Shock & Awe

Finally got some painting in. This is my very poor imitation of Marco and Squidmar's night scene approach. Came out better than I thought, but still have a lot to figure out.

@Brushgit – You paint too fast!! You have too many models for me to love… where to start. I love the back of the Ronin’s coat. That mud effect is something I need to learn. BBB’s cat’s skin tone is perfect too… very “Dr. No”. I also really like the orb on the chicken’s head too 😊 Vanessa’s skirt, man… the transitions are so good. I need to figure out how to do that, too. The muscle highlights on Big Jake are ace as well.

@wobbly_goggy – I love the base on that … gremlin? Not sure which model that is! The water effect is perfect though. Well done with the fire effect as well.

@TimH – The shells of those whelks are really nice. I like the contrast.

@JordiFort – Welcome! I really like the purple glow on the glove and the glow on his back as well. That is amazing work.

@Moinetbeard – man, that Koi fish is WICKED! The whole narrative of that base is crazy good. Welcome and well done.

@Hobby Wyrd – Already looking sick, keep it up 😊

@Gheist – the cloak and the grapple look amazing. I really like the coloring

@LinenMusician – I love the balance between the snow, the water effects, and the ice on her feet… it all came together really well.

@Viruk – There is so much to love in the Mama Z RH shot – the thing that jumps out though is that swamp effect on the bases, the glow in there is really nice.

@Hawkoon – For a FIRST shot at NMM…. I hate you. That is really good. And the base, man. That is really cool.

57 minutes ago, Gheist said:

I think i get what you mean to be super honest i spend like 10-15 minutes on the Lighting and for that it looks okayish when on the table. it was sort of a tryout for a model i want to paint somewhen this year when i have more time, so the Feedback is very welcome, thank you.

 

Now my language barrier is finally kicking in: so let's see if i get you:

a) the light near the source should be more white, or much whiter than any major reflection

b) light near the source should still cover most of the lighted object while still not being saturated as much as the areas further away

c) i don't really know about the fall off: you are saying the light should cover less space on her left leg right arm and the ground?

i watched some videos about OSL, but i should have watched one before painting. i am grateful for the feedback and not terrible sorry about the model, she still looks allright. i don't think i will change anything about her now, i'll just Carry over the experience to the next model where this might apply.

I purposefully don't airbrush now because i airbrushed before i painted with a brush, i am trying to develop a sense for using brushes

 

If you watch Squidmar’s video that Hawkoon shared, he covers this at about the 10:30 mark

the idea is that as you move away from the light source (the object in her hand) the light will quickly lose intensity. 
 

so the light near her hand and up her arm should be brightest, but by the time it gets to the ground - or even near her head - it should be much fainter. 
 

Marco’s paint job here is … god level … and he really lays this point out well

What I wouldn’t give for half of Marco’s talent  
 

19 hours ago, Gheist said:

This is jessie who might have looked better before i did my impression of OSL.... calling her done before i ruin her more

Can I ask one quick question, is the light source the object in her hand? 

3 minutes ago, Hawkoon said:

I didn't make any comments regarding brushes and what others have said sums it up pretty well i think. But I would like to add that, even though expensive, Artis Opus have some really good drybrushes (series-D).

I'll add that in. I still need to finish up the "Brush Care" page this month, so I throw that in there when I do.

So, as promised, I threw together all the information everyone in the Monthly Painting Challenge provided on paint brushes throughout January and put it into a very simple website. 

My hope is to gather the info we all share each month to make a complete "Beginners Guide" 

Important thing to note: 

1. I borrowed images and used quotes from many of you - if you do not like this, or if you want your image removed, please do not hesitate to PM me and I will take it down immediately. 

Also, I am still very green at many things hobby - so if I missed something, or should add something, please let me know. 

That said, please take a look and let me know what you think! 

Putting Paint to Plastic | A site dedicated to the hobby of painting plastic miniatures (wordpress.com)

Cheers, and keep slinging that paint! 

10 hours ago, muraki said:

Painted a couple of puppet riders this month, which is good as they're fun models, but I also wanted to only paint 1 a month to make sure I wasn't trying to figure out what to paint, haha.  While I enjoyed painting them, I am a bit disappointed that I decided to paint them semi-similar to the pro painted ones, which just shows how far off I am, ha.

 

Super stoked to see someone tackle these. I too was thinking of purchasing those inserts to help "bulk" them up (ie: fill all that 50 mm space )  Glad to see this, and I really like your take on them

It's been an interesting end to January with some rando things in the mix, but now it's back to painting  

My plans for the month: Need to finish my W&W set, and all that's left is Pandora. 

Once she's done I'm going to move on to the Autumn Knights. I'll try and crank out all three, but I'm going to aim for two. 

That should net me 29ss if I get Pandora and two knights. Here's hoping  

Sweet Pete, 120mm... that is bonkers. 

Now I kinda want to buy one just to see all that plastic  ... and it also makes the $75 price tag a bit more understandable. 

The Horomatangi does look cool. Darn you Wyrd.... you're gonna end up with all my pennies  

I too am really looking forward so seeing her painted. Also, if you don't mind, throw up a picture of the model next to one of the other Sonnia 32mm so I can get an idea of the size. 

That's a bit princessy of me to ask, so feel free to ignore it  

2 minutes ago, Gheist said:

if my eyes do not betray me if thats the 32mm variant i would say it's a master and thus she'll be 15 SS.

I am unsure what the 75mm version would net someone to paint, but unless someone opposes me there i would go with my gut feeling and say same as TOS Titan, 25SS

No @Gheist that is the 75mm one. Check it out - 

@Hobby Wyrd - I think Gheist's call of putting it at 25ss sounds fair though. 

However, just for clarification sake, can someone tell me what the standard base size is for a TOS Titan (said the man who only knows 'faux  ) 

Another option would be to call it 30ss, since it is over double the size of the 32mm version (and she's a master - thus, 15x2). But I'll leave @Gheist to make the final call on that.

Great to see so many diverse contributions and all the styles people are using. We kicked this year off well  

Please don't forget to REPORT your SS if you have not done so yet. 

If you are sure you're finished for the month, either put in your SS totals, or claim your mulligan before we roll off into February. 

The Monthly Soulstone Reporting Form

CLICK HERE!

The Soulstone Tabulation Spreadsheet

CLICK HERE!

I heard that Wyrd commissioned someone to paint the puppet horsemen, but the link to the photo is dead. 

Anyone know where that photo disappeared to on the interwebs? My fu is weak  

38 minutes ago, Hobby Wyrd said:

Howdy, just signed up. Let's see if I can finish the last of my Toil and Trouble box. 

Welcome aboard! Glad to have you. Good ole Mama Z - look forward to the end product. 

So much good work this month, I missed how much inspiration one gets to keep painting just by looking at how creative the people in this challenge get! 

@Brushgit There is so much to admire in all the things you’ve painted… I don’t know where to start. The saliva look on the Malisaurus tongue is really cool (small detail, but it really caught my eye). I don’t know if you have experience with Kanji (the Chinese/Japanese characters) but the balance of your Sake (酒 = alcohol (or rice wine if we’re being technical)) is quite good. Even my wife (who is Japanese) was impressed when I told her that had to be freehand. Interesting take on the alcohol in the Popcorn Turner’s cup as well… almost looks like water, which we know that group is not drinking 😊 . The NMM and the rust effects on the gamin is spot on as well – along with the eyes! Man those are good.

@Viruk The fire work is amazing and definitely something I’ll look to in the future the next time I have to mess with fire. I particularly like the backs of their coats. The detail with the spotting and the transitions is really amazing. I also really like the Geryons – which I watched you paint in the Twitch video last night and learned a lot!

@TimH the bases and all the models for the Storm Siren came out really well. The individual bases and the main pieces all blend really well. That is something I have no faith I could do, so it’s interesting to see how you conceptualized it. I like the tongue work on your eels and Horomatangi (I had a weird this with tongues this month….)

@wobbly_goggy basic nothing, the beard and the shirt are really good. The overall feel of the model is perfect in my opinion.

@Maciej I completely agree with Brushgit, the freehand on the pants and scarf are mesmerizing. I stated at it for a few minutes just trying to think how I’d do that and still don’t have an answer. Great work.

@Strangely Brown nice work on the lightning and Melissa’s gun looks sick. Just a personal take, but the armor on Hoffman and the bricks in the base feel like they are blending together when I look at it. I wonder if it might be a good idea to try and contrast them a bit? But, that’s coming from someone who did a very similar thing this month with my poltergeist.

@OctaBit I love how natural all the transitions are on your Basse. The colors are really smooth and it just looks so clean. I need to figure out how to do that 😊 Those bases for Lucius are wicked! I love the vibrant colors.

@feagaur The OSL on both of your models is very subtle, which I personally think is amazing. I am still trying to work my head around how to do that.

Keep up the amazing work everyone!

Looks like @Gheist’s and @Brushgit’s Saurus’s got put up Wyrd’s Twitter account today  

a testament to your stellar brush work gentlemen. 
 

and your dedication to detailing all those spines  

both really excellent work. Thanks for giving me (and all of us) such a high level to aspire to! 

On 12/27/2021 at 5:18 PM, Regelridderen said:

Just because there are a lot of pre-mixed nuances for sale doesn’t mean that you have to get a huuuge collection. It’s nice to have some for the colours you use more than others, amd those that are hard to mix, but you only need 5 colours in your collection to create any nuance out there. Indeed having a limited palette and forcing yourself to mix paint is one of the best decisions you can make in order to improve your skills.

Just take a look at this guy : 

 

Thank you very much for the advice! I watched the video (and several others after it) and now have a wealth of other things to try out now. 

Got most of my Witches and Woes set painted up this month. 

Started with this guy... I'm happy with him, but he really made me realize I need to move away from high contrast (I'm assuming that is the right term, if not, please correct me.) The separation between the dark and light areas was too drastic. Still, I like some of the highlighting I did (tried to completely avoid my dry brushing crutch).

So then I moved onto the Poltergeist. I tried to focus on assuming the light source was coming from the upper right (from my perspective, upper left from the model's perspective) and highlight lighter as I moved toward spots where the light was hitting more directly. Not perfect, but I'm starting to get a clearer idea of how to do this.

Then I went onto the next Sorrow and tried my hand at NMM. This was my first attempt at it, so please give me some tips on how to do it better next time. 

With one Sorrow left I decided to add in making a GLOW effect. I made a sphere out of epoxy and stuck it into the hollow underneath the model to make a kind of "magic orb" that's causing him to float around - then tried to make it seem like that was casting a glow onto the ground. I also used the NMM method from the last model, and some directional highlighting to pile up all my challenges for this month. How did it come out?

PS - anyone with the puppet rider set know where the contact point is for this part of the bridle on the mech rider??? 

8 hours ago, Caedrus said:

Let’s talk about paintbrushes.

Paintbrushes are like underpants:

• ·       The expensive ones tend to have more wear in them;
• ·       What style you like may not be right for everyone;
• ·       Natural materials are just better;
• ·       You don’t want them to be too small;
• ·       Loose threads are super annoying; AND
• ·       You really should wash them after each use.

I started painting with synthetic (taklon) brushes. They are cheaper, fairly predictable, and are a good learner’s brush. They do have a tendency to ‘hook’, and create a bend at the tip. This can be useful for some work, but wrecks your ability to do smooth coats.

However, when I was looking to improve my painting, I went for sable brushes. I have tried all of the usual high-end candidates: Windsor and Newton, Raphael, and Rosemary and Co. All of them are excellent brushes, and they are all a pleasure to use. However, everyone is different, and after sampling each, I ended up using Rosemary and Co.

My go-to brush is a Rosemary and Co. Kolinsky Sable, Series 8, short handle. I normally start with a size 2, but vary between size 0 and 3. I normally suggest that miniature painters use a larger brush, as the belly of the brush holds more paint, and this allows for smoother coats, as you aren’t dipping into paint as frequently.

For those painters who use a smaller brush (I would use a 3/0 Taklon in the old days), I really suggest using a bigger brush. So long as the tip is kept sharp, and the brush is washed frequently, a bigger brush just makes painting easier.

If I had to suggest a set for someone looking to make the plunge into sable brushes, the Rosemary and Co. ‘Workbench Warrior’ set is a very fine place to start, so that you can work out what works for you. The price ($48AUD) gets you ten excellent brushes, and you can work out what works best for you, and the others are still fine, fine brushes.  

I would also like to be Captain Predictable here and say that ‘The Masters’ brush cleaner and preserver is my absolute suggestion for paintbrush cleaning, and I sometimes forget to use it, and then wish I had remembered. I do remember to wash my underpants, though. I tend to be a bit hard on brushes, and I get around two years of decent performance out of a workhorse-favourite. As my brushes split / age / wear, I use them for less fine tasks, until they get demoted to drybrush. After that, it's demotion to dolloping-out-of-the-paintpot, and after that, paint stirrer / backscratcher.

I am happy to provide more information if anyone is interested (in the paintbrushes, not the underpants), and also to chat about airbrushes, paint consistency, paint brands… the list goes on!

Stay well, everyone.

Caedrus.

Looks like I have a new brush set to buy  

… and my Black Friday order finally arrived out here in Japan  

so much to paint, and so much still to learn. 
 

for instance, how the bloody hell to base these riders 😮 

@Brushgit

Actually, I just realized that the "Pledge your models before you paint them" seems to be a rule I've held over in my head from years back when I first joined the challenge. Looking in the rules as they were last year it seems that producing photos of what you'll paint before you paint it is an optional thing - so I'll edit the post.

As long as you're meeting your pledge value by the end of the month, I've got no complaints . I don't think anyone in here wants to tie people down to something and potentially end up demotivating someone. 

@Gheist Yeah, basically that is the idea. 

In my head I see it like this: 

• Start of the month
  • Pledge your SS and models (with pictures) (**OPTIONAL**)
  • Pledge a technique or aspect of those models you want to work on (**OPTIONAL**)
• When you complete your models for the month
  • Record your SS on the form (**REQUIRED**)
  • Post up pictures of your completed models (**REQUIRED**)
  • With your pictures, add in a few comments about the monthly hobby component (**OPTIONAL**)

Hope that makes sense, and please (EVERYONE) feel free to chime in if you don't like any of it, or have other ideas to add

@OctaBit that is a great idea, and I'll add it to the original post. I think the aim each month then will be to pledge: 1 - your SS, and 2 - the technique or area you want to work on. It can be the same technique each month, but the idea is to add in something to challenge you to push your boundaries, along with just getting the painting in. Thanks for the suggestion! 

@GheistI really like the color scheme and all the small details. The stones/scales are especially nice! 

The thing I always try to remind myself with these is that Wyrd started as a modelling company, not a game company. Malifaux was born after the minis, not before it. Thus, I think one of their passions is pushing the envelop with miniature design. 

I still remember the time I told another mini's player that Malifaux was my first and only experience with the hobby and he laughed saying, "You chose one of the most advanced level model companies to start with". Everything I've seen and read appears to confirm that. Wyrd really tries to be unique in the way they approach their model design, and I've honestly found the vast majority of it challenging. Don't even get me started on my Nightmare McCabe assembly woes. 

All that said, I agree that getting the smoke/lightning/ethereal glow/blood spurt or shower effects right is really challenging. For some of these models, if you don't nail it, the model doesn't look right. I am still not very good at any of those things, but I do enjoy being challenged. However, I can fully appreciate that there are those who don't enjoy it, and perhaps are painting more to play. 

I think this might be the dividing line - the ones who paint for sake of the hobby, and the ones who paint to play. I am in the former, so I like all the difficult things they chuck at me. It makes me have to up my game. For the latter group I would agree that they might provide some way for players to build the model without all the extra bits. I doubt they will do this though, because molding from what I have read is not that easy. It's one thing to give Carver two head options, and another to make a Yan Lo with and without all that smoke. I feel like that would be two TOTALLY different model sculpts... which would likely up the price.

Long story short - I think they add in those dynamic and difficult effects because a passion for the modelling hobby - and making unique and challenging models - lies at the heart of the company. I personally like them because I like being challenged, and I have a strong feeling they will only be pushing harder to up the level of intricacy with their models. I fully appreciate the frustration of having to get them right though, but I don't know that there is an easy - or cheap - way to provide for players/hobbyists with different levels of skill/investment in painting.