Painting Punk Turtle and Jeans

You may have read my post a few weeks back where I reviewed the 3D printing services from Impact Miniatures. (If you haven't, I recommend taking a read!)

This week I want to focus on the steps I took to actually paint the miniature. (Like the Jeans) I painted him in a style very "me" and as usual, really like how he turned out. I did try a few things though as a way to challenge myself and experiment and there's going to be a few things I'll take away from this one.

To touch on these items, the first is that I used a new flow aid. Simply, Curry's brand instead of Liquitex. The difference I found was that Curry's was a little more "oily", (Not really, because it's water based) but that's kind of what it felt like - essentially this was nicer for blending from one colour to the next and it kept the paints a little wetter longer.

The other thing I did was I avoided using washes. (Mostly)

Painting Hair with Style

 As a follow up to my previous post on the progress of my Janessa conversion, I'm going to describe how I've painted her hair.

If you missed it, I've also covered painting fur in the past.

These are both topics that can be pretty tricky so I hope I've helped to shed some light on them. Ask away in the comments if you have any questions.

Fun side-story. This model's become known as "Maybelline" because people feel the hair I've sculpted for her is too blocky. Looks like a cape they say. In response, I tell them, "Maybe it's Maybelline." This actually becomes relevant a little later as it helped inspire the technique I ended up using.

Washing, Painting Light Colours and Layering Paint

"Nobody wants to paint yellow."
"Fine, I'll paint yellow."
"OK, you get Skull Bearers and White Scars."
"Wait... white too??"
- Ryan, manager of Warhammer store #88 and I.

He and the manager of another store were competing to see who could fill the Adeptus Astartes poster full of marines first. We, Canada, won.

The question gets asked often enough that I decided to use the opportunity to write a tutorial on painting White and Yellow including the techniques involved in the process.

Bonus, is my first video tutorial. You really should keep reading...

Day-Glo Pigments

I've discussed using pigments before and since then have used them quite a bit. Here's another type of pigment - Day-Glow. (Or Day-Glo.) The reason I prefer to use the term "Pigment" and not "Weathering Powder" is because these have more uses besides weathering.

In this article I'm going to compare using day-glo pigments to paint and briefly touch on why you can't replicate this look with normal paint.

I bought these ones from Forged Monkey (Massive Voodoo) but they seem to have changed around their store since then and don't appear to be selling it anymore.

Finally, we'll look at how these react under UV / Black Lights

Painting Metal Realistically

In this tutorial, I'll look at ways to make your metal objects look more like they should, instead of generically slapping your metallics on blades and armour. Light sources and shadows play a factor in how best to portray the fact that your miniatures are actually in their own environment.

Like while Painting Chrome, this was another attempt that showed me I tend to "paint from the hip" so to speak. My untrained eyes do the best I can, but I prefer to paint what I see, not necessarily what there is to be seen... if that makes sense. So I'll offer some tips to give you the general idea.

Felcaller Shaman, Painting Skin and Fur

I recently finished the Hordeblood Felcaller inspired by the troll shaman from the original Warcraft 3. There were a few fun things that I wanted to try out while painting him. The first was multi-tone skin and next was demonstrating painting fur.

This mini was also a lesson in recognizing your mistakes and going back to repair them. It's also important to realize that gimmicky techniques aren't always the best route to take.

Confused? Click on through to see what I'm talking about.

Painting Chrome Metallics

Chrome can be painted a couple ways - the first is to use actual chrome spray paint or silver as a base, then add your own touches to make it work on a miniature scale. The second is to simulate it by paying attention to the shape of what you're painting and simulating horizon, sky and ground.

I'm going to come out and say it: I'm not supper happy with the final look of some of these chrome effects. It's the first time I've tried simulating chrome but maybe it can offer some ideas for anyone trying these effects themselves.

Painting Metals - Parkerizing / Phosphating and Heat Treating

When metal heats up and wears over time, it discolours with hints of blue and purple, maybe a little brown. Sometimes metals will be intentionally heat treated to add a nice rainbow effect to them.

There are methods used to protect metals which also reduce their reflectiveness. Usually with either a matte grey or black. In a painting sense, you use Non-Metallic Metal first, then True-Metallic Metal blade edges and scratches.

Painting Mixed-Metallic Metals (MMM)

Sometimes, a single style doesn't create the best looking effect. If you combine a few of the other Metallic methods to paint Mixed-Metallic Metals, it can make some nice aesthetic creations.

For example, on my Elemental King I painted his collar and metal plates a cool blue-grey NMM steel but then used iron RMM to create layers and sheets of rust. On my Harlequin Wraithlord, I used a little bit of NMM to highlight some of the TMM gold in order to force a visible highlight not dependent on the strength or angle of actual light reflecting off the paint.

I'll show you some examples and offer some tips on ways you could use this.

Recently, on the mounted leader from Age of Sigmar, I used metallics to create a shiny undertone that blended into natural set highlights. This was actually done in only 4 steps - Metallic gold primer, a thick brown wash, then an off-white highlight followed by quick white highlight of tips and corners.

Painting Real-Metallic Metals (RMM)

"Real" is a term I've dubbed in regards to painting Metallic Metals using paint that actually contains metal.

This means you can paint something with iron and have it rust or use copper that patinas green. Even if you don't want to age it, there's value in having a finish that actually looks like Pewter, Brass or Gold.

Want to see how this crazy stuff works? Click on through.

Painting Non-Metallic Metals (NMM)

This is a simulated look using colour to fake a metal appearance. As an example, using greys for silver, blues for steel and yellows for gold. You might also hear it referred to as a "European" method of painting due to its wider contrast and softer blending.

Honestly, NMM isn't much more difficult than painting any other part of your model - Shade, highlight.. you're already familiar with it. But is IS harder and does require more patience with a little more skill. The difference is to make it look good, you need to use more shades of colours to blend from dark to light and choose where you want the reflection coming from. For now, we'll focus on an NMM overview and look at simulating real reflections later.

Really well done NMM stands out and Internet likes to place people who can create the effect with a solid technique on a pedestal. With all things Internet though, don't look at it as a necessity, just a neat skill to pick up at sometime.

The problem with NMM is that you're using the same paints to simulate metal as you're using to paint the rest of your model. This means that without strong control of your colours and contrasts, metals can disappear. Instead of standing out, they'll blend in with cloth and skin.

Painting True-Metallic Metals (TMM)

Over the next while, I'm going to look at different ways to paint metallics. Most people are familiar with "True" and "Non" Metallic Metals, but I use more methods than these two and you're going to get to read about them all! Sound good?

"True" is the term given to using shiny metallic paints that actually shimmer like metal does. It also means that as you move the model around or look at it from different angles, the highlights change. This is by far the easiest way to paint metal and is the most "realistic" way to paint shiny metal. (I say "shiny" because some metal is naturally dull and you're better off using Non-Metallic Metals.) It has both colour and reflection.

Painting Symbols and Mountain King WIP

Hanging from the Elemental King's loin cloth, is a stone tablet, which I wanted to paint the Horde symbol on. It doesn't matter what icons you're trying to paint, this article will give you tips on how to paint symbols on any surface; for example, Space Marine chapter logos and company numbers on curved shoulder pads or banners.

Painting the Mountain King's Stones

After painting the Mountain King's skin, his stones were the other large task I was faced with. It meant a lot of airbrushing, time consuming edge highlighting and possibly the most tedious task I have ever done in my time painting.

All well worth it and along the way his "stones" became more "crystal." The artistic process is a fluid one. Allow your vision to shift if things start veering away from your original destination as long as you're pleased with how it's coming together.

Take a look at the Elemental King's completed photos and an outline.

Painting the Mountain King's Skin

Today I'm going to demonstrate the number 1 question I received during the Mountain King project - How I painted his skin.

There were a lot of steps to it, but I'll show the ones that stand out. Most of the photos are hi-res so you can click them to get a more detailed view.

Overall, it basically came down to:

- Stippling with a sponge.
- Airbrushing.
- Painting deep shadows.
- Highlighting with weathering powders.
- Shading subtle shadows.
- Varnish.

Sculpting the Mountain King

When I decided to prop the Mountain King's hand up on a log, the last thing I was expecting was it to turn into the mass amount of resculpting this project required. The model was designed to go together in a specific way, with no allowance for repositioning.

It was a blast to do all the work though. I learned more about sculpting with green stuff on a larger scale as well as how to blend it seamlessly into the actual model.

Without further ado, lets look at what was involved...

Pinning Heavy / Large Models to Bases (and Mountain King WIP)

"Overkill is my style...
and I think big." *

Today I'm going to look at a couple ways to attach models to their bases that'll be more secure than just gluing them down. On larger scale models or those that are heavy, you really want to make sure they're firmly attached to their base, won't rock around, snap if they're jostled or apply too much pressure to the terrain around their feet. You'll also get to see more photos of how the Mountain King project came together.

I've discussed simple and advanced pinning before, which is the act of drilling holes in the joints of larger models so that when you glue it together, you can stick metal rods in and strengthen the connection.

* Don't feel bad if you don't get this sci-fi reference. It's super obscure and Canadian. Although, yes, that's the Human Centipede guy.

Colour Theory: Contrasting Achromatic

Sin City

Neutral (Grey) and Near-Neutral Achromatics as well as Monochromatic paint schemes create lovely soft looks, but sometimes you want something to stand out. As I said at the start of this series, choose a paint theme to help you paint, not restrict you. It's OK to cheat if you want to play with contrasts or make something really stand out.

If you're doing this for artistic reason, the effect can be fantastic - a greyscale scene with a coloured dress, red gore, striking eyes. Firey explosions and muzzle flash in The Matrix seem extra bright and striking because so much of the movie is Monochromatic, Near-Neutral or Dull Colours.

Created with painter from
Bolder & Chainsword

• Don't go overboard.
• Contrasts can be lost quickly if you paint too much of something.
  Ex: A black and white scene with red blood dripping from claws can look intense. But if you paint red gore all over, it'll just look messy.
• Contrast details, not generic elements.
• Pick details that are worth accenting. Skin, jackets, armour and such probably aren't worth standing out. Eyes, gems, a beautiful dress, hair, special effects, blood, tattoos, mirrored surfaces and so on.
• The reverse is also true.
• You could take a normally painted scene, then paint an area Neutrally to dull it or mute normally shocking visuals like blood. This would make the rest of the scene stand out.

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Alright, I Cheated

Instead of painting a new miniature for this one, I decided to take the one I painted for the Achromatic example and throw some contrast on it.

I mixed some bright (Blood) red in with some pouring medium to give it a little body and gloss. This gives me some nice bright and thick fake blood. Too bright to be realistic, but great if you're trying to be bold.

When I paint it on him, I used a cheap brush like I always do when working with mediums. The obvious place for the gore is his axe and where it would drip down. I also painted some splash across his chest as a spray of blood. For effect, you don't really want to create a "real" spray of blood. (Fine mist, Dexter-like, etc.) Just some solid contrasting areas.

Colour Theory: Monochromatic

Choose a Hue, add White, Black, Grey
Burnetts Boards

This colour scheme is similar to Achromatic (Greyscale) except a single colour is allowed. You can still Tint, (Highlight) Shade or Tone. (Grey) There aren't many situations where you might use monochromatic colours, besides for artistic reasons.

Despite the unusual visual this creates, there are practical situations where you could use this theme, though probably limited to things like natural beast / alien armies like Tyranids or Legion of Everblight or uniform mechanized ones such as Tau and Battletech.

At first glance, you might think you can paint this like Near-Neutral and Neutral Achromatics, but that's not the case. Some similarities and differences:

Colour Theory: Near-Neutral Achromatic

Similar to Pure Achromatic (Greyscale) schemes, are Near-Neutrals. Since Grey is Neutral, Near-Neutrals are Colours that have so much grey (light or dark grey) that it's almost impossible to tell what the original colour was. "Earthy" is another term given to these colours due to how many browns comprise these tones. Painting in Neutrals can feel pleasing as they're not aggressive, even when you're using a lot of darks.

"Sepia" is a term you might be familiar with for an art style that uses mostly Yellow Neutrals. However, a painting style that uses a single colour is called "Monochromatic", which I'll look at next.

Any of the other art styles I've covered can be used when painting with Neutrals. The mixes of Hues, contrasting lights and darks, softer blended ranges, etc.

The chart here is a good guide on colour intensity. To create Near-Neutrals, you really do want to go past the "Dull" colours, where the colour really starts to disappear and the grey tone becomes apparent.