Share painting techniques

Greetings and Salutations,

I was wondering if any of you guys can share your painting techniques. Like you like to use layering or blending or any advance weathering technique or colour mixing. I know we can get all of this on the net but it will be great if you all can share you own personal preference or experience in painting miniatures.

wow...

actually i belief painting is best to be demo in person... words are cheap and hard to describe the things we do... muahahaha...

too bad not many shops allows painting.

else we can organise a painting night... or day

Legio has a painting area can look into that

dont underestimate words as it can inspire you.... it will be good if there's a demo of step by step instruction but I'm the kind of person who like to experiment things rather than follow steps to the letter. So just a simple advice might be enough to inspire to try

I know how to do basic colouring and currently a noob at NMM (non-metallic metal).

I dont mind a painting night. At least some of ... 'pros' in action.

Well It sounds like a good idea someone go organize it la ,
I also wanna come watch.

An idea: Iron Painter-esque night.

Obligatory On Topic post: I use to dry brush alot, although I resort to simple highlights now instead. In order to dry brush:

1) Get your paint watered down to the right amount.
2) Apply some paint on your brush.
3) "wipe" the paint off the brush using a tissue paper until no colour is left being smudged (but paint is still evident on the brush)
4) Apply light strokes over your miniature.

Uh... Normally I don't waterdown dry brush. Gizmoduck water down it alot ( from the end results it looks more towards layering than dry brush )

If you refer to my pictures, you can see the wreck.

The wreck I posted how I painted it.


The best advice I've ever got and follows to today. "thin layers, always go for multiple thin layers."
Then I adden to it, I change my colours slightly between layers, brighten/darken it up/down.

The second trick I like is, Gloss varnish brighten and sharpen your colours. Flat varnish dulls your colours. Imagine it as Photoshop, gloss increase contrast while flat reduce contrast. Paint with this in mind.

And I like to mix gloss and flat on my models. And am now using satin varnish over gloss for a brighter/ sharper look. Yet not too toy like appearance.

Next, gloss varnish is tougher, protects better. You can apply flat over gloss for best protection/appearance combo.

Mix your paint, meaning explore different brands and don't limit yourself to just GW or P3. I uses jo Sonja colour sampler set, mr colour, tamiya, GW, P3, vallejo, pelikan, gundam paint pen, marker pen (I'm serious)... And recently I found that gundam colour pen and tamiya weathering pen to be very useful!

Also if someone tells you tamiya spray paint is no good... Screw that. It's one of the best out there, just expansive. And their normal paint is thinner based = troublesome!

Oh... I'm using wood stain as wash...

And I reduce the intencity of my colours ( makes it more transparent ) with my satin varnish added in to keep the paint consistent and not becomes a wash.

I can't stress watering down paints enough. It is a must and requires an understanding of pigments. It is easier if you undercoat white as most colours go well on white. The only part you would need to "reundercoat with black" would be metal parts. When I first started I used to not water down paints and the result was always gloopy and crast. didn't like it at all. It takes more layers to get a section done, true. But the end result justify the means.

Eh?! another white under coat guy?! i remember back in the 80s 90s we all undercoat white. Then recently almost everyone i see undercoat black!... so sad and alone...

Undercoating white brings out colour better, brighter, and the end result is a happier colour. Black ... i still can't get use to undercoating black. When i undercoat black the result is always not as nice as white... ie. the Choir boys i did, the white one looks much nicer. However white undercoat does takes more layers and more work to do, and you really need to wash and shadow properly.

Thin down, thin layer! THIN layer! many layers! can't stress this enough.

from what it understand, undercoat also determine the theme of your model. if the model is an evil char. go for black if good white..

There's a reason both PP and GW recommend black undercoat. It's the quicker way to get tabletop-ready models with less layers but still with some depth. Easier for newbies/kids to do (GW's target market).

More serious painters will prefer to use grey and in some cases, white. They don't mind the many-many thin layers method (which gives this depth too). However, this is not an optimum way to paint large armies needed in GW's games. If you look at the old Rackham (Confrontation) model painting guides, they all tend to use white/grey undercoat. This is because that game uses very few models. Same with Malifaux.

To the uninitiated (ie people who never painted before), here's a brief terminology primer (in order of application):

Undercoat: the paint that goes directly on metal/plastic (usually black, sometimes white or grey). Purpose is to make subsequent layers flow and stick nicely.

Basecoat: this is the main colour of the surface. eg. red on armour of Khador warjacks. PP has named the paints intended for basecoating for ease of use. eg. Khador Red Base, Menoth White Base.

Highlight: a lighter shade of the base colour for highlighting, imitates (accentuates, really) the way light reflects off surfaces. Often this is done by dry-brushing. Quick and easy but can be messy so you need quite good control. Again, PP has named the highlight shades for ease of use.

Wash: a watery paint or ink of much darker shade than the basecoat. This is used to give quick shadows on the recesses of the model and also to harmonize the basecoat with the 1st highlight.

Final Highlights: this is after a wash - since the last highlights would have been darkened slightly by the wash. 2 or more layers. Some people even use pure white for the very tip or edges for the 'light glinting' look.

For tabletop gaming use, that's the 'easy' steps. For more serious painting (eg. painting competitions, coolminiornot etc.) usually the steps are much more involved. Get hold of some of the painting DVDs available to see what I mean.

Fastest painless painting method : Demon Squid

"Demon Squid"? What's that? Google doesn't come up with anything useful.

Its unlike those football prediction octopus ,

DemoNSquiD from Hell is a total painting solution , PM him at wmmalaysia.forummotion.com.

trying very hard not to laugh

hmmm... squid methodology of painting.

You will need a different skill sets to use this method.
a. ass kicking
b. chasing
c. advance ass kicking

On black undercoat and white undercoat... in the end it is personal preference. White can be easier and faster if you use the dipping method. It speeds up your painting.

White and Black is not about evil or good. It is for the over all feel of the model. If you want it brighter (using brighter colours) prime white, if you want your mini to be of a darker tone or metalic tone use black. lets not be racist here, ja?

On dipping, it is NOT easy, you have to have a really good feel of the effect you will get after dipping, the colour change, the shine... experiment! Learn.

If you are priming white, it is imperative that you don't assemble your models where the parts overlap and make it hard to paint certain areas. i.e. arms, accessories etc. This is the 'malas' part because it's more fun painting something where you can see it in whole compared to parts. I used to undercoat black with my biel-tan eldars to save time with the shading between armor plates.

I think Jase was refering to me as the demonsquid~

All in all there is not really a painting technique that allows everyone to follow through. Watered down blending will kill noobs because of the time consumed to paint a part of the model. If they get the blending wrong its back to square one again. This ussually ends up with the noob being pissed and frustrated with the model. Always start with pure based colour if your new. Black is a much more preferred colour for base, white is for blenders. Basing your models in white does not give you alot of options for highlighting, since your models will already be kinda upper mid tone already. Again don't base your models white if your new. Brown would be even more suitable.

For noobs, always begin painting the easy way. As time progresses you will get the hang of it. Whether you get good at it depends on you putting effort and alot of time into it. Don't expect quick results. Might take months or years if your a working person.

If you guys ever watch me paint, you will be surprise at how i get things up fast. Its a secret~

DemoNSquiD wrote:I think Jase was refering to me as the demonsquid~

Haha Ahem...Its written on your nick right below ur picture.
Well whenever I got painting problem I always go consult the tiz Sotong (Squid) and my minis get pretty that da only painting method I know.

I only paint for makan money only bro~ How i wish i can make a fulltime business painting for people. LOL. Anyway, your stuff is about done, you take take your tournament army this Friday. Tekanan's stuff i wan to pass but last weekend he wasn't there, your great bears done already la~

If all the big boss shops come to me to help them paint their customer stuff i can set up paint shop already.

DemoNSquiD wrote:I only paint for makan money only bro~ How i wish i can make a fulltime business painting for people. LOL. Anyway, your stuff is about done, you take take your tournament army this Friday. Tekanan's stuff i wan to pass but last weekend he wasn't there, your great bears done already la~

If all the big boss shops come to me to help them paint their customer stuff i can set up paint shop already.

That was fast... I juz worried bout the Boomhowlers however don worry I got another Happy Meal for ya.

Btw guys this what I call painting technique

a technique to get your things painted... pay the sotong... muahahahahaha...

i saw some of the stuff he painted for jesse, nice! not sure who else he painted for, so don't know other quality. I know Jesse expert ass kicker, and happy meal giver.