#painting guide

[drtreesus]

Steps for my lily painting

[cerberusxt]

How I paint things - Part 1

I often get asked what my painting process is, so I thought, why not use the fact that on Tumblr I’m not limited to a mere hundred character to try and explain as thoroughly as possible the way I do things ? That way, you might glean a few useful tips and tricks along the way.

But before I get started, a word of warning. What I will explain is a process that work for me, it might not fit your habits, or your enjoyment of the hobby, and that’s ok. My method isn’t better or worse than others, it’s just the one that served me the best up until now. That’s why, for each step and choices of said process, I will try and explain my reasoning, that way you will be able to assess if it’s a good fit for you or not, or if you can incorporate some elements of it into your process.

With all that out of the way…

Let’s get prepping !

I won’t go into details on the assembly process itself, or how to fill gaps and other build shenanigans, I mainly suck at it. Follow the assembly guide, don’t forget any mold lines, don’t forget any mold lines and you should be fine. Instead, my focus here will be on how I go about prepping subassemblies.

For those who don’t know, painting in subassemblies consist of painting your minis in separated parts before gluing them all back together at the very end. The main advantage is that it make painting most parts of the mini far easier, especially the one partially hidden by others. The main disadvantage is that it requires more prepping than normal and the "gluing back together" step can be a bit nerve wracking at time, with the constant fear of F-ing up your whole finished paint job.

But all in all, with practice, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. In the long run, it will help you increase your paint job quality, so it’s well worth considering giving it a shot.

But how one go about it ?

Generally, if the model allows it, I break my model like this : 

Head

Arms (if the mini is holding a gun with both hands, I glue the gun to one of the arms, but still keep both arms separated because if you assemble both arm to the gun, you run the risk of them being misaligned to the torso once you glue them to it. When separated, you can still adjust things easily)

Body with the legs attached

Backpack

Cape, but only if I can subassemble it in a single piece, otherwise you run the risk of not shading or highlighting it consistently and that would be glaringly obvious once reassembled.

Base

That can change with vehicles, or if the mini is some weird tentacle monsters with 8 arms, but you get the idea.

Don’t go overboard with it though, if you paint every single part separated, you will have a hard time reassembling everything. The trick is to keep things balanced, that’s why I advise you to take the time to think a bit about the best way to subassemble your mini before jumping in and gluing stuff together, you will save time in the end.

Now, how to hold all this separate parts in a way that will allow you to paint them without having to put your greasy little fingers all over them ?

Here are the methods I use depending on the parts :

Method 1 - Small drill + Toothpick

Basically, I drill a small all in a part that will be hidden from view once reassembled, and I stick one pointy end of a toothpick in it. If the hole is long enough, the conic head of the toothpick will get stuck in it. If you can’t drill far enough due to the limited size of a part, you can also slightly cut the tip of the toothpick to help make it fit.

Advantage : No glue involved, meaning you limit massively any risks of f-ing things up.

Disadvantage : It can only work on part with enough plastic to be drilled without drilling to the other side.

Method 2 - Toothpick + superglue

When the part is too small to drill, just put a tiny bit of superglue at the end of a toothpick and glue the part to it. Try to choose an angle that will be hidden from view once reassemble (can sometime be harder than you think). Once finished, if you haven’t put too much superglue, you can pull the toothpick away. If some glue is left behind, you can scratch carefully with the side of an exacto knife.

Advantage : Work with any part of any size

Disadvantage : The superglue let some material on the plastic you will probably need to scratch away with an exacto knife, which can be dangerous for your paint job.

Method 3 - Spare base + superglue

That one work mostly for the body to allow painting the real base separately. You just add some glue under one of the feet (not the two if you can avoid it) and stick it on a spare base. Ideally a smaller base than the final one, letting you more easily work around the mini. Once finished, you just have to slightly push on the mini to break the superglue bond (putting the mini into the fridge can help if you have difficulty removing the part, the cold makes the superglue much more brittle).

Advantage : Make working on the final base much easier

Disadvantage : None I can think of, works like a charm every time, but can only be used for the main body. Arms, heads and the like can’t really stick on a base.

Method 4 – DIY handle + double-sided tape or blue tack

For all the parts that won’t work with the methods above, you have the nuclear option, consisting of using some kind of piece of wood (you can build a DIY handle by screwing two pieces of wood together in a T shape) and adding double-sided tape or some blue tack on it. Push the part you want to hold on it, and voilà. Can work well for big and flat parts, just be careful when you will have to paint the other side to stick it somewhere where you will have an easy time correcting any damage on the paint job.

Advantage : nuclear option that works with almost everything

Disadvantage : The tape / blue tack can damage the paint job depending on where you stick your part to it.

Examples with a big boy that couldn’t fit in my at the time too small handle :

And with a flag that can lay flat :

Once all your subassemblies are finished, one crucial final step remains : with some blue tack, you will mask the zones where you will glue your mini back together at the end of the painting process. That way, once your model has been primed, you will just have to remove the blue tack to show the bare plastic under.

Why bother with that step ? Because the plastic glue work badly over a primer. It doesn’t nullify entirely it’s effect, but it sure slows it, which can be a problem for some parts.

And in the cases where you forgot to add blue tack to some joints, a tip I use is to simply scratch a bit of the primer with an exacto knife to show the bare plastic underneath. Don’t overdo it though.

Once finished, stick all the toothpick into some cork, and you are good to go.

Behold the Grey Plastic Christmas Tree of Doom !!!

Next, it’s priming time !

[cellphishthekaiju]

An Average Quick Guide to Painting a Dark Elf Assassin

Heya fellow painters, here’s another ‘quick’ paint guide for you. Like other quick guides, this is written with the assumption you know some basic painting techniques already (base coating, shading/glazing, and drybrushing/stippling)

Without further ado, let’s get going.

*Model: Tenebral Shard (discontinued) - Games Workshop - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar

Primer/Undercoat:  Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey (Rattle-can)

Skin Base coat: Vallejo Pale Flesh

Skin shade: Citadel Contrast Gryph-Charger Grey

Skin highlight: Citadel Praxeti White (drybrushing)

Pants base coat (the holes in the leggings): Citadel Dark Reaper

Leggings base coat: Vallejo Black

Hair base coat: Vallejo Ghost Grey

*not pictured cause of angle* Pants & Leggings shade: Citadel Nuln Oil

Hair shade/glaze: Citadel Contrast Black Templar

Tattered Cloak/Skirt base coat: Vallejo Leather Brown

Tattered Cloak Shade: Citadel Nuln Oil

Metal Chain/Blade base coat: Vallejo Gun Metal

Metal Chain/Blades shade: Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade

Base: Vallejo Game Chainmail Silver

Armor Base: Vallejo Game Glorious Gold

Armor Shade: Citadel Shade Reikland Fleshshade

Chestplate & Belt Base: Vallejo Game Chainmail Silver

Chestplate & Belt Color: Citadel Contrast Blood Angels Red

Root/Vine Base: Citadel Wraitbone

Root /Vine Color: Citadel Contrast Shyish Purple

Base Shade: Citadel Contrast Talassar Blue

Base Drybrush: Vallejo Game Chainmail Silver

Base Cracking (Drybrush): Vallejo Game Squid Pink

Rim: Vallejo Game Black

And here’s our leaping Dark Elf Assassin ready to go. Hope you enjoyed this guide and check out my other ones or my other works via the usual social media plugs; Instagram (cellphishart), Facebook (CellPhish Artistry), or DeviantArt (Obsian Caetus)

Tips are always welcome: https://ko-fi.com/cellphishart

[thereadersdesire]

[laboratorium-ix]

Decided to take the leap, as I kept changing my mind every other day. Ordered the Vallejo Game Colors Introduction set and Army Painter brush set. Should suffice to dabble around as a (re)beginner. And even if the paints will lie around again, at least I am confident that they will not dry out like the Citadel paints I bought last time around ;) And in the meantime I dug out the ‘Eavy Metal Painting Guide to have some reading material (yes, I also watch Youtube tutorials, I just don’t always feel like spending even more time in front of a screen).

[falchieyan]

Blood Angel Primaris Reiver, “Painting App Style.”

For those of you unfamiliar, Games Workshop has a free painting app that breaks down how to paint models the GW way.  Just as a random experiment to gauge interest, I’ll break down the notes on the colors I used to help(?) anyone who wants to know how I did what I did.  Is this interesting?  Is this something people would want to see for my stuff? Let me know.

For paints listed below, names in [Brackets] are the brand that creates the particular paint.

GREEN: Basecoat - Ordic Olive[Formula P3] Shade - Nuln Oil[Citadel] Highlight 1 - Wurm Green[Formula P3] Highlight 2(corners) - Wurm Green + Sickly Skin[Formula P3]

RED: Basecoat 1 - Mephiston Red[Citadel] Basecoat 2 - Khador Red Base[Formula P3] Shade(corners/grooves only) - Umbral Umber[Formula P3] + Water + Thinning Medium[Vallejo] (3:1:1 ratio) Highlight 1 - Khador Red Highlight[Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Lugganath Orange[Citadel]

BONE WHITE: Basecoat - Rakarth Flesh[Citadel] Shade - Seraphim Sepia[Citadel] Basecoat/Highlight - White

IRON: Basecoat - Gun Metal[Army Painter] Shade - Dark Tone[Army Painter] Highlight - Shining Metal[Army Painter]

GOLD: Basecoat - Glorious Gold[Vallejo] Shade - Strong Tone[Army Painter] Highlight - Shining Metal[Army Painter]

OILED LEATHER: Basecoat - Bloodstone[Formula P3] Shade - Dark Tone[Army Painter] Highlight 1 - Bloodstone + Rucksack Tan[Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Rucksack Tan Shade - Strong Tone[Army Painter]

BLACK LEATHER: Basecoat - Black Highlight 1 - Greatcoat Grey[Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Greatcoat Grey + Sickly Skin[Formula P3] Highlight 3 - Sickly Skin

SEALS: Basecoat - Black Highlight 1 - Coal Black[Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Coal Black + Frostbite[Formula P3] Highlight 3 - Frostbite

[drtreesus]

Some of my painting process

[falchieyan]

Poxwalkers, “Painting App Style.”

The second of this type of post. A breakdown of the notes on the colors I used for these models.

Format for entries: Methodology - Paint Color Name [Paint Brand]

BONE GROWTHS: Basecoat - Coal Black[Formula P3] Highlight 1 - Meredius Blue[Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Meredius Blue + Frostbite [Formula P3] Highlight 3 - Frostbite

BRASS: Basecoat - Weapon Bronze[Army Painter] Shade - Strong Tone[Army Painter] Highlight - Greedy Gold[Army Painter]

PLAGUESKIN: Basecoat - Rakarth Flesh[Formula P3] Shade - Caspian Flesh Wash[Formula P3] + Athonian Camoshade [Citadel] (3:2 ratio)

TENTACLES: (Done over Plagueskin) Glaze - Carroburg Crimson [Citadel] + Purple Tone [Army Painter] + Water + Thinning Medium [Vallejo] (2:1:1:2 ratio, applied in many many thin glazes built up toward ends)

POSTULES: (Done over Plagueskin) Basecoat - Bog Moss [Formula P3] Glaze - 'Ardcoat [Citadel]

LEATHER: Basecoat - Bloodstone [Formula P3] Shade - Dark Tone [Army Painter] Highlight 1 - Bloodstone + Rucksack Tan [Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Rucksack Tan Highlight 3 - 'Jack Bone [Formula P3] (corners only)

OOZE: Basecoat - Wurm Green [Formula P3] Highlight - Sickly Skin [Formula P3 Glaze - 'Ardcoat [Citadel]

RUSTY IRON: Basecoat - Gun Metal [Army Painter] Shade - Dark Tone [Army Painter] Glaze - Bloodstone [Formula P3] + Water (built up for rust effect) Highlight - Shining Silver [Army Painter]

BLACK: Basecoat - Abaddon Black [Citadel] Highlight 1 - Greatcoat Grey [Formula P3] Highlight 2 - Greatcoat Grey + Sickly Skin [Formula P3] Highlight 3 - Sickly Skin