Miniature Painting

Dashel said:

Well one of you is responsible for me going on a mini buying binge. I think it was Hateyou, in some other random thread.

I used to go to work with my Dad in Princeton as a kid. Right by the university there was a shop that sold lead/metal minis. I loved going there so much. So now I'm dangerous because I have money to spend on this stuff.

I bought some on Amazon, some on Miniature Market. Anyway I'm looking at 20 D&D minis on my desk and more on the way. I bought a Reaper Miniatures starter paint set too. So I guess I'll try to paint these!

I watched this vid: and a few others.
Read a few Reddit posts. Any good resources appreciated.

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Yes it was me, I apologize for nothing.

I’d suggest starting with Sorastro, he’s good at explaining what he’s doing and why, without getting overly technical. Once you get his basic stuff digested, you can check out his more technical specific stuff like blending, dry brushing, etc. then start branching into other guys who don’t explain as much of what they’re doing while doing it. When I first started some of the guys moved too quick for me, but once I understood basics it was pretty easy. Miniac was another good one that is good at explaining things in a more scientific way, but may be confusing for just starting out just because you may not know where to start, he has a lot of videos.

My starting advice in order.

1. Clean up any mold lines with an exacto razor knife, scrape it backwards on the line, don’t cut towards the mini, or you’ll gouge it. May not be an issue for you with metal minis.

2. Clean the mini with dawn + water + toothbrush to remove hand oils, mold release agent, dirt, etc. rinse clean and air dry.

3. Prime as thin as possible so you don’t hide details in too much primer.

4. Attach your mini to a cork, bottle cap, purchased holder, whatever. Touching the figure rubs paint off very easy, and your hand oils make the paint not want to stick. So touch it as little as possible after washing it.

5. Thin your paints with bottled water. This is very tricky at the beginning because it will seem too thin and you have to make several coats. That’s ok, it’s better than too thick and hiding detail. Shoot for 50/50 on paint to water but all paints are thinned a little differently so you’ll just have to experiment, you want skim milk consistency. Like I said though, it’s tricky. This is all so you’re applying thin layers and not hiding detail. Think of it like a haircut, if you cut too much you’re fucked and it looks like shit. If you just trim a little, you just go back and trim again and again until it looks good. Research a wet palette eventually, and try one. You can make your own for a couple bucks. I can send you a video about making one if you can’t find a good one on your own.

6. Start painting at the lowest/deepest points. So if you’re looking at painting an arm with a glove, paint the skin on the arm first, then hit the glove. It’s easier to screw up and hit raise parts of the figure when you’re painting lower parts, so if you start low you can cover up the mistakes on the high parts later. This isn’t as important when you’re doing your base layers. Because you can cover up mistakes as you start layering more coats.

7. When you’re done with the painting and happy with it, seal it with matte lacquer. Nothing will piss you off more than your eight hour paint job rubbing off after one gaming session because you didn’t seal it.

Other shit.

Buy at least one size 0 or 1 very nice brush. This will allow you to notice the big difference between good and shit brushes. Shit brushes have their place too but you should feel the difference. If you need recommendations just ask.

Wash your brushes, rinse them often, don’t let paint dry on them, use brush soap/conditioner on them after every use. Do not get paint up in the ferrule and let it dry, your brush will be fucked.

Don’t assume you need tiny brushes for good detail. You have more paint flow control with a good size 1 brush than you do with a 00. The paint dries faster on tiny brushes too because there’s less of it on there, so smaller brushes can sometimes be more of a pita than a large one with simply a nice tip.

Dashel said:

So I got the paint set which came with a Reaper Bones guy. Compared to the WizKids Deep Cuts figures, I like the Reaper Bones better. A little bigger and now I want more of them.

I'm also seeing these are called "Cheap Miniatures". What would be considered expensive?

Here are 3 I have. From left to right it's: Reaper Bones - Deep Cuts - Metal Mini

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Games workshop and kingdom death are expensive. Kingdom death runs like a boutique shop with low production runs and high quality, so a single 28-50mm figure is $25-$50. You can also get into low production run miniatures from various companies which can get pricey. Bones are good for learning to paint, cheap miniatures for like D&D.

If you want some good medium price just for the miniatures themselves, the games from cmon and awakened realms are all good quality minis for the price. Massive Darkness are some of my favorite, wide variety in the monsters. The game is meh but if you are just after minis, the price is reasonable for what you get.

Dashel said:

Ok let's put it this way, I'm looking for D&D style fantasy figures and not particular on who makes them or what game it's from:

Male Human Fighter with a sword and shield - Chain armor ideally
Male Dwarven Cleric with a hammer and shield
Female Mage/Wizard/Sorc - Elf or possibly human
Female Ranger - Elf or possibly human.

Size: Closer to 4 cm rather than 3 cm.

I'm not crazy picky but I want basically those 4 for a group. I'm fine paying 20-30 bucks for each for just those 4 if they are really good. Good is subjective I know... to me good is a bit on the bigger side, nice detail, good quality. Looks are really subjective obviously.

What I have now is good but they are too small I think. Whatever the Reaper Bones is. I'm measuring it at 4 centimeters, the deep cuts seem to be 3 centimeters.

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These guys have some larger scale stuff. I didn’t search for what you’re looking for specifically but they have a wide range and good quality.

Haus said:

My first print on my new high res 3d resin printer was a Hero Forge design.
Still need to clean him up and paint him though...
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Cut that blade off and paint it as if he’s holding a big dong and paint FOH on his shoulder pads. This was just a practice mini anyway right...