Focused work: Noh Empire Assembled!

Beautiful!

Now that I'm picking up the hobby again, one strategy I've decided to follow is Focus.  Us gamers love to try the latest board game (Star Wars Rebellion or Star Wars Destiny?) or follow the latest Kickstarter (Relic Knights 2.0?), and why not?  It's a hobby!  Just do whatever is interesting!  However, with my collection of unpainted Relic Knights, Super Dungeon Explore, Infinity, Malifaux, not to mention 3d-printed proxies for Star Wars X-wing and Armada I'm working on, I didn't have enough focus to get any one thing done. 

A New Year, A Fresh Start on the hobby, and Relic Knights 2.0

Dynamic models from Relic Knights 1.0

Wow! It's been a while!  Lots has changed since the last time: I graduated, I moved, I got a job, I got married, and more recently I bought a house.  And when you spend all your time remodeling said house, not a whole lot of time is left for hobbies! But all of that is winding down now, and my new goal is to get my mountain of miniatures painted before a kid comes along.  And nothing gets the mojo going like following a Kickstarter: Relic Knights 2nd Edition =D.

Painted Dwarf Fighter hero from SDE

Never toss a dwarf!

Hey folks, here's my first mini from Super Dungeon Explore painted up.  I choose the dwarf since he was my least favorite hero to try a new priming scheme, but now that he's painted, he's my most favorite!  Plus he's plays really well too, a tank immune to knockdown effect, perfect against the dragonlings in the base set!

I'm particularly fond of the beard work and the Non-Metal Metallic i used on the ax/shield.  It's my first time using the NMM technique where you paint the reflection using shades of grey instead of actual metallic paint.    I though it turned out fairly well considering i kept it simple and didn't use a ton of shades (only ~5).  

The priming technique i used this time is gray spray paint primer and then dry-brush white to highlight the details. I think it works better because although i like white primer for bright color, it always seems to take a thicker layer to get an even coat than grey or black.  Grey is a good balance.  The white only picks up on the  edges which gives your color basecoat a natural slight highlight.   Also the extra layers of white builds up where you want the build up (on the edges) so it's better than using a wash which fills in areas and decreases overall detail.  conceptually.  it may not actually make a significant difference.

Anyway, the game is great and we've been playing it a lot so i'll be painting the rest of the heroes up soon!

WIP: Painted Castle Ravenloft figures

Instead of the usual friday night foray into the depths of Castle Ravenloft with my gaming friends, we decided to have a miniature painting party instead! and painted up some of the heroes and monsters from the game!

Navia Dratp in progress painting

In Progress: All I need to do is the eye detail, and maybe freehand the orange/red tattoos on his shoulder.

Recently I've been working on some Navia Dratp figures I've had primed up for the longest time.  They're part of a Japanese chess/Shogi variant where these special units can be "summoned" to the chessboard. At approximately 54mm scale, the detail on these guys are pretty nice and they're really easy to paint.  I've been using them as my practice into the world of miniature painting.  Plus the set of them were like dirt cheap since the game's been out of print for years now. The game is pretty good, lots of fun with different win conditions, but it suffered from terrible naming and probably bad marketing. And some of the character designs are just plain weird.  These two are among my favorites.  The pose on the Pterodactyl (below) is pretty dynamic too.  My painting technique here is pretty much all dry-brushing.  I haven't really moved up to blending or advanced techniques like that but it's amazing how good you can get something to look with just a simple darker color basecoat and dry-brushing up the lighter shades.  Also, this size 2 Filbert is my newest favorite brush for detailed, controlled dry-brushing. =)

probably add the red tattoos on his head an call it done!

Getting started in miniature painting

Don't skip the prep work!  I've tried painting without cleaning or priming and it just makes life harder in the end.

So you just got yourself a shiny (or plastic) miniature, now what? You want to try out this "miniature painting" thing without breaking the bank on something you're not sure you'll enjoy? What's the most cost effective way to start while avoiding common beginner pitfalls? I'm here to answer all that plus what tools do you need, brushes sizes, paints, and priming and more so you'll be off to a good start!

DIY Paint Rack

Made myself a paint rack out of foam board + hot glue, very easy, probably took about an hour.  Shelves are 3.5cm deep (size of my largest paint pot (Reaper Pros), and craft paint bottles), and 3cm tall per step.  5 support struts over 20inch length.  3 steps for 4 rows (counting the ground row).  Looks great and it was free!

Fully populated.  most of my metallic paint not here since they aren't used often.

First resin kit finished!

100% hand-painted! Yes, it's possible to get good results without an airbrush as long as your paints are thinned so they level evenly. This is Mina from Soul Calibur, on clearance so i thought it suitable for a test article.

Woohoo! Check out my first resin kit project fully painted and assembled! If you don't know resin kits or garage kits are typically japanese models, 1/8 scale, hence they are quite a bit bigger than your typical table-top miniature figure. I got this one on clearance to test if i would be able to paint resin kits reasonably well without an airbrush before spending more money on an expensive Ah! My Goddess resin kit which i really want to paint. I think it turned out pretty good! But i did learn a few tips for resin kits which differ from normal miniatures painting techniques:

Miniature Painting Resolution!

If you are going to practice a skill every day, set up an environment conducive for the activity.  In my case,  I cleaned up my workbench and put ALL my paints on display, ready to be used.  If i'm going to be painting daily for only an hour, i don't want to waste time looking for paints.   Paint pots at the top group by color, brushes and tools on the right for easy access, and drying model pieces on the left on floral foam stands so i can paint a piece in the center and swap out for the next piece.  Maybe i should make a paint rack.

 

I tell people i paint miniatures but the reality is i haven't painted all that much.  7 "real" miniatures of Navia Dratp to be exact.  After i got started with navia dratp, i got all into it, read a bunch of painting blogs, bought loads paints and quality brushes, then got burnt out with painting repetitive Arcane Legions figures.  Since then, i've amassed a bunch of interesting models, but never got back into actually painting them!    I keep reading miniature painting blogs but it all seems kinda hollow since i don't actually paint.  

I've decided that i really DO want to paint all these miniatures and i do want to get really good at it.  The best way to learn how to do something, is to stop reading about it and to do it.  The only real way to get better at something is to do it every day.  The reason why i cook so well is because i cook pretty much every other day.   Thus, i've resolved to paint 1 hr a day, and to paint my existing collection before buying any more figures!   (but maybe i'll ask for that super sweet Winged Nazgul on Fell Beast model for Christmas  ^__^  ).   

Of course,  i have a slew of other skills i want to improve with the 1 hour/day treatment (like martial arts, music, language) but let's try one resolution at a time. 

Painted Roman Army from Arcane Legions

All the units of the Roman faction from the starter set have been painted! Finally!

Here's the line of thinking that started it all:
-Is there a tabletop miniature wargame with an Asian-themed army? Oooo, Arcane Legions has a Chinese-themed army, called the Han faction! And it's cheap!
-I don't want to mess up painting the Han army, so i'll paint a few Romans units to test out prep, prime, paint, and finishing techniques.
-They look pretty good, i should just finish painting the entire Roman army.

Man, that took forever.  Nothing kills creativity and excitement like monotony, and painting 10 identical units gets boring quick. Maybe if the sculpts were better, like units from games workshop with lots of detail, it would be more interesting to paint an entire army. But that means it would also take much more time to finish. I guess that's why most miniature games are skirmish-level, i.e. usually 5 to 10 units per side duking it out, because it's much easier to get them painted and start playing the game. Arcane Legions is a mass-action level, so 4 or 5 formations of 10 units each is typical.

Hateraid: I hated painting legs. Curved structures can't be painted with one careful brush stroke. You have to turn the figure. And each figure has two legs! and two arms! What a pain!

Loveraid:
-They look great! Much more fun to play with good-looking army.
-Worked out painting techniques like priming and finishing. Settled in on the ones i liked with a few test pieces.
-My brush stroke is much more controlled now. You get better after 40 figures so you paint more efficiently and faster.
-Figured out how paint consistency is related to how much paint is loaded on the brush. To keep thinned paint from pooling in crevices, you have to remove enough paint from the brush so it acts more like dry-brushing and paint will stay on the raised surfaces.

Future:
I'm probably only going to paint detailed, inidividual figures from now on. It keeps thing more interesting for me. I'll paint the Han faction when i'm all out of individual miniatures.