know what techniques I need to work on and in what order. Obviously, if I try to do SENMM now, I\'ll just get disillusioned and stop painting for another year.

basically, I can do the following. Thin my paints, drybrush. Now what techniques should I attempt and opefully master and in what order.

Preferably from easiest to most difficult, but a logical progression that makes sense would also help. for example learn blending then try NMM then try SENMM.

Please help, I really want to try and improve.

 

[Mosch]

First of all, you need to develop brush control. I don\'t have any, so I curse a lot. Constantly.

After that I would like to advertise blacklining; it just makes the figure look neater and \"sharper\". The colours will not run into each other if you blackline. Which of course is only possible with reasonable brush control.
As for me, see number one, so I use a technical pen.

Next on the list would be blending. If you can manage to get rid of visible borders between the highlights you have come a really long way towards making your minis look good.
I can\'t blend neither, but I sure can bitch about it.

Come back after you have mastered all this. After several years of painting I do not even have reasonable brush control so maybe this list will keep you busy for some time

 

[Legacy Account]

Blending.

 

[green stuff]

Mosch\'s view is pretty true IMHO. I\'d just replace \"blacklining\" by \"darklining\". The transitions are less artificial.

As long as you\'re in the learning phase and you\'ve decided to seek out the \"next level\", you mustn\'t be afraid to do as many thin layers as necessary. Time shouldn\'t be important. After much practice, the time it takes to paint a smooth blended surfaces diminishes rapidly.

Also, stuff that can be added on your \"to learn\" list could be : freehand and texturing surfaces (corrosion, adding mud, ...).

 

[Hoblit]

So at this point the list looks like this.

Brush Control (which I think will be an ongoing process)
Darklining
Using Thin Layers
Blending
Freehand
Texturing Surfaces

Is there anything else to add to this list?

 

[Mosch]

Orginal gepostet von green stuff
Mosch\'s view is pretty true IMHO. I\'d just replace \"blacklining\" by \"darklining\". The transitions are less artificial.

I have always called the technique blacklining, eventhough I do not always use black.... I didn\'t really realize there was a difference.

While we\'re on the subject, this one thing always gets me confused... I always say I \"prime\" my model while other people talk of \"primering\". Which one is it?

 

[green stuff]

Message original : Mosch
While we\'re on the subject, this one thing always gets me confused... I always say I \"prime\" my model while other people talk of \"primering\". Which one is it?

I \"prime\" my minis but I might not be the best person to determin if that\'s the correct saying .

And darklining is like blacklining V.2 in my book .

 

[Ritual]

I think \'prime\' is the right word to use.

 

[vincegamer]

Judging from Mosch\'s post it appears the first thing you need to do is develop a large vocabulary of swear words.

 

[hakoMike]

Originally posted by Mosch
I can\'t blend neither, but I sure can bitch about it.

Same boat here. Still to what you\'re good at, I always say!

Hoblit, don\'t get too dependent on drybrushing. It can leave models looking dusty and indistinct if used excessively. My Skaven from last year look like someone dipped them in a bag of flour.

 

[Modderrhu]

Layering is easy to do, and is an excellent intermediate learning tool in preparation for blending. Just paint 3 or 4 solid progressions from dark to light. When you tire of the obvious transitions, then you start glazing. It\'s a natural progression, really - glazing just uses much, much thinner paint, and is much, much slower. From glazing, other blending techniques are also natural progressions. Glazing will teach brush control, \'cos the paint is so thin.


Item-specific techniques like gems, freehand and texturing tend to come along the way. Most often with just a desire to try them. Brush control is necessary for freehand, and good blending is necessary for gems. Thing is, glazing gives you the basics for trying all sorts of different things.

I\'ve grown weary of how long it takes to glaze things, so I\'m onto quicker blending techniques. Wet blending is killing me, but it\'s the next level for me.

 

[Jambot13]

I\'d say that working with glazes is a useful one to learn early on too. I think that you can get great effects without a massve amount of skill and practice, just a lot of patience.

If you are willing to put in time building up your higlights with loads of thin glazes then transitions will be very smooth and I don\'t think you really do need to be as accurate with your brush control because its so easy to rectify mistakes if you quickly soak the paint back up onto a fresh brush.

Much as I like the results I\'m often too impatient to paint my miniatures this way, but the technique can also be combined with faster methods to good effect.

 

[Dragonsreach]

My two Rand\'s worth; Rather than try to concentrate on learning all the techniques at once start with one of them; for example Brush Control.
Once you can master the accuracy that brush work demands on fine detail then you\'ll find that you can then take the things you learned in achieving the brush control and use them in the next item you want to learn; Say Layering or blending.
And then so on and so forth.

Remember :The longest road starts with a single step. (It may sound trite but it is true.)

 

[Legacy Account]

Yep, make sure you can get the paint in the right place to start with. Dunno why some people struggle with that... ???

I would still thoroughly recommend ploughing LOADS of time into blending. If you can perfect smooth transitions of colour and tone, you can pretty much learn anything after that.

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
My two Rand\'s worth...

Oh rub it in, why don\'t you!?!

 

[Hoblit]

@ Dragonsreach - Yeah, I\'m not trying to master all the tecniques at once. That would be silly. What I am trying to do is get some sort of feel for a natural progression of techniques.

Obviously Brush control is going to be the most important.
then it looks like darklining, layering, glazing, blending.

One thing nobody has mentioned is Basing. where does that fit in?

 

[EArkham]

Depends on the sort of basing you prefer, really.

I typically treat the base as just another part of the mini. Glue sand or some other appropriate substance to the base after any conversion work but before priming. Then paint it as I do the rest of the figure. After painting, but before clear coats, I add static grass.

Some folks like to base figures after painting, using the \"natural\" colour of the basing material.

Kep

 

[Yaki]

Dont get discouraged. When i first started painting my minis were a 4.5...at best. Its taken me about 3 years of solid painting (ive been painting on and off for 7) to get to where im now, on average, getting about a 7.8.

Seriously though, a lot of things come from experience, such as the consistency of the paint, brush control, ect. Theres not really any quick way to learn. The best advice I can give to improve your painting is to study the best miniatures on here.

To make your minis neater, try this:
Start with a black undercoat and when youre laying the base coat on any given surface, leave a little black around the edges. This will automatically give you black lining. Start with the darkest color and work up by either layer or blending.

Layer is a great place to start. Start with your darkest color and each layer get progressively lighter while covering less surface area on the model.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

The only thing I can add is to try to sit in with people who are better than you. I know from my experience that seeing someone paint and explain what they are doing at the early stage of your painting life can shave years of practise off.

 

[Einion]

This is actually fairly tricky to answer IMO but a rough progression might be:

applying a single colour smoothly, without brushmarks or texture in the paint;

painting adjacent areas different colours and leaving a neat edge between them;

edge shadows and highlights;

basic sequential highlighting and shading (colours applied straight);

basic layering/glazing - some soft edges between highlight/shadow colours over a midtone base;

advanced layering/glazing - softly-feathered transitions between highlight and midtone and shadow and midtone;

same as above but over larger distances and on more complex sculpts;

more colour variation within a basic colour area;

wet blending (although I wouldn\'t suggest this is necessary but you might like it);

basic weathering - basic mud or dust effects, edge wear and dents on armour/painted surfaces;

fine details, some patterns;

finer details, patterns over complex surfaces;

advanced weathering - dust, mud (both wet and dry on the same garment), scrapes/dents/scratches/flaking on painted surfaces, rust of various kinds, fraying/worn edges on clothing, scorch marks, blood and wounds, staining/grime from long wear, sweat on skin and sweat stains on clothes;

more complex patterns.

Einion