How to paint finer detailed minis?

[Heldrak]

Re: Flesh colors and highlighting, take a look at this TinMan John Carter of Mars figure (and try to ignore his rather alarming bullybag)  



I painted him as an experiment in a different flesh technique for LPL4 round 10. His flesh was done using only two colors, a brown and a white. I started with the pure brown over a black undercoat and highlighted up using increasing increments of white (although I never went to pure white).

He could probably use a thin wash or two in a contrasting color followed by some more highlights to make him a little less chalky and to smooth out his transitions a little bit more, but the figure as shown makes a good example of what I'm talking about with more layers of highlighting, plus some extreme highlights. Look at the way the facial highlights on the bridge of the nose, nostrils, eyebrow ridges, cheekbones, upper and lower lips and the chin and jawline make the face pop as compared to the relative flatness of your Shaun figure's face. You certainly don't need to make your highlights so extreme if you don't like the effect, but you do need some more dimensionality, I feel.

Take a gander at this tutorial on the Jacob Rune Nielsen website for some good tips about using contrasting and neutral wash colors on the skin:

http://www.jrn-works.dk/

(Click on "tutorials" on the left-hand side and choose "painting (human) skin").

[JollyBob]

Your stuff is tidy and shows a good hand.  

I do agree with Heldrak in that:

They may benefit from another couple of grades of highlight in the mix, just to make the colours stand out more. If you're currently doing three stages (Base-midtone-highlight) try to do it in five.

Eyes - paint them onto the undercoated figure and then paint your flesh tones round them. I'm not too proud to admit that was a tip I got from Orctrader and its done wonders for me.

A good brush will respond to the contours of a good model, don't overload it and keep your paint thin.

...

I have Hasslefree models that I haven't been brave enough to paint yet. Their not-Elvis fills me with dread everytime I look at him. It takes time to get it right. I think that having enough time to concentrate and experiment without interuptions is the one thing you can't place too much value on.

From what you've shown here though, I don't think you'll have too much of a struggle.  

[Heldrak]

Eyes - paint them onto the undercoated figure and then paint your flesh tones round them. I'm not too proud to admit that was a tip I got from Orctrader and its done wonders for me.

I do this as well, although I got the tip from Kevin Dallimore 

[Major_Gilbear]

Heldrak's covered all the salient points perfectly I think!

I would add that some small details also help in the right circumstances - painting a little woodgrain on the shotgun stocks and cricket bat, or going back over the brown wash with some yellow on the casing of the chainsaw for example.

Also, I often find that jewellery is usually pretty plain and dull on figures, and painting it in a plain metal just shows that up; try using a little darker gold and/or some gold&sliver mix to add a little bit of pattern to the purple girl's bracelets. If the jewellery is very fine, or there are other metallic areas to help draw some attention away, it doesn't stand out so much, but on that girl it does a bit.

And Orctrader's comment about finding your own style that you like is quite correct; however, there is nothing wrong with trying a few figures in a few different styles to see what you like or dislike about each one - if it helps you figure out what you feel comfortable with, then it is worth it.

Finally, don't be afraid of messing up the paint jobs on models; if they are metal, you can always just strip them and try again!

[Bugsda]

I do this as well, although I got the tip from Kevin Dallimore 

Me too, I got it from Bill Brewer 

[ErikB]

Awesome $0.02, Heldrak!  Thanks heaps.  I'll study your advice.

And that's how I do the eyes.  I think I stumbled upon it by mistake as I always had to go back and re-shape them and then paint the flesh back on again.  I figured I might as well start with them and then shape them by painting in around them.

The catch is that I can't use a wash (which would look exactly perfect in eye sockets) because it really kills the eye white.

I've found a style but I'm trying to break out of it and try new things.  Working on a new style of mini is a great way to shake loose ingrained habits.

Oh - what color do people use for wood grains?  I've tried snakebite and bleached bone over bestial brown and the former has too little and the latter too much contrast.

And thanks for the encouragement, folks! 

[Michi]

I paint all of my figures the same way.

Black primer/undercoat.
Dark to light
Thin paint.
Good quality brush.

I love painting HF figures and have done some of their smallest miniatures.

Ditto, except the primer dogma. I don´t cre about black or grey primer. The painting looks the same either way.

[Orctrader]

...what color do people use for wood grains? 

I use Foundry Spearshaft.

[Heldrak]

I use Foundry Spearshaft.

Me too, but I do find that my wood grains don't have enough contrast because the Foundry Spearshaft highlight color is so thin and watery. I've picked up the Reaper Master Series woodgrain triad and I'm going to try that out on some forthcoming models.

If you look closely, I think that you'll find that Erik does have woodgrain on his cricket bat and weapon stocks, they're just getting lost in the photograph and they need a little more contrast.

[Heldrak]

The catch is that I can't use a wash (which would look exactly perfect in eye sockets) because it really kills the eye white.

I've always had trouble with washes, to the point where I don't use them if I can avoid it. I have been trying to work with them more to stretch myself and to experiment with some different techniques and one thing that I've found very helpful is Vallejo Matte Medium. This is essentially a clear thickener that helps change the runny consistency of a wash to something more like a regular paint without changing its relative transparency.

This would mean that use could use a wash thickened with matte medium around the delicate eye area without too much danger of it running into the eye whites. The matte medium also takes away the shine that you can get with older thinner GW and Coat d' Armes washes.

[JollyBob]

The catch is that I can't use a wash (which would look exactly perfect in eye sockets) because it really kills the eye white.

I got round this by not washing the whole face, as that can lead to swamping, but just applying dabs of wash from an almost dry brush as and where needed. If you can place them in the hollow of the cheek and just under the eye, it does a lot for the mini.

If it runs or pools a bit, or leaves tide marks, you can feather a very thin bit of your top highlight over it and it fixes up no bother.

It takes a steady hand and a bit of practice, but it works for me. Also leaves your faces looking slightly lighter than other fleshy areas which helps them stand out as a focal area. 

Oh - what color do people use for wood grains? 

Bestial Brown, Desert Yellow, thin Sepia wash if the contrast is too harsh. That's what I used on not-Ash's shotgun up there anyway.

[Bugsda]

Wood grain= Inscribe burnt sienna with Plaka no 11 Yellow added for highlights.

A rich red brown for rifle stocks and polished wood, add more yellow for an excellent leather colour.

[ErikB]

Wood grain= Inscribe burnt sienna with Plaka no 11 Yellow added for highlights.

A rich red brown for rifle stocks and polished wood, add more yellow for an excellent leather colour.

Can you suggest any rich red-browns from Vallejo or GW?

I've been mixing red gore with dark flesh and getting decent maroons but I have to mix every time.

[Major_Gilbear]

I like Mahogany from the Vallejo range, and Dark Flesh mixed 40:60 with Scorched Brown from GW is also decent. For the woodgrain, I add increasing amounts of a bone colour (and sometimes add a little yellow like Iyanden Darksun or Bubonic Brown as well), and then give it a glaze or thin wash of a chestnut ink (GW Gryphonne Sepia I think it is called now?)

[Bugsda]

Can you suggest any rich red-browns from Vallejo or GW?

I've been mixing red gore with dark flesh and getting decent maroons but I have to mix every time.

Sorry, I've never really used Vallejo or GW and I mix everything anyway. Maybe a chestnut brown, possibly with a little bit of red added?
The important thing is the adding of the pigment loaded Plaka yellow.