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Painting Figures

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  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: St. Paul
  • 823 posts
Posted by garya on Sunday, March 31, 2019 8:54 PM

SeeYou190

I am a nationally recognized high profile award winning figure painter.

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Do you really want to know the right way to paint figures, or do you just want to slap some paint on no better than pre-painted hobby shelf garbage?

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Miniature figure painting is a hobby all in its own...

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Let me know if you really want to know how to do it right, and if you do, I will put together a reply.

-Kevin

 

Nice work, but I'm sensing some hostility here, and I'm not sure why.

Gary

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: St. Paul
  • 823 posts
Posted by garya on Sunday, March 31, 2019 9:04 PM

Thanks everyone for good advice.

RR_Mel
Sorry Gary, we knida dinged your topic about priming.  I just clean the figures up with a small paint brush dipped in Acetone (damp not saturated) after getting rid of the mold lines and then do it to it with Acrylic Crafters Paints.

mbinsewi

OOOPS! sorry OP, I wandered away with the rest.

Threads seem to do that in here.  Confused

Mike.

 

It's alright.  I enjoyed the digression.

Here's what I have:

I have some very small figures, which must be 1:100 scale.  My daughter and I were going to seat them in the Hogwarts Express, so they don't have to be very well done:

Here they are with an Atlas figure, and some Harry Potter Dicers figures:

My vision's not great, but maybe I'll get my daughter to paint them, just like Brent...

Gary

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Sunday, March 31, 2019 9:29 PM

Even with the smaller scale, my experience has been that the legs need to come off to get them in the seats.

Maybe try'em before you paint.

Mike.

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 2,360 posts
Posted by kasskaboose on Monday, April 1, 2019 7:25 AM

Follwing an MR article about painting figures, there's no need to prime.  I too use craft paint for figures.  They can get done assembly line style.

O.K. please resume with the tangent about figures.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, April 1, 2019 8:05 AM

garya
Nice work, but I'm sensing some hostility here, and I'm not sure why.

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No hostility, I just want to be sure you really want my answer.

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If you want a quick answer, I am not your guy. If you really want to become a good figure painter, I can really help a lot.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, April 1, 2019 8:21 AM

Here is the process for painting HO scale hat tipping guy.

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I did this yesterday in less than 30 minutes, including picture taking time.

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If you want me to go over the whole process, just ask.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Monday, April 1, 2019 9:42 AM

I would like to know your secrets.  I doubt I'll be wooping your caboose in any contests, though.

 

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, April 1, 2019 9:49 AM

BigDaddy
I would like to know your secrets

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I will share.

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Maybe I can do something on Wednesday, if not, it will be probably three weeks before I have time.

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For hat tipping guy I used some of the new Citadel Texture Paints and Citadel Effects Paints to see how they went. 

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The results were good, but if I post a how-to, I really want to do it right.

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...please stand by...

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Monday, April 1, 2019 4:24 PM

We will be here.  In the meantime, how many bristles are on the brush you use to paint the whites of the eyes. 2...3?  Big Smile

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    February 2017
  • From: Ayer, MA by way of Queens, NY
  • 84 posts
Posted by TheGamp on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 2:48 PM

Kevin, put me down as a +1 for interest in your techniques. 

I won't go down the rabbit hole of reposting the pic of my miniaturized friend with his pants down from my other message thread (thanks again to RR Mel for that fix). He was done attempting the Brifayle method. 

Right now I'm wrestling with matching skin tones for the rest of my scan victims. 

  • Member since
    June 2018
  • From: Chicago, IL
  • 306 posts
Posted by Eilif on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 12:57 PM

SeeYou190

 

I used Minwax dip on my 15mm WW2 Germans several posts above. I used the Walnut Polyshades because I wanted them to look really grimy.

 

I tried dipping some HO figures, but I did not like the results. What works for a messy wargame does not quite translate to the look I am striving for on my 1954 piece of make believe paradise.

 

I even tried using the Pecan and Pine shades, but never had an acceptable result.

 

I think the reason so many HO scale figures look toy-like is because the pallette for skin tone is always too light, making them look like porcelain dolls.

 

There is a learning curve to get civilians to look right.

 

Another difficulty coming over from wargames is the lack of molded on detail, boring poses, and lack of facial depth. Trying to highlight figures with no cheeks or lips is a pain.

 

18mm is a good match for HO scale. There are a few wargaming figures that can be used on your railroad. The "fodder" pack from All Quiet On The Martian Front had a couple of gems in it.

 

Please share pictures of you Preiser figures.

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Do you ever go to Adepticon?

 

-Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

     Good to know about your experiences with the dip.  I've yet to paint any HO figures yet, but I'm plotting...

Good to know about the pitfalls of HO figures with lack of details.  I've also been wondering about suitable 18m figs and I'll check out the pack you mention.  I agree that skin-tones are one of the big give-aways on HO figures.

I was at Adepticon.  if you saw the Table in "Utopia" ballroom where we were running a 28mm mecha game, that was mostly my terrain and units.

Last year's was even more better: https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2018/04/24/adepticon-2018-showdown-at-valstetech-airfield/

 

Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading. 

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 3:02 PM

SeeYou190
Maybe I can do something on Wednesday, if not, it will be probably three weeks before I have time

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Here it is Wednesday, and I just am not going to have time. So sorry. I will not be back in my painting workshop until the 13th, so I will work on it then.

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BigDaddy
We will be here. In the meantime, how many bristles are on the brush you use to paint the whites of the eyes. 2...3?

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I use only a Windsor & Newton Series 7 #000 round pointed brush for all figure painting.

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Eilif
I was at Adepticon. if you saw the Table in "Utopia" ballroom where we were running a 28mm mecha game, that was mostly my terrain and units

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I have never been to Adepticon, but there are some 40K armies that come up from Florida that I built and painted a lot of the custom "centerpiece" models.

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If you ever have seen an awesome model from Florida, and thought, "I wonder who built that", it might have been me.

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-Kevin

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Living the dream.

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • 6,526 posts
Posted by RR_Mel on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 4:42 PM

Well at least I’m using the correct brushes.  The Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes are pretty darn good.  I bought mine about 5 or 6 years ago from Blick Art Materials and they still have a very nice point on them.
 
I have a brush cleaning station that never lets the brush tip touch the bottom, very important in keeping the brush tips sharp.
 
 
Mel
 
 
My Model Railroad   
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
 

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