Talos Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Basecoating for me, all the shading, blending and highlighting is fun, but motivatiing myself to put that basecoat of blocked in colour down is difficult This is the same with me. I really enjoy painting but just not basecoating. Doing the washes,blending and highlight is great fun as you can see the model evolve. Basecoat is just dull, one of the reasons none of my 40k tanks are painted. Starting is also hard for me, mainly because of basecoating. Today I would like to do some painting and finish a Warmachine model and my Guild Captain. Once I am at my painting desk with everything set up I can be there for hours, its just getting motivated to go over there and start. I carry on saying to myself I will just check this site, or read this thread then I will start. I had the day off yesterday and thought great I can get a bunch done but in the end I did not even pick up a brush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolution Black Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 I don't like painting flesh tones and faces, especially human. Hence why my Raven Guard Space Marines all have helmets on, except for the scouts (which I haven't started painting yet). I just can't bring myself to do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwave Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Eyes. Damn, dirty eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottkaiser Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 It's true, basecoating is the evil part before you can start doing all the fun stuff. But I must say, for me the hardest part is reproducing newly tried techniques. If I try something new, be it blending, OSL or a freehand, it tends to work out rather well, at least for a first try. But the second try nearly always fails. This is so frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOneWhoFell Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 ... eyes? Seriously.. What else could it be? xD *touches nose and points at Wodschow* He said it! I actually hate painting things that aren't detailed. I have a couple of friends who pay me to paint Warmachine figs, and I HATE the monotone with a little color... booooring. So Malifaux is usually pretty easy (I sat down and painted a Doppleganger in two hours the other day...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waferthinninja Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Another vote for &8^*ing eyes! I actually try to do them early on now as there is nothing worse than having a figure you are pleased with, then messing up the eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathjester Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Painting full stop as after 30 years practice I'm still awful. Got a gold plated degree in theory but application of knowledge between brain and brush in hand leaves something to be desired. Oh and EYES!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDSampo Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Aside from that for me it's painting multiples of the same model. For Malifaux this isn't a problem but my Chaos Space Marines, forget about it. . . Same here. I have like 40 CSMs sitting on the shelf in all their primered glory because I can't bear the idea of painting yet another bell-bottom armor leg. Painting Malifaux minis lets me procrastinate painting the 40K stuff. Eyes are hard. I always paint them first, before I do anything else on the face; less to correct when, not if, I screw it up. I often end up getting them nicely painted on and then realize they're looking in the wrong direction or worse, looking in different directions. Sometimes a particular sculpt has messed up eyes that look like crap no matter what you do. "Just don't look at him face-on!" And I believe this is my first post so... Hi! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightgaunt98c Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 I'm not much of a painter anyway, but skin, and eyes are my problems. I can never get the skin tone I want, and eyes are just tiny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroZombie Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Base coating and Procrastination. Hate the first coat which usually exasperates the procrastination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the imp Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Motivating myself. I'm good for about four months per year. The other eight, I'd rather veg out in front of the TV. I still frequent the mini sites on the web and I still get excited by new models though. Unfortunately, this results in me buying a lot more figures than I paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadaka Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) Doing it at all. I am 100% gamer I hate painting with a passion. I do it enough that im starting to get some thing close to skill at it but it all ways feels like a job to me. I cant have some one else paint them because if they paint them and I get another model down the road they may not be able to paint the new model and then they wont match. But I dont like fielding unpainted models. I have models sitting in a box unassembled because I dont want to paint them I would rather proxy models I do have painted then use the right model. Its crazy I have two desk drawer full of models that are unpainted and not put together and I keep getting more. Lol I think I am the worlds most lazy perfectionist. I hate any thing being wrong but to damn lazy to fix it. Edited March 24, 2011 by tadaka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cats Laughing Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) For me, the hardest part of painting is meeting my own, excessively high standards... I spend so long trying to paint one figure just right that the piles and piles of other figures waiting to be painted scare me into not painting at all. I hoped that Malifaux's smaller crew's would help me get over this, but I'm still only halfway done with my first 3 Gamin and I have more than a dozen other figures to finish (with an annoying desire to branch out into additionally masters and faction...) Oh, and regarding "eyes" there is a reason I hate helmet-less models with a passion. This is in addition to the whole "let me fight a battle with my hair in the wind and bullets flying by" BS... Edited March 24, 2011 by Cats Laughing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Alleycat Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Well,I played Space Wolves so there was a reason that my guys didn't wear helmets. Their natural senses were better then the helmets lol. The advice someone said about painting the eyes first was a good practice. I tried it on the next one I painted and it worked beautifully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck Dog Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 For me, the hardest part of painting is meeting my own, excessively high standards... Me too ! I have very high standards and incredibly low talent... its a terrible combination. I am very good at stripping paint from miniatures though !! I find that I get half way through a model and make a bad mistake or just aren't happy with it and then decide to start again. I am trying to paint my Freikorp at the moment, I have spent a fair bit of time on them (for me anyway.... any time I can find to paint is a Godsend !), but I am not happy with how they are looking. I am trying to resist the urge to strip them though - hopefully a couple of touch ups and a liberal coating of devlan mud and they may turn out as passable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimtron Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 I find that picking a color scheme and getting all the right paints/mixes lined up takes forever (I seriously painted my first Space Marine nearly 10 times) I find this to be a big issue for me as well. I love color, I am too particular about how I want the crew to match up, and I I have a huge collection of paints now. I am undergoing this process with my first Guild models now. Here's a tip: A pro painter suggested this at Gencon. Print out a b&w image of the model in question. Paint the actual colors over the B&W image like a coloring book. She said its a great way to visualize w/o wasting the time on models. You can even shade and highlight. I'll be giving it a try this weekend. Apart from that and getting started. EYES. The easiest way for me to screw up a model I've spent hours on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glacius Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Starting is the hardest part and then eyes in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themurphyfella Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 starting is the hardest part and then eyes in my opinion. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sliver Chocobo Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 I used to hate eyes, but what I do now is instead of painting coloured part, the pupil and the whites, I only paint the coloured part, it looks really good on my Neverborn and Rasputina looks very creepy with bright red eyes and no pupil's. It's pretty hard but not as hard as it once was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyComet Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Lots of good answers here. I've been painting for 33 years, and all of the things mentioned so far have been obstacles at one time or other (or now). The phenomenon that keeps coming back to the fore, however, is getting over the hump from basic colors to detail work. There are times when this renders a mini that was fine, if basic, a few minutes before into an eye-repelling mess that you sometimes just can't get past. Locally we refer to this as a miniature's "Ass Point", as in "this looks like ass!" Getting miniatures past Ass Point is a potential challenge on each and every one you do. It's why I have so many incomplete minis. I have many completed as well, because some Ass Points are less difficult to overcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eturns Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 for pupils on eyes I know its cheating but I find a very fine marker works wonders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDSampo Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 for pupils on eyes I know its cheating but I find a very fine marker works wonders. I don't think that's cheating at all. I use a fine marker for tiny writing on scrolls and books and whatnot. I can't believe it never occurred to me to do this! :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigH Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I'll agree with the usual culprits (eyes and any shade of yellow) but for me, the toughest part isn't starting but finishing. My standards are higher than my skills so there is always something to fix or touch-up. It's very difficult for me to set aside a figure and declare it Done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sphere830 Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 As several have mentioned before the discipline to sit down and begin is the plague of most hobbyist. However, there are several techniques that are sincerely challenging. Then I'll put my two cents worth of a technique for painting 'eyes'. The first big step that I made in terms of quality painting is 'blending'. Learning to get away from the 'grainy' look of dry brushing and begin to blend colors to get pro looking color transitions. This is done with at least three colors and learning to work with thinner paints. Thinning is a trick in itself. There are products of that are designed as a thinning medium. I typically use water myself. That said, like anything else in painting, practice and persistence is the key to not adding too much of either choices. Many painters avoid mixing paints for far too long, but there is no way around it if your going to get better. The second technique that I find perhaps the most difficult in terms of techniques is non-metallic painting. This technique really requires a level of mastery from everything that you'll have learned to then. For example, you have to blend, sometimes dry brush (for specific lighting effects), a judicious use of inks and often black-lining to create some depth for separating clothe, armor or accessories. ...So, eyes are the crux for many of you. I cheat and get consistent and some really great results. This trick is to not have to actually paint the eye itself. More so, you create what appears to be an eye and looks perfect at arms length. The trick is to take your smallest detail brush and use black to paint the eye itself. You only want the inside of the lids, but even the white of the eyeballs. Then to create the illusion of the eye, you take the smallest amount of white that you can and make two dots on each side of the retina. Try this out and let me know what you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghool Posted April 7, 2011 Report Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) The hardest thing for me to paint is a colour scheme a client wants that just doesn't work, won't work, or will look bad. That, by far, is the hardest thing to paint.... I have read that most of you have trouble painting eyes and faces. I am here to help: Painting Expressive Faces and Eyes Edited April 7, 2011 by Ghool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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