23 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Army Painter, at least in that regard - Its a Shortcut.

Priming is not Basecoating.

Priming should not be Basecoating.

If you're Priming so much you have a Base Coat, you're using too much Primer.


Primer should be a dusting to prepare the surface of the model to accept the base coat.

True as this is...

I'd say that, if you're comfortable with a low-to-middling tabletop quality, or are just trying to get figures done and on the field with a minimum of fuss, it's obviously quite *possible* to do, and made a lot easier by Army Painter's matched color primers and ink shades. Making skeletons? Prime bone, dip in soft tone, drybrush same bone color, drybrush white, detail where desired, boom, done.

Not every figure I sit down to paint has the same end goal as far as quality goes.

Just now, Tvayumat said:

....
Not every figure I sit down to paint has the same end goal as far as quality goes.

I make no apologies for being a very Old-School, Classically Trained, "In the Garage", Make-Your-Own Lead Toy Soldier painter at heart...

Makes me a little pedantic on some subjects... Preparation of Models is one of them...

Properly Cleaned, Properly Handled, Properly Primed.... Now , I can blame all mistakes on myself from that point forward

11 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I make no apologies for being a very Old-School, Classically Trained, "In the Garage", Make-Your-Own Lead Toy Soldier painter at heart...

Makes me a little pedantic on some subjects... Preparation of Models is one of them...

Properly Cleaned, Properly Handled, Properly Primed.... Now , I can blame all mistakes on myself from that point forward

Hey, preaching to the choir.

I look at it this way: Most people who play these games don't paint. Period. They just don't. A lot do, most don't.

Getting people to paint at all is the hard part. Once someone starts, they're either going to dislike and drop it (Thus the endless legion of half-painted figures that compose the vast majority of all models in existence), or start to get more interested in the hobby.

Once they have their interest sparked, they'll improve on their own work and, like myself, eventually discover that they are probably using primer too thickly.

If color-matched primer gets people painting in the first place, I'm all for it.

1 hour ago, Drasnighta said:

Army Painter, at least in that regard - Its a Shortcut.

Priming is not Basecoating.

Priming should not be Basecoating.

If you're Priming so much you have a Base Coat, you're using too much Primer.


Primer should be a dusting to prepare the surface of the model to accept the base coat.

Couldn't have said it better...

I really hope the minis are good...can't wait to get my hands on the carrion lancer...skeletons and giant worm things? Awesome.

33 minutes ago, Joker2007 said:

I really hope the minis are good...can't wait to get my hands on the carrion lancer...skeletons and giant worm things? Awesome.

I'm the same but on Daqan, the rune golem was the feather that sold me when I was on the fence

Thanks to all of you for your many answers and advice. Airbrushing... hum Will have to look at some tutorials for it.

Moreover, I'm not looking at comfort or speedy work. But that's true that painting like 20-30 minis all the same will be a good piece of work depending on the time I will be able to spend on it in the very near future (Yup hope my professional oportunity will be a success in some days or next week). To be honest, I'm not gonna paint those poor skeletons like skeletons, I want to have them being more originals than just dust bone crawling creatures. Still have to choose what to do with them. Vallejo primers are better than ? um I'll try to combine those with what I alread have. I'm not a fan of priming... Not that I want to ignore priming because it is essential, but I'm not that comfortable at it (maybe because I've not primed for a long time now...)

Oh by the way I've got citadel brushes at home but some of them have the hair a bit messed (some hairs won't go straight anymore unless watered), is there a way to properly have them back to normal or any precise tips to maintain them in good state ? I don't know much about brushes, I've got some of them, nearly all from Citadel bu I know there are also a lot of brushes out there. Any mark in particular that I could keep an eye on for when my actual brushes ask for mercy and I have to have them retire ?

Is it complicated to prime with an airbrush ?

Thanks again ! I will post some models I painted some years ago from Space wolves and Imperial Guards. Just to show you...in case you're interested... or not

Some brush advice, never let the colour get to the end of the hair where your handle begins, I clean my brush while painting in between steps, but for that I just use normal water for the end cleaning you could use professional products or I have heard people here use curd soap ( at least that's the name a online translator gave me), then let them dry and use the plastic caps most brushes come with these days to protect the hair.

For your old brushes you could try to make the wet and shape them back into form, but I don't know if that will work.

1 hour ago, Iceeagle85 said:

eople here use curd soap

how do you say that in your own language ?

7 minutes ago, Elrad said:

how do you say that in your own language ?

I can't answer the question, but I can provide this:



I personally don't use it... My toddler is eminently destroying my brushes, so I've ratcheted down a notch in quality for the time being - but every artist friend, from Miniature to Canvas, has gushed over it.

Also, when it comes to "Re=Shaping Old Brushes".... If you're using natural hair brushes, do try just a tiny bit of Conditioner - like, the second part of your Shampoo + Conditioner cycle for your own hair... A Water soak, a little conditioner, a really strong rinse - and they'll often bounce back to their original shape of points... But it comes with Caveats. If bristles have been lost previously (inevitable), then it will fray quicker than before - there's just less holding things in place,

27 minutes ago, Elrad said:

how do you say that in your own language ?

That would be Kernseife , the english Wikipedia article calls it hard soap , i personally use normal soap but as said i heard people talking about hard soap.

19 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I can't answer the question, but I can provide this:



I personally don't use it... My toddler is eminently destroying my brushes, so I've ratcheted down a notch in quality for the time being - but every artist friend, from Miniature to Canvas, has gushed over it.

Also, when it comes to "Re=Shaping Old Brushes".... If you're using natural hair brushes, do try just a tiny bit of Conditioner - like, the second part of your Shampoo + Conditioner cycle for your own hair... A Water soak, a little conditioner, a really strong rinse - and they'll often bounce back to their original shape of points... But it comes with Caveats. If bristles have been lost previously (inevitable), then it will fray quicker than before - there's just less holding things in place,

Thank you for that tip, as someone who greatly respects you die hards and your extensive techniques I am of the Army painter technique, I know I'll never win an award for my paintings, but every so often I do try add new techniques highlighting is what I'm going to be attempting with Runewars and Imperial assault... So i'm just going to be over here with my tabletop quality army instead of gray plastic

do some players come to a tournament without painting their minis ?

Many.

How strange... I mean, I would not feel myself "right" by bringing an unpainted army to a battle...it's so.... dissonant. i can understand peoples who do that because they can't afford the paints or don't want to paint or can't paint (but even me, when I started, i was not sure about me and then I found myself painting some minis I actually love so much because It's some sort of achievement for me...well I'm not overproud or anything, but for what I am and what I did with what I had when painting, I'm satisfied).

So yes that's one of the reason Runewars minis won't leave my house before being totally and thematically painted.

8 minutes ago, Elrad said:

do some players come to a tournament without painting their minis ?

Yeah that's why most companies have different tournament classifications with some requiring at least basically painted miniatures and such...and in many organized play leagues there is emphasis on the hobby aspect to help with points in the league, for example Warmachine/Hordes leagues someone could lose every game but potentially take first in the league by painting the army they were playing...

Hehe. Yeah.

I don't even go to Armada tournaments without everything being Custom Painted... "Stock" Ships just don't cut it for me

16 hours ago, Joker2007 said:

but I have achieved great results with rustoleum primer ($3 or $4 per can).

I use Krylon camo spray paint myself for the primer. All the colors are super mat and takes paint very well, covers great and is way cheaper then stuff that really only works just as well.

1 minute ago, VanorDM said:

I use Krylon camo spray paint myself for the primer. All the colors are super mat and takes paint very well, covers great and is way cheaper then stuff that really only works just as well.

I use ColorPlace (I think?) matte black. It comes from Walmart in the US and costs 97 cents per can. It's a little thin, so I do two quick coats. Can't go wrong for the price. Their matte grey is also good. The white is terrible... very chalky. Avoid ColorPlace white.

The important thing about priming is to simply provide a good surface for the paint to stick to. Some people pay Way too much for name brands. Which isn't true of paints, I used to use just basic craft paint and did get good results, but since switching to Citadel and Army Painter stuff I've seen a difference. Part of that also is using a wet pallet, which helps quite a lot.

I know it is taboo to many, but I have actually found the best results using the GW Imperial paint on primer instead of spray. I first started using it because the weather is never good for spray where I live. However, I've found I get a much more even coat and my paints (also GW) take much better. I used to use army painter and PP paints, but now I'd rather pay the premium prices to get the highest quality.

Just now, Wired4War said:

I know it is taboo to many, but I have actually found the best results using the GW Imperial paint on primer instead of spray. I first started using it because the weather is never good for spray where I live. However, I've found I get a much more even coat and my paints (also GW) take much better. I used to use army painter and PP paints, but now I'd rather pay the premium prices to get the highest quality.

Yes! Another paint-on-primer fan!

Yes many people play with completely unpainted armies, looks bad that's why GW had a rule that a miniature must have at least 3 colours on it and a painted or based base, but that was dropped long ago.

One thing to keep in mind with primers is what material you are painting on. Since these will be slightly-flexible plastic miniatures, I recommend approaching your painting a little differently than you might with strong plastic or metal miniatures like we usually see from say 40k/WFB or from Reaper (maybe Bones). This is good if you plan your layers well and make sure to seal the outer layers, as they will be flexible enough to travel with without chipping if in a soft container or foam, but don't store well. If you use a hobby heat gun or a small blowdryer, you can repose them a little bit even if they droop after painting, just be careful not to set the paint on fire or die of toxic fumes (ventilation ventilation ventilation!)

I am planning to do a primer that will affix well to flexible plastics (can't remember the brand, I'll find it later), then I will be doing a three-shade basecoat of grey everywhere, black in the shadows, and white on highlights and illuminated areas (for glowing eyes or weapons and such, trying to achieve a bit of a monochrome shading of the whole model. Next I will do primary colors of everything, with some mixed colors for variations and differences in lighting. Next I will be doing a layer of shading to bring out depth, then a varnish to seal it all, then a layer of drybrushing over the varnish to balance the tones from varnishing. Last I plan to base all the minis at least, hopefully to match the trays I want to base too.

For those of you speed-minded who have a well-ventilated area to work, You can do primer, complete grey base, primary colors, and then use Quickshade from Army Painter. Just dip, a swift brushing to get puddling, and leave to dry.

4 hours ago, drkpnthr said:

One thing to keep in mind with primers is what material you are painting on. Since these will be slightly-flexible plastic miniatures, I recommend approaching your painting a little differently than you might with strong plastic or metal miniatures like we usually see from say 40k/WFB or from Reaper (maybe Bones). This is good if you plan your layers well and make sure to seal the outer layers, as they will be flexible enough to travel with without chipping if in a soft container or foam, but don't store well. If you use a hobby heat gun or a small blowdryer, you can repose them a little bit even if they droop after painting, just be careful not to set the paint on fire or die of toxic fumes (ventilation ventilation ventilation!)

I am planning to do a primer that will affix well to flexible plastics (can't remember the brand, I'll find it later), then I will be doing a three-shade basecoat of grey everywhere, black in the shadows, and white on highlights and illuminated areas (for glowing eyes or weapons and such, trying to achieve a bit of a monochrome shading of the whole model. Next I will do primary colors of everything, with some mixed colors for variations and differences in lighting. Next I will be doing a layer of shading to bring out depth, then a varnish to seal it all, then a layer of drybrushing over the varnish to balance the tones from varnishing. Last I plan to base all the minis at least, hopefully to match the trays I want to base too.

For those of you speed-minded who have a well-ventilated area to work, You can do primer, complete grey base, primary colors, and then use Quickshade from Army Painter. Just dip, a swift brushing to get puddling, and leave to dry.

They're PVC. Having painted many of FFG's pvc figures, they take and hold any standard acrylic primer just fine after a little rinse.

They don't tend to have mold release problems for the most part, but a rinse never hurts.