Painting miniatures

[Ssnake]

I'm currently woring on a new set of Call of Cthulhu investigators and various mythos monsters (yes, including a pewter miniature of the Great Cthulhu himself).

Well, I know about the basic tricks how to emphasize detail by applying thinned, darker paint so to take advantage of the capillary forces. And I think that I have a pretty steady hand and the finest brushes that I can find in local hobby shops. I'm using traditional enamel paint, I'm bathing the models in soapy warm water and apply primer spray.

 

Yet, I see these photos of miniatures with an incredible level of detail painted, and I somehow doubt that it is humanely possible - at least not with the methods that I'm using.

 

What am I doing wrong?

[Jacques]

People that do exceptional miniatures work, I see it all the time down at the MMSI show in Chicago, do it using:

 

1. Magnifiers. Yup, a magnifier with a light.

 

2. Really small brushes, like 3/0, 5/0, 10/0, and even a guy who uses 20/0 (basically one hair on a stick!). Also, they use the best red sable haired brushes you can buy, pretty spendy.

 

3. Very thin coats of paint. They use multiple layers of color to achieve the look they want, making more of a glaze than a paint color.

 

4. Illusion. Just like master painters use splotches of different colors to suggest patterns rather than painting real patterns on the painting, so it is with the master miniature painter.

 

5. Patience, practice, and experimentation. This is usually the hangup...not enough time to experiment and make mistakes. I know some painters than will work on one piece for a YEAR or more, painting-stripping-and painting the figure they are working on to get it just right. They take the time to experiment and rework.

 

I know, there is no easy answer, sorry.

[ShotMagnet]

Some basic techniques are actually quite difficult to fully master, and sometimes you have to understand on the theoretical level what you're doing as well.

 

If you're applying a wash -for example- no matter how competently you do it you will find the figure lacking if you don't also apply a drybrush pass (or passes). The wash darkens recesses; fine, but the drybrush highlights raised areas. By itself this is useful, but it also creates a contrast between light and dark which adds depth to a figure that beforehand didn't have it because it only had the wash, or the drybrush.

 

Good tools are also important, as Jacques notes. Brushes especially, but a magnifier I've found to be quite handy (I'm tempted to say necessary) when doing figures.

 

Attention to detail is also very important. Looking over your figure and noting where the details are will help you better-accent those details. I have one of the Reaper miniature Sophie figures, she has a cuff-thingie halfway up her right bicep. The cuff-thing has a raised rim. I'd painted the thing all gold, then looked at it for a moment and thought that the rim wanted something for contrast, so I painted the middle copper, and now you can see the detail from across the room.

 

Sometimes color choice is also important. Sophie got orange wings with chocolate spreaders. There's a lot of wing area on Sophie, and the orange so-dominated the rest of the figure that I had to paint with deference to how the orange would make the other colors appear.

 

 

 

Shot

[Mk 1]

What scale are your figures?

 

Scale matters, too. Techniques that may work well in larger scales do not always work so well in smaller. In particular, as you move to smaller objects you want to lighten your colors. The so-called "scale effect" is to make smaller objects look darker. So you must counter.

 

This Italian M13 in 1/285 (6mm) ...

 

 

Has been painted with substantially lighter tones than this Crusader in 1/35th (28mm):

 

 

The lightening can be accomplished by mixing light yellow (for browns/tans) or white (for blues/reds) into your paint, or by dry-brushing a little more heavily than you might otherwise, to lighten up not only the raised edges but the more open flat surfaces as well. This second approach (more dry-brushing) is what I have used for the M13.

 

-Mark 1

[Ssnake]

Thanks for the tips. So I'm not doing everything wrong, I just don't have the magnification glasses and the ultra-thin brushes.

The figures are, well, about 25mm mostly (one inch), which probably makes them 1:72 scale or so though I'm not sure if that applies to the Great Cthulhu himself (he's variable in size and shape, after all).

 

I'm not unhappy. I have quite a lot of miniatures to deal with and limited time, and they're not used for dioramas or anything but as supporting elements during role-playing sessions. For this purpose the level of detail that I manage to apply is sufficient. It's just that I can see, say, a bracelet of almost microscopic dimensions and I know that there are examples where they have been painted, but it seems totally insane. I guess I could live with just primer and some dark brown wash, then glossy cover, and be done with it. For illustrating purposes that seems to be totally sufficient. Then again, ...

 

Yes, I know this threat is worthless without pics. I'll try to prepare some.

[DB]

I'm no damn good at painting miniatures, but I've been told that it can be better to use a toothpick to put on some detail, rather than brushes.

 

David

[rmgill]

I'm no damn good at painting miniatures, but I've been told that it can be better to use a toothpick to put on some detail, rather than brushes.

 

David

 

Toothpicks or wooden rods you cut to the right size. They can make good 'stamps' as well. I've also used a dental pick. dip the end in the paint and if you're careful about it you can get the right sized drop of paint that allows you to VERY specifically put details like irises for eyes on a figure (25/28mm).

 

You can experiment with tips to cut or slice up. A bit of balsa wood sliced into a strip on the end is also a handy way to get a quick and dirty straight line on something.

 

 

Picking the base color is also important. Try to determine what your final colors are going to be and if lighter, apply a light primer coat first. Then colors like reds and yellows will stand out better. If they're darker colors do a dark primer but hit the exposed skin areas with white first so your lighter paints for skin tones don't have to be slathered on with multiple layers to get the right saturation.

[Mk 1]

Thanks for the tips. So I'm not doing everything wrong, I just don't have the magnification glasses and the ultra-thin brushes.

I am fairly active in discussions on another forum on miniatures. The key issue, I think, is not to think in terms of doing things right or wrong. There are a variety of techniques that you can try. Some will provide you with results that are pleasing to your eye, others won't. Some will have an effort/skill requirement that is worthwhile compared to the results, others won't.

 

It is not a matter of right / wrong. It is a matter of what you like / don't like, and how you can grow your repertory of known techniques.

 

Yes, a magnifying glass helps a lot. I have tried drug-store reading glasses (2x and 4x strenghts), and did not like them much. I prefer a small (3 inch diameter) magnification glass that I bought at my local hobby shop (for way too much money). It has a heavy weighted base so it is stable on my work table, and it has two clips that can be used to hold models as I paint them (if I want ... but usually I don't).

 

This is a picture of my painting set-up.

 

The "crusader" pic I showed earlier was quite a fluke ... done because my then-9-year-old son wanted to have some things to paint while I was painting, and so I bought a set of crusader figures and painted one up as an example for him. Most of my work is with micro-armor -- soft metal (pewter or lead) castings in 1/285 to 1/300 scale.

 

You can see my magnifier in the lower left corner. I mount my models to nails with super-glue to make them easy to handle while I'm painting. Thus no finger-prints on wet paint. The nails are then held in a styrofoam board so I can paint a set of models at one time, keeping to one color and easily changing models, rather than keeping to one model and having to change colors. Thus each color on each model has time to dry, yet I get a high throughput with minimal waiting on my part.

 

I prime my models with spray primer. My favorite brand is Floquil, but I don't find it available very often, so I also use Testor's ModelMaster brand. I have settled on white for most of my models. A white primer base helps lighten the overall color of the model (helping the scale effect), and also gives a little more depth, as the colors I later apply will tend to achieve a heavier coat in the recesses, a lighter coating on the larger surfaces, and will often achieve a very light coating on raised edges. So some of the effect I want from washes and dry-brushing are already started just by having a white under-coat.

 

But other folks prefer black priming/undercoating. I used to use that, as I was always afraid that some part of the model ... deep in the patterns on the wheels or the tank's running gears, for example, would be missed. I figured that a recess in black would just look like shadow, while a recess in white would look odd. I've resoved away from this now, as the washes cover recesses pretty well, and the white really helps bring the model alive. At least that's my view. Others see it differently. Some chose gray undercoating / priming because they claim it changes the upper coat colors the least. Whatever. It is a matter of personal preference.

 

This picture kind of illustrates the effect of the white undercoat, versus the washing and dry-brushing. I painted the rearward model, an ISU-152, about ten years ago. At that time I had already settled on white priming, and I had most of my detailing skills down. But I didn't do washes and dry-brushing. Still, you can see how the white undercoat gives depth to the paint job.

 

The model in front is a SU-152 I painted just this year. It is the same base color as the ISU-152. But it has had a black wash, and a light dry-brushing, in addition to the detailing. Now THIS is what I want my models to look like.

 

I layer enamels and acrylics upon each other without concern. My priming, and usually my base-coating, are done with spray paint enamels -- most often ModelMasters. My detailing, and sometimes my base-coating if its an off-color, are done with Poly-S acrylics, or sometimes Tamiya acrylics. Basically, the spray painting is done outside during the day, and so enamels are OK. But the brushwork is done in the house during evenings, and my wife won't have me opening enamels in the house. The water-based acrylics smell less, and what fumes they have are mostly non-toxic.

 

In my experience the dry-brushing is more important even than the washes. I have bought some painted models on eBay that were dry-brushed without a wash, and they look pretty good. But I still do both. In fact I do multiple washes. On tanks, for example, I'll do a dark thin wash over the whole vehicle. Usually black, but for a desert-tan or deser-yellow I might do dark brown. It will be quite diluted ... about 10 to 1. I slather that all over the models. This is a bit nerve-wracking, as it really darkens them down a lot. But before the wash has dried, I then go over the models with a clean, mostly dry brush. The models are basically beaten-up, brushed side-to-side from three or four angles. This whicks away about 3/4 or the dark wash, but tenks to leave it in the recesses. It also tends to wear the base-coat off of the raised edges a little. Further help to the highlighting.

 

After I have painted the tracks and/or tires on a model, I will then add another wash to the running gear/lower hull. I usually use Poly-S "Rust" for this. This wash is not nearly so heavily diluted. Only about 5-to-1. Some guys paint their tank tracks rust colored, and they dry-brush them with a metallic gloss (silver, chrome, etc.). I prefer to paint the tracks a metallic color (I use Poly-S "carbon"), and then wash them with rust. This wash is deliberately sloppy, so that the wash not only gets the tracks, but the running gear and even the hull side, lower hull front, hull rear, etc. Just makes the whole lower portion look dirty, rusty, etc.

 

I also add a touch of dish soap (litterally, just touch the wet brush to the gobbed up crud on the nozzle of the bottle by the sink, and then use that brush to stir up the wash a bit). The dishsoap contains surficants -- chems that break the surface tension of water, and so encourage the watered-down wash to flow and adhere to the model. Still, enamels, or even inks, are reputed to make better washes. I have some, but find them impractical to use (due to inside/outside "regulations"). The acrylics are good enough.

 

The sequence I use changes between painting vehicles and painting figures.

 

For vehicles, the sequence is:

1) Prime

2) Base coat

3) Camo (if any)

4) Dark wash

5) Wheel/track detailing

6) Light dry-brush

7) Rust wash

8) Other detailing (grills, windows, tools, gun barrels, exhaust mufflers, etc.)

 

For figures, I use:

1) Prime

2) Base coat

3) Camo (rare)

4) LIGHT DRY-BRUSH

5) Detailing (subsequenced for held objects first, then skin, then helmets and/or webbing if needed)

6) DARK WASH

 

The key, for me, is that I really like the wash to come after the dry-brushing on figures. Dry-brush early in the process, and a lot of the detailing that needs further attention "jumps out" to my eye. Some of it is even taken care of by the dry-brushing (often the webbing is so well highlighted that I don't need to detail it). Often the various steps in detailing need to be repeated (oh crud, got flesh tone all over the rifle. Gonna have to go back to my wood brown for the stock.). But with figures my last step is the dark wash. It kind of settles the whole look of the figure.

 

But then, my figures are pretty small compared to yours -- fitting three or four to a stand (the stands are pennies).

 

I'm not unhappy. I have quite a lot of miniatures to deal with and limited time, and they're not used for dioramas or anything but as supporting elements during role-playing sessions. For this purpose the level of detail that I manage to apply is sufficient.

My own work is all for wargaming. Oh yeah, they're fun to look at. But the key is getting them out on the table.

 

The model in front is, once more, one of the SU-152s I did this year. The model in back is an SU-152 I bought and painted about 30 years ago. Up until last spring, if I wanted to bring some SU-152s onto a wargaming table, this is what came out of my gaming box. But honestly, which one would YOU rather push around on a game table between beers?

 

Yes, at this scale the models are pretty small. But you still get a better feel, and enjoy the game more, if they are well painted. Not a requirement, but an added pleasure.

 

Of course, I could stand to put more effort into my terrain-building skills, too. Mine game-boards are pretty basic stuff.

 

L to R: Tanknetters Thunder, Mk 1, Manic Moran, and CG Erickson gather for a game on Mk1's ping-pong table.

 

While others I culd name, not only make models that are fit for dioramas, but also terrain that makes the game a moving, working piece of art!

Mk1's KVs battle with CG Erickson's Panzers on CG's terrain.

Yep, that's a game board. Not a diorama. CG can cover my whole ping-pong table with that level of detail, and we can duke it out!

 

See, its all preferences. Not right and wrong. Just "oh, I like THAT!"

 

-Mark 1

[Mark Walter]

Check out the Games Workshop site. They make the Warhammer series of games which are very popular 25mm figure based games. There are some good painting guides on the site.

 

Painting Guide

[Ssnake]

...Showtime!

 

Well, let's see if I mastered the necessary ftp skills. The models here were photographed under quite adverse conditions. It's also important to realize that I all coat them with glossy clear paint for preservation purposes (they're supposed to be used in play, after all). Maybe I will take another set of photos, next time with tripod and polarization filter applied, and better lighting conditions. My desk clearly isn't the best spot.

 

 

 

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Well, there comes a time when investigators may stumble into some quite worldly trouble.

 

 

 

 

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To their amazement, Prof. Farnsworth and the assisting PI Fjodor F. Fjodor found the sarcophagus opened - and the mummy apparently stolen.

 

 

 

 

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Dr. B. Rainsaw and assisting Sister Doughlov visit the prospective client, former Prof. Farsworth, suffering from severe schizoid psychosis. His bizarre fantasies seem to circulate around undead Egyptian priests - electroshock therapy did not yield tangible results, so a lobotomy is now considered.

 

 

 

 

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Notorious cultist T. H. Rodwobbler Mangrove orders his troupe of rat men to attack the surprised lumberjack who accidentally disturbed the summoning of the Great Old Yoghurt. The sight of rat people unfortunately creates a mental trauma in the mind of the unsuspecting woodcutter. The end of the story is unknown.

 

 

 

 

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The expeditious retreat of Sir Archibald requires a sudden change of plans as the other end of a surprisingly large, purplish undeground dweller cuts off his egress route.

 

 

 

 

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To his dismay, the Grand Mufti of the Order of the Purple Dusk fails to recall the bind order after successfully summoning the Shoggoth. "Klaatu, Verata, N---!"

 

 

 

 

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Sister Maria N. Lostynwood on the way back to the monastery. The forest of Goatswood however isn't just home to fox and bunny. And the Dark Young of Shub Niggurath is hungry tonight.

 

 

 

 

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Perplexed the Great Tsathoggua welcomes his latest visitors - a wolfpack and its leader (homo lupus lunis), apparently caught in a random fold of subspace. That's got to be that 'Woodstock' about which Mom and Dad are always talking..." the young werewolf thinks.

[Ssnake]

Last part for now. The egyptian collection by and large is still in development, as are a variety of frog men, deep ones, and harmless villagers. Also, the bigger monsters take some more time to paint in adequate detail.

 

Notice that I don't use any tools but standard 0 size brushes and enamel paint. I do glue the figures on larger bottle caps with hot glue - painless to remove and reasonably easy to handle.

 

 

 

 

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In another rather bizarre encounter, a notorious axe murderer, an animated knight's armor, a banshee, an elven archer, and Sir Nadsin Steele stumble into each other. Short of imagination they threaten to kill each other. Hilarity ensues.

 

 

 

 

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Detail shot of the aforementioned party. Well, a more or less traditional Banshee. The photo actually isn't of best quality, but then again it makes her look even more like a supernatural entity.

 

 

 

 

 

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Detail shot of the aforementioned party. One of the few original D&D figures I ever played - here a (supposedly ambidextrous) axe barbarian; I couldn't find a miniature that wasn't looking suspended too far from reaility and still had two axes in its hands.

 

 

 

 

 

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My first pewter miniature, ever. And still, I think, one of the best looking ones. Not that I ever incorporated Sir Nadsin Steele in any kind of D&D session or other fantasy RPG. Actually he doesn't fit anywhere, and his "sword" is an insult to any historically oriented game. But still, he has a kind of a kick ass attitude.

[ShotMagnet]

Apologies if you've already answered this, but what game are these for?

 

 

Shot

[Ssnake]

Apologies if you've already answered this, but what game are these for?

Mostly Call of Cthulhu in the 1920s era.

[Brad Sallows]

What Jacques and Mk1 said. I finally got a magnifying lens/lamp and started buying the smallest brushes I could find and it made a significant difference. The one downside of the lamp is that I prefer acrylics and the heat from the lamp makes the paint dry more quickly. So thinner paints and patience are in order.

 

I prefer grey primer not for its effect on subsequent colours, but because I find it reveals detail that isn't easily seen on an unpainted, black, or white figure - flash I missed, or something I have to plan ahead to paint.

 

I usually do the basic colours and then concentrate on finishing the face because if (when) I muck up the face, I lose less work if I have to strip it down. Also, I can be careless with the wash-and-wipe stuff.

 

After using a gloss varnish and a flat varnish, I find I substantially prefer flat.

 

[Add: I eventually conceded I will never develop the talent to use acrylics for the paint-and-wipe technique for settling darker tones in recessed areas, such as faces. Rather than move to paints which require spirits for clean-up, I found a line of water soluble oil paints which does the job - Winsor & Newton "Artisan" - at an art supply store.]

Edited September 16, 2007 by Brad Sallows

[Mk 1]

Well hoping I'm still within the spirit of the topic, here I present my latest for

"a review of the colors": a micro-armor company of French H39s.

 

(Double posted -- also appears in the SF Bay Area Micro Armor thread on the Gaming Forum.)

 

The models are by GHQ. I made this as a mixed company. GHQ lists the H39 (short 37mm)

and the H40 (longer 37mm) as different tanks, but in my readings I have never seen

a French reference to an H40. Rather, both guns were mounted in H39s, as there were

never enough 37mm L33s to go around. So I've given each of my platoons two tanks

with the longer gun, and two with the shorter.

 

French armor can be fun to paint, because you get so many patterns and colors to

choose from.

 

I primed with Testor's ModelMaster White Figure Primer (spray can). My base coat was

Testor's ModelMaster Desert Yellow (also spray) to represent French Jaune-Ocre. I

then applied patterns of Polly-S French Khaki (green) and French Earth Brown with a brush.

I did an overall wash with Polly-S Grimy Black. I tried a couple colors for dry-brushing.

First was Polly-S Flesh. People often don't consider fleshtone for anything but skin, but I

have used it for dry-brushing on a number of projects, and it comes out pretty nice on tans

and browns. But it didn't work out well in this case -- seemed to be reducing the visibility

of the detail enhancing it. I think the fleshtone wound up blending the yellow into the brown.

You can see the effect on the second tank in from the lower right corner in the first picture.

So I finally settled on Polly-S Soviet Sand, a very pale, very light yellow (almost off-white).

I think that worked out better.

 

Tracks are done with Polly-S Graphite, and then washed heavily with Polly-S Rust. The

lighting here somehow minimizes the effects of the rust wash. When seen in person

the running gear looks pretty dirty. The mufflers were painted rust, and tools were done

with Polly-S NATO Tri-Brown for handles, and Graphite again for metal tool heads.

Cannon and MG barrels were done with Tamiya Acrylic Gun Metal.

 

To detail the spare roadwheels on the rear armor I used a Sharpie black razor-point felt

pen. I also touched that to the ends of the cannons and the mufflers. I applied an extra

wash of grimy black to the engine deck grills. To mark my command tanks I clipped-off

the spare roadwheels, and painted French roundels on the rear armor.

 

Its pretty tough to do intricate cammo patterns on such small models. My magnifier served

me well with these babies.

 

So ... uh ... which way did the Panzers go?

 

-Mark 1

[Corinthian]

Cool miniatures Ssnake and Mk1! I like 'em.

 

Ssnake: where did you get these? Did they come with the game or one has to buy them separately?

[Ssnake]

Cool miniatures Ssnake and Mk1! I like 'em.

 

Ssnake: where did you get these? Did they come with the game or one has to buy them separately?

The miniatures are 3rd party models - investigators and most "canonic" monsters are from RAFM which have a Chaosium license for "official" Call of Cthulhu supplementing miniatures. But of course you can also use plain fantasy monsters (especially assorted undeads and wyrms) as well as historic miniatures for which some specialist companies exist as well, e.g.

• Wargames Foundry
  
• West Wind
  
• Renegade
  

. Wargames Foundry has a big selection of colonial era miniatures which will allow me to paint for a Livingston/Stanley expedition into the heart of darkness, and wild west miniatures including zombie gunfighters (how could I possibly resist?!). For Halloween I just finished a set of pumpkin themed miniatures, including the headless horseman who looks like straight from Sleepy Hollow. Which we watched at the party, so it made a perfect complement for the table decoration. One of the biggest source for fantasy miniatures is Reaper - pricey, though, like Wargames Foundry.