Ye Olde Inn

by **Baylor_OgreBane** » July 14th, 2015, 5:16 pm

yes, much easier to just show you....but...

It really all depends on how you are painting.
erm...by that I mean if you are starting from a dark colour and working up, or a light colour and working down. What I mean by touching up the dry brush is that you do it before any other large areas of colours, such as clothes or armour. So it is done before any real painting. Always leave metalics until last so you don't get floaty sparkels in your pot of water.
I am sure if you search some of the other threads on peoples minis or asking for painting tips you will find some of my long rambling rants/wafflings.
If you would like I have some of the new age of sigma models on the table being painted and I could do a video chat so you can watch and see what I am doing, interaction is a better way to learn rather than just watching, and watching is better than reading. It wont be until next week sometime though.

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2945

by **TheWiseOldElf** » July 14th, 2015, 5:27 pm

Baylor_OgreBane wrote:It really all depends on how you are painting.
erm...by that I mean if you are starting from a dark colour and working up, or a light colour and working down. What I mean by touching up the dry brush is that you do it before any other large areas of colours, such as clothes or armour. So it is done before any real painting. Always leave metalics until last so you don't get floaty sparkels in your pot of water.

OH! I think I see what you mean - are you talking about the dry-brushing for one colour/area "invading" a neighbouring area?

If so, are you saying that it would be better to go through the three stages (base/shadow/highlight) for the "innermost" layer, then repeat for each successive layer, rather than do all the different base layer colours first, then all the shadows, then all the drybrushing?

by **Baylor_OgreBane** » July 14th, 2015, 5:37 pm

yeah. again it depends on how you paint, but by doing one area at a time means that when mixing paints for highlights ect you can keep it more consistent rather than having to keep re-mixing, it also is a better way to bulk pint models, do all the green on the gobos, then the browns, then the metals ect.
! trick I picked up when doing the props for fury is keep a scrappy crappy paint guide book. Just a cheap note pad, then before you put any paint on a mini, write what mini it is on the top of the page, then put a dap of colour on the page and note what it is, do the same for any mixes you make while doing the model. you will end up with the colour ingredients guide and a methodology of how you did the model, so that when you come to the next one, you can see what works or just plain copy the method over. Great for when you take a break between paint sessions.

by **TheWiseOldElf** » July 14th, 2015, 5:47 pm

Baylor_OgreBane wrote:yeah. again it depends on how you paint, but by doing one area at a time means that when mixing paints for highlights ect you can keep it more consistent rather than having to keep re-mixing, it also is a better way to bulk pint models, do all the green on the gobos, then the browns, then the metals ect.
! trick I picked up when doing the props for fury is keep a scrappy crappy paint guide book. Just a cheap note pad, then before you put any paint on a mini, write what mini it is on the top of the page, then put a dap of colour on the page and note what it is, do the same for any mixes you make while doing the model. you will end up with the colour ingredients guide and a methodology of how you did the model, so that when you come to the next one, you can see what works or just plain copy the method over. Great for when you take a break between paint sessions.

Thanks - will bear that in mind. For my goblins I was using the paints from my set more-or-less as they came, and kept any mixing to strict 1:1 ratios so I would always be able to recreate it if I needed more. Admittedly, for my CW, I've gone much more off-piste, especially as I've ended up using four or five shades for the armour (due to under-estimating the strength of the base colour, and the amount of contrast needed in the highlights to brighten it sufficiently) and I certainly wouldn't like to have to recreate the same effect again now! :roll:

by **Daedalus** » August 5th, 2015, 2:55 pm

TheWiseOldElf wrote:Anyone got any tips for eyes? Am toying with the idea of a tiny white dot to look like shine, but not sure if it will work in practise? What do other people do?

Check out this post by Tasoe.

by **TheWiseOldElf** » August 6th, 2015, 4:11 am

Thanks - that's a great thread, and the level of detail on some of those minis is unbelievable!

I don't have the skills (or brushes) to even think about trying to emulate those hero eyes, but I do like the dark-with-a-red-glow effect of the monster eyes, and might have a go at that.

Here's my current work-in-progress - classic evil wizard plus some Warhammer "Night Goblins" which I'm trying to paint in the style of the "Frostlings" from Age of Wonders.

As you can see, I'm still struggling with the finer details, and the finish tends to be very "gritty" - not sure if this is primarily a result of poor technique or using low-quality paints and brushes :oops:

by **Lemmeron** » August 6th, 2015, 5:16 am

Gritty is often due to too much paint left on the brush when dry brushing. If you brush your finger nail with it and get even a few faint lines / streaks on your nail rather than a dusting of powder, you still have too much paint on it. It could also be drybrushing with poor quality paints where the pigment size is rather large, but more likely the first.

another possibility is pushing too hard with the brush when dry brushing because you cant see the paint going on so you think you have to move the bristles closer... good drybrushing technique is a gradual build up of paint to get your highlights.

Also dont worry about the quality of the brush for dry brushing as it will destroy a good brush, so you are better off using a cheap one, or an old one for this.

I hope this helps you !

by **Anderas** » August 6th, 2015, 6:46 am

For me the main Problem with dry brushing is that it emphasizes surface features you don't want to have emphasized. For example, after the base coat spray or with metal miniatures you might have a little rough surface. Normally that's good, it helps your paint sticking. But then comes the drybrushing and you're in the mess.

For me, drybrushing is good for very distinctive rough surfaces like fur, chain mail (bikinis) or scale mail.
For all other occasions, on flat surfaces, skin, cloth, anything, I don't use it anymore. The risk of messing up neighbor areas or even the very targeted area is so high that it isn't worth it.

With a wet palette, mixing colors to the exact shade you want is so easy that I don't even miss drybrushing.

by **Decipher** » August 6th, 2015, 12:02 pm

I wish I had a steady hand and the patients to paint. I leave all my minis unpainted cause I am terrible at painting. All you guys who paint, my hats off to you.

|_P