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Hi guys, i'm new here and new to painting and modeling . I wanted to start a blog and show some of my models off, but then I took some pictures Yuck!

How do you make the dudes look so nice! As far as i can figure it, you gotta use magnifiers to paint with such detail, and I do, but I think I'm not using enough.

What are you guys using for magnification

Also I hope my attachment works... In it you can see that i'm blobbing all over my rivets. I'm trying to get better and i think that a huge help is gonna be the pictures, and more magnification. Currently i'm using 3x. Let me know

Thanks Dakka

The only thing I could possibly advise you on would be to maybe add a small amount of black wash over your rivets as they look very clean at the moment

thanks for the tip Steve, i'm gonna try that.

Arghh someone listened to my advice the world is now doomed to end for sure!

Most of the Golden Demon winners and excellent painters that I know personally do not use magnification at all. It's just a matter of improving techniques over time.

I use 1.50X for regular painting and 2.75X for close up detail. I tried stronger glasses and they gave me a headache after a while, it felt like my brain was being sucked out through my eye sockets. The 1.50X is sufficient for most of my painting. I'm not an amazing artist by any means but I strive to at very least produce a model with clean lines. I do ok but macro photography is not my friend.

I never use magnification. Tried it out to see if it was worth looking into and it made painting more difficult, as there was a disconnect between how far I moved my hand and how far I saw the brush move. It's something you can get used to, I'm sure, but I simply couldn't be bothered. If your eyesight is poor, you may want/need it, but blobbing over rivets (which I, too, am often guilty of) is more an issue of brush control than magnification. You shouldn't need any magnification beyond that used for normal vision correction.

The best advice is to look into techniques and use what works for you.

I have never used magnification. I don't have good eyesight any more (too old) but I don't want to paint my figures to super detail anyway.

Yes, brush control and having a steady hand to hold the model and the brush are important. I stick the models onto film canisters with Blu tack to give me a good handle.

Thanks you guys. I really like my magnifier. When I'm sitting and painting, i find i get a terrible kink in my neck without it. i think it's due to the tension of holding the mini up close to my eyes. I wear glasses so it's not that far of a stretch to work threw a window.
I have a hard time believing that some of these painters are not using magnification! I saw this one harlequin with the diamond pattern of clothes, where each diamond was blended! it looked amazing!

Wish i could do that...

I'll keep trying, thanks again Dakka!

dedlam wrote:Thanks you guys. I really like my magnifier. When I'm sitting and painting, i find i get a terrible kink in my neck without it. i think it's due to the tension of holding the mini up close to my eyes. I wear glasses so it's not that far of a stretch to work threw a window.
I have a hard time believing that some of these painters are not using magnification! I saw this one harlequin with the diamond pattern of clothes, where each diamond was blended! it looked amazing!

Wish i could do that...

I'll keep trying, thanks again Dakka!

If you continue trying to improve your technique, you will be able to at some point. I've been an avid painter for quite some time and do well in local contests/awards (nothing of the GD scale) and haven't ever used magnification. The few GD winners I know don't use it either, it's all about brush control and technique.