First Post & First Paint Job in 25 Years

[prysmatyk]

Hey all,

Newbie here for the forum but an old timer for painting. So grateful to have found this place. There are some wicked painters here with real talent. I'm just getting back into this after a long hiatus and am truly amazed at the differences between then and now. Minis, paints, mediums et all. I wish I had never left.

What got me back into painting is starting to play D&D again. I mentioned to someone at the table I used to paint and would need to practice before painting my mini. Before I could say another word, I was handed about 10 minis from the various players at the table asking me to paint their minis. Zombies, Dwarves, Goblins, Paladins, Druids and Wizards fell quickly into my hands.

So began my re-entry into the painting world. I began looking into the different paints, Vallejo, GW, P3, Delta etc... I ran to my local hobby lobby and Michael's only to find an inferior quality Delta and cheap synthetic brushes for 4.99. Next came the amazon search. Many paint sets but few selections of singles. Not knowing the colors, how they mixed and knowing that I needed a pretty large selection to ensure a good palette to blend from, I held off. Then the actual websites of paint manufactures. I wanted to dip a brush so badly, I ran back over to Hobby Lobby and bought 72 dollars of Delta paints. Yes, cheap chalky paint but the satisfaction of getting my brush wet that very day was awesome. It brought back memories of my youth when I painted dragons I assembled, sanded, and consigned at my local gaming store.

I chose one of the monsters to paint, a mimic. I looked online for images with google and tried my hand at mimic-ing the image of the mimic. I tried to make it as close to the image but varied a few colors. I focused mainly on the color blend from purple to blue and also the wood grain. Unfortunately, I am not great with my cell phone and the pic of it came out sort of off.

I would like to hear from some of you on my first re-entry into the painting scene. Be brutally honest please. I know it is far from what I am capable of and that i didn't clean the mold lines, but still want to hear opinions. I have since bought some GW and Vallejo paints which should be arriving soon. I'm sure they'll up my blending and remove that chalkiness this mimic has.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

View attachment 64605
View attachment 64606

 

[Pygmalion]

Welcome back!

Six years ago I was where you are now. Hadn’t put paint to a figure since roughly 1995.

It really is a different world, figure and paintwise.

(And man, I hear ya about the eyesight thing.)

I’m sure much harsher and more precise critics than I will come along soon enough. In the meanwhile ...

Mold lines can be removed with various tools. For metal figures I generally use some combination of jewellers files, bead reamers, and hobby knives. For plastic I just use hobby knives. I will trim resin figures with a knife but I do not sand them because the dust is toxic.

You will probably want to look into the possibilities of washes and liners and techniques like blacklining (personally I’ve never used straight black, but whatever) to differentiate between painted regions. Having a fine line of dark color at the edge of a painted area dramatically improves its appearance, especially at this tiny scale.

Darker shadows, higher highlights.

Michaels ain’t great for quality art supplies (except for Golden acrylic paints, which are some of the best around). If you’re in the US Dick Blick is a good resource and they often have shipping discounts.

 

[prysmatyk]

Thanks for the info and review. Truly appreciated!.

It is a different world, very! The sheer types of mediums are awesome. The paint textures have improved greatly and the minis have changed. Not sure if I like the plastic ones as much as the old Ral-Partha ones I used to paint, but the detail has improved.

I can see the faces being one of my main challenges as the eyes on 28mm are minute, but where's there's a will...

I look forward to the harsher critiques. Without input there is not growth.

I didn't bother with the mold lines as I wanted to just paint and see what I could accomplish after so many years. I also didn't have any files and my x-acto blade is a bit dull having been used for many other things. I had no gold color, only browns and yellows. The wood grain, to me came out good and the blend of the blue to purple also came out nicely. I found the eye color should've been glossy and the teeth could've been shaded better to look more worn.
I feel it's okay for TT but certainly not for display.

I've since purchased a bunch of paints, washes. I also have been reading tons to see how the masters do it.

This is the image I was attempting to 'mimic'. <pun intended>
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Mimic

Overall, I can say it came out okay considering I had only the chalky paints from Delta and their 4.99 brushes. lol.
I'm about to paint a couple of cheap paladins that were also given to me. I know they won't be display quality but I'll practice a couple of techniques and see what I can do.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Thanks for the info and review. Truly appreciated!.

I can see the faces being one of my main challenges as the eyes on 28mm are minute, but where's there's a will...

I look forward to the harsher critiques. Without input there is not growth.

.

With age come changes in eyesight <sigh>.
I gave in a good few years ago and got reading glasses specifically for painting, coupled with a set of 3+ clip on magnifiers (Amazon) and I can manage to see small detail.....painting it however???????

Don’t be discouraged by scoring if you put up Miniatures in the gallery, we have more and better help via the Work in Progress Forums.

 

[prysmatyk]

Thanks for your reply!

Yes changes certainly do come.
I ordered a decent visor for the details which should be arriving today. (eager to test it out and see what I can see.
From what I see in your gallery, you seem to be able to paint very well and have mastered the techniques I need to learn/re-learn.
Looking forward to the journey.

I'll remeber that about the scores when I do decide to post some.
When I took martial arts I learned that belts are to hold up your pants, not to define your ability. Scores are just numbers, they don't define me.

For my next mini, I'll post it all in the WIP forum.
Thanks again!