What Minis Are You Painting?

Pug wrote: Thanks Michael! I am looking forward to painting the Reavers, belts aside! Thank you for the suggestion on brush technique for small details, I will certainly apply it to those Reaver models when I get around to painting them (hoping to get some time this Sunday). Going to hit up the art store after work for small finer brushes. I guess this is how the addiction starts... oh boy. Going to try and find a decent lighting source next, and maybe a little shelf unit to store all the paints.

On another note, what are people's thoughts on the Vallejo 72 paint sets like game/model paints? Those look pretty interesting, and cheaper per bottle than citadel paints. Not sure I'd really need all of them, but it would be nice to have a nice range to pick from.

I got lots of Vallejo Game Color and I can say that its definitely got its quirks. I read later that you should just buy the "Air" version of paints as they are much smoother - even for brushwork. The colors seem to be different for all ranges, in terms of good and bad. Red, yellow and orange are difficult colors in general, but I hate the Vallejo yellow in particular, and orange. Its a ballache getting good coverage, compared to Citadel for example which needs fewer coats and just seems denser from the get go. The reds are OK but also a bit patchy, of course it helps when you learn that if youve primed black you should whack some brown down first, then your red will be much easier on top of that.

Vallejo is in droppers, which I like for control of amount and mixing, but the paints do separate, some of them A LOT, like you will look at some of the colors and they will not match at all, you will need to shake A LOT to get them right, also some of them (charred brown as an example, moon yellow, silver) are much thinner it seems, which can be tricky if you get used to watering down by routine (which you should), some colors need quite a bit of water to paint to get a nice thin consistency, others much less water. The blues, purples and greens are great! I also quite like their metallics, at least the gold, brass, bronze etc, I find the gunmetal base is quite bright, so to be honest, on boardgame minis I am not seeing as much difference as I would like trying to highlight up from there with chainmail, silver etc.

I got the reaper kits and those paints seem quite nice actually I will try to use those more, they even have a "HD" range which has higher pigment content so probably you should look into those, they are also cheaper and bigger (also isnt P3 similar, heard good things about them).

After all that though, I really like the Citadel system, even if I hate the pots, expensive and less paint, those paints DO dry out easier than the others dont let anyone tell you otherwise, and its NOT that easy to have those lids open, pick up paint from there and then mix/thin it and use it. You will end up getting paint all over your brush and ferrule, so a good tip is to use a shit brush to load paint onto a palette. Its really a great system though of color ranges and a method for doing it, but I think it probably works best on "good" models (GW type), like a lot of painting tips, you're wasting your time worrying about it on for example the D&D minis I'm doing.

I highly recommend sticking to GW washes though, but dont bother being fancy with too many different ones. Nuln Oil gives you the black shading, Reikland Flesh for skin type tones, Agrax Earthshade as a brown, and maybe the Nighshade blue one. Some of the other specific color ones dont work so well IMO, or rather are probably aimed at more expert level use on better quality models.

Now that I know what I know, I would not have bought so many colors, but I understand why its nice to get a set with loads. I have the basic and expert Vallejo sets which I think is 2 sets of 18? I have used the same handful of colors for a whole bunch of minis. 72 is way OTT, especially when starting out. And dropper paints are very easy to mix by formula.


Whatever you choose, the main thing to remember is not to sweat it. Just get as little as you can (fighting temptation to go OTT), and just get in and paint some stuff. You'll be surprised how easy it is sometimes, but you will still also feel like youve made a mess and you are fed up with it, so just put it away and come back to it later. I got quite a few brushes but for the D&D minis, I have used the Reaper 0 from the learn to paint kit for lots of it and love that brush. Get some brush soap, and look after the couple of brushes you use the most and get used to the feel of.

I'm only a noob myself so take all this with a grain of salt, but honestly when starting out, you shouldnt worry too much about whether this or that brand of paints is better or not, or all the finer points of technique. You'll soon see which kinds of advice is worth worrying about at the level you paint, and which things arent so relevant for the detail and skill level you're at.

Thank you for the reply Tron, I really appreciate all the advice. I looked at my current paint supplies last night and realized that I already have quite a few bottles, probably around 30 or so from GW, so I will just add more as I need them, try out some other brands at the same time. I had the paint case from Vallejo in my cart, but I couldn't really justify having that much paint, most of it probably unused.

I have about four washes from GW, Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade, the Sepia one, and... I can't actually remember the last one. I have to say they are pretty amazing, and really make the model standout. I also really like the metallic colours from GW, so I will probably continue to use those for my metallic needs. I need to get some brush soap, I keep forgetting to pick some up when I pass by the art store near my work. Have to make a point to do that at some point soon...

Next up I gotta pick up a few paints for the Orcs I have to paint after the Sepulchral Guard (two down.. five to go!) for Shadespire. Looking forward to that as well!

Really enjoying all this painting business, a nice meditative thing to do in the evenings after work. Seeing all your guys miniature work really inspired me to give it a whirl, so thank you all!

Michael Barnes wrote: Pug, your stuff is looking great man...for just starting out, you are way ahead of most folks. Shit, you are neater than I am!

On the Sepulchral Guard- I painted them in a couple of hours, ain't no big thang. They are pretty easy to handle. I primed black and went up through Zandri Dust/Ushabti Bone/Screaming Skull though, because I don't like putting silver over Zandri Dust spray- I can never get it to look not patchy. I would recommend that you just block in the other base colors- whatever you want for the cloaks, the leather, the jewelry (skeletons are all like "hang on, I gotta wear some bangles"), and so on. Go ahead and do the bases too. I did mine Mechanicus Standard Gray and picked out the bones with Zandri Dust. And then just slap Agrax on the whole thing, top to bottom. Then drybrush it all with the same base colors, and then maybe just do one round of highlights. I really enjoyed painting them, they weren't very taxing the sculpts are accommodating of basic techniques to get a good result.

Those skeletons need those bangles, and I need to know the mystery of how those bracers stay on, seriously. I managed to paint two of the Guard so far, the warden and one of the warriors. I really liked painting them, a bit different from the other bands. I did not put a layer of Ushabti bone because I was afraid I would make it look terrible. So they both look like very aged skeletons, especially after the wash, but I kind of like the look. I might drybrush a bit of Ushabti with a small brush once I finish painting the rest of the band, see how that looks. I will post a picture later of my progress.

I have one question, how do you all reach those really hard to paint places, like where the shields are blocked by an arm tucked in?... it's a real pain not to get paint on other parts of the model at times.

Thanks for the reply Michael!

The real question to me is why Tzeentch Horrors wear so much jewelry. I can see a warrior dies, is wearing his favorite baubles, and then his skeletion is reanimated with them on. But with daemons...is there like a jewelry store in the Warp they go to before they get summoned? Do they look in the mirror to see how it looks before they go? Do the more favored Chaos Sorcerers go to Jared?

Anyway, to point out something you said here...that you didn't do the Ushabti Bone layer because you were afraid it would look bad and you liked the way it looked anyway. That is exactly what I mean about setting a ceiling on what you are doing. You do not HAVE to do the proscribed layers and highlights. Do not feel like you have to. If you like the way they look- leave it alone and move on!

On the Necromunda stuff I'm painting, I was following Duncan but he goes off and does a couple of washes and then a Necron Compound drybrush...and I'm looking at my pieces and I'm like "why?" They look perfectly good to me with just a heavy Leadbelcher drybrush, some Balthasar Gold details and a few other things I've gone for like having Thunderhawk Blue and Averland Sunset doors with numerical decals on them. Not sure why I'd waste the time- and paint - to do that extra step when they are where I want them to be.

But you can also cap what you are doing based on ability. If you feel like you can't do the edge highlighting yet, just don't. Wait until you are on a low priority model or something you don't really like much anyway and try it then. Because a crappy looking highlight is really kind of worse than no highlight.

Back to the bones, the Ushabti Bone highlight is really quite easy. Load the brush with paint (use very little or no water!), then just drag it flat across the top surface of the bone, perpendicular to the length. Around the eyes and face, try to just hit the ridges. You can do this with doing a kind of hobo drybrushing I sometimes I use, where I use an older layer brush effectively like a drybrush.

The really hard to paint surfaces...if you can't get a brush there, you probably won't see it anyway. I usually just do it enough to where I can't see primer, no highlighting or anything. If you are on black primer, all of those areas read like shadow anyway. On the push fit models (like Sepulchral Guard), you can just take them apart and paint back there if you want.

A daemon has to look good, and I am sure there is some kind of peddlers that pawns the stuff onto them, no doubt!

I was very tempted to pickup Necromunda, but I am going to stick with Shadespire for now, but the temptation is strong.. the mohawks... they call. I'll wait a bit longer and see.

I have the four orcs left to paint, after that I have to get started on my Space Hulk set. I'm happy I started with Shadespire, I feel a bit more comfortable with a brush. That will take me a couple of months I'm sure.

I finished off the Undead yesterday, a few minor things to fix up, but nothing I'm going to fix soon. The dry brush definitely helped to brighten up the bones, while still giving it a weathered look that I was going for. I really didn't like painting the dude with the helmet, I found the sculpt a bit odd, and all the cape/belts that all looked the same made it confusing as hell haha. Oh well... and one of the other figures was super fragile and brittle, I was painting his head and it just popped right off! Ah well, glued it back... here are the results.

wow those are looking great (ace models as well)

I just have to finish the base grey on a few minis, tidy up some mistakes, but basically just the Mouthers to go back and detail and I'm done with Ashardalon. I actually spray primed the dragon, and then just knocked him out in I dont know, but definitely less than an hour of painting, I basically heavily dry brushed a brighter red over the primer, whacked some yellow on his chest, put some khaki in his wings, some white details, agrax earthshade, and drybrushed the rock he was on. For the time taken and the use it will get, I am very happy with it, especially when I saw some other multi part Youtube videos using airbrushes and loads of other stuff and IMO with a worse looking end result.






I got some Testors Dullcote now, I assume I should spray these with that for protection, but can I just put these in a ziplock bag in the game box? I really dont want to have to keep them in special storage cases or any of that nonsense, but it would be a shame if the paint jobs got banged up just from emptying the minis out of the bag onto the table

That dragon looks great! As do the rest of the figures, a nice varied bunch for sure. Must have taken some time, but looks totally worth it.

I am also curious about the Testors Dullcote as well, I've almost finished up my figures, but for now I just put them in my game box loose. Not sure how much the models will chip... something to explore. Seems people have different ideas about that, and also the brand of sealer. Interested to hear what others have to say on the topic.

I'm just so excited about the work my minions are doing on the trash for San Il Defanso!

My advice with Testors Dullcote is never apply it directly to a painted surface. It's pretty harsh and can eat away at the paint. I always apply a layer of Citadel 'Ard Coat before the Dullcote. Then again, I use the brush-on version of the Dullcote so maybe the spray is different?

I paint a "gloss" cover of future floor polish, then spray Dullcote after that dries... when the weather is cooperative enough for spray painting.

Da Bid Dabid wrote: I paint a "gloss" cover of future floor polish, then spray Dullcote after that dries... when the weather is cooperative enough for spray painting.

I do the same thing.

Been painting up my chaos renegades Blood Bowl team over the past several months, thought I'd share the results so far.

Used the free time over Christmas to actually paint one whole figure to completion!



At this rate I'll be able to field a whole painted warband by the time my kids leave home.

metalface13 wrote: Been painting up my chaos renegades Blood Bowl team over the past several months, thought I'd share the results so far.

Those look great! I just picked up a copy of Blood Bowl yesterday at the local shop and am eager to assemble the figures, and... at some point paint them.

Matt, nice! I just painted that guy as well, though using red as the armour colour... but it looks like this terrible jumpsuit, oh well, I can blame it on the model right?

Pug wrote: Matt, nice! I just painted that guy as well, though using red as the armour colour... but it looks like this terrible jumpsuit, oh well, I can blame it on the model right?

Thanks: of course you can blame it on the model. They're actually quite difficult to find a good colour scheme for because of all that armour. I always paint fantasy armour as bare metal because it's simple and functional, but it can be a challenge to make it look good. That's why I went for the patchwork effect, but I'm not sure I've got enough different metal shades to make it work as well as I'd have liked.

If you look at the GW paints of these models, they've got bare betal showing through the yellow in the joints and scratches, like it's been damaged in combat. Might be worth a try to reduce the jumpsuit effect?