First try at painting samurai armour - any advice for improvement

[Muzfish4]

Hello all,

I have recently finished my first samurai miniature. Looking at the threads here I think it's fair to say there is a cornucopia of talent and experience here particularly when painting these very challenging miniatures. Here's my first stab at a Steel Fist samurai:













If you're so inclined, I'd really appreciate any tips, comments or suggestions on different techniques to improve what I am currently able to produce.

As an aside, the sashimono is without a mon ans I have commissioned a set of Yamauchi mons from Company B which should be ready in a week or so. The stripes at the bottom are entirely from my own imagination and aren't based on anything historical.

Thanks for your time.

[olyreed]

He looks great, hope to see more

[Steel fist]

Top class work
I really like the combination you have done. And glad you tackled the lacework, also the flag design is very convincing.
Please do some more, I have not even painted these ones!
The one issue I have is I don't think they had blue lacquer, so I would keep the shafts of weapons in black red or gold or brown.
If you want to get the armour to really zing try a very thin white or very light grey highlight on some of the extremes edges of the armour.

[FierceKitty]

Looks right when seen up close. At a distance, a bit as if Mummy-san has knitted her little samurai a do for the big match on Saturday. Slightly smaller tie-cords?

This is not to imply that I am unimpressed.

[Muzfish4]

Hi all,

Thanks for your kind words and helpful comments.

I'll try revisiting the blue on the haft of the weapon, though I do like the colour combination on this particular miniature and may just 'say' he picked up a tin of blue paint from the Dutch on Dejima (or soemthing like that).

I will try some more highlighting work though I'm a a bit of a loss as how to avoid the 'wooly jumper' effect on the curaiss. Maybe another wash of Nuln Oil, maybe more fine-lining with black?

Hopefully my decals will be here soon and I'll get this guy finished and his offsiders onto the painting bench soon.

[ErikB]

How in the world did you paint the lacing?!?!?

Drybrush? 

When I try to paint with the tip of the brush the paint is either dry before being painted on or is not opaque enough.

[Muzfish4]

I did the lacing around the rear neckguard of the helmet with drybrushing and then a black wash. The lacing on the shoulder guards and cuirass was done with a very small-tipped brush, a fair bit of patience and a steadfast determination to make frustration my companion in my leisure hours.

I'll be revisiting this miniature soon and will probably use the same tiny brush to highlight the black armour once I’m satisfied with the lacing.

Much as I feared, I have really made a rod for my own back but the Steel Fist sculpts are simply magnificent and deserve the best effort I can possibly summon to attempt to do them justice.

[FierceKitty]

Brave man. I've shifted my Japanese armies to 10mm, where there's no temptation to try details I'm confident I'd never get right.

[Muzfish4]

The decals from Company B arrived a while back but with one thing and another I've not had the chance to add anything to this thread.

Anyway, here they are placed next to the miniature's sashimono:





As you can see, the size of the image on the decal is way too small for the sashimono. This is something of a disappointment as I specified they would be used on Steel Fist miniatures. These decals look like they'd be about right for the 15mm Two Dragons stuff (they also look like they had a rough time through the postal service). I mentioned this to the chap at Company B but never received a response. Looks like freehand is the answer then.

In fairness, Company B were good to work with in defining what I was after and even threw in some freebies from the (I think) Hori mon they printed earlier. As with the Yamauchi mon, these were also too small for my purposes:





So, to highlight, clean up and then try my hand at freehand mon painting.

 

[has.been]

I have used acrylic pens for fine detail, such as patterns on samurai armour.
White is very useful, especially for cords.

[Juxt]

It's a shame that the decals don't scale well, those two designs should be ok to free hand luckily- if you can find some circle decals the right size then you'll have an easy job 
Nice painting too btw.

[Osmoses]

Making your own decals isn't that hard. I do mine using a standard inkjet with no special paper settings and I think they turn out OK. They are done for 15mm, however, so the scale there is a bit more forgiving. I use 'Expert's Choice' clear decal paper, and 'Microscale decal film.' Just print out the decals on the paper, then when it is dry, brush on the decal film. You can do a few test prints on paper to get the scale right, and print a load of decals on an A4 sheet for under a tenner.

Decal examples: