Glazing

Try as we might, there are times when the gradient between our shades and our highlights are not quite as smooth as we would like.

Glazes to the rescue!

A glaze is simply a very thinned out color which is brushed over the miniature to leave a thin layer of pigment to tie the shades and highlights together.  The effect is subtile, but it can make a noticable difference in the final results.


Get yourself a few drop and thin it out until a swatch on your palette is fairly transparent. In the picture below, my first swatch on the left was too opaque. I added small amounts of water until I got to the fourth swatch.  That’s a good glaze consistency.

Do not apply the glaze as liberally as a wash. Just brush it on like you would a base coat.  Watch your recesses, and don’t let any pools form. If the glaze is covering too much, rinse and dry your brush and brush some glaze out.  The idea is to get a very thin layer of pigment over the area.  In this case, I used the glaze on the Royal Guard below to smooth out the transitions in the folds of their cloaks.

Paint Consistency

In most cases, you are not going to want to take the paint from the bottle and put it straight on the mini. The paint will be too thick and will dry like a big blob of goo. Put the paint on your palette and thin it out. There are all kinds of products and additives on the market for thinning your paint.

Personally, I just use the same water I use to rinse my brushes.

That’s right! My dirty well water! All you purists, witness my blasphemy, and despair!

The truth is, it works just fine, the water is right next to me anyway, and it’s free. If I were highlighting bright white on a showcase mini, I might think twice and go get some totally clean water. But for a base coat on a Warg? I don’t even think about it at all.


The paint should be thin enough that it won’t plug the detail on the model, in this case the Warg’s face and fur. To test the paint, put a couple swatches somewhere on your palette. It should be thin enough that some of the palette color can seen through a single coat, but thick enough that the paint doesn’t just separate and fall apart.

Getting Started Guide

You're considering getting into the miniature painting hobby? Fantastic!

Below is a list of articles which should help you get started. This post will be a living document, with new information added over time.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to let me know!

1. Painting Space
2. Brushes
3. Paints
4. Cleaning
5. Priming
6. Base Coating
7. Shading
8. Mixing Washes
9. Flow Aid
10. Highlighting
11. Sealing

Abraham Van Helsing

Professor Van Helsing was the one time teacher of Dr. John Seward, and is called in by his former student to assist with the mysterious illness of Lucy Westenra. 

The professor is described as someone who "knows what he is talking about better than any one else" having advanced degrees in philosophy, metaphysics and advanced sciences. Beyond his education and experience, Van Helsign possess an absolutely open mind, which allows him to accept possibilities which are dismissed by others out of hand.

Adding these qualities is an iron nerve and noble heart, makes Professor Van Helsign a powerful enemy to the forces of darkness.

Since the art in the game depicts the Professor with more tanned skin, I gave his face and hands a base coat of Reaper Tanned Skin. His hair received Reaper Bone Shadow, and his trousers and jacket got Vallejo Khaki. His leather bag was base coated in Vallejo Cobra Leather, the boots in Vallejo Dark Grey, and the coat Vallejo Neutral Grey.

In order to get the grey-brown coat color in the artwork, I added multiple thin coats of Reaper Tanned Shadow over the Neutral Grey until I was satisfied with the color.

Next I shaded the skin Vallejo Skin Wash, and the coat and hair with Vallejo Pale Grey Wash. The jacket, trousers and bag were shaded with Vallejo Brown Wash. His boots got Vallejo Black Shade

Then I began to highlight the edges and raised areas of the miniature with the original base coat colors.

With the highlighting done, Professor Van Helsing is ready for the hunt!

Flow Aid

Flow aid, also known as flow improver, is an additive which when used as a medium thins paint slightly differently than water. With straight water the pigment tends to sink, whereas flow aid suspends it closer to the surface.

When mixing a wash, we want the color to sink, but for straight painting we want the colors to cover evenly. Flow aid also messes with the surface tension of the paint, making it flow off of the brush easier.

There are plenty of companies that will happily sell you little dropper bottles of flow aid, and that is fine. However this is another one of those cases where a few extra dollars at the local art supply super store will stock you up for many years.

The flow aid you buy at the art store will be a concentrate. However, it is easy to mix. The brand I buy recommends a mix of twenty parts water to one part flow aid. So I mix up a big batch in a squeeze bottle, and use that to refill a dropper bottle I got from Reaper. I mix it using our digital kitchen scale, adding 300 grams of water to the squeeze bottle and then 15 grams of flow aid.

I paid $8 for the bottle of concentrate from the art store. It will refill my big squeeze bottle 7.5 times, or my dropper bottle 155 times. In contrast, I paid $3 for the bottle of premixed flow aid from Reaper.

Now, if you aren't using flow aid, and you are happy with your results, don't worry about it. However if you are noticing problems getting even coverage, give it a try. It might do the trick.

This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society. 

Lord Arthur Godalming

The only son of a wealthy Lord, Arthur begins the story as Arthur Holmwood.

He is engaged to the Lady Lucy Westenra, after winning her hand over his two best friends.  Arthur becomes Lord Godalming when his father passes.

As the new Lord, Arthur takes up the mystery of the strange ailment which plagues his fiancee, using his considerable wealth to fund the operation against Count Dracula.

I began by priming the miniature grey, then started adding the base coat. 

His trousers, hair, gun and lantern received a base coat of Vallejo Dark Grey, while his jacket got a coat of Vallejo Dark Sea Grey. His shirt was painted Vallejo Offwhite and his tie and vest got Reaper Highland Moss.  His face and hands got a coat of Reaper Pale Skin, and his boots Vallejo Charred Brown.

I also hit the lantern and gun with a dry brush of Vallejo Natural Steel.

To shade his jacked, I mixed a wash of half Vallejo Pale Grey Shade and Vallejo Black Shade. His lantern and gun I shaded with Vallejo Black Shade. For shading his face and hands I used Vallejo Flesh Shade. The vest and tie were shaded with a wash made from Reaper Jungle Moss, while his boots were shaded with Vallejo Sepia Shade.

To highlight the good noble, I gave the stock of his gun a coat of Vallejo Red Leather, and I also used the dark grey to give him a mustache. Then I highlighted the raised folds and edges of his jacket with Vallejo Dark Sea Grey. The raised areas of his face and hands were highlighted with the Reaper Fair Skin.  

With his base painted black, the Lord Godalming is ready to rescue his Lady Lucy! Or something...

Mixing Washes

When talking about painting a miniatures, we frequently reference washes for shading. But where do we get these washes?

For common colors, such as brown or black, I will often use purchased, pre-made washes. I use them so frequently that it saves me time not to have to mix up a wash for these all the time.

However, there are times when I need to shade a less commonly used color, say a green or a blue. In those cases I will often just mix up my own was on the fly.  To understand how to mix your own washes, we'll need to cover a little paint theory.

Paints have three key ingredients: pigment, medium and binder. The pigment gives it the color, the binder is what makes the paint stick to the miniature, and the medium is there to tie the pigment and binders together.  It is the ratio of medium that determines the paint’s consistency. When we thin our paints with water, we are adding water as a medium to get the consistency we desire.  The ability to use water as a medium, instead of some smelly toxic paint thinner, is a big part of what makes acrylic paints awesome!

Now, all this works fine to a certain point. However, if we add the amount of water required to get the paint to the consistency of a wash, it dilutes the pigment and binders to the point that they can no longer function. The paint, essentially, just falls apart.  So! What we need is a different medium that will thin the paint without diluting the components the paint needs to remain cohesive.

You will likely not be surprised to learn that such a product is available for sale!  It is called “matt medium.” Vallejo sells matt medium in dropper bottles, and it works fine. However you can also visit your local art supply super store and pay twice the price for a bottle that is around 15 times bigger.

Ok… That information is all fascinating and everything… But, so what? Well, it means that we can use the paints we already own to mix whatever color and consistency of wash we need.

Let's assume a want to wash over Vallejo Carmine Red. Looking at my reds, I think that my Reaper Bloodstain Red would make a good wash color.

The basic formula I use is three drops paint, nine drops water and nine drops matt medium.

Now, if you have the perfect shade color for your base coat color, because you purchased a Reaper triad or something, you can use three drops of the shade color.  But in my case, I’m just picking my best guess from what I have on hand.  My base coat paint and my shade paint are two completely different paints from different manufacturers.

No problem! As long as the colors are in the ballpark, you have good odds of making it work. The trick is to use two drops of the shade color and one drop of the base coat color. By including the base coat color in the shade, the colors will tie themselves together.

In my case, that is two drops of Bloodstain Red, one drop of Carmine Red, nine drops of water and nine drops of matt medium.

By the way, Reaper sells empty dropper bottles for use in dropping water and refilling matt medium from jugs bought at the art supply superstore.

Now, that is the base formula. It works pretty well, most of the time. However, it’ll take some practice and experience to learn what kind of wash consistency matches your painting style. Play around with adding a little more water, or a little less matt medium, or whatever, and see how it goes.

However, there is one rule that will almost always apply when making washes:

The bigger the difference between the color of the base coat and the color of the wash, the thinner the wash should be.

With a larger color difference, you will want a thinner wash so that more of the base coat color will show through, which will give a smoother gradient to your shades.  If the colors are close, it can be a bit thicker, because the base coat color and the wash color will make a nice gradient all on their own.

Pro-tip: Reaper uses their brush-on sealer as the medium for their washes. They claim that it works better than normal matt medium. I have tried it, and I can’t disagree. I prefer it moderately, as it seems to give a slightly more vibrant color and smoother flow. However the difference is too small to justify the increased cost, over a big jug of matt medium, for speed painting. But give it a try if you’re curious or doing something fancy.

That's really it! With this formula, you can make a wash for just about any situation.

This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society. 

Sealing

The very last step is to seal the mini to protect your beautiful paint job. Spray sealer covers the mini in a thin, transparent lacquer.  Brush on sealer is essentially paint without any pigment.

My favorite sealant is Testors Dull Coat. Follow the same rules and process as we discussed in the priming article.

If you are currently experiencing cold or damp weather, I’d recommend going with brush on sealer rather than a spray. Cold and humidity can cause spray on sealer to cloud the miniature.

Important safety tip: Never accidentally grab your can of primer instead of your can of sealer. That really sucks. A friend of mine did this once on a Warhammer fantasy unit. He still gets a haunted look in his eyes when we speak of it.



This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society. 

Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker

Miss Mina Murray is a school mistress who is betrothed to Jonathan Harker. After her fiancé escapes from a mysterious Count's castle, Mina travels to Budapest to care for him during his recovery from a traumatic encounter. The two are married and return to England as husband and wife. However upon their return Mina is devastated to  learn that her best friend Lucy Westenra has died from a mysterious illness stemming from severe blood loss.


I base coated Mina's dress with Reaper Jungle Moss, the trim of her dress with Vallejo Beige Brown and Vallejo Red Leather for her belt and necklace. Her hair got Reaper Blonde Shadow, her skin Reaper Fair Skin and the Vallejo Natural Steel for the pistol and crucifix.

For shading I used Reaper Dark Green Shade for her dress, then I positioned her sideways to allow the shade to dry without running down to the bottom of her dress.

I shaded her belt, dress trim and hair with Vallejo Sepia Shade, and lightly washed her face and hands with a wash made from Reaper Fair Shadow. Her gun and crucifix received a wash with Reaper Black Wash. I also carefully applied some black wash to the cuts and tears in her dress.

Given the nature of Mina's affliction in the game, I wanted to leave her clothing fairly dark and her skin very light. So I highlighted her face and hands with Reaper Fair Highlight, and the folds of her dress with Reaper Highland Moss.

With that, Mina is ready to go out into the night and get herself some payback!

Priming

Why do we prime our miniatures?

Paint has a difficult time binding directly to the smooth surface of miniatures. Primer, on the other hand, has a bit of “bite” to it, such that it will stick to the miniature and also provide a surface paint can adhere to.

Most painters use a spray on primer, and also have some brush on primer around for touch ups. There are various methods for priming a figure. Some people will mount the mini on a stand, or on a piece of cardboard and spray it standing up. Others will lay the mini on a piece of cardboard, or a paper plate, spray it, then go through three cycles of turning it 90 degrees and spraying it again until one side of the mini is covered. Once the primer is dry, they flip the mini and repeat on the other side.
Regardless of your technique, a couple basic rules will always apply.

Do it outside or in a well ventilated area. Duh.

Shake your primer well. Up and down. Side to side. In little circles. Do the hokey-pokey with it. It’ll feel good!

Keep the can around 12 inches (30cm) away from the mini. The idea is to get a light coat of primer. Too much primer all at once will fill in the recesses of the mini, ruining all of the little details that make the figure look cool. We don’t want that.

Avoid priming outside in very cold or moist weather. The primer in the can is room temperature, so a sudden drop to freezing as it leaves the can will not end well.

Do not start spraying with the can pointed directly at the mini. The first second of spray can be fouled by dried primer and other gunk. It can also take that long for the primer coming out of the can to be properly mixed. Start spraying to the side of the mini, and then drag the spray across the mini. Then stop spraying, return the can to the starting point and repeat until you have a nice light coat covering all surfaces of the figure.

Please be kind to the environment, have a piece of cardboard, or a box on its side, on the far side of the mini to catch excess primer.

If you are having trouble finding all of the mold lines, just go ahead and wash and prime the mini. The primer will make the lines stand out. Then you can clean the figure and use brush on primer over the affected area.

Learning to prime well will help to set you up for success in the hobby.



This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society. 

Dr. John "Jack" Seward

Dr. Seward serves as the administrator of an insane asylum in London. One of the patients, R. M. Renfield catches his attention when the patient develops a psychosis which compels him to devour living things.

Dr. Seward is good friends with Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood, the future Lord Godalming. However their friendship is tested with all three men propose to the lady Lucy Westenra the same day.

Lucy ultimately accepts Author's proposal, however Dr. Seward maintains his love for her and dedicates himself to finding a cure when she suddenly becomes ill with a very unusual malady.

Looking at the artwork, I decided to go with a base coat of Reaper Jungle Moss for Jack's cape and vest, and a coat of Reaper Highland Moss for his jacket.

His trousers got a coat of Vallejo Beige Brown, and his boots Vallejo Cobra Leather. The art shows his face as rather pale, so I went with Reaper Fair Skin for his face and hands. His shirt collar got a coat of Vallejo Off-White, with a thin line of Vallejo Red Leather for his tie. Jack's hair got a coat of Reaper Dark Skin.  The cross received a couple coats of Vallejo Red Leather.

Next I added some shading to the cape, using Vallejo Dark Green Wash. 

The cape received a couple of washes. I also lightly washed the jacket and vest.  The face and hands received a wash with Vallejo Fleshtone Shade. Shading on the trousers and boots was done with Vallejo Sepia Shade. His hair was shaded with Vallejo Black Wash.  I also gave the cross a light shade with Sepia.

Next I highlighted the cape by detail painting a few thin coats of Reaper Pale Lichen on the raised folds. Jack's hair was highlighted with some Reaper Dark Skin.

The jacket and vest were also highlighted with pale lichen. The face and hands were highlighted with Reaper Pale Skin and I added some Vallejo Bronze for the buttons.

Finally I painted the base black, and Dr. Seward is ready to gather his team to battle the Night!

Cleaning

Cleaning miniatures refers to the preparatory steps necessary to get them out of the packaging and ready to prime and paint.

The first thing we need talk about is finding and removing mold lines. Miniatures are produced in molds, and the molds are created in two (or more) pieces, which are pressed together and have hot material such as metal, plastic or resin injected into them. Once that material cools, the pieces of the mold are taken apart, and your new mini is born!

A mold line shows you where the two parts of the mold came together. Invariably a little bit of the hot material rises up into the tiny gap where the mold pieces were touching.

The mold line runs along the base, up the side of the head and along the back and tail.  

If mold lines don’t bother you, then don’t sweat it. They’re not usually visible from a distance once the mini is painted. However, they bug the heck out of me, and I always remove them.

For metal and hard plastic minis, the back of a hobby knife blade is usually sufficient to scrape the mold line off. Simply scrape along the line as if you were gently removing a layer of paint.

For soft plastic and resin minis, this can be too abrasive and gouge the mini if you are not very careful. For these minis, I use either fine or medium plastic sanding needles.

Minis can also have “flash” which is a larger chunk of material hanging off it somewhere. Molds have one or more holes in them, called injection sites, where the hot material is squirted into the mold. A common source of flash occurs when some of the hot material back flows into that hole and is left hanging there when it cools. Resin minis also commonly have little bits of flash hanging off of thinner parts of the model.

Flash should be removed and the site smoothed out the same way that you removed the mold line. However, be sure to take a look at some pictures of the model painted first to make sure that it really is flash. Sometime minis have bits hanging off of them that may look like flash at first glance, but are really some piece of detail that is intended to be there.

The final cleaning step is to wash the minis in warm soapy water and gently scrub them with a soft brush, such as a toothbrush. Manufacturers use oils, call mold release, to ensure that the mini doesn’t stick to the interior of the mold. The mini can also pick up oil and grime from skin while handled during shipping. This residue can interfere with our primer sticking to the figure. It isn’t always a problem. In general, it is less of a problem for metal minis, more of a problem for plastics and is frequently a problem for resin. Personally, I always wash my minis.

Once the washing is done, mount the miniatures on a stands so that you can handle them while painting. Stands just need to be something that you can comfortably hold in one hand which is sturdy enough to support the miniature. My favorite choice for stands is golf tees.

Mount the minis to the stands using an adhesive such as hot glue, mounting putty, or double sided carpet tape.

Golf tees and mounting putty

With our minis cleaned, we are ready to move on to the primer!

This post was adapted from an article originally published on the Mad Adventurer's Society.