tips for painting miniatures?

[cellio]

A friend came back from Origins, a gaming con, talking about how his niece apparently has a knack for painting "lead" miniatures. (What are they made out of now, pewter?) So they're looking for tips on technique, and they'd be interested in any local contacts in Columbus.

I did some figure-painting back in the 80s and didn't completely suck at it. I learned from friends and from magazine articles. Now I imagine there are good web sites, but I haven't done this in years so I haven't hunted them down. Before I bring the power of Google to bear on my friend's request, I figured I'd ask my friends here for recommendations. I know some of you paint; what sites have useful advice for beginners?

Comments

[ellipticcurve.livejournal.com]

My miniatures usually turn out OK everywhere except their faces, which usually kook awful. I came across this primer (Get it! Primer!) on painting eyes, which looks to be spot on the money.

[cellio]

That's one of the more amusing 404s I've seen recently. :-) (It's ok; I can figure out what the base site is, and ought to be able to find the primer from there.)

Thanks for the pointer!

[the-never.livejournal.com]

Minis are made out of pewter or some weird alloy. They are far far superior to the lead miniatures of old, in the way they hold details. Drybrushing really brings up details now. If you can do solid colors, a wash, and some drybrushing you will have awesome looking minis just because they'll bring out the detail that is already there.

The Reaper mini primer (linked above?) is great. There are other primers out there as well.

I like to look at Http://coolminiornot.com every once in a while too.

[cellio]

Thanks!

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Hmm. There is a LOT of information out there, but if I had to summarize quickly:

1. Make sure you prep your surface. Clean your minis -- they come with soapy mold release on them. Use soap and water and a toothbrush, rinse, and then dry thoroughly.
2. Use a good primer. Model primer makes an excellent base coat. Do it in "comfortable" weather -- not too hot, not too cold, not too humid. Let the primer dry.
3. Use paints meant for miniatures; they are higher-saturation, and have a good consistency.
4. Use very little paint, and water down your paint a little unless you want a thick coating. Lots of thin coats is vastly superior to a small number of thick coats. My miniatures generally end up with...hmm...15-20 total coats of paint on them, though no one spot has all of that. A solid area (a cloak, say) might have 3-7 coats, usually gradually lightening in color.
5. Be patient. Your brain has to remap to devote more space to moving your hands and fingers very precisely. This can take a few weeks, but you will notice a big improvement after a while of practice. Practice, practice. I now giggle at how huge areas are that I thought were unpaintably small before.
6. Use a loose hand on the brush, and try to feel how hard the tip of the brush is pushing on the surface -- you will get different effects depending on this. It's pretty crucial, and people never mention it.
7. Get decent brushes. The best I've had so far were $8 for three at Jo-Anns, so this doesn't mean spending a bundle. I dislike most of the "name brand" ones (Games Workshop, etc.), though others swear by them.
8. Painting miniatures to look good is very unlike painting anything else. They are so small that you have to use abnormally bright color contrasts to bring out detail. For example, if I have a bright red figure that I want to show the edges on, I will use pure white to lightly dry-brush the figure. Looked at under a magnifying glass, it looks bizarre; from "normal" viewing distance it looks fine. Same thing with shadows; dark brown ink over flesh tones can work.
9. Go to http://coolminiornot.com if you want to be alternately inspired and depressed. There is some astonishing work on there.
10. Have fun!

[cellio]

Thank you! This sounds like excellent advice. (And you're right; I'd never heard #6 either.)

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! More stuff I forgot:

Washes and drybrushing are your friends. Immensely time-saving, and will automagically bring out details
Undercolor is very important -- pigments aren't opaque, so color will vary highly by what you paint over. This can be used to cool effect by doing a thin coat over a sharply highlighted base color (i.e., paint the mini grey with bright white highlights, then do a thin coat of a bright color (green, say) over this).
If you find your paint rubs off, invest in some seal coating/shellac, and put a few washes of it over the finished product; but beware, some brands "fog" the mini and make the colors washed out.
And of course...Never buy more miniatures than you can paint! :P

[cellio]

And of course...Never buy more miniatures than you can paint! :P

Oh, like anyone gets that right! :-)

[mikekn]

I'm going to point my friend kathy_the_geek over here. She too just came back from Origins and has been painting minis for quite a while now.

[kathy-the-geek.livejournal.com]

What is it that you are trying to achieve? I find that the reaper web site (http://www.reapermini.com) has some great articles. You could also visit your local gaming store where you would buy the minis and see if they have classes.

I also buy my brushes at Michaels not from the gaming companies. The size of the brush isn't as important as whether it has a good tip.

[cellio]

Thanks. The niece is not local, so I'm looking for resources to point her at that will help her improve on just figuring it out on her own. I'll suggest asking at local gaming stores about classes, too.