"Favourite style of painting" Topic

I've been looking at a lot of miniature painting recently, on various blogs, manufacturer's sites, cool-mini-or-not style sites etc, and it got to me thinking about the different syles of painting. There are so many out there to choose from, and that (obviously) have different effects/purposes.

So, which style do you use and why do you use it?
Which style do you like to see on the tabletop?
Which style do you think works well with display figures?

I look forward to the varied responses, and hopefully some photographic evidence!

Not much by way of pics yet, but for historical colourful figures I still prefer the old soldier style.

Spray paint one color and dip?

LOL!

Just kidding!

Gracias,

Glenn

I have decided that getting minis onto a table is the most important thing. So I have stopped doing carefully shaded paint jobs and gone for what looks good enough from 3 feet on a wargames table. For me I am happy with block painting over a black undercoat with washes. I am using the new citadel washes and they do a great job. I tried Army Painter but found it too messy, too glossy and too expensive.

Now I can get figures on the table in about 25% of the time it was taking me.

So if I want a display figure I would go for Foundry style or a more blended shading style (depends on the model). For gaming – block and wash.

A good question.

I worked out a technique I was happy with for 15mm and less, enabling 2 x A-4 box files of figs in @3 months (from cleaning off the flash to varnishing the last base), while still having time to walk the dogs regularly.

- white undercoat.
slightly watered down lighter-shade-of-colour paints for block colouring
dark brown ink wash over the top of everything to make edges and shading
a little dry brush over any white to make it look clean again
basing using a rich colour, with static grass, crushed shell and then an off set colour wash over the base.
If they have flags, then paper flags as a final touch.

bases and flags will hide most sins in small scales anyway.

et voila.

I advise against black undercoat for 15mm or smaller, simply as there is not enough figure for the light to come back off which ever colurs you put on, so they all look like black blobs from 3 feet away (unless you're a great painter, of course).

beats 'wargaming standard' and is very fast
---

I'm now trying 28mm, and want to avoid this technique as the figures have more detail to work with.
but I refuse to dry brush white over a black undercoat, as life is too short and brushes too expensive for the undercoating to take longer than the main colour.

So far, i'm using 2 shades – one darker first in-block, and then the ridges and so forth of the 'real' colour.

early days yet, but I recon its going to be OK on the table.

I certainly recomend buying good brushes and paints that are easy to mix with (I like Liquitex art paints and Vallejo with their eye dropper tops for this reason), and I always have an old bathroom tile for mixing on, as a palette.

I got a small mixing tool from an art store, to make sure I don't use the brushes for mixing. Oh, and a cheap eye dropper with water to hand as well – it also helps if doign a lot of colour and it starts to dry out – thicken up before I'm finished.

And always buy the best sculpted figures you can, as this does a lot of the hard work for you.

I have no interest in entering painting competitions though, which is a big caveat.

For my ACW armies it was block painted, spray with Dullcote. I liked the "fresh out of the depot" look. D&D figures get primed and dry brushed up dark to light. Fantasy armies get a little of both depending on their role.

But never ever, ever would I consider DIPPING!

For 15mm I mainly block paint and then highlight various areas depending on what seems to jump out at me.

For 28mm I feel I have to take more time as errors and mismatched highlighting/shading stands out far more on them.

Consequently I can usually bash out 24 15mm figures in a week or so where as the same number of 28mm can take a month or more.

Some photo's here:

link

Pete

I tend toward the get-in-on-the-table, aka "good from 3 feet", look. Some highlighting, but nothing crazy.

Jackson Pollack.

All my figs end up looking that way anyway, now I embrace it.

I like almost anything besides the faux-shading effect where every little crease in the skin, right down to lifelines on the hands, knuckles, brow furrows and cholesterol bags under the eyes are outlined in brown.

I'm moving back to 28's for non-skirmish historical wargaming and I'm with "getback" that I need to get the stuff done fast. Since there's a whole bunch of figures clustered together on a base I don't need all the details painted. So now I'm blocking out the colors in "lighter-than-normal" shades then doing a wash (using the new GW washes) which will dull down the colors. I'll do a slight touch up after that (but not much – I used to touch up every color) and we're good to go. Individual leaders and fantasy figures still get the whole "block then wash then touch-up then highlight" sequence I usually use.

I mostly use a wet blending technique.

Why? Well, the only painting 'how to' articles I ever saw when I got started were on the black lining technique, which I thought was ugly as sin. So I ignored them and invented my own technique of subtler shading… and then found out that many other people use it and it is called wet blending.

I think the style works well with display figures, but is rather slow for painting huge armies.

I shall divulge MottTheHoople's foolproof secret method
Black undercoat, Panzer grey basecoat, black ink, drybrush Panzer grey.

This is a very good thread, thanks Brummy.

Personally I like trying with many different methods and techniques. For speed painting I usually use the Dallimore style which is very fast. I did once dipping but never use it as I do not like the finishing.

Usually I paint in a more traditional way using blendings, layerings, and also the black lining method (I think depending on the needs or the figure it's fine). Lately I'm more interested with the cenital lighting method and trying it.

Another bits of my techniques is using white or grey undercoat for 28mm and higher and black undercoat just for 15mm, testing a lot with the dilution of the paint, the angle and the surface or point of the brush, testing with different brushes and also lately toying with enamels and oils (but with not very good results until now). Also drybrushing I use very rarely, normally on vehicles.

In sum; I read a lot of many of master and normal painters I like around the world and take the bits I like most of their styles. Sometimes I've been very lucky to meet or chat with them and even watch them painting in person and I've learnt a lot from them this way, but I recognise I'm still a very mediocre painter without a mastered method yet.

Black undercoat, possibly a white dampbrush or spray mist from about 2' up.

Heavy drybrush of base colours, splodge on any camo required.
Pick out details in order boots, webbing, weapons, hands, face, hat. Inkwash on appropriate areas (sometimes whole fig, sometimes just flesh, sometimes webbing and flesh).
If necessary re-do details mucked up by inkwash.
Sometimes do a bit of blacklining with a micron pen.
Often follow up with a light overall drybrush of white/tan.
Varnish.

Job done. Works for anything from 6mm to 28mm.

Black undercoat, block in base colors, one or two levels of highlights depending on the figure and my motivation, occasional wash for shading, gloss varnish, matte varnish. I may take more time and add more steps for an army general or a character, but my painting is pretty basic. It looks decent from tabletop range, so I'm happy.

I hate the whole idea of a "painting style". If you can look at a painted figure and say, "Oh, look! Foundry style!", then the painter has failed. If you say, "Hey, those are grear looking Landsknechts!", then the painter has succeeded.

I do not have a "style". Instead, I have a lot of tricks that this old dog is still learning.

Yes, I wouldn't describe my approach as a 'style', it is whatever is necessary to get the job done. I even mix colours, sometimes, and sometimes I take shortcuts because I really, really can't be bothered to paint the cuffbands today or whatever.

So, which style do you use and why do you use it?
I like "Clean, crisp and Bright."

Which style do you like to see on the tabletop?
All styles that make the figures "Pop."

Which style do you think works well with display figures?
Any style that makes the figure "Pop"

I look forward to the varied responses, and hopefully some photographic evidence!

See Below for mine…

myweb.tiscali.co.uk/orctrader

I know I don't like black outlining. Blocking over black undercoat is much more effective.
I know I also really dislike the Dalimore method of exaggerated highlights. If I'm going to highlight I prefer a light drybrush.

Other than that I tend to block and drybrush up from a black or dark brown base. Stop when I like what I see.

Chalk up another hater of the Dalimore/Foundry method. They look ok from a distance but look horrible to me up close. Everything else is ok with me if done well.

Hmm, not sure what my style is. I have been practicing with a tad more blending recently. I do always try to give a figure my best tho.

Black undercoat and then however many layers that figure seems to need really! I don't game anymore and so can take my time over single minis.

I don't have a style preference in other peoples work…I like the massed wargame standard just as much as the jaw dropping CMON stuff……each has merit

hussarbob1746.webs.com

I dislike almost anything over a black primer. Very seldom have I seen anything over black that I've thought looked nice. And you can count me in with the crowd that doesn't care for the knuckles/knees/shins/muscle striations-outlined-in-brown look. Horrible.

I'm a big fan of white primer and washing, because the figures I paint (15mm and smaller) benefit from a little brightness "help."

Yeah, black-lining and harsh shading methods photograph well, but don't look so good in person.

My favorite style is blending

My own style is basic block painting? Almost no shading or highlighting… link

@ Jamesonsafari and leidang, I also dislike the Dalimore method of exaggerated highlights. And it's true that it look ok from a distance but look horrible up close.

I like all the styles and techniques and often combine them all on the same miniature!

I can't abide crappy paint jobs, has to be eyes, 4 colour flesh, blended 3 or 4 coats for everthing else, block ,wash highlight, you can't technically shade with acrylic thats for 28s , not so many eyes in 20 and 10, I can't abide 15mm either..

I don't really have a favoutite style when it comes to judging other people's figures. I like to see a variation in techniques. Different figures/periods lend themselves to different styles.

For my own painting my style depends on the scale and subject. For 15mm WWII and Modern infantry I black undercoat. I then paint a single coat, leaving the black undercoat to show in grooves and areas of shadow. I'm pretty generous in letting the black show. I don't use paint straight from the pot and tend to water it down, which softens the effect. This works very well for drab military colours. So much so I use a similar approach to WWII in 28mm, with the exception that I add a lighter highlight coat on colours that need it (usually the lighter or brighter colors).

For 15mm vehicles I black undercoat. I then drybrush the base colour, followed by a very light drybrush of an earth colour (often bestial brown), then a drybrush of the base colour mixed with white. Works a treat for vehicles painted with dark colours such as Russian Green or German Grey. Not so good for light colours where I'd be tempted to block paint.

For more colourful periods in 28mm I tend to paint my figures with the traditional two-three layers (working from dark shades to light)on a black undercoat. It is not unlike the "Foundry"/Dallimore style. I remember my painting jumped ahead in leaps and bounds when I tried to emulate some of the figures from the old Foundry catalogues. I also learn't that a good mix of paint lends itself to a good job. I water my acrylics down slightly on my painting palette, an old bathroom tile which I clean regularly. The smoothness of the tile allows me to easilly judge the quality of the mix and is very easy to clean with hot water. You wouldn't think that a good surface to mix paint on would make a big difference, but it did for me.

Clean block, wash, stain, drybrush, it's all good, even use the Dip. Just get 'em painted and on the table.

Heh, I'm not sure that the painting I do even rises to the level of a "style" but I think it's block style for 10mm ACW. Magic wash (Future and ink) really helps the finished paint job look much better to me. It almost looks like I know what I'm doing.

this is mine

link

Layering with extreme highlights on a black or brown base coat, then varnished if I have time with a coat of gloss and then matt varnish..unfortunately for painting time:) The only miniatures I haven't layered are Battle front 15mm Soviets.

you can see some examples of my styles here: warcolours.wordpress.com
Some are painted to be a fast addition to a tabletop army (using Army Painter) some are painted blending layers, it all depends on the figure and its uses: is it for the tabletop or for display? Is it a character or one of a block of rank and files? Tomorrow or the following day I will add pictures (I hope to take them tomorrow) of more figures I painted these days with yet another technique, using the new GW washes

I see that some of the gang that post on "Steve Dean" have posted here. Check out Rob UK's latest Austrian Hussar on the Steve Dean Forum link this sort of thing is beautiful! I aspire to this but would never want to say that "I paint in the "Hussarbob Style". My favourite style is my own! Which I want to improve with time and practice. As the OFM said…if all a painter can do is ape a style then the figures produced look dull and repetitive. One must strut one's own funky stuff!

Chalk up another hater of the Dalimore/Foundry method. They look ok from a distance but look horrible to me up close. Everything else is ok with me if done well.

I am not a fan of it either.
Up close they just look striped, subtle shading and blending is the way for me.

Im for getting the army fielded as fast as possible, but looking fantastic too.
It all starts with what the base coat shall be, the best basecoat that will be good to wash up with a Citadel wash.
If I do greeks, I mostly collect bronze armored greeks, so most of my greeks are basecoated in black, then another layter of bronze spray paint, then flesh out, then wash up in a chestnut wash, then paint on the fabrics, and weapons, glue the shields on, shields transfers, clear coat, done.
Another example, Egyptians, undercoat in white, flesh out, wash in chestnut, dry brush the white clothing back on, hair, clothes, etc…
Ofcourse I judge my base coat color on what the primary color of the figure is, if there isnt really one, I spray them black. But I just do the math, and add up what the majority of color is and pick it as a basecoat. But I also love to use those washes and dry brush like a made mad man.
So its Prime, Wash, dry brush, detail, clear coat. Thats pretty much the standard process. I take chances sometimes with colors, like the bronze…it worked out great, and its easy on flesh tones.
I use the method on every type of figure, even on 15mm.
My base coating makes the difference in speed. Im not an expert, but the prep work makes all the difference. But Ive found that using a good wash makes a big difference in the outcome, on detail and time. Citadel Washes (the ones just released, seem to be the best Ive ever used).
Cheers,
Tom

ps, Im very picky, and Ive been very happy with my "method" of slapping on paint. My wife is a painter and is the same, and she critiques my work, unfortunatley.

Right now I'm painting 15mm horse & musket troops (SYW, ACW & Napoleonic), so I've been experimenting a bit.

For the SYW Prussians, I primed them white. The ACW Confederates will be primed grey, and the Napoleonics were primed with black gesso and then dry-brushed with white. The black/white combo takes time, but I like it the best.

In all cases, I block in the base colors as cleanly as possible, then hit the entire figure with a wash of GW Devlan Mud. Once that dries I highlight and add detail bits like buttons, etc.

It's kind of putzy & time-consuming, but it gives me the look I prefer. The Devlan Mud is wonderful stuff that adds instant shading and covers up a multitude of painting sins. I just wish I could get it in larger pots, since I burn through it as a pretty fast clip.

Bart

For the longest time I simply block-painted and blacklined. I began to want more from my painting. I also got tired of Bill Stewart getting all the painting awards. I then started with washes then going back in with a thinned block color. The I highlighted with either a dry-brush of taking a very small amount of paint on the tip of my brush, dip that into water and highlight that way. I'm not very consistent sometimes I dry brush sometimes I use the water and dip method. So it's kind of the "how I feel style."

rich

Painting style? My gaming buds describe it as "impressionist figure painting". Hell…I don't know WHAT that means actually. Here's how I do it…keep it simple, I don't dip but do use Minwax Polyshade brushed on the areas that I want to deep shade and because I like the protection the varnish provides-then shoot the figure with a flat and paint highlights, use a blended and highlighted system, don't paint eyeballs because it makes a figure look like a crak-head, use an oil rubbing method for horses-paint 30-50 horses in a painting session, and use a simple basing system-none of my figures are based on a thick chunky P.O.S. looking basing. All my figures are magnetized on the bottom so they survive travel.
I do NOT use the Dallimore method. I've got the book and frankly it looks like a cheap-arse blob painting method. Takes too long to get the job done. I use Vallejo paints because they are highly pigmented and last forever. I use Floquil Flat when I can find it and Testor's Model Flat when I can't. I use GMB flags whenever possible and make my own when they are not available.

Here's my ECW and general wargaming blog URL: stevesfieldworks.blogspot.com
Please take a look and you make the call…

I guess I'm an "old fart style" painter. I only do what works and paint in masse when appropriate. My painting is fast, consistent and frankly ain't so bad after all these years.

My 1/2 centavo's worth!

Steve Miller
DFWIrregulars
Dallas, Texas

"It's kind of putzy & time-consuming, but it gives me the look I prefer. The Devlan Mud is wonderful stuff that adds instant shading and covers up a multitude of painting sins. I just wish I could get it in larger pots, since I burn through it as a pretty fast clip….."

Devlan Mud wash rocks, that is for sure.

tom

painting style hmmmm ….. depends on scale. Right now I am up to my elbows in 15mm British Desert troops and so the style is much more worn looking. I tend towards layering of block colors, then detailing with a fine brush or dry brushing and then a single wash with a mahogoney redish brown.

When I am working on my 28mm colonials, I am much more detail oriented and focused on bright colors. I don't tend to use washes as much. I am also not a fan of Dallimore method. When I tried it, I ended up with clown features ;-)

I put paint (sometimes more than two colours) on them until I can't see the metal or plastic anymore. Then they get blasted with varnish, stuck on the table and told to go and kill those guys over there.

Ah …. midnight before the con …… I have been known to paint that way ;-)

I just started to try to paint in the style of Guiseppe who owns Legio Heroica. I really like the style for 15's but it is a work in progress for me. Check out his web site for pics. Nice figs too!

I'm a convert to Dip. So now its white undercoat (sprayed for convenience), base colours, paint on the woodstain, spray varnish, done.

Which differs to my previous approach which was paint each model as if it were a Golden Demon entry, never finish more than three of them. Get bored. Never play.

I put paint (sometimes more than two colours) on them until I can't see the metal or plastic anymore. Then they get blasted with varnish, stuck on the table and told to go and kill those guys over there.

Real men don't use that piddly varnish…just repaint them from time to time. Try it. It will put hair on your chest.

I just started to try to paint in the style of Guiseppe who owns Legio Heroica.

I have viewed Guiseppe's paint work and it is excellent. But what style does he use? And description of his process available?

I don't know that I have any one style. Depends largely on what I'm painting. I certainly do 25s/28s with different techniques than I use for micro or space ships.

I tend to primer in black, unless I want a really bright fig, in which case I'll primer in white.

I use combinations of base coating with drybrushing and/or washes. For things like micro armor tanks, I'll typically do a base coat, add camo patterns and details, then add a dark wash. On rare occasions for those, I'll dry brush some highlights. For micro infantry, I wash but never dry brush. For 28mm stuff, I'll throw everything at it until it looks right to me.

If you dig around a little, you can see some of my 28mm bloodbowl minis (hey, the bolters are a robot team! they're sci-fi!) by clicking on the team links. I don't have many images of my micro sci fi yet, nor any of my space ships. One of these days I'll get less lazy and will do a marathon run with the digital camera…

:)

In the end, if it is not too time consuming, and looks decent on the gaming table, I'm good with it.

Black primer, drybrush white. Then paint over it. Works well and I don't have to wash it. I paint the large areas then paint smaller and smaller stuff over the top. I LOVE using large brushes.

I agree with JCBMinis that 15mm figs require a bit more 'brightness' otherwise from 2 foot away or more they are simply a dark blob on the table.

This is now my preferred method of paintng (see links below) but not applicable to all miniatures….

link

link

link

I'm also making far more use of Citadel Foundation paints on my 15's to paint a basecoat straight onto a miniature without need for an undercoat and using the Citadel Washes, especially Devlann Mud to provide shading and depth.

Cheers
Mark