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Hello DakkaDakka! I was wondering if anyone cold provide friendly painting advice and criticism. I have recently got into this hobby (3-6 months ago) and barley have any of my (or my friend's) miniatures painted and I wanted to know how to "professionally" paint my miniatures (and his). I use Wal-Mart brand acrylic paint. Does anyone have any advice?

Here are the 2 minis:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/538963-Dark%20Eldar%20Archon%20and%20Khorne%20Terminator%20%28First%20Paintjob%29.html

We can't see that picture

Try uploading it tot he dakka gallery, or photobucket or some other image host.

Erm without seeing your work, I'm going to say a really good place to start out is with tutorials, theres tonnes of them on youtube nowadays, girlpainting, awesomepaintjob, buypainted... and many many more all show tutorials of they do their work (at varying levels).

If you have a local GW, buying stuff from them can get you a bit of tutorial time with the store staff. For painting or playing.
I would advise to move away from the cheap arts and crafts acrylics for painting miniatures, while they can be used well, its not the most forgiving paint to use, and often needs some adjusting out of the bottle.
Citadel are good paints, but kidna over priced.
Vallejo have a great range, Army Painter have a good range, P3 get lots of praise, and theres others out there geared towards what we want.
Don't be too put off by getting a tiny pot 15-30ml in size; 30ml of good paint will last a few models yet. A 200ml tube is a bit overkill for most stuff.

You will want to learn to take care of brushes, and then to get some worth taking care of this pays of dividends in the long run. (Most people will reccomend a kollinsky sable brush, pointed round, sizes 000 through to 2 from any number of manufacturers)

One of the first things most people get wrong, is thinning the paint. You want the paints to be as thin as possible, needing to apply lots of coats is ideal, but you need each coat to be really really thin so you don't cake the details in paint.

The other thing to always bear in mind is practise practise practise
not very many of us are naturals at this. Find out a way to strip paint from your figures and re-do them when unhappy with results... theres countless safe ways to strip the paint, my favorite is Fairy Power Spray. (which is Dawn Power Dissolver in USA)

It is not letting me edit this post!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

HairySticks wrote:
We can't see that picture

Try uploading it tot he dakka gallery, or photobucket or some other image host.

Erm without seeing your work, I'm going to say a really good place to start out is with tutorials, theres tonnes of them on youtube nowadays, girlpainting, awesomepaintjob, buypainted... and many many more all show tutorials of they do their work (at varying levels).

If you have a local GW, buying stuff from them can get you a bit of tutorial time with the store staff. For painting or playing.
I would advise to move away from the cheap arts and crafts acrylics for painting miniatures, while they can be used well, its not the most forgiving paint to use, and often needs some adjusting out of the bottle.
Citadel are good paints, but kidna over priced.
Vallejo have a great range, Army Painter have a good range, P3 get lots of praise, and theres others out there geared towards what we want.
Don't be too put off by getting a tiny pot 15-30ml in size; 30ml of good paint will last a few models yet. A 200ml tube is a bit overkill for most stuff.

You will want to learn to take care of brushes, and then to get some worth taking care of this pays of dividends in the long run. (Most people will reccomend a kollinsky sable brush, pointed round, sizes 000 through to 2 from any number of manufacturers)

One of the first things most people get wrong, is thinning the paint. You want the paints to be as thin as possible, needing to apply lots of coats is ideal, but you need each coat to be really really thin so you don't cake the details in paint.

The other thing to always bear in mind is practise practise practise
not very many of us are naturals at this. Find out a way to strip paint from your figures and re-do them when unhappy with results... theres countless safe ways to strip the paint, my favorite is Fairy Power Spray. (which is Dawn Power Dissolver in USA)

Thank you very much. I will try and get a photo uploaded since it is not letting me edit this post...

Okay, yeah the last poster has got some good advice there.
Becoming a professional isn't going to happen overnight though.
Try to get to a GW store where they can teach you the basics.

The GW tutorials are pretty good as far as I can tell, What youve got to bear in mind though is that they only teach basics. And that they only teach use of citadel products.

That said, Since my day when we learned from tutorials in white dwarf, the 'newbie hobbyists' are churning out a higher basic level of painting than what I can remember.
Its nice to come back tot he hobby after some years away and find that the bottom bar has been raised Its largely down to GW advocating a fairly simple yet effective painting method of base, drybrush, wash, highlight. Which as we know here on dakka isnt the be all and end all of painting figures, but its quickly produces a nice tabletop paint job that is leagues above what we saw in the 90's.

Here's the OP's pic for the clicking-averse.

I think a good place to start would be with the equipment.

Many tutorials will refer to recognised brands of paint, Citadel or Vallejo being the most common. If you wanted to follow those tutorials, it will be infinitely easier to do so with the same products. Additionally, I can't speak for the quality of Walmart paint, but cheap paint of any stripe frequently has a coarser pigment grade, so will never work well on something where small details are important like miniatures.

Thin your paint, water is good, but as you get more experienced you may want to experiment with other additives to manipulate the paint's properties, but that can wait.

Invest in good brushes, I assume if you're using Walmart paint you haven't spent much cash in brushes. This investment will pay you back in both quality and durability if you look after them (there's tutorials for that too!)

Take your time. I notice you appear to have tried painting blood splatter on your models. These sorts of things can wait. Concentrate on getting a good smooth coat of colour, with thinned paint it might take two or more coats, but will pay dividends, and getting paint only where it is supposed to be. Then start to work on shading and highlights. Once you're getting results you're happy with consistently, then you can start branching out with special effects and different techniques.

Good luck!

Just me two cents but blood splatter effects can be neatly achieved with a toothbrush and "flecking" the paint on. Brushes leave too broad a swathe of paint. Again as others have said, right tools for the job, and as the poster above me has mentioned, after effects can wait a bit. Perfect foundation techniques and blocking first. That's the majority of the paint battle, the rest is candy.

Never mind professional painting, focus on having something look good at arms length.

From your gallery picture, I have only a couple of concrete feedback items
- thin your paint before applying it and let it dry before applying more. Two thin coats of thinned paint look much better than one thick one. Also, the paint will flow better and you will not struggle as much with the brush. For water based acrylic paint like Citadel, you can thin them with (destilled) water and use Medium (paint without colour) to avoid consistency problems, that should only be needed if water doesn't do the job.
- Get a couple of colours that fit the colour scheme you want to use. It is a good idea to either mix up brighter versions of the colours for highlights or buy the lighter coloured matching paints Citadel offers for consistency and ease of use.
- For blood, try using Tamiya Clear Red. It's an alcohol based and looks like a glossy varnish with red mixed in. I also like their Clear Blue and Clear Yellow for things like lamps, gems, lenses and stuff like that. Even if you decide not to use this option, you shouldn't use the same red you used as armour colour as blood, since that will look bad even if you do explain that it was intentional.

Should I get Vallejo, Reaper, or what? Also what type of brushes should I get and where can I get them? I am sorry for so many questions ...

Ask that question 4 times, you'll likely get 4 different answers!

I use a mix of Vallejo, Reaper, Citadel and P3, they are all very good and all have certain colours that are better than the equivalent in other ranges (and a few unique shades.)

Personally, for just starting out, I would stick with Citadel, as they are probably the most available and have most tutorials written for the colour range, but don't be afraid to branch out, you can't really go wrong with any of the big names.

Brushes wise, brand is not so important. Windsor and Newton are considered the top, but have a price to match. A lot of people recommend Rosemary and Co as a good cut price alternative, and I have to say, although I only have one small, detail brush, it compares favourably to my W+N brushes. I don't personally rate the Citadel brushes, so would advise you against them, for the money, there are better options.

The main thing to look for is that the bristles are kolinsky sable, they're a natural fibre, and tend to hold a point well, retain a good volume of paint and have a nice degree of "snap" (the flex in the brush head) so a cheap, non branded, sable brush will be a great thing to start with.

Except paint, there is little point in spending a fortune on equipment, as you will inevitably mistreat it as you learn, but spending a little bit over the basic, cheap and nasty stuff will reap rewards in terms of your finish quality and your speed of learning. Trying to paint minis with a poor brush is like trying to embroider with boxing gloves on, but with all respect, an expensive one would be wasted on you just now.

 azreal13 wrote:
Ask that question 4 times, you'll likely get 4 different answers!

I use a mix of Vallejo, Reaper, Citadel and P3, they are all very good and all have certain colours that are better than the equivalent in other ranges (and a few unique shades.)

Personally, for just starting out, I would stick with Citadel, as they are probably the most available and have most tutorials written for the colour range, but don't be afraid to branch out, you can't really go wrong with any of the big names.

Brushes wise, brand is not so important. Windsor and Newton are considered the top, but have a price to match. A lot of people recommend Rosemary and Co as a good cut price alternative, and I have to say, although I only have one small, detail brush, it compares favourably to my W+N brushes. I don't personally rate the Citadel brushes, so would advise you against them, for the money, there are better options.

The main thing to look for is that the bristles are kolinsky sable, they're a natural fibre, and tend to hold a point well, retain a good volume of paint and have a nice degree of "snap" (the flex in the brush head) so a cheap, non branded, sable brush will be a great thing to start with.

Except paint, there is little point in spending a fortune on equipment, as you will inevitably mistreat it as you learn, but spending a little bit over the basic, cheap and nasty stuff will reap rewards in terms of your finish quality and your speed of learning. Trying to paint minis with a poor brush is like trying to embroider with boxing gloves on, but with all respect, an expensive one would be wasted on you just now.

I am actually thinking of using Vallejo because (right now) they are only about $2 per paint rather than $5... and so are Army Painter paints... as well as Reaper paints. Grrrrrr which one do I choose?!

I think you need to take a few steps back, and not worry about what brand of paint or what brushes to buy. There is good advice here, but you seem to be at the very beginning stages of painting.

So the first thing you should do is go to a hobby store and ask for a demonstration. On basic painting skills, and brush clean up. Ask about how much paint should be on the brush and how thick it should be on the pallet. I would then buy some paints from that store based on the colors you want your army to be. Look for water based paints. Many have been mentioned here. They are all good, but some colors in some brands have better pigment. Unless you have a problem with a color then any of the brands listed here will be fine. What ever is the best price.

I always see advice on getting good brushes. To me this means pro brushes. But you really should just by a decent cheap brush, and Learn how to use the brush. I say this because brushes can be ruined very easily if you mistreat them. Examples would be letting them sit on their hairs in a cup of water so they bend, and no longer hold a point. Getting paint in the ferrule. Which leads to the brush hairs spacing and no longer holding a point. Jabbing them into the fine details on the mini's, and you guessed it no longer holding a point.

To get the value out of a good brush, you need to have the skill to use it. What I am saying here is, Buying a very good brush should be something to look for once your skill has improved, and if you wanted to paint say free hand on the back of a cape making intricate designs and such. However if you are going to be making red marine armor with a few highlights then its a waste of money. Get a good 5-6 dollar round brush of say 0 to 00 size.

Also watch youtube or other videos on painting techniques.
Some easy ones to do for beginners are. Dry-brushing. Ink washing, and dipping. You might even find a few for beginners talking about the very basics.

Dry-brushing was the first one I picked up. With washing being second. I have never dipped, but have seen some really good results on certain paint schemes. Later you might not use any of these as your skill may improve to something that gives cleaner and better results.

 Squiddy wrote:
Should I get Vallejo, Reaper, or what? Also what type of brushes should I get and where can I get them? I am sorry for so many questions ...

No comment on paint brand, when you become experienced and have tried a few, you will get to know the little nuances between each brand's formula.

Brushes, Any good quality Kollinsky Sable size 0 or 1 ; the size of artist brushes vary from brand to brand. More often than not a 0 or a 1 will compare to a citadel 'standard' size. But will have the point that makes the citadel fine detail brush seem like a joke. Brushes that are actually good will have a mega fine point no matter what size (even a size 16 will have a point better than a citadel fine detail) Its about how much paint it holds mostly.

You can get by with just one really good brush like this. But do need to take care of it in order to keep that point good. Brush soap is the way to go. Which should be available from the arts and craft store selling the brushes Perhaps a size 00 or 000 for really fine detail would be helpful. I use a 00, 0, 1 and 2. most of the time.

My two favorite brush brands are; Rosemary and Co Series 33, and Windsor and Newton Series 7. The Rosemary and co are my everyday workhorses, as theyre a bit cheaper to replace. The bristles have a little less snap than the series 7's, but hold the same brilliant point. Bristle length seems less uniform; I've got R&Co
brushes 2 or 3 in the same size which are not actually the same bristle lengths.

R&Co also do a nice drybrush, 'masters series' which are badger hair bristles I think,softer than the hog blend citadel drybrushes are, but every bit as durable. Citadel drybrushes are probably the only ones id consider buying from GW. They did put some effort into selecting the right hair mixture for the task, and they perform well for the cost.

If you cant get a hold of brush soap, liquid hand soap does okay, and once in a while (maybe every 4 - 6 months or so) its a good idea to put some hair conditioner on the bristles to keep the subtle and soft.
Kolinsky sable is a natrual hair from a siberian weasel, treating it as if it was hair on your head is a good way to think about it, i.e things like alcohol, while will get it really clean, arent good for it, would you wash your head in alcohol or acetone? ... noooooo

For a begginers set, I would look at getting a good quality size 0 or 1 kollinsky sable for most work, a brush to drybrush with (be it citadel or some other), and a pack of synthetic brushes from the arts n crafts store. Along with the soap if you can find it, use liquid hand soap for now if not.

For a pallete you could purchase one... or just use something clean and plastic, a cd, the lid from a plastic container (e.g. a butter tub).
I would reccomend using the cheap brushes I suggested buying to move paint from pot to pallete, and to add water or mix paints together, and then switch to the nice brush for the actual working. This saves you getting paint right up in the bristles where it is a right pig to clean out without killing the brush in the process. The cheapy brush... merh they mayaswell be 2 a penny and likely never had a tip that was good to paint with, and will be useful for use with pva glue for basing too.

Your also then going to want a water pot, I use 2 jars, one I forgot what it was, the other was a Doritos Salsa dip nom nom, anything that can hold water and not get tipped over easily. I use 2 because the water quickly dirties up; i use one pot innitially to get the majority of the paint out, and then use the cleaner pot to rinse the dirty water out when im done cleaning.
Other useful tidbits include a roll of paper towels, I like kitchen roll style ones rather than toilet paper, they last a bit longer and hold a lot more fluid without falling apart.
A tray keep stuff together, the citadel paint station always looked nice to me, but frankly is a ripoff, a plastic kitchen tray will do; Mine are cheap Christmasy ones that didnt sell at the right season hehe.

Paint box depending on brand of paint the bottle size will vary, but I can say that the new range of citadel pots do fit into the trays of 'Art Bin' boxes with cantilever trays as thats what I use. But well any box where you can lay them out nicely is good, its not convinient to have to rummage through a shoe box of paints to find the one you need. ~ racks looked nice, but dont quite packaway as easy as a box that just closes up.