Prysmaty's WIP Start to Finish

[prysmatyk]

This is my first WIP thread and I hope to receive insight/constructive criticism from other members that point out all my flaws, mistakes and places to improve. I also hope it will help those coming after me to see some of the techniques I’ve used, or butchered, and provide some insight into my methodology of painting a miniature. The paints I’ve used are a mix of Delta, (yes, cheap paint that dries slightly chalky), Vallejo and Citadel. My brushes are also a mix between cheap 5 dollar per set synthetic, mid-range golden taklon and W&N S7. I find the W&N to have mixed results, but the cheap brushes seem to be more forgiving.


This piece is for the table, but was given to me to use and paint by my GM from our home brew. I haven’t researched its origin but liked its sinister look so I agreed I’d paint it for him. It represents a warlock and is a character used by both of us. He asked me to make it dark and foreboding looking, requesting purple on the cloak and blacks and greens. While I’ve read about purple being difficult to get right on cloth, I'm going to have fun with it.

I began with a base coat of black on the bottom cloak, later I base blacked the top cloak too.

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Next I worked on the purple which proved difficult to get good tonality.

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I kept at it and ended up with...

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Completely unsatisfied, I decided to put it away for a few days then repaint it. I ended up with this.

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I was semi satisfied, so I worked on other parts of the piece. Mainly the vest and shirt. (apologies for the landscape view)

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Next I worked on the sleeves and scrolls. It was here I based the hood black thinking I would keep it black to bring out facial features which seem to be lacking on this model. I painted the satchel and as you can see did his top cloak in purple too.

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The next thing I worked on was its' face and skin. Initially I saw this as a weathered skin tone and ran with that. While doing these things I painted the runes on his cloak and touched up a few areas I saw needed work. I wasn't feeling the black hood thinking it looked too stark.

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I repainted the hood purple, added the finishing touches to his staff and shaded the scrolls.

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I sent a pic of the finished piece to my friend the DM who loaded the mini to me and asked what he thought. He loved it but asked me to change his skin tine to a much lighter shade. Naturally, I did as he asked. It is his mini after all.

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Overall, I'm okay with this piece. I had fun painting it and enjoyed practicing on it. I can see many things I'd do differently if I could repaint it, but for what it is, my eighth mini in 25 years, I can't complain.

So thanks for reading and please critique me.

 

[CyAniDe]

Welcome back after so many years.
I really like your pictures. The miniature is well lit and the background is nice and neutral. Please keep that good picture quality for future uploads .

To the mini:

At first I'ld suggest you to try primer. I think it's much easier to work on a primed figure. You get even color layers much easier and the paint looks more matte when you thin it a bit.
Your brush work looks good so far. You didn't paint over the boarders.
What I'ld highly recommend is black-/darklining. I'ts thin black lines around different objects and parts on the mini. It seperates these parts and gives a cleaner more defined look. If you use a black primer you can use it to "autocreate" the blacklining. You just don't paint the depest parts of the mini or over the boarders of parts and let the black primer be your black line (hope you understand what I mean here :/ )

For highlighting I'ld recommend layering in the beginning. The trick is to mix some lighter tones of your basecolor and paint it over your basecolor to build up highlights. You become smaller with the surfaces you paint while your paint gets lighter. With enough tones you can get fairly smooth transitions and start to get a feeling and understanding of how light affects your mini.

Another easy trick to boost your paintjobs quality is edge highlighting. Again you mix a lighter tone of the basecolor you used and pronounce the edges of the different parts that are hit by light. This further defines your mini and you get a cleaner look.

These are some simple techniques that in my opinion are great for beginners and can have a huge effect. Hope you found back your way into the hobby and do another mini

 

[prysmatyk]

Thanks for the words of advice and compliment. I have tried thinning the paint to a milk like consistency but it always seems too runny and coverage is crap. I've invested in the mediums I've read about. Matte, Glaze, Extender etc... while I find it does a decent job...the glaze is my favorite as it makes the paint semi translucent and allows the base to show through.
I think I understand the concept of black-lining, but have read mixed reviews of it. Some say it makes the mini look too comic like while others say it's great for making things pop. I suppose it's a technique like anything else and must be mastered with trial and error.
One thing I find is, even using a wet palette the paints seem to dry quite quickly on my brush. When I use the extender, the paint becomes runny and more like a wash. I find this with Vallejo and Citadel. My mix ratio is 1:1 and I've even tried lessening it to 2:1 paint to extender.
For the metallic, they too dry too quickly as well and I am constantly cleaning and dipping my brush to get coverage. I tried extenders etc, but then the consistency goes to hell.
It's going to be a fun journey back and I admit I have a steep learning curve ahead.

 

[CyAniDe]

Ahhh okay. The usage of glaze medium explains the glossy finish. I have the same problem with drying paints. I have to set up a new wet palette everytime I start painting. When I close the lid it starts to go mildewy quite fast. But with the fresh palette I can work quite well.

Don't thin your paints down to much. I'm training at the moment to use thicker consitencys again. I thinned my paints way too much in the past. I'ld suggest trying roughly 70% paint to 30% water. For basecoating and simple techniques like layering you shouldn't have to use mediums or additives.
For better flow you can add a little drop of dish soap into your paintwater to break the surface tension of the water (makes it flow better).
To get more even coats I'ld highly recommend using a spray primer as well. The GW primers are very good and a bottle really lasts long. But you should better use it outside ^^

 

[prysmatyk]

So now they tell me about glaze making the paint glossy. Would adding matte medium keep it flat?

For my wet palette, I use an ordinary dish, one of those square flat sponge wipes for the kitchen and parchment paper. Only issue I have with it is space, do I find myself having a couple of plates on my work area. Yeah, it means I don't save my paints between sessions, but I never put out too much anyway, so tossing a little is just part of the process for me.

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I will use that ratio and also will try to dish soap too.Bet I find they work wonders for me. Thanks!

Yesterday I found an older Iwata compressor for sale cheap and so I went and bought an airbrush, so priming should be easy for me to do now. The compressor even came with some paint, primer and cleaner too but I'll grab some GW primer and thing it down to use in the airbrush.

 

[CyAniDe]

If you have an airbrush you can use Vallejos airbrush primer. I don't know if GW has an airbrush primer. I only know their rattle cans but they are pretty good. The Vallejo primer can be sprayed directly without thinning and lasts ages. I got a 200ml bottle of the vallejo primer and I thik it's 5 years old or even older.

For the palette i use sponge towels with parchment paper on top.

 

[prysmatyk]

I want to thank you again for your guidance here. I will try these tips out on my next mini for sure.

 

[KruleBear]

Welcome to the forums. Looks like you have good brush control so you are definately ready to try the more advanced techniques touted around here. For paint dilution I either use Vallejo matte medium and/or water.

 

[prysmatyk]

Krulebear,

Thanks for the words. I've been trying a bit on blends, osl etc. but it's slow progress. In time I'll get better.

 

[Hairster]

I just use Vallejo glaze medium here and water....if it glosses up then just knock it back with Matt varnish at the end.

 

[Sicks]

As others have said you're at a decent starter point, i think you could use more contrast to make it pop a bit more. For thinning I just use mainly GW lahmian medium and sometimes a little water too, it's pretty normal to need 2-3 coats for a solid base coat that keeps its smoothness, sometimes more depending on paint brand

My pallet is just a Tupperware container with a sponge in it and baking parchment, does the trick without taking up too much room

 

[Coyotebreaks]

welcome back to the hobby. as others have said you are onto a good start. good tidy painting.

as for thinning mediums I just use water, bit old fashioned but it works, cheap to

 

[prysmatyk]

I just use Vallejo glaze medium here and water....if it glosses up then just knock it back with Matt varnish at the end.

I used Vallejo matte varnish on this guy and he still looks glossy to me.

 

[prysmatyk]

As others have said you're at a decent starter point, i think you could use more contrast to make it pop a bit more. For thinning I just use mainly GW lahmian medium and sometimes a little water too, it's pretty normal to need 2-3 coats for a solid base coat that keeps its smoothness, sometimes more depending on paint brand

GW lahmian medium? I'll give that a try.
I find water is, well, too wet most of the times, but it's been used since paints were invented, so it must be my ratios. As Krulebear said, I'll try 70p/30w

Thanks