Whirler - WIP and Log from a beginner.

[Whirler]

Hello,

I’m Whirler and I am completely new to the art of miniature painting. I’m 40 years old, and up until recently I don’t think I have ever even seen a miniature, let alone though that there was people out there who painted them for fun. But I was on the lookout for a new hobby, and somehow I ended up here on this site. I’m not sure how, but it might have been from a link at boardgamegeeks. I have no real interest in playing miniature games, but seeing all the fantastic miniatures on this site made me think that it looks like like it could be fun to paint them. I kinda wish I had known about this hobby some 25 years ago, as I think I would have enjoyed it back then.

I called this a WIP thread, but it will likely end up containing a mixture of finished minis (by my standard) and WIP’s. Maybe some of you can even offer me a pointer or two as I try to learn. I tend to be a bit rambly in my writing, so please excuse that :mean:

I had planned on ordering my supplies online, but a couple of weeks ago stopped by a local hobby store to see what they had. They did indeed have some miniatures, and boy are these things small! Having only seen the pictures on this site, and elsewhere online I had a hard time imagine how small they really are. That makes me even more impressed by all the fantastic paint jobs I’ve seen on this site, and a little doubtful on how well I will do. They didn’t have a large selection, but they did have a bargain bin with stuff that was half off, so I ended up getting several things.

One of the items I picked up was a Warhammer “Battle for Skull Pass Paint Set”. For $10 I thought it was a good deal, and it would give me a chance to see if I even like painting miniatures before I go all out buying all sorts of supplies. The dude on the back of the box looked like he was having fun at least (though he must have better vision than me, as he is painting with the miniature 2ft from his face). The box contained ten odd looking figures called Night Goblins who all look like they are in a very bad mood. It also contained a brush and 6 small paint cans. Now, the box must have been sitting in the store for several years (I’m sure there was a reason it was half price) as the paints had settled, and consisted of a dark liquid with a big hard clump of pigment. At first I thought they were useless, but after several minutes of vigorous stirring, they turned into something resembling paint. The brush looks like it’s fairly decent.

The other items I purchased were:

• A box with Warhammer Dwarf Miners - They are strange looking dwarves with candles on their heads. The box also included a cart, a couple of horses and other accessories. It’s all made of plastic.
• Reaper Chronoscope Three Urban Zombies – For only $3 I thought I’d give them a try. I figured zombie figures would be good to practice on as they are supposed to look a bit messy, which corresponds well with my current skill level. These are made of metal.
• High Elf Hero with Longbow by Games Workshop – Upon opening the box and having a closer look I determined that it might be good to hold off on this one for a while. It has so much details and I can’t even pick out what all the things are hanging around his waist! This is also a metal mini.

Fast-forward a couple of days, and I have my first finished painted mini. I decided to try my hands on one of the Night Goblins, since that’s what I had the colors for anyway. This is the result:

View attachment 18495

View attachment 18496


My own impressions:
1. The macro-lens on the camera sure brings out lots of flaws that I couldn’t even see with my bare eyes!
2. I used Krylon spray primer for the priming. I have never gotten along well with spray paint, and this is another example of that. It’s very apparent in the pictures that my primer created a grainy texture that is visible even after the painting. I did some research, and it seems this can be caused by humid weather. Something we have a lot of here in the deep south, I’m afraid…
3. The paints that came with the set really aren’t all that good – once they had been sitting on my pallet for a short while they started separating again.
4. The black paint that came with the set is very shiny! That makes the mini look a bit odd, especially since it’s the cloak that’s shiny.
5. I tried using a knife to clean up the mini first, but I can still see some visible lines and such in the finished mini.
6. I need to do a better job of 'staying within the lines'
7. I was able to dot the eye!
8. I had fun painting this, and with a start like this, things can only get better (hopefully) J

There you have it. My humble beginnings as a miniature painter.

 

[TrystanGST]

Welcome! As I've said before, the only limit to how good you can get is your patience. Practice and dedication can go a long way.

As you've noticed, a rough prime job can ruin any paint. Sometimes you can just brush the grains off, other times you're better off stripping and starting over. If humidity is a constant concern, you might look in to some of the brush on primers available out there.

For a first mini, this is an excellent start. Neat paint placement, and already an understanding of light and shadow.

 

[PegaZus]

Welcome! The first of my Laws of Mini Painting is that no matter how many times it seems I check the mini, there's always a mold line I miss. Glad to see that you're enjoying yourself, as that's the only really important measure in this hobby.

My second law is that the picture will tell the truth. Post lots of WIP pictures even if you don't want to, and you'll spot every single flaw. I swear, I can see flaws through the camera lens that I cannot see with the naked eye. And besides that, posting WIP pictures helps catch little issues that can be solved early on rather than once everything is finished.

 

[Kretcher]

Welcome, always nice to see new members coming in here. Most important with a hobby is to enjooy it.

See you aróund this forum I hope.

/Kretcher

 

[bervt]

welcome , and good luck for beginning a good painter ^^.

here is somethings , that i can say to help you :

" 2. I used Krylon spray primer for the priming. I have never gotten along well with spray paint, and this is another example of that. It’s very apparent in the pictures that my primer created a grainy texture that is visible even after the painting. I did some research, and it seems this can be caused by humid weather. Something we have a lot of here in the deep south, I’m afraid… "
--> I don't thinks the the humidity is the problem ( i live in Belgium and the humidity .... it rain a lot (-_-) ) , it is most likely the temperature ( best a 15°c ) , and may be the distance you used the spray ( the paint dry before touching the fig if it is to far , best 20-30 cm )

" 5. I tried using a knife to clean up the mini first, but I can still see some visible lines and such in the finished mini. "
--> use the knife , and some sandpaper+limes , it take more time but better results .

" 3. The paints that came with the set really aren’t all that good – once they had been sitting on my pallet for a short while they started separating again."
--> it have been years that this painting set was sold , the paint are to old ( the shinny effect is maybe linked to this ) , buy some new paint ( GW ,P3,.... there is a lot to chose from )

" 8. I had fun painting this, and with a start like this, things can only get better (hopefully) J "
--> the most important thing , have fun , and don't worry we have all begin somewhere ...

 

[bervt]

Forgot to say:

dilute more your paints , it is visible ( brush marks , and the shininess )
look for the glazing technique , the most important one for smoothing ( the one to absolutely learn )

 

[RayzrYR]

Welcome!
and well done, for a first mini I think you have done quite well, much better than my own fumbling attempts, I promise
As Trystan said, the placement of the paint is neat. For cleaning a model, metal or plastic, I like to use a small file. I've got a set of 5 that have all different shapes. I suggest start on one side and work your way around.
The main thing is to have fun, otherwise why would we do this? I look forward to seeing how you go!

 

[KruleBear]

Welcome. And the goblin looks dang good for a first mini.

When you are done you can put a light spray of testers DullCote on him and the black won't be too shiny. It is available wherever model cars or trains are sold and some other hobby shops.

The most important rule is to hav fun.

 

[Whirler]

Hello Again
Thank you for all your comments and feedback, it’s very helpful! Seeing the photos of my painted minis I realize that I definitely need to work on getting smoother transitions in my painting. I guess when working in miniature scale it is even more important to make those blends smooth, or the result is very visible brush marks.

Last week I went to the local Hobby Lobby to get some more supplies. I discovered that they carry the Vallejo Model Paints. That’s the brand of paint I had decided I wanted to use, after doing some online research. I got about half a dozen bottles. Unfortunately the store was out of black, so I got a dark grey instead. I also got some small metal files to help with the prepping of the miniatures. I had done some more research in various methods of priming, and found some suggestions of using gesso. So I got a bottle of that as well.

I primed one of the Night Goblins with the gesso. The gesso was very thick, and it felt it many details were covered up. But once it dried it looked alright. Still, I felt like the level of details were not quite as good as the one I primed with spray. It also had a few air bubbles that obscured some details. I will need to experiment some more with that.

So this is my second attempt:
View attachment 18548

I can’t really see any significant improvement from the first as far as the technique goes. But it’s definitely a lot less grainy, and I liked the Vallejo paints much better! I wish I had some black paint for those deeper shadows though. I will definitely need to get some of that. I could spend some more time on this to clean it up, but to be honest I am a little bored with the goblins already. That’s one of the first thing I learned when I researched what minis to get – that that you should paint figures that you like. So without any regrets I promptly moved on to one of the Zombie minis instead. This also let me use some other colors, so that’s exciting too.

This one I primed with spray paint. It looked a bit less grainy than the first goblin, but there were still some grain there. I used some acetone and an old toothbrush to get rid of some of the graininess, and that seems to work really well. I might use that technique from now on.

The Zombie had a star on his chest, so I assume was a sheriff, so I gave him a blue uniform. I really like these Vallejo colors. I diluted it with water, but it still had a bright color that covered completely in just a couple of layers. In fact, I probably made this a little bit too bright to be a realistic looking uniform. I couldn’t decide if zombies have pupils or not – I put some on there at first, but that made him look very odd. So I made his eyes all white instead. The face and hands on this model is sculpted without much detail, so decided to go for a more splotchy look rather than trying to make it look smooth (or at least that’s my excuse). Here he is:

View attachment 18549
View attachment 18550

I have actually finished one more mini since I painted this. I will put that up in a separate post.

 

[Whirler]

I recently discovered that there is a great hobby store just 30 minutes from my house. They had a decent selection of miniatures, and a lot of supplies. They had a lot more of the Vallejo Model Paint colors, and I ended up getting about a dozen more. This should make me pretty well stocked with the colors I need right now. The owner of the store seemed very knowledgeable on painting miniatures, and he gave me several good tips. I also purchased some fake grass, and a small bottle of Vallejo Grey Surface Primer. The minis I bought was:

• Reaper Chronoscope – Merlock the Magnificent
• Reaper Dark Heaven Bones – Human Ranger Michelle
• Games Workshop – Lord of the Rings – RTOK Gollum, Sam, Frodo

I also found a small model store fairly close to my home. As I expected they had tons of models, but not so many miniatures. But they did have a rack with a bit larger-scale mini’s. It was mostly military ones, but they also had several Andrea Miniatures. I ended up getting one of those – one of an “Elf Archer” – Legolas from LOTR. This one looks like lots of fun to paint. It looks a bit intimidating though – it comes in 9 pieces. I think I will save it till I have some more practice.

In addition, I made a raid in my wife’s craft room. She is into polymer clay (www.polymerclayweb.com) and has a lot of useful supplies, especially a lot of sculpting tools.

I wanted to paint Frodo first. This is the mini: http://www.coolminiornot.com/324176 He’s holding his arm stretched out with the ring dangling in a chain. I noticed that there was extra metal between the ring and Frodo’s arm. It’s probably there to make it strong enough, but didn’t like the way it looks, and attempted to trim some of it off. You can probably guess what happened – I had it almost the way I wanted, and just wanted to trim off a little bit more, and *snap* the ring was not there anymore. It very tiny, so I had no luck finding it in my carpet. Now, without the ring, Frodo’s pose looks a bit odd, so I realized I had to try to create a new ring. I used some green stuff to attempt to make it. This has given me even more respect for the people who makes the models. Everything is so tiny! They must have some special super-power. Below is the best I was able to do. It looks clunky, but I don’t think I can make it smaller than this. Besides, it will probably snap off when I try to paint it if it’s any smaller.

View attachment 18552

So, instead I moved on to Merlock the Magnificent. I had gotten a bottle of violet paint that looks great, and so Merlock got a purple suit. I think this is my best effort so far. But it still looks a bit blotchy when I get a close-up with the camera. I think my biggest problem is that my camera is too good
This was my first attempt to make a base for the mini. This one I made of some wooden sticks that I glued together, sanded, and scratched some pattern into. I then painted it with some thinned brown paint and finished with a few coats of minwax. I think it turned out ok, but it might look a little bit too rough for a stage floor.

View attachment 18553
View attachment 18554

This final one is still a WIP. This one is Sam from LOTR. I thought it was finished till I saw it on the photo. I need to go back and make the blends more even. I am still using the brush that came with the warhammer kit. It seems pretty good, but the tip is no longer straight – it looks like a little hook at the end. I can still use it, but it makes things a little trickier. I have ordered some better brushes (series 7) and am hoping that will help a bit. And of course, I need to practice, practice, practice. BTW, as a rule of thumb, how many times can I start over in an area before the paint starts to get too thick? I made my own base for this one as well – just some basic rock shapes from green stuff, with a little paint and fake grass.
Here it is:

View attachment 18555
View attachment 18556

 

[PegaZus]

You can thin the gesso with water, so you might try that. I've done one mini primed with gesso (don't recall which), but I manage with spray cans. Dry climate, so no issues for me.

 

[QuietiManes]

Welcome to the hobby, Whirler.

Gesso...it really shouldn't work as a primer for miniatures or solid surfaces.

how many times can I start over in an area before the paint starts to get too thick? I made my own base for this one as well – just some basic rock shapes from green stuff, with a little paint and fake grass.

Depends on if you're re-priming each time, how thick your paint is, how smooth your application is, how fine the details are on the model are, etc. If you're using nice and skim-milk thin paints over a nice smooth primer, you should be able to repaint an average 28-32mm scale model a time or two at least.

Greenstuff is kind of pricey for rocks and bases, was there no chance for another successful raid on the wife's polymer clay, ninja style? :quiet: Of course, if you just did it to play/learn/experiment with the greenstuff, then, never mind me AND welcome to the sculpting hobby too.

The top of that stage floor looks superb.

 

[pariahrob]

Welcome aboard. I think you are off to a flying start. Far superior to my first attempts.

You're showing lots of improvement already and it's such early days. My advice would be to thin your paints even more than you are already and apply more coats (making sure each coat dries first). That will help your overall finish and as you get accustomed to how the paint flows and settles it will help your shadows/highlights.

Great work so far.

 

[Bailey03]

Welcome to the hobby! In just these few figures I can see an improvement from that first night goblin. I really like what you've done with Merlock. One suggestion on frodo... have you considering using actual string for holding the ring? You can often find very fine string at model stores. Or maybe use some fishing line. You'd get added realism and wouldn't have to worry about snapping it.

Andrea has some cool stuff. I paint a lot of larger scale figures (54mm, 75mm, and 90mm) in addition to the wargame ones and I really like working at those different scales. If your interest is more in fantasy than historical you might want to check out Andrea's Warlord Saga series. There's a lot of cool stuff there, all in 54mm scale (although with the larger size comes larger prices): http://www.andreadepotusa.com/en/1/andrea-miniatures/123/warlord-saga.html

 

[Whirler]

Thank you all for your comments!
Bailey03 that’s a great idea. Using actual string does make sense, I hadn’t thought of it. I will try that. I hadn’t checked out Andrea’s website carefully before. They have a lot of beautiful figures. There are several in the Warlord Saga series that I would like to paint. And really like the Normal Rockwell series (or A Wonderful World). Too bad they are so pricey.

Everyone is saying to thin the paints more, so I will definitely try to do that. I purchased a wet pallet that I just started using, and I really like it. I used a homemade one before with a tray, paper towel and parchment paper, but that didn’t have a lid. With this new one I went back to some color I mixed about a week ago, and they were still wet, and workable once I added a drop of water. I tried working with a dry pallet, but I didn’t like that. It just dried too quickly. Probably because I usually don’t mix that much paint at a time.

I have a question about applying many thin layers – I guess I will figure this out with experience, but I have a problem with painting the next layer before the previous layer was dry enough, which made the previous layer smear and make everything messy. How do you deal with that dry time? Just blow on it a bit to speed things up? Use a little fan? A hairdryer? Paint two figures at the same time and let one dry when you work on the other? Or work with different colors at the same time on different parts of the same figure? Or maybe I just need to be more patient when I paint?

The green stuff is pretty pricey. In the hobby store they were charging over $11 for 4 inches of it. So I bought it online instead where I got 36” for $18. So with that price it is not too bad. That base probably cost me about 25 cents in material. Still, I will probably use polymer clay if I try to make something larger. My wife probably have tens of pounds of that stuff around. I don’t even have to raid her craft room, as she keeps some of it in our refrigerator! I haven’t used green stuff much so far, but it feels like it is possible to make more intricate details in it. Polymer clay is more crumbly. Super Sculpey seems to be the best for modeling, but it still feels a bit different than green stuff. The green stuff on the other hand is stickier and even more of a fingerprint-magnet than polymer clay. And of course the polymer clay needs to be baked, so a little more inconvenient.

I’ve been working on the Gollum that came with Sam and Frodo, but I don’t have any pictures of him yet. At first I thought he would be easier since he is not wearing much clothes, and there is not much color in it. But now I think this might be even trickier as there is more shading to do, and there are no edges between different colors that will hide some of the imperfections.

 

[moetle]

Welcome to the hobby! Like everyone has already been saying, your off to a great start. I learn something new on here almost every day. And people here are just awesome.

I've only got a couple of Andrea 54 miniatures and they were expensive. But they were worth the price in quality and detail. One has nine pieces. Every piece was almost flawless and fit together perfect. Clean up was super quick and they have a a lot of great detail for being metal.

Quote "I have a question about applying many thin layers – I guess I will figure this out with experience, but I have a problem with painting the next layer before the previous layer was dry enough, which made the previous layer smear and make everything messy. How do you deal with that dry time? Just blow on it a bit to speed things up? Use a little fan? A hairdryer? Paint two figures at the same time and let one dry when you work on the other? Or work with different colors at the same time on different parts of the same figure? Or maybe I just need to be more patient when I paint?"

Before i got a couple of airbrushes i would either blow on them, use a hair dryer if i was in a hurry or paint in batches. Being patient helps too. Experiment with all the options you mentioned and see which fits the way you are comfortable with.

Moe

 

[Bailey03]

I like just blowing... but at some point you're bound to accidentally spit on your mini. If you go the hair dryer route, be careful of it getting too hot. Not good for plastic or resin minis as it can soften parts and lead to stuff drooping. I think most hair dryers come with some sort of temperature control so you should be fine

 

[QuietiManes]

In the hobby store they were charging over $11 for 4 inches of it. So I bought it online instead where I got 36” for $18. So with that price it is not too bad. That base probably cost me about 25 cents in material

Yeah, it's still a fair bit "pricier" though. Compare that to the polymer clay, Sculpey has large 1.75 to 4 lb blocks for $10 or $11, depending on the variety you like. Even the 1.75 is like 1/8th? the cost per volume (the regular 2oz packages are what? 1/2 the cost?), and it's not the cheapest option, there's lots of others, like air dry clays and such.

There's no reason you shouldn't use it, it does have some very nice qualities that make it worthwhile, as you mentioned. There are other 2-part clays you could try though, that are cheaper and/or that have different properties. Like MagicSculp, it's less rubbery, for example. I was just pointing it out, some people get tunnel vision with their hobby supplies, thinking GS and GW/Citadel is all there is OR all they're allowed to use.

Re: drying paint layers. You can set up a little fan beside you or put a hot lamp near by. Making sure to apply thin layers of paint, not allowing it to pool in the recesses, etc, will help lots (it'll dry in 30 seconds or less). Add something to your paint thinner/reducer mix, like alcohol or windex or something, to help it dry even faster (it'll dry in a couple seconds). Paint multiple figures, so you paint one, put it down and do the next, by the time you do a couple, the first is dry (helps if they're all have most of the same colours). Painting a larger area on the miniature helps too, but it's obviously, fairly limited.

 

[Whirler]

QuietiManes thank you for the tip. I will check out MagicSculpt as well. As I said, the green stuff is a bit sticky for my taste. I have some ideas for figures to sculpt, but right now my skill level at sculpting is even lower than my painting skill, so I think I will need to hold off on that a bit. So once I’m a decent painter (in another decade or so) I will start tackling the sculpting. On the other and, I guess I might do some sculpting for bases – that seems a lot easier. You can’t tell as easily if a piece of wood is out of proportion compared to a face or a hand.

I tried the idea of using string for the ring Frodo is holding. My wife had some thin copper wires that she uses with jewelry. I also asked her for the tiniest bead she had. I sanded down the bead to look more like a ring, and attached it to the figure with the copper wire. The bead really was a bit out of proportion, but I thought it might still look good, as it enabled you to see the ring with your bare eyes. At first I liked it, but the more looked at it, the more off it felt. It looked like Frodo was carrying around a donut on a string (incidentally, that’s how he was able to get Sam to follow him into Mordor). The wire, thin though it was, is also too thick to be in scale.
So I started over. This time I found an even thinner wire in an old cable. And I use the plastic casing around another wire as the ring. I think this looks a lot better, though it might not be completely in scale still. I think this is good enough for me. I just need to clean up his hand a bit – the tiny drop of glue I used was apparently enough to cover most of his hand.

View attachment 19111

I have been working on the Gollum I mentioned in my last post. I thought I was getting closer to have him finished. Then I happened to find this picture of someone else’s version: http://www.coolminiornot.com/106283?browseid=4473330 I realized that in comparison my Gollum looks like I painted it will my eyes closed. Maybe my eyesight just isn’t good enough as it looks good until I point the macro lens at it and see the close-up picture. perhaps I need to hook up my laptop to my camera and do the painting while looking at the screen. I wonder if anyone has actually tried that? It will probably be pretty awkward though.

View attachment 19112
View attachment 19113
View attachment 19114

I took another trip to the local hobby store just yesterday and picked up a few more minis. I was getting a bit burned out on LOTR at the moment. I got these figures:

• Reaper Chronoscope – Hank Callahan, Gunslinger
• Reaper Chronoscope – DYOM Mousling
• Reaper Chronoscope – Sligg Squark Herder
• Dark Sword – Frog Dragon Slayer

Really just some very random figures that happened to catch my eye. I have looked at the Dark Sword minis on their site, and I like their frogs. So I was exciting to see this in the store. I have already started working on it. This figure looks like it is of very good quality – it’s pretty large, but of the figures I have made so far, this one required the least amount of prep work. I also prepped and primed the Gunslinger.

View attachment 19115
View attachment 19116

I have started on the frog. I realized when I started painting that his right arm was really in the way when painting the face, so I took that off again (the model came in two parts). Here I’ve started with the face:
View attachment 19117

And I am now working on the helmet. I still have some blending and smoothing left to do on that. I got some acrylic matte medium that I have been experimenting with, and I think I like it pretty good. It makes it possible to make the paint weak enough without it being as thin as water.

View attachment 19118
View attachment 19119

So that’s my latest progress. I really like working on this frog. The larger scale is nice, and I think my blendings are slowly getting a bit better, though I still have a lot of work to do.

 

[Whirler]

Just some more updates on the progress of my dragon slayer.

Adding some flat main colors, and started a bit of shading on the dragon. I'm not sure if I like its color right now - it feels a bit too dark.
View attachment 19334
View attachment 19335

Started some shading on the legs.

View attachment 19336
My main problem is still to get smooth transitions. I feel that if I water down the paint enough to give a very slight coverage to make things seamless, it will be so thin that it just flows everywhere. The matte medium seems to make things a bit better, but it also seems to make the finish slightly more glossy, which I don't like.