Paint Talk! with EricJ

[nilus]

I got a question for Eric.

Hypothetically If I wanted to gain your painting skills would eating your brain be sufficient or would I also have to figure out a way to attach your severed hands to my arms?

and now for the real question

What are you thoughts on air brushes? Have you used them at all?

[ThePandaDirector]

It's Paint Talk! with EricJ

You should definitely have your own TV series

Again, thank you and everyone else who has given me advice so far, I'm feeling more confident and motivated each day.

Some questions though:

1) What is your experience with wet palettes, how do they influence the way you work with paints (such as layout, thinning and consistency)?

2) I bought the Master Brush Cleaner and Preserver for my W&N brushes, but was also recommended W&N Cleaner and Restorer as well as Hair Conditioner. While I stand in the supermarket staring at hair conditioner (my long hair will make it look more/less normal), what maintanince "regime" works best for you? Do you have a pot of soapy water next to your water pot for frequent cleaning while doing weekly overnight soaks, etc?

3) I find it interesting that you prime by hand, I heard a good method for spraying was black followed by white (applied with a "pfft pfft" method according to Massive Voodoo). What are your thoughts on this method and would it be possible by hand (drybrushing?)

4) Finally I have looked at the models I will be painting (Justice is coming to the Highlands!) and noticed on various models, details that were in conflicting places, i.e. details in hard to reach places, next to each other, etc. I used to start with metal, but now I am going more away from drybrushing I wondered if the in-out approach is best for doing "deeper" details first, while doing shading on the model last (considering I plan on working mostly with glazes). Having always primed black before I'm also a little aprehensive about working from light-dark.

Thanks again, I know painting takes time and practice, but the more info I have going in the more reward my patience will yield. Plus I can't afford to be using every model I buy as a test, unless my newly acquired Skaven army is reduced to lab rats.

[EricJ]

Ok i have a question actually. I recently painted a convict gunslinger and to be honest i think its the best thing ive painted to date. But i want to keep pushing and get better so im at a level where im not scared to take on any project.

I'd like your feedback on what i can improve, what you think works/doesnt. You wont hurt my feelings so be brutally honest please.

(note the metal showing in the pic from the back has been all fixed up)

Nice work on this one! but of course since you want better feedback than that, I'll get deep into it

First off, the blending on the skin and pants looks top notch, great job there. Blending is going to be your best tool forever!

I'll dig into composition as I think it's key to this one. The first thing that people will see on this miniature is the pants, the bright orange draws the eye, while the rest of the miniature relies on rather muted tones. The result is that the eye sees those pants, and actually has a rather hard time moving away from them to the rest of the figure. The result is a figure who is a pair of paints, which happens to have a convict gunslinger around it, when you look closer

The main issue I'm hinting at is that there is a disconnect between the pants and figure, which makes them feel like they belong in 2 different scenes. One which is bright, with a bright light resulting in few shadows and the ability to see colors clearly, perhaps outdoors in sunlight. The other seems the result of lower, cooler (more bluish) light, that lays down shadows more easily and mutes colors. This results in a disconnect between the 2 areas, and hurts the overall believability of the illusion you're creating in the miniature.

My first suggestion would be to do something to extend the shadows on the pants, and generally mute the color in order to bring it into line with the rest of the figure, as I feel the darker, more muted look works better for this figure.

Next I'll look at your accents, which in this case are the dark areas created by the shoes, guns and ammo belts. The location actually creates a good balance and allows the eye to move around the figure, and actually helps offset the issue with the pants to some degree, so good job with those. If you decided to make any of those a lighter tone would have disrupted that. I do wonder if the hair could be a touch dark to add one more accent which would help define the top of the miniature.

However, the guns themselves seem a bit bland and lacking definition, which lets me down a bit, as your brushwork on the rest of the mini is very good and clean.

The last thing I would mention is that there isn't a clear sense of light in the figure, and exactly what that source of light is. This is one of the keys to nearly all of the most advanced. This does relate to what I was speaking about above with the issue between pants and the rest of the figure, but it goes beyond that. When you start working on a figure, one of the most important things is to decide exactly what type of light do you feel should be shown hitting this figure, as well as the direction of that light, and keep that consistent throughout, as that is how you really start to trick the eye to believing the illusion you're creating.

In this figure there seems to be 2 different types of light as I mentioned above, but also there is no clear direction of that light. So while you have nicely shaded the lower areas and highlighted the raised areas, there is not shading/highlights to help the viewer get a sense of where a light source is hitting the figure in your painted illusion.

I think that is the majority of what I see on this one (well, I probably could type forever, but I think those are the most important things I see )

But bottom line is that you did do a great job on it, and the end result is quite eye-catching, so what I'm discussing is simply the things that you could take from this one to push ahead even further.

[EricJ]

I got a question for Eric.

Hypothetically If I wanted to gain your painting skills would eating your brain be sufficient or would I also have to figure out a way to attach your severed hands to my arms?

and now for the real question

What are you thoughts on air brushes? Have you used them at all?

If I were you, I'd focus more on cloning technology...and when you perfect that...send me 4-5 Eric clones please

I am always amazed by airbrush effects, and would love to learn more...but sadly I've never used one or had much experience with them at all. It's been on my to-do list a long time, but sadly it seems to be constantly falling further and further down the list

[dgraz]

Fantastic idea for a thread. I have a feeling that this will take up quite a bit of your time - you'll be needing those clones - will they be up in the online store when they come available?

Thanks for this thread Eric.

[EricJ]

You should definitely have your own TV series

Again, thank you and everyone else who has given me advice so far, I'm feeling more confident and motivated each day.

Some questions though:

1) What is your experience with wet palettes, how do they influence the way you work with paints (such as layout, thinning and consistency)?

2) I bought the Master Brush Cleaner and Preserver for my W&N brushes, but was also recommended W&N Cleaner and Restorer as well as Hair Conditioner. While I stand in the supermarket staring at hair conditioner (my long hair will make it look more/less normal), what maintanince "regime" works best for you? Do you have a pot of soapy water next to your water pot for frequent cleaning while doing weekly overnight soaks, etc?

3) I find it interesting that you prime by hand, I heard a good method for spraying was black followed by white (applied with a "pfft pfft" method according to Massive Voodoo). What are your thoughts on this method and would it be possible by hand (drybrushing?)

4) Finally I have looked at the models I will be painting (Justice is coming to the Highlands!) and noticed on various models, details that were in conflicting places, i.e. details in hard to reach places, next to each other, etc. I used to start with metal, but now I am going more away from drybrushing I wondered if the in-out approach is best for doing "deeper" details first, while doing shading on the model last (considering I plan on working mostly with glazes). Having always primed black before I'm also a little aprehensive about working from light-dark.

Thanks again, I know painting takes time and practice, but the more info I have going in the more reward my patience will yield. Plus I can't afford to be using every model I buy as a test, unless my newly acquired Skaven army is reduced to lab rats.

I'll go through by number:

1) I actually have never used a wet palate and don't really ever plan to! So unfortunately I don't have much to say about their value. I actually rarely mix paint on my palate, and usually instead use thin layers on the mini itself to achieve the results I would have if I had kept a paint mix on a wet palate.

2) Again, I have never really used anything other than water and spit (yes, I'm a brush licker). I have found that if you you never let paint dry on your brush while painting, you never have to clean dried paint off your brush later! This means using thinner paints, and rinsing your brush regularly while you paint, even if you're not changing to a different color! I've had the same brushes for years just taking care of them in this way, so I really don't have much feedback on those products unfortunately!

3) I know it became a fad to use your primer to basically help define a source of light (often called Zenithal priming). Basically priming it black, and then from the top down priming lightly with white, which resulted in the appearance of light coming down from the Zenith, which helps you when painting to define a source of the light. I can see a use to this, as it's a short cut, but I also see major drawbacks. I don't use spray on because it's thicker than brush on, and can dull the details of the mini, so using this method requires 2 coats, dulling details further. Also, I think that while it's a shortcut to understanding about painting light source location, it's not a great way to really learn about how to create the illusion, and I'd rather see people engage the real issue, and learn the techniques, rather than relying on a shortcut which will plateau out on them fairly quickly.

4) I tend to finish the harder to reach areas first for sure. Although I tend to go over the whole mini, painting a base coat, then do a layer of shading. After that I return to finish areas one at a time. I find this gives me a uniform sense of shadow throughout the mini, and also allows me to "get to know" the mini, and all the details to figure out just what will be harder to reach as I paint.

And remember, basically every model you paint IS a test, just don't try to re-invent the wheel each time, just pick one small thing on each to push your skills, so even if you mess it up, you can just fix it up in a way you're more comfortable and move to the next mini. Don't dwell too long on one mini, I always think that when you're learning and pushing yourself to improve, quantity is ALWAYS better than quality, so just paint a lot, and your quality will improve faster than just dwelling on one mini, trying to perfect it.

[EricJ]

Fantastic idea for a thread. I have a feeling that this will take up quite a bit of your time - you'll be needing those clones - will they be up in the online store when they come available?

Thanks for this thread Eric.

Clones will be available in the online store, and available for pre-order once they go into production

[dgraz]

What brush on primer do you use?

[EricJ]

The one I've used for a long time and seems to do the trick is Reaper pro series brush on white primer. Honestly I haven't tried a ton since this one seems to do the trick so I haven't had a need to branch out to see what else may work

[Dark Alleycat]

Ok I posted this elsewhere...but I want to do something similar to what the other guy did with his convict gunslinger. Take it apart,see what i can improve on.

To my mind,so far it is my best peice.The Austringer I just did was good,but the face sculpt made it very difficult to do it justice. And I couldn't find a good highlighting color for it. I miss my tentacle pink lol. Anyways...Tell me what you think I can do to improve it. Tear it apart if need be I wont be offended,and It will help.

[dgraz]

I miss my tentacle pink lol.

Warlock purple and white is tentacle pink.

[Da Big Baws]

Hi Eric! I wanted to ask some questions and pass them along to my personal painter, my brother (you may recall me mentioning he takes care of all my hobbyist side of wargaming as I'm handicapped). Here we go:

1. What washes, inks, and/or glazes do you like to use?

2. Anyone over there at Wyrd HQ have painted some of C. Hoffman's crew? Looking for color scheme ideas as my First member of my crew arrived today, the Peacekeeper.

3. More modeling than painting, but got any tips for doing tech-y bases, or fitting bases, for crews like Ramos's or Hoffman's?

[Tiny]

Thanks alot for the feedback eric! Exactly what i was after. Now i just need to find some tutorials on directional lighting and im away!

[FoeRender]

@eric I know your take on primer , do you feel the same about your varnish/sealer ? lately I have been looking into a paint on matt varnish . I feel like conditions have to be perfect to spray on varnish , even than you sometimes get the dreaded white powdery mist .

Do you paint on you varnish as well ?

[Sliver Chocobo]

Expect Avatars to be on 50mm bases

Is Lord Chompy Bit going to get smaller then

[EricJ]

Ok I posted this elsewhere...but I want to do something similar to what the other guy did with his convict gunslinger. Take it apart,see what i can improve on.

To my mind,so far it is my best peice.The Austringer I just did was good,but the face sculpt made it very difficult to do it justice. And I couldn't find a good highlighting color for it. I miss my tentacle pink lol. Anyways...Tell me what you think I can do to improve it. Tear it apart if need be I wont be offended,and It will help.

As always, I'll dig into it, but before I do, I think you did a nice job on this one.

What really works is you color selection and placement. When you first look at the figure, your eye is drawn to the center of the figure, to either that red or green, as they really stand out among the more neutral browns and blacks/metals of the rest of the model. Your eye is then drawn down the the blue, and finally around the rest of the figure. Basically your color selection centers the figure nicely, and creates a balanced feel.

However, what does need work is your blending, and taking the shades from darker to lighter, to create more depth in each section of the figure. Starting the the green, it's hard to make out almost any shading or highlights, other than what is provided from the lighting in which the photograph was taken. To get a more realistic result, you will have to use your paint to define the light and shadows of the figure. And of course to do this effectively you will need more transitions from dark to light, and do THAT effectively takes practice blending blending blending!

Like the Convict gunslinger above, you've also chosen black/metallic as an Accent to the figure, and the combination of guns, kneepads and ammo belt are quite balanced, again creating a balanced final figure. (The red also provides accents, and that too is balanced between scarf, belt, and around the knees) But again, each of these places could use an improvement in highlighting and blending to make them look more realistic.

So I think my biggest suggestion would be to work on your shading, highlights, and of course your skills in blending between the two extremes. That skill alone is the foundation of nearly every technique as your painting improves.

Hope this helps!

Eric

[EricJ]

Hi Eric! I wanted to ask some questions and pass them along to my personal painter, my brother (you may recall me mentioning he takes care of all my hobbyist side of wargaming as I'm handicapped). Here we go:

1. What washes, inks, and/or glazes do you like to use?

2. Anyone over there at Wyrd HQ have painted some of C. Hoffman's crew? Looking for color scheme ideas as my First member of my crew arrived today, the Peacekeeper.

3. More modeling than painting, but got any tips for doing tech-y bases, or fitting bases, for crews like Ramos's or Hoffman's?

again, going through by number

1) I actually don't use any pre-made products. All I use is my normal paints watered down. And I mean just water, I don't even use any of the additives. I find I can still achieve what I want, AND I don't have to try to match paint colors to wash colors in order to get effects I am looking for.

2) Commander Y (on these forums) painted all the Hoffman crew, and did so brilliantly, feel free to ask him how he did it!

3) I hate to say it, but bases aren't my strongest suit. I just never really got as deeply into them as I probably should have. It's one of the reasons that nearly all my minis are now on Wyrd Bases . However, if you are looking for techy, I know you can find a TON of great tiny gears, metal bits, etc... at your typically hobby/train store. Train modeling tends to have tons of bits like this and usually with great fine detail which you can use to combine onto your bases.

[EricJ]

Thanks alot for the feedback eric! Exactly what i was after. Now i just need to find some tutorials on directional lighting and im away!

I know Coolminiornot.com has quite a few articles on it. And I've done it a TON, so I'm always happy to discuss the theories, and give you feedback as you test out different things.

[EricJ]

@eric I know your take on primer , do you feel the same about your varnish/sealer ? lately I have been looking into a paint on matt varnish . I feel like conditions have to be perfect to spray on varnish , even than you sometimes get the dreaded white powdery mist .

Do you paint on you varnish as well ?

I actually don't usually use sealer, as I usually paint display pieces that are never really used for gaming. However, when I do need to seal a miniature, there is only ONE that I will ever ever use, which is [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dullcote-Spray-Testors-Enamel-Plastic/dp/B0035LOUMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305738532&sr=8-1]Testors Dullcote[/ame]. Once you use it you will know why. It has NO gloss to it, and creates a wonderful smooth finish, and I have never gotten a hint of the mist effect, which can of course ruin a mini. Check it out

And if you are wondering, yes, it is worth the price!

[Dark Alleycat]

Ya,Testors dullcote is awesome. And thanks again for the advice on the fig..I have been cheating and using a light wash to get the faded linen effect i wanted on the shirts,but I think i can focus on getting that effect myself next time lol. Any recommendations on good tutorials for blending practice?

[FoeRender]

I will check out that testors dull coat , thanks !

[Ratty]

I've found if you need much more durability for playing models, if you gloss coat and then put Testor's over the top it will knock it straight back. So you will have the protection of gloss with the texture of matt.

Also I believe Testor's is no longer available in the UK. The Army Painter Anti-shine is quite good, but I have had misting issues. I'm very careful to only use it if the weather is good and I've done a test on my sacrificial zombie.

[dafruk]

Testors should still be available but they had to change the formula (think they were removing toluene), from what I've heard nothing different in the performance.

[Cadilon]

Add another vote for Testors Dull Coat. Great stuff.

[Manicmac]

Just remember. When using Testor's Dullcote, you MUST shake the daylights out of it. Shake it until you cannot shake anymore, then get your kids neighbors, passers by to shake it. Place it in a pan of warm water for a few moments, remove, then shake again. Continue shaking until you are sure your arm has fallen off, then switch arms and shake.

Yes, I have had Dullcote do some very nasty things to finished models, brought me to tears it did.

I have found the .97 cent Walmart flat coat works well and is far cheaper and makes me smile.