Hello fellow talisman fans!!!

Sooo, I have finally decided to get into painting figures! As a child I watched my brohter paint his HeroQuest and Space Crusade figures; and after some time he got very good at it. But that is about as far as I go with painting figures!

I am going to buy myself some starter sets and get some cheap figures to practise on. I can get 50 Orcs or 50 Dwarfs for £8! Which I am very happy about. I will practice on these and hopefully I'll get good enough to risk my beautiful Talisman figures.

Has anyone got any words of caution, tips or hints that they feel would be benefical to me before I start. Thankfully a friend is a good model painter and he is going to show me some things, but I'd be extremely grateful to anyone who has any tips for me on this forum

Thanks for reading

Jack

Take a look at this post on BGG -

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/574246/beginning-talisman-mini-painting-cheap

Thank you Jon

ooo I am getting excited already! I am not looking to be the worlds best but if I can just paint them good enough to be happy with i will die a happy Jack!!!

Good luck! You are braver than me

I used to do a lot of painting way back when. My biggest advice is move from light to dark always and brush lightly.

In all cases, one can always add paint or darkness, but it is hard to take it away. You'll learn that quick

Painting your miniatures really does add something to the game. It feels complete and gives the characters life. The only problem of course is that new expansion keep coming out! It's hard to keep up with that, but work at your own pace and enjoy the process. Good on you for going for it!

You also may want to take a look at the characters and pick some really simple ones to start with. Toads, Death and Werewolf jump to mind.

@ adjogi

Thanks for the advice on choosing the simplest characters first. Sadly my Toads, Death and Werewolf have all been painted already by a friend. I say sadly but really I am glad! lol

I have 30 Orcs and 30 Dwarfs I purchased from EM4 Miniatures for like 20p each! These will be my practice models. I have these now and I am in the process of purchasing lots of paints and accessories. Lucky for me a friend works at Wayland Games and lucky for me I live very close to the shop and warehouse. He is going to help me select the paints and also show me some tips too. Between friends and you guys on the forum I feel very lucky to have so much good advise.

Well I've finally had time to sit down with a friend and spend a night learning from him how to paint a figure! I can tell you it was fun and a great learning curve for me. My friend had plenty of paints so we had a good set of colours to choose from and get the right mix for base - highlight - inks etc

Here is my first attempt at painting a figure, a cheap orc from em4 miniatures

Mine is the figure on the left, my friend did the one on the right as he guided me through all the stages. It most certainly isn't amazing but I am soo much more impressed with it than I ever thought I would be :D

Those are better than anything I've ever painted. I would be proud to have my Talisman figures painted to that level.

Those are better than anything I've ever painted. I would be proud to have my Talisman figures painted to that level.

Hi alphasquid

Thank you for your words, believe me I am still in shock at how good I got him. Well he isn't amazing but god **** I am proud! I have 30 of the Orcs and I am going to paint them all up; with different coloured clothes and I may even chop their arms off and stick them in different positions to get them looking unique. Then i am going to use them in a heroQuest campaign I've got in my head which is utilise 30 Orcs on the board at once! hehehehe

thanks again for commenting buddy

I'm in the process of painting all my Talisman figures, and I'm about 2/3 the way through (I have all expansions, so about 60 figures). Here's some quick advice:

--If you aren't a detail hound, don't paint the eyes. Too small, too troubling, and won't really be noticed on the gaming board anyway.

--Washes are your friend (BFF actually). Sure, they help define shadows, but also help lay down a dark dividing line between areas that makes painting areas "in the lines" much easier.

--Pick a focal point of each miniatures and go for that. Like the Philosopher ... his blue overcoat ... focus on that, etc.

--Be sure to clean the mold lines. Nothing makes a miniature look worse than a great paint job with a mold line in the middle.

I've thought of posting mine as an example. It's been a blast to try to replicate each according to colors on the portrait. My favorite so far has been the Celestial; my least favorite is the Priest.

Good luck!

I prefer not using a primer, as it impacts character details.

Reaper Miniatures has a great selection of colors, though I prefer using a base set of primes and try to mix tones to match the original card art.

a tip when painting buttons or trim, wipe your brush down to remove as much paint as possible. you only want a very light amount applied with the side of the bristles.

https://flic.kr/p/Corodoss3foWc7

I prefer not using a primer, as it impacts character details.

If this is true, you are using the wrong type of primer, or are spraying it on too heavily. Using Games Workshop primer, I never lose any detail, regardless of priming white or black.

There are two techniqus that go a long way toward making your painted miniatures look decent: Dry brushing and washes. Use dry brushing for highlights and washes for shadows.

I prefer not using a primer, as it impacts character details.

If this is true, you are using the wrong type of primer, or are spraying it on too heavily. Using Games Workshop primer, I never lose any detail, regardless of priming white or black.

could be. I'll look into it. But since these figures are so small and there are so many, I'm happy with the finished products I have now. Just need to brush-up on my washing technique now.

Man I would love to have the confidence to paint my miniatures, really adds character to the game board, I tried painting the grim reaper, which is probably one of the easiest but turned out poorly - now I feel I don't have the talent - mind you the crap paints and not really researching where probably contributed to my failing.

Dwarf:

http://s66.photobucket.com/user/mariantor/media/Talisman/Dwarf.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

more Talisman miniatures here:

https://www.facebook.com/P%C4%99dzlem-do-g%C3%B3ry-1630018807326153/

I've been painting mine on and off for about 6 months now, I have about 25 finished ones, over this period I've found some useful tips. My top 10 Newbie tips are as follows.....

1) Mount your minature on an old battery, or wine cork, this makes for much better handling and will stop you spoiling your work by touching wet bits by mistake.

2) Like some have already mentioned, washes are your friend, but get several different tones, one wash does not do all colours, also dont go mad and cover everything in wash, it dulls the colours, only apply to details that need defining.

3) Use a wet palete, dilute your paint, 1 part paint - 2 or 3 parts water, this will obviously lessen the strength of colour but by applying 2 or 3 coats of mixed paint, detail will stand out much better and blotchy thick paint will cover fine detail, especially on the smaller size minatures like in Talisman.

4) When dry brushing dont dilute paint quite as much, half and half is about right, but remember to remove almost all the paint, more than you think you have to normally, it only takes one over loaded dry brush to totally ruin your work ( I know this form experience)

5) Once finished, coat your minature with a mat varnish or some other sort of finish to protect your work, paint chips of plastic mini's very easily.

6) Get a protective foam storing unit, do not just throw painted minis in the box, they will get chipped and your hard work ruined.

7) Always use a primer, I dont care what anyone says, you get a better final finish...fact! A spray can kept at aboout a foot away with light even sweeping motions around the mini is the only way to get a pro finish, especially if you water down your paint like I suggested earlier.

8) Steer clear of overly bright fancy colours, it makes your minis too unreal and cartoon like.

9) If you are going to try and do eyes, by the smallest brush you can find and do them first.

10) Alway clean your brushes well, let them dry horizontally, or brush side up, once you bend them whilst drying they will never bounce back to original straightness.