The resurrected miniatures painting and showing off thread

I’ve occasionally wanted to get into mini painting but I don’t think I’ve got the time or the patience tbh

1 Like

Oh yeah, it’s a time and money sink. A very expensive hobby that, like many good ones, starts out reasonably affordable and then ramps up sharply as you get into it.

To start $100CAD is more than enough (Primer $20, each paint is $7 and you need 8 so $60, and then 2 or 3 brushes for $20), and that can last you months depending on how much you want to do (one can of primer can reasonably do 30-40 models that are 25mm - 32mm scale). Free palette (any piece of smooth plastic, like the blister packs many models come in), extremely cheap water…

But then you’ll want more paints (Citadel has… 200 colours? And Vallejo probably has 4x that many). And then experimenting with different primers and sealers ($10-20 a pop). And then better brushes (W&N Series 7 Size 2 are the best I’ve ever used, but as mentioned before they’re almost a hundred bucks a pop… and for a long time you couldn’t get them online because Sable is a controlled substance in some places… it can come from endangered species of fox, but almost all sable these days comes from farms). And why not try an airbrush? The compressor is a bit less than a hundred, and you can get a cheap (gravity-fed only, no siphon nonsense) brush for $40… but maybe you should upgrade to a Badger Patriot ($150) or an Iwata Revolution ($150)… and do you have a moisture trap? Two is better… and hey, maybe a longer hose? Have you tried flock? What about terrain-rocks or terrain-flowers? Have we talked about modelling glue and sprue cutters and mould-line removers? What about painting handles? You should get some painting handles… can I interest you in a custom paint-holding-setup? Oh, there’s a sale at Michael’s for those super expensive Ott Lamps that have excellent swing arms… did GW just announce that they’re changing their Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade formula? Go buy at least 4 more bottles, just in case! Did you just spill half of that Nuln Oil because the stupid design of the stupid bottle? Better go buy 2 more!..

3 Likes

There are a lot of hobbies which seem especially well suited to this kind of kit creep. Golf. Scuba diving. Photography. Cycling.

2 Likes

Boardgaming…

2 Likes

There’s definitely a bit of premium pricing for things badged for miniature painting/hobby when cheaper alternatives (and some cases directly comparable products) do exist. Unfortunately it is not an easy thing for a newcomer to be able to parse, and there can be quite a barrier to entry that isn’t via GW, which isn’t the cheapest stuff on the market…

2 Likes

All of that paragraph is pretty accurate (occasionally hauntingly so) but it doesn’t convey the enjoyment of the hobby.
Mini painting is a slow thing that takes patience but it is satisfying in a way that not much else is these days. It forces you to slow down and is a damn good stress reliever.
Yes that paragraph can become true but each line is a new tool to be experimented with and mastered over hours and hours. And you’ll be excited to do so.
Mini painting can be an expensive hobby but compared to golf or scuba diving it crushes them in an hours of enjoyment to dollars spent ratio. Each mini takes about an hour to paint (at the fastest 30mins and at the longest hundreds of hours for a professional level) so even painting up one boardgame with your $100 to start will probably get you 60+ hours of time spent doing something you enjoy.
I’ve been painting a few years but it’s hobby I really love and frequently get enjoyment from so if your interested I would absolutely recommend it.

5 Likes

There’s a lot of fun to be had searching around for the ‘right’ models as well. This is also a dangerous path with lots of temptations for the unwary, but there is a huge range of sculptors and companies out there. Although there’s a few heavy weight companies, it is mostly still a cottage industry. I love finding all the little independent companies and throwing a few quid at them for cool new toys.

5 Likes

I managed to get a little quick work done.
These are for Super Fantasy Brawl.

4 Likes

Fair enough, but I think board games or my previous historical fencing hobby are way bigger sink holes of money than painting seems likely to be.

Plus I can see myself doing it when the kids are in bed, listening to a podcast or some music and becoming nearly a nice meditation set up, which the other hobbies can hardly be. Maybe some solo boardgaming, but definitely not the other… Each fills a different niche, I guess?

3 Likes

I enjoy painting. I used to love painting, but I haven’t had enough free time to really fall in love with any activity these days.

And I will freely admit that I love “having painted” more than I like painting. But that’s okay too. I just wish I had more time… as it stands every time I pick up the brush I feel like I’m letting more important things slide.

But yes, painting is great. Very meditative. I know people who can watch shows or listen to music while they paint… I will occasionally put on a podcast to listen to (for work, sadly), but anything more than that is too distracting for me.

3 Likes

I try to make sure that if I want to watch YouTube that I paint at the same time. Most content is majority just listening to someone talking anyway so it’s a good way to force me to do something creative instead of just zoning out and entertains me in the lulls in videos. Save for podcasts etc. A friend watches critical role whilst painting.

2 Likes

And now, I’m going to tell you a hack for painting yellow.

It’s all in the base colour the yellow goes over.

Flesh tone; there said it, sound so simple, but paint yellows over a flesh tone: effectively desaturated pink.

5 Likes

An excellent piece of advice! As you grow as a painter, learning how to base colours so that other colours go on top of them is a huge advantage. Like, the first time I realized that if I painted an area brown and then painted gold on top it looked way better (and you can customize the type of gold you get by changing the brown that goes underneath it!) was like the clouds parted and orchestral music swelled.

As far as I can tell, most painting skill is, like… 25-30% “How to Paint”, and 70-75% “Colour Theory.” It’s the difference between a good paint job and one that wins awards and competitions.

I’m a huge fan of Sorastro (he does all/most of the FFG/AMG lines with just spectacular tutorials on YouTube), and of Angel Giraldez (he has a couple books on painting “Infinity”-line minis that are great, albeit pretty advanced). The nice thing about finding a painter you like is that they often do the colour theory stuff for you… even learning how to paint white or black areas on models is a surprisingly involved thing.

Back to yellow for a moment: flesh tone is solid advice. I’ve also used orange with some success, and occasionally straight white. Contrast yellows from GW are fantastic yellows, but you need to use them on whites, creams, or light grays. But gosh they are amazing. Ditto for their oranges (which aren’t as good as their yellows, but are still really bright, vibrant oranges without the browns or reds I find often muddy the colours).

3 Likes

I had my first painting session last night, and I limited myself to one colour, blue, mainly on capes, a wizard hat, a cloak and some trousers of 4 different minis. I used a number 3 brush that I got from the DIY shop as they were going to be larger areas, but with a fine enough tip to close up the edges of the areas painted.

Really enjoyed myself. I can see how the black priming does help, specially on areas that are not easy to reach, or that would be in some shade (underside of hat brim, for example). I must admit that looking at the minis this morning, they still will need some work, but I think that for a start, they did not look too shabby. Plus I think it is a great thing to do in the evening while listening to a podcast instead of playing a video game. I felt way more productive.

Thanks for the hints on yellow, I must admit I was not going to use it much besides he odd detail here and there. For tonight, it will be black and some brown (somehow most of my figures have a cloak or a cape) before I do some flesh in the weekend (I find this a bit more threatening as I will have to play more with tones)

8 Likes

Badger Ranger by Oathsworn Miniatures


17 Likes

Nice getting the red-green contrast without it reading as Christmas themed. A very pensive badger!

3 Likes

Thank you. It’s more a ruddy brown than a red to be honest, which is probably why it escapes the Christmas elf colours.

2 Likes

Finished up 14 battlemechs for my new Aurigan Coalition force…




I also tried to put decals on these (there is 1 on each, specifically the Aurigan coat, you can see them best in the 2nd picture: the Crockett has the easiest to spot one… that’s the mech in the front of the three you see). Really fiddly, hated doing it, and the end result is barely noticeable. Not a fan, won’t be doing it again.

Next is 5 Clan Wolf mechs, and then I’m fully painted for Battletech until at least March.

9 Likes

Have you ever tried microset and microsol for decal application? I’ve found you can get good control and conform them to curves nicely. Not quick though.

If anyone is both inspired and US based there’s a humble bundle for battletech at the mo.

1 Like

I finished painting Blood Rage finally. 75 minis total with the exps. Mostly done with speed paints then touch ups with colours, none of them are mind-blowing paint jobs but they look nice together.
Here goes, the 5 clans





6 Likes