Miniature Painting

Mizake said:

Wow, some serious mad skills in here. Props to you guys.

Hateyou , I didn't check FoH over the weekend, so I didn't see your recommendations in time. I ended up buying a starter miniature paint set:


and brushes:


I hope those are decent. They arrived yesterday! It did not come with primer though so I need to go buy some. Otherwise I hope to try and paint my first miniature by this weekend.

Thanks also for the link for the brush soap. It's like $10 for S&H....is that something you think I can find at a local hobby store?

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Those brushes will be fine for starting out, once you get into it a bit you’ll be wanting to upgrade. I don’t think you’ll be able to find that soap at a store but maybe. The guy who runs the websites wife makes the soap, smaller operation. You could just get masters, it will work, but when you go to upgrade brushes, I’d go with their brush set and soap together.

Nice starter set on the paints, that will go a long way.

For primer, you can get stuff like krylon, and it will work, especially since you are starting on lower quality miniatures. If you want to spend an extra $5 (I would) I’d suggest just going with a can of colored primer from Army Painter on amazon or a local store. You can save a lot of time by getting something that has a skin tone or brown base, it’ll make skin easier, or wood/fur with the brown.

When you are priming just make sure you have a decent humidity (I forget the good %, something like 55? I’d need to look it up) and distance when spraying with a rattle can. If it’s too dry and you’re too far away you’ll end up putting a speckled texture on the miniature. If its too humid you can get things like running or too much paint and cover up some detail. If you’re scared of rattle can you can get some Vallejo brush on primer but don’t be scared. You can always strip miniatures with simple green and start over if you fuck them up.

Before you prime, scrub all your minis with dish soap and water and let them dry out. Plastic injection molding uses a release agent and primer and paint won’t stick to it. Also don’t touch your minis with bare fingers after they’ve been cleaned, and while painting. Your skin oils will make paint not stick, or rub paint of. So either wear latex gloves, or get sticky tack and stick them to bottle caps, corks, or an actual miniature holder (I use hobby holder and love it) and hold that while painting. You’ll also want a magnifying glass/light. I bought a cheap one from amazon and it works fine. Clamps onto my desk when I need it. There’s much nicer stuff out there if you want a more permanent setting, but I didn’t.

Brightech Lightview Pro Flex - Hands Free, Magnifying Glass Desk Lamp for Close Work - Bright LED Lighted Gooseneck Magnifier with Clamp for Reading, Tasks & Crafts - Black

Few more pics. An iron golem I did a few months ago.

Vexco said:

Another aspect of the hobby I love is making my own terrain.
Webway portal using some pool light mounting brackets.
Last few years I have made a couple of game boards with terrain to match my two armies..Eldar and Deathguard.View attachment 204427

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Nice work man. I do love the creative aspect of the hobby. After not really doing much art/creative shit since I was a kid it’s pretty rewarding coming up with color schemes and basing. I don’t get as much time devoted to it as I’d like so I’m nowhere near where I want to be, but it’s actually nice having something challenging I can keep improving on.

Plus man all the pussy that comes your way, am I right?

Vexco said:

I get alot of hobby time in by spending time with my daughter's. The eldest loves helping out and painting with me.
She has the knack for it too.
This is my Deathguard theme board.
View attachment 204432

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That’s great. My son is only four so he’s not there yet. I took some of his plastic dinosaurs and primed them. He likes painting those as part of craft sessions. He always comes in while one painting and tells me “your statues look awesome “ so maybe he will be into it with me some day. I don’t want to lead him too far into nerd realm too early, but it would be cool if he does eventually.

Kovaks said:

I asked my 5yo this weekend if he was interested in painting the models or playing the game he said "oh not too much" I'm hoping that changes

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Is there anything he’s into? There’s decent board games for everything now. Mine likes playing fireball island, and zombicide Black Plague with modified rules he can understand.

Next up.

Got a little done.

ZyyzYzzy said:

My daughter loves painting little dolls she has. Her talents make me reluctant to ask her to help when I start

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Man I think it would be cool if my kid got into it and surpassed me. One dude I follow has his 8 year old painting with him. Check this shit out, I’d be proud as hell.

ZyyzYzzy said:

Trying to find one of her pieces of work lol. That looks the the "kid" painted it or that 8 year old is Michelangelo reincarnated

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Nah I’ve seen a lot of these kids at conventions. When you have a mentor for a parent that knows what they’re doing they can do some impressive stuff. That mini the kid did doesn’t look too difficult, thinned paints, shades, highlights are all basic techniques. He’s probably got dad over his shoulder saying “paints too thick, that layer is enough highlight, etc. kids learn so fast and have a lot of free time too.

Most of the mini painting stuff is just doing the right techniques that you learn from better people. When people put time into following videos or going to a class I see drastic improvements right after the class cause they picked up a new technique or two they didn’t know before. I’ve seen people so good they can give classes and charge high $ for commissions within just 1-2 years. I don’t have that amount of time to put into it to get that good that quickly, but I’ve seen it happen a lot over the past few years I’ve been following other people.