Mei Feng and Misaki on the way

[sproutchu]

Hi,

I just introduced myslef in the Introduction forum, and now it is time to show my potential (as in "keep faith, talent MAY come to you some day..."). Now, I never painted miniatures before (never even played with them, barely knew they existed in fact), so keep in mind that this is my very first attempt. I went with a test miniature first to get the feel of painting at this scale (well, painting at all actually), the name is Keveun (or Kevuhn, for you english speaking folks), aka Tox from Reaper.

The colors are over the top, the lighting and shadows frankly not to my taste and the face is more muddy than expected, but at least I could try washes, inks, armor wash, face wash, dry brushing, light and shadow effects, etc.

It didn't help that I changed my mind quite a few times as I added layers of paint.

Now, the Malifaux crews are based. Here's a preview (only the Misaki crew), I'll keep you posted as it progresses.

There it is. If only for the assembling/basing/painting part, the buy was worth it. I already have Metal Gamins on the way, along with a box of weird puppets...

[Lucidicide]

Amazing first attempt. Look forward to seeing where they all go (and welcome to Malifaux).

[dgraz]

Love the basing......especially on the Torakage with the ball and chain. Cool idea....it looks like those balance poles they train with.

[Wings]

You've just started and you're already doing great bases? No fair! I can't wait to see how you make them look.

[Lord Shaper]

I can't wait to see these with some paint on them!

[sproutchu]

Thanks guys ! I have to say I'm having a blast with them, and seeing so many great painters here on the forum is just more inspiring.

@Wings @dgraz : For the bases, I must confess I worked with wood in another life, designing and building furniture. I had some cedar left overs in the garage, so it was the easiest way for the Torakage, along with oak veneer to cover the bases. As much as I'd want to replicate wood, there's nothing more real than the real thing.

I'll finish priming the last ones tonight and start working on the Torakage (already primed). I made the mistake to begin with their weapon, but I was too eager to see what I could do with some armor wash.

By the way, any tip on painting Ototo ? Primed him yesterday, but f**k is this one a b**ch to paint ?!?! Sorry for the language, but I'm starting to think I should have painted him BEFORE gluing the parts together. Suggestions ?

EDIT : Since I'm asking questions, here's another one for the painters. Even though I used actual wood, do you think I should paint it anyway ? Will the look be more homogeneous with paint or does it not matter at all ?

Edited October 25, 2013 by sproutchu

[nagash13]

since you have a wood working past, I would suggest leaving the wood natural and doing a selective stain of whatever shades you think are needed to give you the look of natural or material variation.

for example, on my puppet wars models, I wanted the bases to look like wooden floorboards to match the game board. so i glued thin wooden coffee stirring sticks to the bases, trimmed them down to smooth edges, and then used a coat of minwax polyurathane wood varnish to get the color i wanted. you are right, real wood will always look better than painted fake wood.

as for painting some pieces before final assembly, I do that depending on the manner of joins. if it is a keyless smooth join that fits real nice, I will paint the piece sepperate. if the join is keyed, or a little sloppy that will require any putty to gap fill, i pre assemble and then just paint the best i can.

[crohn]

Ototo's base is really awesome. I agree with nagash, real wood will always look better than painted one.

About the model, try to thin your paint a bit more. You should be able to add more layers without the mud effect.

[sproutchu]

Thanks to all of you for encouraging a newbie

@nagash13 : I took your advice (as well as crohn's) and didn't touch the wood. I still have a few bottles of stain at home, it'll look far greater than any "effect" I could try.

@crohn : Good tip about thinning the paint more. I started doing just that in the end, and using a wet palette helps tremendously. Still, I tend to thin slightly too much. I guess there's a reason we call painting "art"

[nagash13]

practice makes perfect. i started in 97, took a few years off in the middle, then found a good group of gaming friends. got back into it, but my painting kinda hit a plateau. started talking with a couple painters better than me, and combined with a much more regular painting time(now that work transfered me away from all my friends) my painting has taken another jump up. much like woodworking, painting is a skill that will only improve with use, and will degrade if you take too much time off.

[sproutchu]

Got myself to start and ultimately finish Shang tonight. Was pretty satisfied with what I saw with my human eyes. Then I took a picture to show you guys and DAMN does that close up show every single brush stroke you've made. Youch.

Whatever, I know (hope ?) it'll get better, and I'm having a lot of fun learning

[Big Ned]

Don't worry about what you see on camera, we play the game uaing our eyes not photos so that should look just fine when put on the table.

Looks fine to me BTW, I can imagine how it'd look IRL as I know how my emberling looks in photos compared to in my hand.

[0777218]

Même en photo, il ressort très bien ton Shang la base est bien faite aussi, c'est du liège sculpté? EDIT ok je viens de lire les premiers posts avec les photos et les explications, c'est un bois, bien joué!

thanks sharing!

Edited November 3, 2013 by 0777218

[sproutchu]

@0777218 : Celle-là, c'est du styro-mousse haute densité passé au bistouri, puis sablé grossièrement. Après, un fond noir, du dry brush, et voilà ! Merci pour le compliment

@Big Ned : Thanks ! I certainly do find it more than suitable for play, which is the ultimate goal. Anyway, Shang is, technically, not mine, since my wife chose Misaki's crew between two boxes, leaving me with Mei Feng. So I began with one of hers, now I'll try my Emberling

[Asics]

The bases are amazing...I wish I looked at this before I did mine haha. Keep it up!

[Mooseyfaux]

you have a great concept with how to layer colors so you are starting off better then I could've dreamed when I started. and those bases are something else, I was content to use cork and rocks but seeing these makes me think I really need to reassess my ascetic choices.

Really great work so far keep it up!

[sproutchu]

The bases are amazing...I wish I looked at this before I did mine haha. Keep it up!

Thanks! I'm pretty proud of myself , espacially Shang's base, with the paint, it looks better than I could wish.

@Mooseyfaux : Thank you You know, hardware stores are a real goldmine of stuff to use at a very low price. A 4x8 sheet of high density styrofoam can really do magic once it goes under the blade!

[sproutchu]

Wow, painting does take some time (and freakin' patience). Almost done with Misaki (not the crew, the model only), and it's no walk in the park.

Meanwhile, when I'm not feeling like painting, I work on some terrain. I started a thread here : http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?49637-Map-building-quot-tool-quot-for-Malifaux-%28homemade%29

Didn't know where to post it. Will be used in our (eventually) first game.

[sproutchu]

Been done with Misaki last december but I never posted pics. You will excuse the poor qulity of the picture, the only camera I have that works correctly is an old 6mp with a telephoto lens, which is not ideal for macro pictures

 

 

After having built some paper terrain, this week I'm back at painting. I intend to use a dark red and black main theme for the Torakage and Ototo, but I'm still not convinced of the colors for highlights and sub-theme. Misaki has this turquoise color I used, but I'm looking for something less flashy for the Torakage (they're basically ninjas, so subtelty is the key) and something more aggressive for Ototo (seeing the pose, we can understand why).

Any suggestion ?