Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm a Dungeon Master, though I prefer to be called a Storyteller, having run home brews for 24 years. This is my first time running 5e though. I was one of those 3.5 holdouts.

I've just started up a campaign recently and decided to paint my own miniatures for it. In addition, I also play in a couple friends' Pathfinder and D&D homebrews and have painted a few miniatures for them as well.

I'll be posting up pictures. My painting style is more for speed and would be considered table top quality. It primarily uses inks, contrast paints, shades and glazes. I guess, I would like to encourage those who are not painters and might be intimidated, on how quick, easy and effective miniature painting can be.


Below is a model for a Western D&D 5e campaign that a friend runs. We had a new player, Eric, join us and I decided to paint him a mini based on his beloved character El Kobong, a bard centaur with a penchant for tossing grenades. The model took me roughly 3 hours to paint. It was also my first use of GW technical crackle paint, which I guess when it comes to crackle paints, more is more .

The Clothing is simply 2 coats of Space Wolves Grey Contrast Paint with a single coat of Iyanden Yellow Contrast for the golden trim.

The gun stocks are Gore-Grunta Fur Contrast followed with a Targor Rageshade wash.

The horse body is a coat of Contrast Aggaros Dunes followed by 2 washes of Targor Rageshade.

The Banjo is Snakebite Leather Contrast with a wash of Agrax Earth Shade.

And here is some photos of a character from a different campaign run by my friend David. We've been playing in his pathfinder 1st edition homebrew since 2016. The picture below is of my 11 year old human child who is an Arcane Trickster sporting an Otherworldly Kimono, a Hat of Greater Disguise, Wizards Mail, Google of See Invisibility, a handy handy haversack, and a Cloak of Invisibility. He is armed with a Cold Iron Rapier of Heart Seeking. I painted this model and another for the same campaign in roughly 3 and a half hours.

Nice, playable pieces- well done! The one ineluctable quality that these have over hundreds of thousands of other figures is: they are, in fact, painted. Even gaming-level painted pieces bring a new dimension to the play; good on you for going the extra lenght, Storyteller!

Thanks and Happy Turkeyday!! I remember in my early years using dice for monsters and a few reaper miniatures for the characters. Actually now that I think of it, my first campaign was all imagination in that I didn't have a play matt or any figures.

Now a days, I have two huge gaming grid matts, hundred or so prepainted D&D models (if you can call them painted ) and will be building up a horde of monsters that I have painted for my current campaign. Plus I was a huge 40K player and have commandeered my gaming terrain for D&D since you can use rulers to move around as long as you treat every 1" as 5 feet of movement.

On a side note, painting for me in therapeutic! Talking of painting, below is another character for Dave's Pathfinder campaign: Josh's Damien Lochton, a human arcanist. Since our characters are both named Dami%n, we go by Little D and Big D instead .

As a side note, the fireball was originally done with a Contrast Iyanden Yellow coat followed by Carroburg Crimson Shade and a final glaze of Lamenters Yellow. This looked surprisingly good...but then I was like MORE PAINT and added a glaze of Bloodletter which sadly dominated all of the yellow and golden colors . So I used orange and yellow paints to roughly layer back the yellows. Oh, well...I enjoy experimenting.

The blue robes are a coat of Contrast Leviadon Blue with a wash of Nuln Oil.

The sleeves and gloves are two coats of contrast Gryph-Charger Grey with a wash of Nuln Oil.

The face is just two washes of Ogryn Flesh.

The hair is Contrast Fire Slayer Flesh with Gryphonne Sepia Wash.

The Backpack is Snakebite Leather Contrast with a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

The books are Gore-Grunta Fur Contrast with a wash of Targor Rageshade.

The Belt and Boots are Contrast Black Templar with a Nuln Oil wash.

The Staff is Battlefield Brown with a wash of Gryphonne Sepia, Agrax Earthshade, and Targor Rageshade.

The Gem is two washes of Berserker Bloodshade followed with a glaze of Bloodletter and a spot of Lamenter Yellow glaze.

Finally the pants are Skeleton Horde Contrast with a wash of Gryphonne Sepia.

This is also a very nice figure- a bit better than 'gaming standard', I think.

You take my memory back- in '79-80's ish timeframe, the original boxed set for D&D came with numbers you cut apart to place in the cups of an egg carton and which represented the most commonly needed dice at that tie (I think 3 sided, 6, 8, 10, maybe 12 and 20)- because it was hard to find all those denominations of dice! I got my first set of dice from Spencer's Gifts at the Arnot Mall in Big Flats, Elmira, NY, my heart pounding the whole time because even though I was 17, Spencer's carried a lot of marijuana culture and risqué 'adult' items- you didn't want your folks to think you'd been shopping there! Walden Books carried the boxed game, but I don't recall them ever carrying the dice you needed.

We also used anything we could find to represent characters, opponents and monsters- figures were probably out there, we just didn't know where to buy them and no on-line shopping for another 20 years.

So I got into the game almost 20 years later when the internet was just ramping up and Ebay was a new thing. By then most cities had stores dedicated to comics, CCG and miniatures (like Reaper, Ral Partha, and Games Workshop). I think I got my first set of dice from The Dug Out, a collectable card shop (AKA Magic & Sports Cards) located in the basement of a building located on State Street in Madison.

I was a player first, and my sensei (DM) was a sadist, who loved horror (D&D's Ravenloft, Dark Conspiracy, & Shadow Run) and wearing his girlfriend's jeans. My first combat was against a mad sailor who we threw overboard only to have him ripping out the bottom of the dingy and begin beating us with the wooden plank he tore out. I think he only had 6 hp but he nearly took out the party of 4 players as we were all 0 level. The mad man was still trying to strangle us even after being disemboweled, in true D&D fashion. Dave was a maverick but man were his sessions intense and entertaining, even if short lived. Thus, my campaigns tend to adopt a horror theme because of his influence.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Spencer's carried a lot of marijuana culture and risqué 'adult' items- you didn't want your folks to think you'd been shopping there!

So funny thing, and totally off topic, but my mom bought a glass blowing training session for myself and my girlfriend (now ex) for Christmas about 8 years ago. When we got to the shop which was in the basement of another shop down in Madison, the walls were stocked ceiling to floor with Bongs. The shop assistant who greeted us was fully baked and had even forgotten that we were coming. It was an interesting time making glass jewelry for sure.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well last night I worked on a pack of Leucrottas and a Rot Troll, starting around 11pm and ending around 2:15am or so. Below is the workup of the Rot Troll.

Step 1: After priming, I washed the raised boils with a Baal Red Wash. I've found that it works better to apply spot washes for boils, lumps, ect before the main body/skin washes, than vice versus as the colors blend much better.



Step 2: Wash model with Nuln Oil Shade. I tend to wash most of my models with a black shade so I can more easily see what the transitions are as well as create some depth...kinda of like Zenithal highlighting and shading I guess?? Anyways, it makes it easier on my eyes, which are gradually going blind to computer and cellphone screens .



Step 3-Final: Wash skin with 2 layers of Athonian Camoshade, including the hair(I love!! Camoshade)!!. Drybrush with Menoth White Highlight. Loincloth is Contrast Snakebite Leather followed by washes of Agrax Earthshade and Athonian Camoshade. Hair was finished off with 2 layers of Contrast Gryph-Charger Grey followed by a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade.

So here are pictures of the Leucrotta pack I painted up alongside the Troll.

Step 1: Apply a wash of Nuln Oil to the body, Aggaros Dunes Contrast to the tail fur, and a coat of Black Templar Contrast to the hooves and nose.

Step 2: Apply a coat of Gryph-Charger Grey Contrast Paint to the body, Blood Angels Red Contrast to the Tongue, and Flesh Tearers Red to the Inside Mouth.



Step 3: Apply a wash of Athonian Camoshade over the Body and Tail and a wash of Carroburg Crimson to the mouth



Final: Drybrush the model with Menoth White Highlight







Quick and easy Pound Puppies

A bit more grey than the artwork but the skin definitely looks putrid enough:

Those sure are some ugly doggos! Well done.

Thanks Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll.

Below is another quickly painted character in Dave's Pathfinder campaign. Krom the Half-Dragon Draconic Sorcerer.

The wings were Skeleton Horde Contrast with Agrax Earthshade wash.

The flesh was Nuln Oil Wash followed by 2 coats of Pylar Glacier Contrast paint.

Menoth White Highlight was added to the Talons. Armor was Pig Iron with two washes of Agrax Earthshade.

I really liked how the flesh turned out given how simple the formula was. Otherwise, I haven't been too impressed with Pylar Glacier as it covers very poorly compared to other contrasts. Guess I just have to paint up a bunch of silver and white dragons to throw at the party so as to make use of the $8 pot .




By the way, I covered the entire model in Army Builder Matt Varnish Spray (the spray can). While the wings have a matt finish, the lower body ended up with a gloss finish? Anyone know why this is?

So tonight I start work on Rorry, a character in Kenai's Western Campaign for D&D 5e. Rorry is an Irish, free wheeling gun for hire who shot his first man at the age of 16. The son of an Irish immigrant who died working in the coal mines, Rorry ended up walking in on a Judge's son beating his mother. Grabbing the man's pistol from the gun belt laying across the chair, he shot the craven dead before jumping on a west bound train to escape the hangman's noose. His loves are St. Patrick, Whisky, Guns, and Black Powder.

The model was printed from an STL file purchased from Hero Forge. They have had a $5 discount of STL files this past week . Below is the image from the website.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Having finished him tonight, I give you Rory McNally, the Gunslinger of Obsidian Ridge. I really liked how the jugs and bottles turned out and they were really simple. They were just a coat of Bastion Grey followed by a Darkoath Flesh Contrast. The jug bottom had a further coat of Fyreslayer Flesh Contrast applied.

So found one of my old light boxes in storage and thought I would give it a try. Only problem is it a pop up like so:



But with an even smaller hole in the front, making it hard to take pictures of the model without lifting them up on a box.

Just looked on amazon and wow, lightboxes have majorly upgraded in the last 10 or so years:



I might have to grab one of those!

Anyways, the following are a set of 3 Hill Giants that I painted up along with an Ettin and a Formian that all told took me two evenings. The Hill Giants Hands are magnetized so that I can swap weapon and gear options.

The wood was painted with a coat of Battlefield Brown followed by a Seraphin Sepia wash and then an Agrax Earthshade wash.

The Leathers were painted with a coat of Blood Tracker Brown followed by two washes of Agrax Earthshade.

The metals were a coat of Pig Iron followed by two washes of Agrax Earthshade.

The cotton wrapping was a coat of Hammerfall Khaki followed by 2 washes of Agrax Earthshade.

The Bones were Menoth White Highlight followed by a Seraphin Sepia wash and then an Agrax Earthshade wash.

Flesh was just two washes of Ogre Flesh (One had an additiona wash of Reikland Fleshshade)

The Fomorian Giant featured below used the same paint pallet as the Hill Giants above with the exception of the skin, which was 2 washes of Drakenhof Nightshade which I had purchased many years ago and must have had a different formula than the current, because it has a much darker hue. After painting the skin, I added Liaviathan Purple wash to the boils followed by a glaze of Bloodletter. Like the Troll, I should have tinted the boils before painting the skin as they did not blend well into the skin tone.

That's good work. I just can't make contrast paints work for me... but you seem to have no problems at all! Love the giants... especially the Fomorian.

Hey Gits, so how are the other Wardens? I checked thier old threds but they don't seem active anymore. What, did they grow up and get lives?? Not I!

So the giants didn't use contrast paints. Mostly P3 paints followed by washes. The skins are straight washes.

The contrast paints certainly don't have the even gradients or clean coverages that an airbrush has, which if I recall is your weapon of choice.

So painted up the following models during a campaign session:

Crow Swarm:

Black Templar Contrast with a Vallejo grey drybrush. Beaks and talons were Iyanden Yellow Contrast with a Reikland Fleshshade Wash. Since the models were black I did a crackle base. Normally I don't bother as these models are going to get beat to heck and aren't stored in padded containers.



Fountain: Fountains of Life feature heavy in my campaign, so glad to be able to get my hands on this!

Step 1: Washed model in Nuln Oil



Step 2: Washed Athonian Camoshade in randon splotches and in basins.



Step 3: Applied Contrast Skeleton Horde in Splotches



Step 4: Dry brushed with Vallejo Stonewall Grey



Step 5: Reapplied Athonian Camoshade in splotches and basins



Step 6: Washed with Agrax Earthshade



Final: Dry brushed with Vallejo Stonewall Grey



Lich: These will represent Deathlock Wights in my campaign

WIP 2: After the wash with Nuln Oil, I applied Contrast paints of Skeleton Horde for the bones and pages and Space Wolves Grey (lower), Gryph-Charger Grey (upper), and Magos Purple (neck) to the robes.



WIP 3: Pig Iron was added to the pauldrons. I then applied contrasts of Gore-Grunta Fur to books, Snakebite Leather to Scrolls and Belts, and Flesh Tearers Red to ribbons. After the contrast were applied, I added a wash of Targor Rageshade to Books and Scrolls, and Belts and a wash of Biel-Tan Green to front of held skull.



WIP Final: I washed the entire model with Agrax Earthshade and applied a Nuln Oil wash to blue area of robes and held skull. I then dry brushed Stonewall Grey over entire model. Finally, Way Watcher Green glaze was painted around the eyes of the held skull.

I'll have to try some of those Contrast paints, I got a limited group of them a while back and I am just now getting use out of them.

The fountain looks great

What a great variety of beasties!

@WyFox: Yeah... I think everyone's moved on with life, kids, etc. I haven't been doing much myself either. Lost the 3 remaining grandparents this year so we're just dealing with that. That being said... we're doing OK... but not a lot of energy left for gaming stuff. Solar_lion's still painting at a good clip... just not posting often.

Great works afoot here, love the puppies.

Thanks for sharing.

@Theophony. Thanks, I'm very happy with the fountain too. It's my first terrain piece. Some of my favorite contrasts are Skeleton Horde (Bone), Snakebite Leather (Leather), Black Templar (Black), Flesh Tearers Red (Deep Red), Gore Grunta Fur (Sienna Brown). They have good even coverages. I still apply washes over them.

@Gwyn, a plant theme is coming up as they are venturing into swamps

@Gits, sorry to hear. I lost all of my Grandparents within 2 or so years about 10 years ago. So I understand. Oh, and Alyssa left last year. But painting has been therapeutic .

@Cam, welcome! More to come!

Speaking of which, below is a troop of Vegepygmy Warriors.

Flesh was 2 washes of Biel-Tan Green.

The spore boils were drybrushed with Vallejo Goblin Green

The Spears were Gor-Grunta Fur

Hair was Ogre Flesh Wash followed by a wash of Agrax Earthshade

The Flowers were Iyanden Yellow Contrast and for half I washed with Agrax Earthshade

And a comparison of the official D&D Vegepygmy Chief Model and my own Vegepymies.


Hmmm...I might need to find a new chieftain model as the D&D model is underwhelming.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and a picture of my very lazy photo setup:

@Wyfox: Yeah... painting helps... so does sharing your work on dakka. I see you still have your skills. I know of several professional painters who would highly approve of the white background you use for your photos.

Love the little green dudes. Very fun!

Thanks Gits!

So below is 20 Needle Blights, which are part of a larger Blight community that the party will encounter in the bogs.

They were base coated with Snakebite Leather Contrast. I then applied Soulblight Grey Shade wash to the chest and face of the models after which I washed the same areas in Targor Rage Shade. The result was quite pleasing and kind of reminds me of the Greek leather cuirass. Their swoll poses make me laugh as they look like they are flexing while marching forward.



Next are 10 Vine Blights.

They were base coated with Ork Flesh Contrast. I then washed the chest, back, and face with Soulblight Grey Shade followed by Targor Rage Shade, hoping for a cool result. However, it looked awful, so I dry brushed the model with an Vallejo Camoflauge Green paint and then washed it with Biel-Tan Green and Nuln Oil shades and called it a failed experiment.

I'll have to try a couple of those contrasts for browns. I have really enjoyed the Skeleton Horde color so far for a light leather look.

Welcome Theophony! I love Gor-Grunta Fur for anything wood related. It also make a nice color for darker leathers when washed with Agrax or Rageshade. Same with Snakebite Leather. The reds have been real winners as well.

So below you can see a good contrast to a more traditional paint scheme (P3 paints and a wash) vs using Washes and Contrast alone.

Up first is a unit of Goblin Archers and a unit of Crossbows painted with P3 Umbral Umber (wood & belts), Boot Strap Leather (skirts, pouches and quivers), Thamar Black (hair), Pig Iron (metal), Menoth White Base (stockings), Bastion Grey (flesh). This was followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. At this point, you could start adding highlight layers to add depth...but painting these models was already getting time consuming.



Next is a Worg Rider painted in a similar scheme with the worg being based coated in Great Coat Grey, washed in Babad Black, and followed by successive dry brushes of Iron Hull Grey followed by Frost Bite and then Morrow White. The worg was washed then with Devlan Mud.



Lastly, the Goblin Boss and a Goblin Jester. The Goblin Boss was painted like the other Goblins above. However the Jester used only washes and contrast paints.



For the Jestor:

The flesh was 2 washes of Athonian Camoshade.

The robe was a wash of Asurman Blue

The hat, belts, and bands were Contrast Snake Bite Leather with a Agrax Earthshade wash

The Staff was Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur with a Agrax Earthshade wash

The sash and hat balls were 2 washes of Biel-Tan Green

Whereas the archers, boss, and rider took several evenings to paint, the jester took a matter of minutes in between painting other models and in my opinion looks significantly better.

That jester really does look good. Impressive that it was a speed paint!

Hi Gwyn, its amazing how quick it goes. The only thing is waiting for the contrasts and washes to dry. So I place them in front of a space heater underneath my desk and work on several models simultaneously.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So painted up a pack of goblin wolf riders and a pair of worgs.

The wolfs and worgs were first washed with Drakenhof Nightshade followed by successive dry brushes of P3 Frost Bite and then Morrow White. The noses were picked out with Thamar Black before drybrushing

The goblins were simply two washes of Athonian Camoshade. The loincloths were painted with Umbral Umber and the eyes were picked out with Frost Bite.

Wow, you've been moving along! I'm gone for a few days and there's a whole army's worth of figures to enjoy!

Cause I'm all bout the speed, bout the speed, bout the speed; meh quality.

So on an unrelated note what is a good cleaning solution for removing GW wash stains/droplets and vallejo/P3 paint splotches/specks from wood desks??

So I decided to do an experiment with just GW shades and am very happy with the results.

Up first is a squad of Specters.

For the bodies 1st row right to left: Beil-Tan Green, Asurmen Blue, and Drakenhoff Nightshade

The grave stones, I washed some of the shade onto the areas where the bodies were penetrating the stone and then washed the stones with Nuln Oil

The base was done with Agrax Earthshade

Next is a Scarecrow...in which one of the party members get turned into when captured by a Hag after having his heart transplanted!

Straw was Casandora Yellow

Shirt was Baal Red

Skirt was Beil-Tan Green

Pants were Asurmen Blue

Hands, Feet and Base were Devlan Mud

Model was washed in Devlan Mud before applying Nuln Oil to the Base

Automatically Appended Next Post:
And a quick look at my brushes. All these models painted and they still have a good point to them .

So I use Size 6 for applying the washes and getting base colors down.

Size 1 and 0 for details and getting into crevasse

And the GW Medium Drybrush for...well dry brushing.

That's it

I love me some chickens! So I had my friend print me up 25 chickens which will be an encounter of an entire murder of custom cockatrices that descends on the party. I chose chickens as I don't want to tip my hand. Mostly the result of washes with a few spot colors layered.

Washed in nuln oil

Washed wings and tail feathers in Leviathan Purple

Washed beak and feet with Fuegan Orange

Painted wing and tail end feathers with P3 Frostbite, Head heathers with Morrow White, and Talons with Menoth White Highlight

I think the chickens are my absolute favorite so far. Bravo!