Painting Tips

[Tyler]

I have an issue with painting. The only way I can paint is by dry brushing and filling in with a detail brush. I need to learn some new tips on painting other than using inks. Any help would be nice, because almost everything I have painted just looks plain to me. I`ll post some pics here in a few minutes of my stuff so far.

 

[Elmquasmash]

Are you diluting the paint with water? For doing normal base coats you should be diluting your paint with 50/50 water and paint.. And trust me, it takes a while to get used to it.. I remember when all i could ever do was either ink things or glob the paint on..

 

[Tyler]

I`m not diluting the paint at all. What kind of difference does it make?

 

[Tyler]

Sorry for the crappy pics but all I have is my cell phone for a camera.

 

[strewart]

I'm not sure its the camera, moreso the intensity of the (sun?) light and the amount of reflective stuff around. Lighting is definitely the most important thing in photography. Cast a poor stegadon in the wrong light and you can make him look fat!

From what I can see, the stegadon looks pretty good. The scales look highlighted to me. Drybrushing will not work so well on the flesh area since it is a lot flatter with more subtle detail for the most part, but still a huge amount of detail. You should give highlighting a go instead, it takes a fair while to master and requires a pretty steady hand but the end results are a million times better.

As to watering down paints, definitely definitely. I can see on the horns of the steg it looks like the paint has gone on quite thick and looks a bit blobby. Several thin coats take longer, but look a lot better than 1 thick coat. If you go on thick it can obscure detail and tends to make the model look a bit more cartoony almost. Thinner paint is also a must if you attempt highlighting, because you want each successive layer to be a bit transparent and show through some of the colour underneath in order to blend the colours better.

For some reason, LM just do not like to be drybrushed. They end up looking chalky easily, like the belly of your steg. Even if you just get a paint that is a few shades lighter than the base coat and rather than drybrushing it on, run your brush along all the raised areas so you don't get that almost marbled effect on the flat bits.

 

[Tyler]

Thanks for the help. I like my color choice for the steg, but there is a lot missing to it. As if I have writer block. I can`t think of anything original for it. Well I`m going to practice the highlighting and using thinner coats of paint. I`m also having issues with my primer which is some of the problems I`m having with the stegadon`s horns. I think it may be to humid to lay the primer it comes out a little fuzzy leaving me to dust them off and to clean them

 

[strewart]

Are you using GW brand, or at least a brand designed for miniatures? People do have success with cheap brands, but often if they aren't designed for miniatures they go on too thick. Temperature is certainly a big problem though. Experiment with different distances you hold the can from the model, you don't want to put too much paint on or it will again obscure detail. The undercoat should be very very thin, almost a light dusting. It can help to leave the models in the sun for 20 mins or so before spraying them as well. And make sure you shake the can really well before spraying.

 

[Tyler]

The primer I am using is called Armory Black Primer. I was planning on using GW primer, but had spent an awful lot on miniatures.