Moinetbeard

So I have a fair bit of experience of using oils as I did a fine art degree many many years ago. 😅 the process for mini painting is obviously very different though. With regards to my workspace, I don't have a dedicated area for painting in my house. When I paint I get a big box with all my stuff in out, assemble what I need onto a lap tray and normally sit in front of the TV when I paint. I can't do this with oils, as the risk of spilling something nasty is too great. But i have managed to condense my workspace down quite a bit. I have a different set of brushes which I will use just for oils as well as a metal pallet. The thing I found was that when not doing a wash I didn't need to thin the paints at all. So no big bucket of thinner needed, I literally had about a thimble-full of thinner in a small shallow dish for just cleaning my brush. I used low odor artist thinner and you can barely smell it at all. You also only need the tiniest amout of paint- like literally a single dot, applied to the area that you want it in, before using a clean brush to gently spread it out smoothly. Because of this there is almost no cleaning of brushes involved, just a quick dip in the thinner and wipe on a towel followed by brush soap at the end. Despite many people saying it's not necessary I would advise using a layer of matt varnish between layers of oils and acrylics or vice-versa just to ensure no unexpected reactions. @Virukis the man to speak to about oils though- I absolutely love his painting and he really manages to get the most out of the medium, retaining the character and vibrancy of oils without the dullness they can be associated with when overworked. From watching his videos he uses a wash technique that I haven't tried yet- that will be on the cards next. I haven't painted with them in about 10 years but this is definitely reminding me why I loved using them when I was studying painting!

One last model, squeaked in at the end of the month. Wanted to try out a base design for my next crew so this was a test model. relatively simple but I like how maxine came out. This was also my first foray into using oils for my malifaux minis and was really pleased how it turned out! I started with acrylics, then did a layer of oils and then went back to acrylics for a few details at the end, which I think worked particularly well. I'm particularly pleased with the face on this one. Ps I almost forgot I whizzed through Beau and some piglets for a tournament a couple of weeks ago- proper speed painting I'm afraid, but may go back to them at some point. That brings my total for this month to 101SS painted!

Painted this dude for the painting competition at a Faux tournament yesterday and I was very pleased to win! I was very happy with the splash came out! These are such lovely models- so dynamic.

the sad thing is that I think Koji and the Sayuri are fine with Misaki - as in, not broken like they are with Shenlong and they also fit thematically with her. Nerfing Koji will make them not worth looking at I suspect. hostile takeover could be fun against some crews when paired with shadow markers to put a double negative on ranged attacks. I'd like to get the box but will wait to see how heavily Koji get's reworked first i think..

Can't believe it's May already! Everyone's been busy this month already! @Brad Maynes Frodsham is looking spiffy- love the freehand on his jacket! @MestreGuilderius that's super impressive. Love the atmostphere in both the zoraida piece and the stictched. The contrasts you've created between light and dark, cold and warmth are masterful- can't wait to see more of your minis. @LinenMusician nice work, i particularly love the work on Luna- shes gorgeous 😁 @Viruk casually smashing out beautifully painted models with the smoothest blends in the time it takes for me to put on my shoes. I've watched several videos from Marko as per your advice and I'm pretty ready to take the plunge with oils. It feels daunting, but if the results turn out OK I'll post them here later this month! I've had a fairly productive weekend (an extra day off helped- something to do with some guy getting coronated or something) and made a headway into my Zipp crew. These were a facebook marketplace rescue job and were in a bit of a bad shape when I got them- the skeeters especially were missing most of their wings and legs and were snapped off the dreaded flight stands. I managed to get by without using paint stripper on anything although it was touch and go with Merris. A total of about 10 hours painting, so very happy with the time to quality ratio. I'll try and finish the keyword this week. For the rest of the month ill be trying my hand at oils and then taking my time a bit more as I prepare for a couple of painting completions. I've got an event in a couple of weeks where the painting competition is for best painted minion and then there is a certain other painting comp that I want to enter for the first time if I can figure out what to paint!

If you obey (or similar- command construct, etc) an enemy model it drops one of your scheme markers. Great way to score set the trap and similar schemes.

as others have said the ten thunders versatiles are generally very good, although sadly our emissary isn't great. in last blossom i particularly like samurai (because they give you a big gun) and terracotta warriors (because they can make your squishy models much harder to remove as well as providing a small amount of card draw). As has been said Misaki 1 can happily hire lots of out of keyword or versatile models, whilst Misaki 2 wants to stay in keyword more if she can - this is often where i find myself hiring wokou raiders and crimebosses in the right circumstances. It's worth picking up the split Misaki 2/Ivan 2 box, even if you plan to just play Misaki 1 for now because you get Jin, who IMO is one of the best in-keyword models in the faction and is probably the only auto include when i play Misaki. He can do so much for you. the only models i've never used in keyword are the snipers who are a bit meh.