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Vycos · November 26th, 2003, 12:29

Some Painting tips for new painters.

First tip - Get to know the paints
To master the fine art of miniature Painting you must of course practice a lot. No one is born a good miniature painter. There are so much information that you need to know, understand and learn by yourself to even get the basic skills. First of all you need to get an understanding of the nature of the citadel paints. What happens if you apply sunburst yellow on black? The result is of course disaster if you want a clear yellow finish. To know how the paints react with each other is very important and allot of new painters learn this the hard way. One good way to learn the paints is to paint a lot of different models with different colour schemes. The best way to learn about the paints is to face your fear when it comes with experimenting with colours. Mixing paints with each other and with water. This knowledge is very important when you pick what spray undercoat you should apply on the model.

Here is a simple rundown on what type of undercoat is best suited for which colour. The result is a clear colour on the surface.

Yellow to red and flesh = white undercoat

Green, Blue, metal = black undercoat

I would also give a word of warning when it comes to Ink colours. The original state of Ink is not really the state you should use it in. You have to carefully mix it with water to get the most out of inks. I see a lot of nice looking minis totally destroyed by a layer of ink.

Second tip – Take it easy
Painting is all about precision and precision is hard to learn when you are in a hurry. Most ppl that is starting a new army or perhaps their first are often in a hurry to paint it up, it’s a quite natural thing I guess. I think a lot of ppl regret that they speed paint when the entire army is done, I have some units in my Ultramarine army that I actually think about throwing away to replace them with new models just because I don’t like the paint job. Well, what I´m getting to here is that you will never be sorry that you took the appropriate time on every model to paint it as nice as you could. Speed comes when you have mastered the basic understanding of how to paint your troops. I think I spend about 45 minutes on a basic Ultramarine trooper. I spend about 2.5 hours on a GK Trooper because I have not mastered all the techniques yet, I´m getting closer all the time though. Remember that this is an expensive hobby you are putting expensive paint on your expensive models Give it the time it deserves.

Third tip – Where to put highlights and shades
It does not matter how steady you are on your hand, how good hand eye coordination you have or how well you can mix paints if you don’t know where to put the highlights. A popular place to highlight is edges of everything. But how do you highlight areas that are bulky and lack edges like flesh, animal skin, clothing or the likes. This is where the differences of the good and the bad painter are shown. If you have absolutely now clue where to apply highlights I suggest you take a close look to how GW´s master class painting team does. Collect a bunch of pictures of models that you think they have done a good paintjob. Then try to figure out how they where thinking. I suggest you start how to paint flesh/skin. Take different areas like the face, arms and hands.

Try to answer questions like these by looking at the paint job.
What colours did they use and why?
Why did they highlight/shade that area and not that one?
Have they based the paint job of how the light fall on the figure or have they used other methods of deciding where to put the lighter paint?

All I can say is good luck with this one.

Fourth tip – The importance of Tone
If a model is well painted the tone is invisible. What do I mean with tone then? Well for example if a very dark painted Dreadnought painted in dark metal covered with rust and dirt have a bright red coloured Gasoline can tied to it somewhere. Guess what part of the miniature gets the first attention when someone is looking at it. Is it the very well done rust and dirt work that took about 1 hour of experimenting with 8 different colours or is it the bright red Can? The can wins the attention here. The same goes for all other objects and details that stick out to much thanks of a tone conflict. I suggest you think through what tone you are painting your minis. Details are what make miniatures feel alive though, sometimes a detail painted in a totally different tone can be just what you need. Just think it through though.

Final word before you run of the your paint set and beloved minis. Remember that becoming a good painter takes time. Always try to do better then you did your last miniature. I also suggest that you try to get a good Figure painting culture in your gaming group, Try to approve the standard all the time. Paint together with your group, its both fun, social and you can learn a lot of things from each other.

Good luck

V.

November 26th, 2003, 12:29	#1 (permalink)
Vycos Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 71 Rep Power: 64	Some Painting tips for new painters. First tip - Get to know the paints To master the fine art of miniature Painting you must of course practice a lot. No one is born a good miniature painter. There are so much information that you need to know, understand and learn by yourself to even get the basic skills. First of all you need to get an understanding of the nature of the citadel paints. What happens if you apply sunburst yellow on black? The result is of course disaster if you want a clear yellow finish. To know how the paints react with each other is very important and allot of new painters learn this the hard way. One good way to learn the paints is to paint a lot of different models with different colour schemes. The best way to learn about the paints is to face your fear when it comes with experimenting with colours. Mixing paints with each other and with water. This knowledge is very important when you pick what spray undercoat you should apply on the model. Here is a simple rundown on what type of undercoat is best suited for which colour. The result is a clear colour on the surface. Yellow to red and flesh = white undercoat Green, Blue, metal = black undercoat I would also give a word of warning when it comes to Ink colours. The original state of Ink is not really the state you should use it in. You have to carefully mix it with water to get the most out of inks. I see a lot of nice looking minis totally destroyed by a layer of ink. Second tip – Take it easy Painting is all about precision and precision is hard to learn when you are in a hurry. Most ppl that is starting a new army or perhaps their first are often in a hurry to paint it up, it’s a quite natural thing I guess. I think a lot of ppl regret that they speed paint when the entire army is done, I have some units in my Ultramarine army that I actually think about throwing away to replace them with new models just because I don’t like the paint job. Well, what I´m getting to here is that you will never be sorry that you took the appropriate time on every model to paint it as nice as you could. Speed comes when you have mastered the basic understanding of how to paint your troops. I think I spend about 45 minutes on a basic Ultramarine trooper. I spend about 2.5 hours on a GK Trooper because I have not mastered all the techniques yet, I´m getting closer all the time though. Remember that this is an expensive hobby you are putting expensive paint on your expensive models Give it the time it deserves. Third tip – Where to put highlights and shades It does not matter how steady you are on your hand, how good hand eye coordination you have or how well you can mix paints if you don’t know where to put the highlights. A popular place to highlight is edges of everything. But how do you highlight areas that are bulky and lack edges like flesh, animal skin, clothing or the likes. This is where the differences of the good and the bad painter are shown. If you have absolutely now clue where to apply highlights I suggest you take a close look to how GW´s master class painting team does. Collect a bunch of pictures of models that you think they have done a good paintjob. Then try to figure out how they where thinking. I suggest you start how to paint flesh/skin. Take different areas like the face, arms and hands. Try to answer questions like these by looking at the paint job. What colours did they use and why? Why did they highlight/shade that area and not that one? Have they based the paint job of how the light fall on the figure or have they used other methods of deciding where to put the lighter paint? All I can say is good luck with this one. Fourth tip – The importance of Tone If a model is well painted the tone is invisible. What do I mean with tone then? Well for example if a very dark painted Dreadnought painted in dark metal covered with rust and dirt have a bright red coloured Gasoline can tied to it somewhere. Guess what part of the miniature gets the first attention when someone is looking at it. Is it the very well done rust and dirt work that took about 1 hour of experimenting with 8 different colours or is it the bright red Can? The can wins the attention here. The same goes for all other objects and details that stick out to much thanks of a tone conflict. I suggest you think through what tone you are painting your minis. Details are what make miniatures feel alive though, sometimes a detail painted in a totally different tone can be just what you need. Just think it through though. Final word before you run of the your paint set and beloved minis. Remember that becoming a good painter takes time. Always try to do better then you did your last miniature. I also suggest that you try to get a good Figure painting culture in your gaming group, Try to approve the standard all the time. Paint together with your group, its both fun, social and you can learn a lot of things from each other. Good luck V.