Painting Preferences

[Olaf the Stout]

Hi all,

I\'m relatively new to painting so I am trying to learn all the best tips, tricks and techniques to improve. A couple of questions that I want to know people\'s personal preferences on:

1. After you undercoat your minis do you paint your basecoat in a mid-colour and then shade/highlight? Or do you paint your basecoat in in your shade colour and then layer over that to your mid-colour and highlights?

I used to paint mid-colour first and then shade/highlight from there but I\'ve given the second way a go and it seems to be working well. It takes a bit longer but the final result looks better in my opinion.

2. Do you basecoat your entire mini first and then shade/highlight? Or do you paint one colour, do the shading and highlighting before moving onto the next colour?

I used to basecoat the whole mini first and then shade/highlight each colour but I found I would inadventantly get one colour paint onto another area by accident. If this happened to be an area I had already shaded/highlighted it could be quite a bit of work to fix up again.

The mini I am currently painting I am testing out the paint one colour, highlight and shade to completion method. It is going ok so far but the mini is still only half finished.

And one more question:

3. As someone starting out painting, what method would you suggest, dark basecoat and highlight up from there or midcolour and shade and highlight?

I am thinking that dark basecoat and highlighting up will be better for minis that I want to spend a bit more time painting (my Blood Bowl minis for example). The midcoat then shade and highlight method might be quicker and therefore better for things like Warhammer armies or RPG minis that I will need quite a lot of (like Skeletons or Orcs for example).

So far I have been able to get better results with the dark basecoat and highlight up method. When I try the other way I am a little unsure to go about the shading. Any suggestions?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Olaf the Stout
Welcome Olaf

1. After you undercoat your minis do you paint your basecoat in a mid-colour and then shade/highlight? Or do you paint your basecoat in in your shade colour and then layer over that to your mid-colour and highlights?

2. Do you basecoat your entire mini first and then shade/highlight? Or do you paint one colour, do the shading and highlighting before moving onto the next colour?

3. As someone starting out painting, what method would you suggest, dark basecoat and highlight up from there or midcolour and shade and highlight?

The main question is what are you intending for your painting, is it solely for Army level, is it for competition or for ebay sale?

As there isn\'t a \"right answer\" to your questions. In fact for me I can answer yes to all your questions as I work from Dark to Light , Light down to Dark and Mid tone into both directions, dependant on the mood or effect I want on the mini I\'m painting at the time.

What I do 90% of the time is work on one colour section at a time starting with the eyes and working out to the topmost layer of clothing. With something like Space Marines (Yes I do paint them occasionally) I try to do one armour section at a time making sure I use exactly the same colours for each panel.

 

[Einion]

1. After you undercoat your minis do you paint your basecoat in a mid-colour and then shade/highlight?
Usually, yes.

Or do you paint your basecoat in in your shade colour and then layer over that to your mid-colour and highlights?
Sometimes, very little any more.

You forgot one option: putting down the lightest colour first and shading only; some people do whites like this as it \'makes sense\' to them to paint it this way (it\'s also quite good from a conceptual point of view, to leave sufficient white showing for the item to read as being white). It\'s also sometimes used for other light colours. Yellow\'s a good example, as it tends to have such poor coverage this is worth trying - undercoat in white if necessary, to provide a uniform base for the yellow, then paint the base yellow and then do the shading in glazes/thin layers.

2. Do you basecoat your entire mini first and then shade/highlight? Or do you paint one colour, do the shading and highlighting before moving onto the next colour?
The second. Far as I can recall I\'ve never painted the basecoat for all areas of a figure, although I have thought about it from a colour-planning point of view.

Nearly everybody paints minis, historical figures and garage kits in an item-by-item manner, with some minor touch-up work done at the end.

3. As someone starting out painting, what method would you suggest, dark basecoat and highlight up from there or midcolour and shade and highlight?
The second for most colours. But personal preference (and the exact paints you\'re using - not just brand but the specific colours) will play a part is what\'s best for you.

\'Painting up\', working from a dark basecoat, takes longer and fundamentally it just doesn\'t provide any benefit IME; it also runs the risk of having to put down much more paint than you would otherwise, which can easily lead to a rougher surface.

Einion

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Dragonsreach and Einion,

To answer your questions, I am painting the minis solely for gaming use at this point. The minis I am currently painting are Blood Bowl and Necromunda minis as well as some Reaper minis for use in my RPG games.

I also have some Warhammer minis (some Brettonians and Lizardmen that came with the boxed set) that I would eventually like to paint up as well.

Having said that, I am still really learning to paint. I first tried my hand at painting about 10 years ago but I never painted more than a handful of minis. In the last few months I have gotten back into painting minis and I plan to dive right in with both feet this time.

I aim to paint up a couple of Blood Bowl teams to begin with. I have a tournament coming up in October so I need to have a team painted up by then. While there are 16 members in a team, I want to try and paint them to as good a standard as I can do. My aim is for something a little beyond the basic tabletop standard. Whether I can do that or not from the beginning will be something I will find out! I\'m trying not to cut any corners with them. I want to use them to practice some good, solid painting techniques if possible.

As for paints, I am using Games Workshop paints. I have most of the current paint range, a few discontinued GW paints, all of the foundation paints as well as all the inks except Brown ink.

I\'ve just got a hold of some W&N Series 7 brushes which I think has helped my painting already. They certainly seem to hold a lot more paint than the takkon(takklon?) brushes I was using previously.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Olaf the Stout
I\'ve just got a hold of some W&N Series 7 brushes which I think has helped my painting already. They certainly seem to hold a lot more paint than the takkon(takklon?) brushes I was using previously.

Taklon brushes, synthetics in general, don\'t release paint as smoothly as any decent sable or Kolinsky brush because they don\'t have the same capilary action caused by the hair structure. So the natural variety IMO is definitely a step up.

Plus Kolinskys have better points and they keep them for longer too (if you\'re lucky, for the entire life of the brush).

Einion

 

[Gilvan Blight]

The way I used to paint before CMON (minis from this time frame currently rate 3-5 on here):

Paint entire mini in base colour that was a mid range. Wash extensively with old Citadel Ink (Pre-ordered from the UK back when they were new). Drybrush with original colour. Lighter Drybrush with highlight colour. Final Drybrush with uber lite colour. Ink glaze of apropriate colour using Citadel Inks.

How I paint now (seems to get me in the 5-7 range):

Paint from the inside out, starting with the deepest layer working out, usually the skin. First colour is the darkest colour I want the shadows to be. Highlight up very slowly using thin layers of paint (layering approach). Keep layering until I get to the highlight colour (can be anywhere from 5 - 30 layers depending on what I am highlighting). Move on to next layer (often clothing).

Truth be told though, there is no right way to paint. Just do whatever you are comfortable with, and whatever gives you results you are happy with. So whatever method you chose will be the right method for you. I do suggest as you get some practice, that you experiment with different techniques since there can often be something even more right for you then what you currently do.

 

[jahminis]

i paint from in layers from dark to light...
i try to keep my techniques as simple as possible, with a minimum of custom mixed colours, and strive for clean bright(comicbook style) results...a simple, clean, paintjob looks better than a half-assed attempt at blendin\', or an unbalanced use of too many colours...

i usually basecoat the entire model, so i can get an idea of how the colours are gonna work together, and where they will go...this is basically my plannin\' stage...the only thing is, i don\'t sit down with a formula on how to approach a mini, i just let it happen, so there is no hard, fast, rule...

the best advice for beginners, is to practice...try out different styles and techniques until ya land on something that works for ya...there is no 100% standard way to approach paintin\' a mini...
good brushes, clean water, quality paints, and a desire to get better are the main things that any painter needs...so long as you\'re enjoyin\' what ya do, then your good to go...patience is only possible when you\'re enjoyin\' yourself...

good luck...

cheers
jah