On CSO we have been talking about tutorials recently and one idea was to make it a bit more interactive. Born was the idea of the paint-along. So without further ado ...
welcome to the first CSO paint-along! In this thread I will post step-by-step pictures of how I paint a
Mjolnir BattleMech in the colors of the
Republic Standing Guard. But instead of just posting a long tutorial on CSO at once (which I will do after the paint-along) I want you to join in. I invite you to grab a miniature and a brush and follow the steps, post pictures of your miniatures and get feedback as we go along.
You don't have to paint a Mjolnir and you don't have to use the Republic Standing Guard scheme, but it will of course be the best comparison. The Mjolnir is a fantastic sculpt in my opinion, it is relatively new and is relevant to the current timeline. The scheme of the Republic Standing Guard is simple and with a military green being the dominant color it is very flexible as there are a plethora of "green" units out there.
Before we start I must admit I "cheated" a bit. At first the idea was to make this a "live" paint-along with me posting steps as I continue painting the miniature. But I was very unsure if my way of painting makes for a good step-by-step as my process is usually pretty chaotic jumping from color to color all across the miniature. Knowing I had to structure my process I started to work on the Mjolnir to see if this works. Then I decided to postpone the start of the paint-along until after the Iron Painter deadline, but of course I continued painting in the meantime. Long story short, the Mjolnir is finished, but I have approximately a hundred in progress pictures which I can release one step at a time. And no worries, you will get the unfiltered truth including all the mistakes ...
Here is a small teaser what to expect:
After each step I will give you a couple of days to catch up, post pictures of your work and for me to comment on the pictures. And of course to answer questions. So feel free to fire away anytime.
I want to point out though that the paint-along (obviously) shows
my way of painting which may or may not work for you. Some steps will also likely go beyond what some are willing to do, but I will try to point out "jump off" points or shortcuts where appropriate. For example you can easily omit the weathering or throttle back on the overall contrast.
Especially when it comes to technique and ways of doing things miniature painting is very individual. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you, may even be needlessly complicated to you. But knowing different techniques and different methods to reach a goal can only add to your toolbox. In the end it is all about tweaking different techniques to fit your own style and your own ways of painting.
But enough disclaimer now ... let's get this thing started ... here are the first two steps:
Step 1: Mjolnir assembled, cleaned, based and ready for priming.
Preparation for me means removing all mold lines and imperfections with an x-acto knife and files, completely assemble the miniature and attach it to the fully built base (if I can avoid it I never paint my miniatures in pieces or not-based). On very rough surface I also use very fine wet-and-dry sandpaper to smooth everything out. The Mjolnir is standing on a plastic base and the terrain was built using Miliput, fine sand/gravel and small pieces of slate.
Before painting I also glue the miniature to a handle (usually a small wooden cube or old paint pot). I strongly advice not to handle the miniature while painting. Handling the miniature while painting can easily flake of paint and the grease from your skin can have many negative side effects as well (like paint not sticking to the now greasy surface). Chose a handle you can, well, handle comfortably and you will see it even makes reaching some spots easier.
The one thing I didn't like about the miniature was the stance. I wanted it to have a little more movement. The best way would have been to remove the integrated base completely, but I took the lazy route: separate the legs, bend legs into desired shape and build up the base to resemble a small hill to hide the rest of the integrated base.
Step 2: Priming miniatures is usually a two step process. First I prime the miniature in black. Using black spray (I use GW Chaos Black spray ... yes, it is expensive, but it I never had problems with it, I can get it locally and since I paint single miniatures most of the time a can lasts a long time for me) and after the spray is dry watered down black paint to get to all the spots the spray didn't reach. This is actually a very important step for me as it means exploring the miniature with a brush for the first time. At this point I can find small mold lines or imperfections I missed during clean up, but also develop ideas how to paint details and generally get to know the lines of the miniature. The second step when priming is a light dusting with white spray (again GW). I don't want coverage, just a light dusting (and yes, I was a bit heavy on the white here...). Why do I do this? Well, I could write something about complex light theories and how this helps to establish lights and shadows even before painting, but the truth is I simply like the "feel" of it. I usually paint over more or less opaque basecoats and rarely use the primer color to my full advantage. But the white dusting makes for a rougher surface than a single primer color (but be careful - if you can feel the roughness or see what looks like small grains something went wrong and you better start again) and I like the way this surface takes paint.
And that's it for now. I hope some of you are interested in joining this CSO paint-along. I will wait a few days to gauge interest and for you to join in and catch up before I post the next steps where the actual painting starts :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To make the thread a bit more usable/readable here are direct links to posts of interest:
-
Thoughts about priming:http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg782467.html#msg782467-
Core color selection:http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg782486.html#msg782486-
Thinning paints / brushes / Step 3 (basecolors) / Step 4 (filter/wash):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg782708.html#msg782708-
More thoughts about priming:http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg785609.html#msg785609-
Shading and highlighting techniques / Step 5 (shading the red I) / Step 6 (shading the red II):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg786661.html#msg786661-
Highlighting techniques / Step 7 (highlighting the red I) / Step 8 (highlighting the red II) / Step 9 (highlighting the red III) / Step 10 (grey parts and cockpit):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg789952.html#msg789952-
Step 11 (shading the green) / Shading video / Step 12 (highlighting the green I) / Step 13 (highlighting the green II):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg793984.html#msg793984-
Thoughts about metallics / Step 14 (metallics and decals):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg797856.html#msg797856-
Step 15 (laser lenses / chipping and scratches):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg800566.html#msg800566-
Step 16 (markings and numbers) / Step 17 (finish the shading and highlighting / chipping revisited) / Step 18 (warning stripes) / Step 19 (rust / dirt washes):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg804737.html#msg804737-
Step 20 (base) / Step 21 (pigments):http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,33513.msg809645.html#msg809645Milestones collage:Link to the most current final milestone collage.
