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Other Games, Development, & Campaigns => Other Games => Topic started by: Ras Algethi on February 26, 2018, 10:16:13 AM

Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on February 26, 2018, 10:16:13 AM
First attempt at painting miniatures for board games. First up are the minis for the Mice & Mystics (https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/mice-and-mystics) board game.

First up the rats. There are six in total and are deployed in groups of three in the game. So I went with a set of brown rats and then a set of grey.

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These are shots of the three brown rats. The left most is painted only. The middle has Quickshade applied (see the gloss). The right most has been painted, Quickshaded and then a matte varnish applied. I am still trying to figure out how to base properly.

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This is a comparison of a painted grey rat (right) versus a painted, Quickshaded and varnished grey rat.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: RunningLaser on February 26, 2018, 10:44:15 AM
They look great!
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: JongWK on March 03, 2018, 04:11:19 PM
I'm planning to paint some Blood Bowl minis this month. Never tried painting before, so any tips are appreciated. :)
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 04, 2018, 11:41:46 AM
Quote from: JongWK;1027800
I'm planning to paint some Blood Bowl minis this month. Never tried painting before, so any tips are appreciated. :)

Watch some YouTube vids on the basics and be fine with getting "good enough" models and not some of the "pro" stuff out there.

I think I struggled trying to be "perfect" and once I let that aspiration go, I got through many more minis. And remember, minis on the table are a foot or more away, things you can see with your magnifier won't be seen during the game!!

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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 04, 2018, 11:43:08 AM
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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ratman_tf on March 04, 2018, 07:50:03 PM
First off, those are very good for a first attempt.

Quote
I am still trying to figure out how to base properly.


I have three "levels" of basing I do nowadays.

1. Paint the untextured base and call it good. I'm using this for my Reaper bones that I plan to use for Starfinder.

2. Flock the base and call it good. I used this for my Tau. Paint the base green, and then smear white glue on the top of the base, and dunk it in some flock. this is plain, but a step up from 1.

3. Textured base. Before priming, I put down some watered white glue on the base, and then dunk it in Gale Force 9's basing grit. I then go over it again with watered down white glue to seal the grit down. I use a kind of drizzling technique, because the grit will shift around. If I don't seal it down, the grit tends to come off during painting. I tend to use this technique if the mini comes with a rocky "broccoli" (the clump of rocks and ground at the base of the mini on the feet that's not quite a proper base)
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 04, 2018, 08:09:57 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1027905
First off, those are very good for a first attempt.



I have three "levels" of basing I do nowadays.

1. Paint the untextured base and call it good. I'm using this for my Reaper bones that I plan to use for Starfinder.

2. Flock the base and call it good. I used this for my Tau. Paint the base green, and then smear white glue on the top of the base, and dunk it in some flock. this is plain, but a step up from 1.

3. Textured base. Before priming, I put down some watered white glue on the base, and then dunk it in Gale Force 9's basing grit. I then go over it again with watered down white glue to seal the grit down. I use a kind of drizzling technique, because the grit will shift around. If I don't seal it down, the grit tends to come off during painting. I tend to use this technique if the mini comes with a rocky "broccoli" (the clump of rocks and ground at the base of the mini on the feet that's not quite a proper base)

Cool ideas. For the bad guy rats I went with a flocked base (I think that's the right term). For the spider and centipede I am still debating. For the hero mice it will be a painted base (I think, could change of course!).

And note, I didn't show the roaches because they look like crap (IMO) and were technically the first ones painter. :D
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ratman_tf on March 05, 2018, 02:00:51 AM
Quote from: Ras Algethi;1027906
And note, I didn't show the roaches because they look like crap (IMO) and were technically the first ones painter. :D

I have my first miniatures I ever painted. Some 40k Space Marines done in testors enamels. They're atrocious. :D
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: crkrueger on March 05, 2018, 08:21:46 AM
One decision you need to make:

To base or not to base, that is the question.

Obviously, the mini's look cool when based (and by basing I mean putting grass, rocks, etc on the base like Ras did above.)
However there are two advantages to non-based miniatures.
1. Minor Point. They can be used in any terrain with minimum distraction.  You put grass-based minis on a snow-field or stone tilemap, they look worse than just black bases.
2. Major Point.  If used for gaming, eventually, the basing does come off and it also prevents you from putting any of those sticky notation thingies on the base.  The gum the sticky stuff uses will usually strip the basing right off.

One thing I've noticed, YMMV, fur comes out awesome if you use two lighter colors for a drybrush highlight after quickshading to make the fur really look good, no matter what color it is.  Orks are probably the best for slap 4 colors, dunk and whip and "Job's a gud'un!", furry guys like Skaven and Beastmen need a touch more to get there, even at wargame levels of detail.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 09:50:06 AM
I wrapped on the Mice & Mystics figures:
All the villains/minions
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Some close-ups:
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Really not liking the cockroaches, but they were the first minis ever painted.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 09:52:46 AM
The brown rats:
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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 09:54:19 AM
The grey rats:
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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 09:57:22 AM
And now our heroes:

Maginos the mystic:
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Tilda the healer:
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White was a pain in the ass to paint.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 09:59:34 AM
Collin the Prince:
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Filtch the scamp (aka Thief):
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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 10:01:49 AM
Nez the tinkerer:
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Lilly the archer:
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Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Spinachcat on March 22, 2018, 07:18:48 PM
How's the game itself?

Also, great work for a first minis paintjob!
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 22, 2018, 08:02:37 PM
I like the game, it's lighter. It's a game that can work for both adults and kids (theme wise). Still feeling out how I feel about some of the rules. Need a few more scenarios under my belt and I'll let you know.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: kosmos1214 on March 25, 2018, 06:07:42 PM
Cool paint jobs man.
Looking at this I keep getting redwall vibs.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: chirine ba kal on March 25, 2018, 11:13:41 PM
Quote from: Ras Algethi;1030750

Really not liking the cockroaches, but they were the first minis ever painted.


Nah, you're being too hard on yourself. They look just fine, and if you treat the bases like you did with the other figures, the bugs would pop right out and look great.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Gronan of Simmerya on March 27, 2018, 01:15:44 PM
Also, take the advice of those who advocate "the three foot rule" -- that is, how they look from three feet away is the important part.

It took Chirine years to convince me to stop painting straps and buckles on my 25mm knights, because they could only be seen with a magnifier, so who cares?  The same for rivets on the hinges of the armor.  If you can't see it on the table, it doesn't matter.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: tenbones on March 27, 2018, 02:40:04 PM
they look great!

Basing is one thing I dropped immediately from doing, because my minis used to see heavy use and like Krueger mentioned, all that stuff started to rub off over time and while it looked cool, the reality was I wasn't painting my figures for display.

If you want to add a little "pop" to your toolset of techniques - consider learning how to fade your colors in for effect. It's a simple technique but worth the effort if you're interested in upping your game.  http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_blending.html

Once you get used to doing it, it really adds a nice upgrade to your figures appearances. But be warned that some people can way overdo it (like anything else in painting figs). This would solve your cockroach issue and also add some nice effects to your otherwise awesome mouse and rat figs!!!
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Headless on March 27, 2018, 03:58:18 PM
Those mice are great.  And the spider.  They are all great but those in particular I really like.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: wombat1 on March 27, 2018, 04:51:18 PM
Very well done!  "White is a pain in the ass to paint," above, as  the original poster put it--my instinct is to always go for lighter grey and then a white drybrush.

"Sticky note pulls the basing material right off."  The advisor of my old university club devised a notation using a series of dots--this works best with some bases that have some thickness, like wargame bases, or the round slotta-bases that have some height, but you could put a colored dot or two on even a rpg miniature base and then paint or flock the rest.  (And sticky note went on the bottom of the base, anyway.)
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Arkansan on March 28, 2018, 12:52:10 AM
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1031426
Also, take the advice of those who advocate "the three foot rule" -- that is, how they look from three feet away is the important part.

It took Chirine years to convince me to stop painting straps and buckles on my 25mm knights, because they could only be seen with a magnifier, so who cares?  The same for rivets on the hinges of the armor.  If you can't see it on the table, it doesn't matter.


That very issue is why I love smaller scale minis like 6mm or 10mm. Get the basic colors right and the bastards look great all massed up on the table.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Herne's Son on March 30, 2018, 12:31:33 AM
Really nice work!

My only suggestion would be to actually paint and dry brush those rocks on the basing. It may sound dopey, but it'll make a world of difference. Right now you've got little tiny actual rocks surrounding painted guys. If you hit the rocks with a brown paint, dry brush them up with a couple of shades of beige/ochre, they'll look amazing.

Grab the Army Painter Technique Guide, and the Battlefields Basing Guide from here: https://www.thearmypainter.com/documents.php

Lots of great suggestions and easy-to-follow techniques in there.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Skepticultist on March 30, 2018, 07:55:51 PM
Quote from: JongWK;1027800
I'm planning to paint some Blood Bowl minis this month. Never tried painting before, so any tips are appreciated. :)


If you want to keep it simple but get a good result, try using the Army Painter dipping method.  This is an Infinity model I painted using Army Painter paints and techniques:

(https://i.imgur.com/FaoKAEN.jpg)

I'm pretty pleased with the result, which compare reasonably well to something I've painted with more traditional (and time-consuming) methods, like these:

(https://i.imgur.com/O98MbCj.jpg)

I'd start with by watching all of the "How to paint X" videos on Army Painter's youtube channel. (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheArmyPainter/videos)  If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.  I've been painting miniatures for years.
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 31, 2018, 08:36:14 AM
Quote from: tenbones;1031454
they look great!

Basing is one thing I dropped immediately from doing, because my minis used to see heavy use and like Krueger mentioned, all that stuff started to rub off over time and while it looked cool, the reality was I wasn't painting my figures for display.

If you want to add a little "pop" to your toolset of techniques - consider learning how to fade your colors in for effect. It's a simple technique but worth the effort if you're interested in upping your game.  http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_blending.html

Once you get used to doing it, it really adds a nice upgrade to your figures appearances. But be warned that some people can way overdo it (like anything else in painting figs). This would solve your cockroach issue and also add some nice effects to your otherwise awesome mouse and rat figs!!!

Thanks for the site link
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: Ras Algethi on March 31, 2018, 08:38:12 AM
Quote from: Herne's Son;1031958
Really nice work!

My only suggestion would be to actually paint and dry brush those rocks on the basing. It may sound dopey, but it'll make a world of difference. Right now you've got little tiny actual rocks surrounding painted guys. If you hit the rocks with a brown paint, dry brush them up with a couple of shades of beige/ochre, they'll look amazing.

Grab the Army Painter Technique Guide, and the Battlefields Basing Guide from here: https://www.thearmypainter.com/documents.php

Lots of great suggestions and easy-to-follow techniques in there.

I use mainly AP paints and have a bunch of their PDFs downloaded. =)
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: rossi on January 05, 2019, 01:55:54 PM
Quote from: wombat1;1031486
Very well done!  "White is a pain in the ass to paint," above, as  the original poster put it--my instinct is to always go for lighter grey and then a white drybrush.

"Sticky note pulls the basing material right off."  The advisor of my old university club devised a notation using a series of dots--this works best with some bases that have some thickness, like wargame bases, or the round slotta-bases that have some height, but you could put a colored dot or two on even a rpg miniature base and then paint or flock the rest.  (And sticky note went on the bottom of the base, anyway.) Lucky Patcher (https://inro.in/lucky-patcher/) 9Apps (https://inro.in/9apps/) VidMate (https://inro.in/vidmate/)
yes I confirm that works better with certain bases having a certain thickness and I speak with an experience
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: nightlamp on January 07, 2019, 04:02:45 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1027950
I have my first miniatures I ever painted. Some 40k Space Marines done in testors enamels. They're atrocious. :D


Testors enamels with atrocious results?  Sounds a lot like the first minis I painted, some Grenadier Paranoia "trouble shooters" in the late 80s. :D
Title: First shot at painting minis
Post by: oggsmash on January 07, 2019, 10:47:08 PM
Those were excellent for first painted and honestly look good to me for any level of experience.