Painting Minis

[molten_dragon]

I was just curious who enjoys it and who doesn't. It's a hobby tied pretty closely to RPG and wargaming. If you don't enjoy it, do you just not use minis, or have someone else paint them or what?

Personally, I go through phases where I like painting, and find it relaxing, and others where I have zero interest in painting. I can't do tons of the same figure at all though. I tried painting a very small 40k army once, and gave up after about 5 minis.

[Tiktik Ironclaw]

I normally just get my miniatures from iheartprintandplay, and just disregard the names that the creatures probably can't pronounce. The only plastic miniatures that I've painted are the OOTS ones, and I've just got three, Belkar, Haley, and Zz'dtri (five if you count Scruffy and Kitty), who is a repaint of V, and probably my best.

[TheThan]

I really enjoy painting minis.

I offer a painting service. Though I’m terrible at producing pics of my work, I’m a bit bogged down right now so I’m not taking new commissions until I get what I have off my desk.

I primarily paint warmachine/hordes minis, plus the occasional Reaper, Iron wind metals mini and warhammer minis (both 40K and fantasy).

[Malimar]

I enjoy painting minis. It's soothing. It's like meditation, except less boring and you can do it in the company of friends. I would have bought the second Bones kickstarter, except I already don't have enough room for all my minis.

[valadil]

I quite enjoy it. Definitely something I get into for a month at a time and then forget about after a while.

I've got a good collection of PC minis. Working on monsters. I've got the basics but I'm starting to think I should sculpt my own. Some of them, elementals in particular, look odd but use a ton of metal so they're expensive. I'd love to make my own earth ellies and if they turn out good try something more complicated. Anyone gotten into sculpting as well?

[NotScaryBats]

The only minis I own and use are those got in random 'booster packs' of the D&D minis. They come pre-painted.

My wife and her friend bought Reaper minis for specific PCs of theirs, and we just use them unpainted. (we had plans to paint them, but never did).

[Arutema]

I rather enjoy painting minis. I enjoy working with Reaper's bones line since they require less prep work than metal minis. My only complaint is that my brushes seem to get gummed-up faster as you can't use thinned paint to basecoat bones.

[Remmirath]

I enjoy painting them, both because I enjoy having them painted and because I enjoy painting in general. It's different than most of the other painting I do, and that's good for a change now and then. I do generally prefer to do them in batches, though, and I have a tendency to acquire them at a higher rate than I get them painted. I most enjoy painting them to look like specific already established characters anyhow, so I mostly stick to painting up a character's figure once they've been around for a good while. That gets me a decent batch size.

If I did not enjoy it, I would still use them, and probably just use them unpainted.

[TheThan]

I rather enjoy painting minis. I enjoy working with Reaper's bones line since they require less prep work than metal minis. My only complaint is that my brushes seem to get gummed-up faster as you can't use thinned paint to basecoat bones.

are you primering your models?

also it looks like i get to teach someone how to paint. should be interesting experience.

[Arutema]

are you primering your models?

also it looks like i get to teach someone how to paint. should be interesting experience.

I've been following Reaper's recommendation of using an un-thinned basecoat in place of primer on bones. So far it's worked out, save for the stress on the brushes.

I prime my metal minis and use thinned paint to work with them as usual.

[Krazzman]

I Aquired the Kickstarter Pack of Bones (and pledged for Mr Bones Returns on Kickstarter again). But I haven't started painting them since 1.) I fear that I do something wrong, 2.) I don't know what colors to buy (Games Workshop stuff or other stuff?) 3.) Still need to buy utensils and the most important 4.) Don't know when I got time for it.

[Mastikator]

I don't use minis at all, I've never played in a group where they were present. We've used doodads for complex combat scenes though.
Sometimes I draw my character, but it's rare and I've only seen one other guy do it.

[Jay R]

I have always enjoyed playing in games with other people who paint miniatures.

[WeLoveFireballs]

I play some Warhammer and 40k so I do a lot of miniature painting, I don't use them for RPGs because of the systems I use though.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I got loads of Arcane Legions squads because they were cheap. I'm slowly painting them. And at less than a quarter per mini, they're pretty cheap to use as learning minis.

Haven't gotten very far, though. Just skin tones, bases, and red Roman helmet crests.

[Taet]

My partner is using spray primer on Reaper Bones minis and it seems Ok but I do not paint minis myself and can't tell. We use them with the D&D board games instead of the ones that came with the game. We don't remember to bring them to our group so there everyone still uses the dice as minis and talks about the minis they have at home.

[Cristo Meyers]

I Aquired the Kickstarter Pack of Bones (and pledged for Mr Bones Returns on Kickstarter again). But I haven't started painting them since 1.) I fear that I do something wrong, 2.) I don't know what colors to buy (Games Workshop stuff or other stuff?) 3.) Still need to buy utensils and the most important 4.) Don't know when I got time for it.

In regard to #2: don't worry about it. I use craft paint that you can get from any Hobby Lobby/Michaels. You can't really tell the difference. Just make sure it's okay for plastics.

I've got a large collection of Reaper, Malifaux, and a handful of Rezolution figs. Almost all of which are painted and at one point I had a sizable GW collection as well. I've been at it for over a decade and gotten pretty good. Not as good as the experts, sure, but pretty good.

[Mordokai]

I've got a large collection of Reaper, Malifaux, and a handful of Rezolution figs. Almost all of which are painted and at one point I had a sizable GW collection as well. I've been at it for over a decade and gotten pretty good. Not as good as the experts, sure, but pretty good.

Great, now I know who to bother when I finally get my lazy ass in gear and start painting those Bones I got just recently

[Cristo Meyers]

Great, now I know who to bother when I finally get my lazy ass in gear and start painting those Bones I got just recently

It's hard enough to get LadyMeyers to paint hers, thank you very much.

Bones are pretty easy to get started on, especially once you've learned a couple of the tricks of the trade. And they're really great for practice. Everything else is just patience.

My problem is that I've hit the ceiling of my natural skill. If I want to get any better I'd have to get serious about practice and probably even training by someone who really knows their stuff.

[Mordokai]

It's hard enough to get LadyMeyers to paint hers, thank you very much.

Bones are pretty easy to get started on, especially once you've learned a couple of the tricks of the trade. And they're really great for practice. Everything else is just patience.

My problem is that I've hit the ceiling of my natural skill. If I want to get any better I'd have to get serious about practice and probably even training by someone who really knows their stuff.

Well, those tricks are pretty much what I'm looking for, because right now, I know none. Hell, I don't even know the ratio of water and paint I need to use for optimal results. And while you may have hit your ceiling, it's still levels above my ground.

[Cristo Meyers]

Well, those tricks are pretty much what I'm looking for, because right now, I know none. Hell, I don't even know the ratio of water and paint I need to use for optimal results. And while you may have hit your ceiling, it's still levels above my ground.

Ah, well, that I can help with. A bit, anyway. I'm sure others can chime in as well if they want.

Spoiler: Water to Paint

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-Water to paint: depends, really. I actually don't use any unless I'm using a wash. For the first coat (basecoat) you probably won't use any water at all. This can be different depending on your paint, though. Like just about everything in painting minis, it's really something you have to experiment with to get right. Some colors are more watery than others on their own (yellow is a big offender here)

Bottom line: the paint should still be thick enough to cover the surface of the model. If it's flowing off of the surface and collecting in the creases of the model, then it's too thin.

Spoiler: Washes

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-Washes-these are a good way to bring out the detail in those creases and crevices. Once you've painted the mini, take a color that is a darker shade than the one you used, water it down a lot, and then just run it over the surfaces. It'll collect in those details and help bring them out. I use this trick a lot to bring out some of the hair detail for my otherwise white-haired Drow. Some black mixed with some metallic silver.

Spoiler: Skeletons

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Skeletons are really easy. Paint the whole thing black, wait for it to dry, then take some off-white and brush that over the skeleton. Don't cover up all the black. What you get is the white sticks to the surface but leaves the spaces between the bones black. Also a good way to practice drybrushing. Speaking of which...

Spoiler: Drybrushing

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Take a dry brush (get it?) with some paint, brush off some of the excess paint on something other than your mini so there's not a lot on the brush, and then brush over the raised spots on the model. It helps create some contrast between the higher areas and lower areas and brings out detail. Works great with washes (paint, wash, drybrush, in that order) Where a wash is usually a darker color, you tend to drybrush in a lighter shade.

Spoiler: Order of operations

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Paint from the inside out. Like, say, this model: start with the skin, then the clothing, then the coat. That way if you, say, got outside the lines and some skin-color got on the clothing, you just wait a little bit for it to dry and paint right over it. Paint hides a multitude of sins

Really, though, the only way to get better is to get started. It's obnoxiously cliche' to say, I know, but it's true. Pick out one of the bigger models (with the bigger models it's often easier to see the detail and stay inside the lines) and get started. Don't worry so much about how it's going to look and take your time (and if someone says they can do better, hand them a brush )

The folks at the Reaper Miniatures forum are also really nice and helpful about this sort of thing to, and I say that from personal experience.

[Warlord476]

When I'm running my own games I am not too fussed about the minis in use, though as characters develop and players become more attached to them it's nice to get something that looks about right. I have quite an extensive collection built up from wargaming and roleplaying so can usually find something, and sometimes a repaint seems in order.

As a player though, I can get obsessive about getting exactly the right mini for each character, and convert and paint to suit. As characters develop I may re-convert or buy and paint a new one. I guess that's nice for the other GMs if you don't mind a slightly obsessive player sitting at your table!