Painting small things

[Mose]

Hay all

I just figured out what my problem is. Everything on CMON looks great. Problem is that when im in front of my mini\'s everything seems sl damn small. How in the heck do you guy\'s get suck detail out of stuff I can\'t hardly see let alone paint. Like a metal rivet on a leather vest. OMG those are soo small yet you people make it seem that you shrink down or use a 1 hair brush and a microscope.

Please tell me how you do it. Im a big dude 6\'3\" 260lbs. And I cant warp my brain around it. I just sit there and stair at the mini confused. (the rackham one\'s are even worse)

/cry

Mose

 

[AinuLainour]

Originally posted by Mose
Everything on CMON looks great.

Then you haven\'t seen my gallery :yes:

As for details, it simply requires a lot of patience, a thin brush with a fine tip, and no excess paint on the brush tip. Good luck!

 

[Ogrebane]

Hi Mose welcome to the forum.

Its all about bum in seat time. At first it looks daunting but eventually you get use to it. Just take stuff a step at a time. You\'ll get there eventually. I still marvel at some of the stuff on this site and sometimes despair that I can paint that good yet but I know I just need more practice.

Good luck, post pics.

 

[Wolf Fang]

Originally posted by AinuLainour

Originally posted by Mose
Everything on CMON looks great.

Then you haven\'t seen my gallery :yes:

As for details, it simply requires a lot of patience, a thin brush with a fine tip, and no excess paint on the brush tip. Good luck!

dont you mean my gallery? lol

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by Mose
...use a 1 hair brush and a microscope.

You are on to it.
lol

 

[Highbulp Billy]

Mose, we\'ve all been there (and I for one still am!). The advice so far is pretty much \"nail on the head\" - patience, not too much paint (but still diluted to a flowing consistency) and good quality brushes. Good quality doesn\'t necessarily mean expensive - you can buy good kolinsky brushes online at the same price as your more well known high street brand

 

[noneedforaname]

trust me big blokes can paint little things, im 6\' 4\" and about 250lbs at the moment, former rugby player and american football.

What you need to do is find a way to sit comfortably so you don\'t hunch over which will knack your back in and also allows you to steady your hands.

For me i tend to sit so im on the balls of my feet which makes my legs paralell to the floor.

i then prop my elbows on my knees or thereabouts so my forearms come up perpendicular to the floor.

Model in left hand, brush in left.

then press the heels of your hands to gether almost like you are praying this will help steady the model and the brush.

then just use a brush size that is appropriate for the job, thin your paints and don\'t overload the brush.

Jobs a good un :beer:

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by noneedforaname

Model in left hand, brush in left.

Ok Now who\'s bragging?
Think you mean Right hand.

 

[Highbulp Billy]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach

Originally posted by noneedforaname

Model in left hand, brush in left.

Ok Now who\'s bragging?
Think you mean Right hand.

Right hand kept free for holding the beer :beer:

 

[noneedforaname]

Yes i did mean in right hand.

Sorry my bad i gave the secretary the day off lol

As for holdong beer i have other prehensile appendages for that

That wasn\'t bad typing for me, its because im not plastered yet......

give it another couple of hours and ill be :drunk:

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Myself I use a magnifier. There was a thread quite a way back where people were compairing brands but I can\'t find it.

The one I use is right on my lamp. Picked it up at Wal Mart like 8 years ago. It\'s got 2 halogen bulbs on the side of a large magnifying lense.

I use it for small detail work like eyes, teeth, buckels and yes rivots.

If you do a search for Magnifying Lamp you will find tons of them in a wide price range.

 

[DaN]

I supervise a small (hehe) army of skilled midgets I keep locked in my cupboard. lol

Until they manage to make affordable nano-bots, you just need practice! honest!!

Welcome to da forums

 

[Brother Tom]

Its strange sometimes when your painting you I don\'t really think about it then i take a look at a blown up photo of the mini and thing how the hell did i do that .
Out of interest, does anyone here actually use a magnifying glass to paint there minis?

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by Mose
...or use a 1 hair brush and a microscope.

Brushes must have at lest TWO hairs, to hold paint But really it\'s all about having GOOD brushes, that hold a point, AND will hold enough paint to work with. As for magnifiers, low mag can be useful but higher powers make your field of view WAY too small, and thus it\'s hard to put the giant, wiggling brush tip right where you wanted it.

It\'s just practice, dude. I didn\'t get to be

overnight.

 

[Hinton]

Originally posted by Brother Tom Out of interest, does anyone here actually use a magnifying glass to paint there minis?

I do; something like this:

 

[Ritual]

Yeah, I\'m afraid there\'s no trick to this really, just practice and practice and practice. And a good brush! The brush should not be too thin as the paint will dry out before you\'ve managed to paint what it is you\'re painting. A slightly bigger brush (I use a size 0 for most details) with good quality bristles that hold a point well is what you need. I do use smaller brushes for certain things though, but the size 0 is the favoured tool!

 

[Mose]

Hay all

Thank you for the input. I will try and not get so scared about the detail. I remeber looking at a mini and putting it back thinking it had too small detail for me to paint. /lol

Mose

 

[Mose]

Now I was thinking that yeah brush and practice makes for enlarging the small area\'s.

BUT...

The application sequence of the paint has a great deal to do with success.

For instance is you have a brown coat with a rivot or button on the front. Painting the blackline first then the shadows then the baseline then the highlights seems right.

Any ideas on paint sequence?

mose

 

[Torn blue sky]

Hey Hinton I tried using one of those!
Doesn\'t it just get in the way? Did for me, then trying to apply brush to mini was likr threading a needle..I threw it out the window...

 

[Onis Lair]

Everyone has their own preferance for what order they paint in. I tend to paint inside out on the miniature by laying down the basecoat, a shade, darklineing, then highlight back to the base and then upwards. Still looks like i painted with my arse holding the brush but hey...