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Post by killroundears on Mar 29, 2018 0:40:20 GMT
Ive been essentially painting illiterate for my entire warmachine experience and paid people to paint up my armies for me.
However while buying into a new faction ive decided i want to learn to, and paint all my models myself.
How do i go about this because i actually have no clue how people even get the flash off their models in a timely fashion let alone how to apply a wash
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Post by tesoe on Mar 29, 2018 1:41:26 GMT
YouTube is a pretty good place to start. If you have a local game store, ask someone with a good looking army if they can teach you.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Mar 29, 2018 4:08:24 GMT
Tesoe is correct. I believe hobby stores sometimes have beginners painting classes (it's pretty much how I got started), ask the staff. Alternately you could pribably find someone at a gaming club to help you if you're willing to ask around. Also there's painting guides that are written for beginners - GW had some I think.
Basically, get yourself a hobby knife (X-acto number 1 is my favourite, and I've tried a bunch), use it to carefully cut and scrape off mold lines. Glue pieces together with standard superglue. Wash the mini in lukewarm water with a bit of dishsoap then let it dry. Prime it with a spray-on or brush-on primer. Paint it using acrylic model paints, thinned slightly with water or acrylic medium.
Start with simple mid-brightness colours and block out the areas and surfaces (so blue armour, flesh skin, green cloth, silver weapons etc). Then apply pre-made washes (which are designed to pool in recesses) of the appropriate colours for shading. Then paint brighter colours along edges and raised areas as highlights. Done.
It might sound a bit intimidating at first, but after a bit of practice you'll start to find it's not really too hard to get a decent looking mini.
One useful skill to look into is brush care: basically keep the paint out if the ferrule, and use brush soap to keep the bristles clean and pointy.
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Post by Charistoph on Mar 29, 2018 5:10:58 GMT
If I might make a suggestion, if you are new to painting, do not start with Warmachine. You are going to make a LOT of mistakes starting out, just getting your fingers to put your brush where you want it will take at least a little time.
If you have the willing patience, I suggest grabbing a box of GW Tactical Space Marines and using them to practice on (heck, our local 'gamer garage sales' sell them off for cheap). They are not complex models to paint, but are great for helping you get that basic practice in technique that will help you out. Heck, I used a set to figure out the color schemes I wanted for my other models as well as figuring out the techniques. Warmachine models tend to be rather detailed, and that can be intimidating.
Otherwise, everything that Tesoe and Soul Samurai are good starting tips. I also highly recommend getting someone local to give you tips while you are doing it. They can give you the subtle little things that you may miss from videos.
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Post by Soul Samurai on Mar 29, 2018 5:40:05 GMT
I suggest grabbing a box of GW Tactical Space Marines and using them to practice on Brilliant advice, Space Marines are great models to start learning on. Also they are a lot of fun to assemble because it's so easy to mix and match parts and to mess around with the pose in order to come up with a fairly customized model.
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Post by AdeptusB on Mar 29, 2018 6:01:34 GMT
I always recommend newcomers prime their minis with black primer- it allows you to avoid messing with some hard-to-reach areas ("It's in shadow"), and mutes many minor mistakes (as opposed to white primer, which makes any mistakes stand out like a sore thumb).
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Post by killroundears on Mar 29, 2018 6:31:27 GMT
I always recommend newcomers prime their minis with black primer- it allows you to avoid messing with some hard-to-reach areas ("It's in shadow"), and mutes many minor mistakes (as opposed to white primer, which makes any mistakes stand out like a sore thumb). Will do!, do you recommend black spray on primer or black brush on primer? and otherwise what are the advantages of white primer just so i'm aware for future?
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Post by Soul Samurai on Mar 29, 2018 7:17:28 GMT
I like spray-on primers myself.
White is great for painting bright colours, especially whites and yellows: trying to paint white and yellow over black is possible, it just takes longer because you have to build up to it with more layers - acrylic paints are not completely opaque, which is good because it allows you to blend colours together and get gradients, but does mean you need several layers to get a solid colour. Some people split the difference with grey primer.
Oh yeah, don't expect to get a solid colour with one layer of paint. Apply multiple thin layers; typically two or three layers to get a nice smooth coat of solid colour. If you try to apply unthinned paint to get solid colour in a single coat, it will not be smooth.
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Post by deathbymelancholy on Mar 29, 2018 12:01:37 GMT
I read tutorials on the webz and then painted my first few models very slowly. I'm still pretty proud of my first ever painted miniature, there were some good things there. It's also good to set some realistic goals, do want a nice painted table army, or do you want to win a prize somewhere? Those can be two really different paths to take.
I use .99 cent spray on gray "Touch Tone" (?) primer. I used to use the high dollar stuff but honestly I have seen negligible (if any) difference since I switched over a few years ago. I use a heavy hand with with my washes on table quality models, so the shadowy bits are pretty well shaded anyways.
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fanguad
Junior Strategist
Posts: 210
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Post by fanguad on Mar 29, 2018 12:33:02 GMT
I know that Reaper sells a couple "Learn to Paint" kits that include paint, brushes, miniatures and a pamphlet describing beginning techniques (using the minis in the kit). I think something like this exists for GW as well.
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Post by tesoe on Mar 29, 2018 17:24:10 GMT
I would recommend that if you want something to practice on, buy a bag of green army men. You can find them just about everywhere for dirt cheap. You can usually practice taking mold lines off with them also.
I also use dollar spray paint as primer. Works fine. I get mine at Walmart. To start I suggest just black. Eventually Google "zenithal priming" and read a tutorial.
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Post by Charistoph on Mar 29, 2018 23:00:09 GMT
I would recommend that if you want something to practice on, buy a bag of green army men. You can find them just about everywhere for dirt cheap. You can usually practice taking mold lines off with them also. Aside from losing out on the building experience that the Space Marines would provide, that is a good idea. I also use dollar spray paint as primer. Works fine. I get mine at Walmart. To start I suggest just black. Eventually Google "zenithal priming" and read a tutorial. The things to look out for is that the paint will work on plastic and metal and is matte (some are satin, I don't know how good they are) and avoid the gloss paint. Those are the most important things to look at. Some still suck as they will bead up a little too much in the wrong environment, but those are usually cheap as well, so don't hurt your pocket too much.
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Post by AdeptusB on Mar 30, 2018 3:27:31 GMT
I always recommend newcomers prime their minis with black primer- it allows you to avoid messing with some hard-to-reach areas ("It's in shadow"), and mutes many minor mistakes (as opposed to white primer, which makes any mistakes stand out like a sore thumb). Will do!, do you recommend black spray on primer or black brush on primer? and otherwise what are the advantages of white primer just so i'm aware for future? Definitely spray primer. But, depending on the sculpt, you may need to go back with a brush and black in some nooks and crannies. I only use white primer if the model will be mostly white, yellow, or pastel. Anything else, and I use black. Even for bright colors, like red. I'd rather build up thin layers over a black undercoat than deal with a white undercoat.
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fanguad
Junior Strategist
Posts: 210
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Post by fanguad on Mar 30, 2018 13:10:19 GMT
I generally prefer white primer because it helps bright colors come out brighter, but black primer is definitely more forgiving. It all comes down to preference. I'd recommend starting with black and then once you're comfortable, try experimenting with white or gray (or even the colored primers that Citadel, Badger and Vallejo make).
Spray primer vs brush-on is another preference. It's harder to use spray primer in general, but you get a nicer primer coat. If you use a rattle-can, you need to be conscious of the weather and it's better to prime a bunch of things at once. Brush-on can be used in any weather and you can easily do one model at a time.
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eathotlead
Junior Strategist
PP forumite since 2004
Posts: 259
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Post by eathotlead on Apr 1, 2018 17:02:43 GMT
Will do!, do you recommend black spray on primer or black brush on primer? and otherwise what are the advantages of white primer just so i'm aware for future? Definitely spray primer. But, depending on the sculpt, you may need to go back with a brush and black in some nooks and crannies. I only use white primer if the model will be mostly white, yellow, or pastel. Anything else, and I use black. Even for bright colors, like red. I'd rather build up thin layers over a black undercoat than deal with a white undercoat. This. 100%. Watch some free YouTube videos of Bob Ross as he discusses how much better colors jump out on a black canvas. Even though minis are different in some ways, to me, it's like that. I've always felt colors look weaker against white. Just my personal preference. Plus, we're dealing with oil, coal soot and grease on steampunk robots, where black looks even better in those recesses. Ditto for the spray primer recommendation. I've never had a weather issue with it (nor with dull coat for what it's worth) and spray primer is perfectly smooth if you use a good one like Duplicolor sand-able auto primer. Again, my biases.
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