Problems Galore

[IvenBach]

1: Crosseyed Goblins, 2: straying colors, and 3: touch-ups Oh My! I'm having some difficulties in getting eyes done without having all of them crosseyed or looking like they should be institutionalized.

1: I read somewhere that its best to start from the center and work your way out for the face. I'd imagine pupils, eyes, face, etc until the figure is painted. Has anyone had any experience with this?

2: I started using colors straight out of the container and has severe detail loss. I learned from there to water down the paints (I'm using an acrylic medium instead of water) and this has greatly improved the results I've gotten from before. My new problem now is when I'm trying to paint with the more fluid paint it seems the moment it touches a 'wall' it grabs onto it and pulls the rest of the paint behind it with it. I've had several times where I am painting a darker color next to a light color (Black next to white) and it just touches the side and now I have a dark stain. Is there a way to prevent or minimize this occurring?

3: I've had to do lots of touch ups trying to fix this #2 above and when its a dark color and a lighter there's a 'stain' that's left behind that never really is covered if you look closely at it. I'm of the opinion that if I chose my colors more carefully and followed more of a color scheme that would help this somewhat. Is there any way that has been a helpful technique for everything from small/minor fixes to major errors like if you sneeze while painting or someone bumps your arm while trying for detail work?

I'm still new and am trying new things and making mistakes to see what works best for me. Any suggestions can give me better ideas and/or possibly solve them.

[Goblin-King]

Don't know how much help this is but:

1. There aren't really any tricks to painting eyes other than a tiny brush, a steady hand and practice.

2. Sounds like you are thinning the paint too much. Often it's enough to just dip the brush in water before dipping in paint.

3. If you are having trouble covering mistakes try painting the area white first. White is very good at covering - unlike freakin' yellow!
You could also acquire some of the "base" (I think) paints from GW. They are designed to cover stuff.

[Big Bene]

Oh My! I'm having some difficulties in getting eyes done without having all of them crosseyed or looking like they should be institutionalized.

Start the miniature with painting the eyes. This way you are free to correct them until they satisfy you without ruining a fully paintet mini. Paint the rest of the mini after the eyes are "good". There's a pretty useful tutorial for painting eyes on the Reaper website.

1: I read somewhere that its best to start from the center and work your way out for the face. I'd imagine pupils, eyes, face, etc until the figure is painted. Has anyone had any experience with this?

See above.

(I'm using an acrylic medium instead of water)

Now that sounds interesting. Which kind of acrylic medium do you use? Where do youo get it? What are your experiences with it?

My new problem now is when I'm trying to paint with the more fluid paint it seems the moment it touches a 'wall' it grabs onto it and pulls the rest of the paint behind it with it.

Sorry, I have no idea. But then again, I never had a problem with the details of the miniatures when painting them with un-thinned color. Perhaps you should try different brands of paints?

if you sneeze while painting or someone bumps your arm while trying for detail work?

Would perhaps be an interesting thread to collect the painting "accidents" of the forum members... Personally, I can feel if I am to sneeze and stop painting. But as I paint together with friends, and sometimes some of them decide not to paint this day but to play a game (mostly heroklix) on the other table, I find the noise verty disturbing when painting details such as eyes...

You could also acquire some of the "base" (I think) paints from GW.

"Foundation colors"?

[bruenor]

Painting eyes does require a bit of practice and good eyes and a steady hand yourself.
For Goblinoid eyes I tend to black or dark brown the eye socket out first and then go in with a small slash of white and over that a slash of red.
Any brush below a size 0 is good for this or a fine detail if you're using GW's overpriced brushes.

GK is right, the old Foundation colours are now known as Base colours and have an expanded range with matching layer and highlight colours.

As to the bleeding of the paints it does sound like you are watering down too much with the medium, try using plain water, as the mediums have flow enhancers in them to help the paint spread, water allows you much more control I have found, but if it still runs like mad, just add a little more paint to your mix.

Personally I was taught the opposite to you and I paint all he large areas first, especially if its a large area of skin, that way you see the whole look take shape as you complete one area and move onto the next, downsizing your brushes as you go.

[torilen]

I'm not sure what to tell you for the rest of the issues, as it has been a long time since
I painted minis. However...for the eyes, I liked to use a pin. Sewing pin, push pin, any
other kind of pin. Just dip the very tip of the pin in to the paint, and then use very
accurate aim to touch it to where you want the eyeballs.

DO NOT USE the end of a paper clip - that will be too large.

Pins always gave me very good points for eyeballs. Again...just touch the tip in the
paint, you don't want or need a lot of paint on it.

[Sjeng]

as Tasoe once taught me

My way of doing the eyes is this:

1. Prime the model (obviously)
2. Paint white areas were the eyes seem to be, in most models it's easy to tell, in this one however this was not the case.
3. Paint black around the eyes and trying to create the outline that is to become later. this is the most important step I think and requires the most accuracy. if the eyes are not equal size/same shape, I just repeat the process from step 2 trying to get it right.
4. Paint black inside the eyes in vertical strokes. if the eyes are a different colour, it will cover some part of the outline above and below the eye. Just repeat step three to fix that.
5. Paint the skin colour around the eye, trying to leave a thin black outline. this is also very difficult and requires steady hand and precision.
6. Paint the rest of the face with the skin colour and trying to steer off the eyes because any bad stroke over them will destroy everything.

7 (not in picture). never try to fix or repair anything in the eye area. I always mess it up. Every step has to be perfect otherwise I don't move on to the next one.

I use this method because white is very difficult to cover over black and that's why it has to go first on the figure.
I think the eyes are one of the most important thing on a figure and if they turn out nice, the whole model is very nice as well.

[IvenBach]

Which kind of acrylic medium do you use? Where do youo get it? What are your experiences with it?

I got my stuff (http://www.testors.com/product/0/50496/_/Universal_Acrylic_Thinner_4_oz.) at my local hobby shop Brookhurst Hobbies after talking to one of the workers there about painting and thinning paints down. So far I like it much better than water, what I tried before. When I used water to thin the paint it left a non-uniform and grainy appearance when dried. It was a ratio of 1:1 (paint:water). When I use the same ratio of paint:thinner the results are much better.


After thinking about my problem and trying a few minutae details on a chaos warrior, I've come to the conclusion that there was too much paint left in the belly of the bristles. I wiped the brush dry then just dipped the very tip into the paint and applied it to the mini. Didn't have any problem.

Sjeng - That is a helpful bit of info you passed on. I had another person tell me that eyes are done with vertical lines so that's going along with what they were saying. Alas I don't want to go back and redo any of the eyes that are 'googly'. I'll leave them as a reminder of my learning curve.

Another bit of useful info I found out after I started on some was to do the bases before you do the mini. The painter commented that you're going to spend next to no time on the base compared to the mini. Why risk messing up all the work you spent for the base? <--- That was their point. After thinking about that and applying my 'ghetto backyard sifted sand' to the base of a mini or 2 I know what he's saying. I'm learning as I go and trying to reduce or eliminate whatever minor mistakes I can.

[wolfie907]

i order from brookhurst i got my paints and brushes from them

[IvenBach]

Rather than starting a new thread I figure I'll keep all my messups in this problems thread.
Going off of Sjeng's comment about quickshade.

Easy with quickshade. http://www.yeoldeinn.com/hqforum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1630&p=19065#p19065

Easy is relative for me. I have heard from variously dubious sources that quickshade is basically minwax poly shades. I've read 10+ different reviews of peoples walkthrough or explanation of 'dipping'/'quickshading'. Do you have a preferred article that you use or would advise for good reading? I know this may rub some more educated mini painters the wrong way so you're forewarned to stop reading as of now...

I use http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/stains-color-guide/ Ebony 2718 for my shade . That way you can see what it is to give you an idea. The majority of my minis is has come out, in my opinion, good. I know it's not intended as a dip for it but it has helped some look much better. For others it didn't go so well. My first goblins went swimming for a good 30 seconds before he was rescued. After that escapade I started brushing it on and the control has helped. The container says to stir thoroughly when using and while I did this for my skeletons they started white as skeletons should but ended up basically black. I felt really stupid after they came out like that but the longer I look at em the more they've grown on me. I've now come to enjoy them. I call the messups 'Hellfire skeletons' and will likely finish off my HQ skellies in the same way.

I did the same with my and they came out a little lighter as I didn't mix the stain as thoroughly for them as the skeletons. That being said, in good (natural) light they look good but in normal room lighting they are a bit dull. I tried the same with my but didn't mix it after it settled a day or so later. Darkened slightly but my choice of yellow wasn't very helpful. They were among the first I painted and tried. Tried a and it came out worse than a redheaded stepchild so he'll surely get a new paintjob. I've been told Dettol for UK and for us Americans that Simple Green is a good removal solution. Anyone have any experience with using it?

I am working on getting some more done and will load some more up with different angles. Should I load them here or is there a better spot you'd like them to be hosted and linked from? I thought I saw someone mention not to load tons of large images in a thread I read. Once I get my images up I can get more feedback. Once my photos are taken and loaded somewhere I'll link them and get opinions, comments and hopefully constructive criticism.

[Sjeng]

1. buy quickshade! damnit stop using wood paints on those OOP minis man! quickshade = miracle stuff for lazy painters. it's expensive, but one can goes for miles and miles, especially when applied with a brush.
2. yes, simple green and dettol are the way to go. use a toothbrush to rub off the paint while soaking minis in the stuff.
3. photobucket.com for images