Excellent job, again! Me and my kids (ages 4 & 3) enjoys watching you paint the marvel united miniatures. I'm painting him next, too. I was done with Venom, Black Widow and Red Skull. I can't get the highlighting part yet which you do an awesome job!
New follower and newbie to mini painting; I have been watching your videos. Sometimes it appears we start with the shade and move up to the base and then to highlights; Other times, it appears you start with the base (mid-tone) and then shade down and highlight up. Any general rules as to when to use which approach? Your thoughts are welcomed; kindest regards.
Great question. Thanks for asking! I don't have a hard and fast rule, but it usually comes down to one or two factors. How easily the recesses will accept a wash or how easy they are to reach. I do most shading with washes, and it won't settle right on large flat areas (like the Hulk). So rather than try to brush a darker color into the creases, I coat it all to start with! For smaller or hard to reach areas (like the Wasp), I don't want to muck up surrounding surfaces by trying to get my brush into tight places.
I don't have a tutorial, but that's a great idea! The technique is called 'zenithal highlighting'. I use my airbrush, but I've used rattlecan spray paints to do the same effect (just harder to control the spray amount). First coat the mini with a dark color primer, this will end up as the shadows. I use black. Then apply a light color (white) from directly overhead. Move a little from side-to-side, roughly 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock, with 12 o'clock being directly overhead (or 30 degrees on either side, if you prefer). The goal is to highlight everything an overhead light would shine on. This can either give you a good guideline to use when painting, or, if you're using a translucent paint, it will take care of the base coat and shading at the same time! I was pretty generous with the white on Captain America, so the shadows aren't quite as strong as they usually are.
This is fantastic. I just did my Cap today and while I'm still pretty messy and new to it, I'm not able to get my blues and reds to be as clean as yours off the brush. Is it a matter of just getting the paints thin enough? Also can you say what brushes you used? I've been doing most of my MU with an Army Painter Regiment brush and the Precise Detail one but I still have trouble getting clean detail lines.
I started this series with a Army Painter Starter brush, but it didn't hold it's point very well and the ferrule actually fell of the handle. I switched to a size 2 kolinsky pure sable brush for most of my work, and a size 1 for the smallest details. These minis are pretty big compared to most, so you shouldn't need to go any smaller than that. The bigger brushes hold more paint, and there is less worry about paint drying on the tip. The important thing for details is keeping a nice pointed tip. Spin your brush on the palette after you've got paint on it to reform the tip. Check out any of Sorastro's Painting videos to see him doing it. And yes, to your first question, a couple of coats of thin paints will be much smoother than one thick coat. Just give them time to dry in between!
How do you apply the tone so accurately? When I try to apply tone (such as in the eye openings) it just oozes everywhere and I have zero control where it goes.
Use less tone on your brush, dab some onto a paper towel. Or try a smaller brush. Carefully apply it into the corners. You can still push it around while it’s wet to control where it pools.
great job!
Awesome...thank you for sharing your techniques
You bet!
I love how simple and still fine finished the miniature looks! I'm getting inspiration from Sorastro's videos too.
Thanks!
Nice painting.
Thank you 😀
Excellent job, again! Me and my kids (ages 4 & 3) enjoys watching you paint the marvel united miniatures. I'm painting him next, too. I was done with Venom, Black Widow and Red Skull. I can't get the highlighting part yet which you do an awesome job!
Thanks! Happy to provide family entertainment for you all. Keep at it, it might look to bright at first, but paints dry darker.
New follower and newbie to mini painting; I have been watching your videos. Sometimes it appears we start with the shade and move up to the base and then to highlights; Other times, it appears you start with the base (mid-tone) and then shade down and highlight up. Any general rules as to when to use which approach? Your thoughts are welcomed; kindest regards.
Great question. Thanks for asking! I don't have a hard and fast rule, but it usually comes down to one or two factors. How easily the recesses will accept a wash or how easy they are to reach.
I do most shading with washes, and it won't settle right on large flat areas (like the Hulk). So rather than try to brush a darker color into the creases, I coat it all to start with! For smaller or hard to reach areas (like the Wasp), I don't want to muck up surrounding surfaces by trying to get my brush into tight places.
You mentioned at the beginning that you primed it black and white. Could you elaborate or have a tutorial on how you do it?
I don't have a tutorial, but that's a great idea!
The technique is called 'zenithal highlighting'. I use my airbrush, but I've used rattlecan spray paints to do the same effect (just harder to control the spray amount). First coat the mini with a dark color primer, this will end up as the shadows. I use black. Then apply a light color (white) from directly overhead. Move a little from side-to-side, roughly 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock, with 12 o'clock being directly overhead (or 30 degrees on either side, if you prefer).
The goal is to highlight everything an overhead light would shine on. This can either give you a good guideline to use when painting, or, if you're using a translucent paint, it will take care of the base coat and shading at the same time!
I was pretty generous with the white on Captain America, so the shadows aren't quite as strong as they usually are.
Keep making videos, you will definitely gain subs. Don't be discouraged if it takes awhile.
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. I appreciate it!
This is fantastic. I just did my Cap today and while I'm still pretty messy and new to it, I'm not able to get my blues and reds to be as clean as yours off the brush. Is it a matter of just getting the paints thin enough?
Also can you say what brushes you used? I've been doing most of my MU with an Army Painter Regiment brush and the Precise Detail one but I still have trouble getting clean detail lines.
I started this series with a Army Painter Starter brush, but it didn't hold it's point very well and the ferrule actually fell of the handle. I switched to a size 2 kolinsky pure sable brush for most of my work, and a size 1 for the smallest details. These minis are pretty big compared to most, so you shouldn't need to go any smaller than that. The bigger brushes hold more paint, and there is less worry about paint drying on the tip.
The important thing for details is keeping a nice pointed tip. Spin your brush on the palette after you've got paint on it to reform the tip. Check out any of Sorastro's Painting videos to see him doing it.
And yes, to your first question, a couple of coats of thin paints will be much smoother than one thick coat. Just give them time to dry in between!
How do you apply the tone so accurately? When I try to apply tone (such as in the eye openings) it just oozes everywhere and I have zero control where it goes.
Use less tone on your brush, dab some onto a paper towel. Or try a smaller brush. Carefully apply it into the corners. You can still push it around while it’s wet to control where it pools.