Paint Talk! with EricJ

[EricJ]

Ok, so I do love to talk Painting, even though I don't have nearly enough time to actually do it anymore, but I thought I'd start up a whole thread to discuss painting with you all. I figure that it will keep everything in one place, as sadly I also don't have time to keep up on all the forums posts anymore either :(

So post up questions, discussion topic, minis you want feedback on, anything paint related, painting tool related, conversion/sculpting related, and I'll give my thoughts, instructions, feedback, anything really!

It's Paint Talk! with EricJ :D

[Dark Alleycat]

Ok,let me be the first then lol.

I would love to know a mild tidbit about the planned Avatar sculpts. Are they going to be on the same size bases? or on bigger bases? Reason I ask is I am allready planning on getting bases put together for Criid and Seamus.

Also..Say someone dearly dearly wanted to be part of the Wyrd crew painting miniatures. What would I have to do to accomplish that? I know my painting has to increase in skill level,but im getting better all the time so I know I can. Since I started painting,the one goal i have would be to work for a company as awesome as Wyrd...and since there is only one company like that...I figure I would ask the source.

[FoeRender]

This is an awesome idea for a thread , i cant wait to see where this goes !

I have been holding off on buying new paints , I feel my painting reached the point to where I really want to get technical , so the question I have is what paints do you recommend and which colors from which companies . I am going to make a bulk purchase of new paints .

[Onikaji]

Like FoeRender, I'm working on upping my skills, specifically I'm looking to do multi-layer blends, I have all the mediums, thinners, etc. generally needed, but the one thing I really have trouble with is getting the consistency of the blend right, I know "skim milk" is the target, but how do you know when you get there? usually it gets so thin, that it looks like i'm just wetting my brush instead of actually getting paint on it.

[CMac]

It's Paint Talk! with EricJ :D

Do you stick to any one line of paints, or do you find you use what you like from the different ranges?

Along those lines; whose inks & washes do you prefer to use.

[EricJ]

Ok,let me be the first then lol.

I would love to know a mild tidbit about the planned Avatar sculpts. Are they going to be on the same size bases? or on bigger bases? Reason I ask is I am allready planning on getting bases put together for Criid and Seamus.

Also..Say someone dearly dearly wanted to be part of the Wyrd crew painting miniatures. What would I have to do to accomplish that? I know my painting has to increase in skill level,but im getting better all the time so I know I can. Since I started painting,the one goal i have would be to work for a company as awesome as Wyrd...and since there is only one company like that...I figure I would ask the source.

Expect Avatars to be on 50mm bases :D

The best way to work towards getting onto the Wyrd paint crew is to paint a lot of wyrd minis and show them off a lot! As you improve, the first step is usually getting our attention enough to start doing some minis for our demos at conventions like Gencon, where we need a ton of well painted (but not top level studio/display level). This gets you on our radar and we go from there. Don't hold your breathe for making it rich though, painting isn't exactly lucrative

[EricJ]

This is an awesome idea for a thread , i cant wait to see where this goes !

I have been holding off on buying new paints , I feel my painting reached the point to where I really want to get technical , so the question I have is what paints do you recommend and which colors from which companies . I am going to make a bulk purchase of new paints .

My favorites are P3 and GW paints, which I generally use interchangeably, although I think I like the quality of the P3's a bit better, so usually paint with them more. But by using both brands you get a ton of color choices and subtle variations to play with in your painting.

What I tend to look for is high density of pigment in the paint, and that it's ground very fine, which allows for thinning of the paint to go on in very thin layers.

But bottom line is that nearly all the paints targeted to mini painters tend to be good quality, and in a lot of ways it's a matter of taste and style. I would even suggest getting 2-3 pots of different types and just try it out, and see how it feels on your brush!

[vxghost]

Are you perhaps going to be at KublaCon (in 2 weeks)?

[EricJ]

Like FoeRender, I'm working on upping my skills, specifically I'm looking to do multi-layer blends, I have all the mediums, thinners, etc. generally needed, but the one thing I really have trouble with is getting the consistency of the blend right, I know "skim milk" is the target, but how do you know when you get there? usually it gets so thin, that it looks like i'm just wetting my brush instead of actually getting paint on it.

I actually HATE the term "skim milk" and its something I've seen in painting tutorials for YEARS. Just how thin is skim milk?! it's really quite an abstract term, and honestly, there are times in your painting when you'll want more or less paint in your brush depending on how much pigment you want to add at one time to your mini. Bottom line is you're not trying to reach some golden medium where there is the "correct" amount of paint, but rather get to a place where your paint is thin enough to flow freely from your brush. There is a whole range where this occurs. Sadly, you won't get comfortable with it until you do it a LOT.

So step one is to simply get your paint watery enough so that it flows into your brush. The best way to tell if this is the case is to mix some paint, and with a dry brush, touch it with just the tip. If your paint wicks up into the brush, and is IN the bristles, not coated on the outside of your bristles, you're in a good range.

I think however, step two is where most people make the biggest mistake. Step two is removing most of the paint from your brush, so that your bristles are damp but not wet. I hear so often about people getting this nice wet paint which flows easily, and then trying to paint and having it just pool up in the cracks of the mini. If you ever get anything close to pooling, you have WAY too much paint in your brush. When I paint, I usually get just a little paint on the brush, then run it over my palate 2-3-5-9 times to remove paint so there is just enough to keep the bristles damp.

When you get the right amount of paint on your brush, you run the brush over the mini, and you are putting down just a very thin layer of paint, without pooling. And once you put down that layer, it should dry in about 20-30 seconds at most (sometimes 2-5 seconds), so even though you're putting down layers which barely change the look of the mini, you can put down 10-20-50 layers very quickly to build up color, and allow you to get really nice clean blending. Again, the amount of paint on your brush also can vary depending on what you want to do, and again it's all based on doing it over and over to get a feel for it. But if you EVER get pooling, you're not doing it right.

[EricJ]

Do you stick to any one line of paints, or do you find you use what you like from the different ranges?

Along those lines; whose inks & washes do you prefer to use.

I use P3 and GW probably about 99% of the time. And I Actually never use inks or washes, but rather just use watered down versions of paints I already own. :D

I also never use any thinner other than simple water, which I find does the trick just perfectly!