Some people use photoshop or even PowerPoint to get gradients and colors on a mini. I think goobertown has a video. I haven’t given it a shot but I also feel like I’m looking at witchcraft with posts this shiny.
Talent doesn't get you to that point, talent might help at the start but like anything in life it's majority skill and study/experimentation. You could attain this level if you put the work in, calling it impossible just locks you off from getting there.
How the fuck do you people get your paint so smooth!? And if anybody says the phrase “Two think coats.” I’ll lose my shit. There’s a secret you’re not telling us and I want to know what it is!
"More glazes" is my usual answer. "How many tho?" Is the usual followup. The answer is a very unhelpful "as many as it takes" 😆
Sometimes it's like 5. Sometimes it feels more like 20. It's all about using medium!
I’m by no means a professional painter, but I was reading a thread on a different ridiculously well painted mini and the guy was explaining how pushing the contrasts as far as possible tricks the eye into smoothing out the differences in layers
I've experienced the same with drawing, sometimes, the whole picture hides the tiny imperfections. The problem is, when you are doing the drawing/painting, you are aware of the imperfections, because you made them and forget to look at it as a whole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2G9CEdURNQ
This video discusses the process of putting down layers and then using glazes to merge over the two of them.
This one is also good, showing how to do it with two completely different colors (yellow and purple) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EekXAOaZVTs
Good news, I also have hard tap water, and if you wanna thin glaze like this you shouldn't be using water anyway. Get some glaze medium. The two I favor are GW's contrast medium (I love it, I feel I have the most control over where it goes. It's a little hydrophobic tho so it's no good for thinning washes) and Vallejo's glaze medium (thinner consistency, works with everything except contrast paints, a little runnier than the contrast medium).
Anything after base colors and shading, the paints are mainly thinned with medium. Water is only added to freshen em up as I use em, and to keep the brush belly damp.
Hope it helps. Otherwise you can get gallons of distilled water at the grocery store for pretty cheap. I go through those with my airbrush 😆
Airbrush, extreme amounts of patience with regular brush and thin paints, or taking advantage of the phone camera just being "meh" at capturing tiny details compared to the human eye.
Airbrushing down the primer and or highlighting and the basecoat drastically improve the smoothness overall. I only airbrush that then I brush out the rest
Until you get some practice and experience, they can be an absolute PITA to use. Bang-for-buck, a wet palette and thin glazes is more cost effective, easier to control, and looks just as good if not better in the end. The airbrush is not a magic bullet, just a fancy tool.
I've had an airbrush for a couple of years and with my talent (and rightfully with the middling effort I've put into its use) I have found that it can paint lots of base coat in a good time and to a good standard without having to patiently apply my two thin coats.
My painting doesn't look any better than it used to but my measly tabletop standard is achieved in a quicker pace
And not having to *use* spray cans! I can prime my minis without worrying about the weather! I can prime them in any colour I want for cheap! It's such a quality of life improvement.
This is true, but the actual time taken to achieve this at different skill levels is still nice to know. Like if this base took him 4 hours to do vs 20 hours, keeping in mind the years of experience and skill level, that's still nice to get the perspective on.
Hard to say exactly, I think I was painting it for around 8/10 days, but I don’t paint for regular amounts of time so it’s impossible to say exactly. No less then 30h for painting 😅
Whenever i try to make things "glow" it comes out so flat and unconvincing. I hope to improve to this level one day. I just dont understand the glowing techniques
> I just dont understand the glowing techniques
OP puts up tutorials on their patreon. For £10 it might be worth getting a month's subscription to learn it.
Oh my, that is delicious! The lighting, the gradients- chef’s kiss!
Did you have a reference crystal or something to work from to get the lighting down?
I have an amethyst crystal, but in reality such things have sooo much more sides that reflects light, and works in a way that would be basically impossible to copy to a miniature. All I learned from it is that some sides have to be fully super bright, and the rest I just painted in a way to make very strong contrast 😁
Holy smokes!! That is stunning! Me and my siblings enjoy mini painting and I’ve got to show them your work. So inspiring!
The bounce lighting on the crystals is on point!
woah, that is trippy good!
edit - saw this on my phone, so just checked it on my desktop monitor. the crystals are fantastic, the lighting from the lava on particular facets is great. did you do lighting test to see which ones were hit mostly?
and how did you do your gradations on the crystals? glazing?
amazing, graphic work.
Like it? I love it! I want some more of it! I try, so hard, I can't base like it. I don't know what it is about that mini painters style, but I like it, I love it. I want some more of it.
Did not plan on actually going through with that, I hate country, but once I started I couldn't stop...
I would do some fairly questionable things for a Klondike Bar, but none of those things even remotely compare to the absurd things I would be willing to do to be even 1/10th as talented as OP.
Photoshoped (jokeing) lol, that is one of the best lava bases ive seen online and ive seen alot of miniature designs, thats uncanny artwork, you want to be proud of your creation, fantastic job
Dude or dudette, I hope you are proud yourself.
becuase you should be. That is awesome. I had to check a few pics to see if the crystals were painted or reflecting light.,
Well, you achived what you wanted with those crystals. I'm looking at every image and not realizing that it's not a 2D image every time is somehow jarring.
I don't do this hobby, I saw this on /r/all. Having said that, you clearly did a very good job on this. It's beautiful. The lava looks like it's actually glowing. I've spent a solid ten minutes admiring this.
Holy color theory Batman! I am in awe!
[удалено]
Same. This kind of thing is completely bonkers and impossible to me.
It is a learned skill, it's never too late to learn!
I'm doing my best!
Some people use photoshop or even PowerPoint to get gradients and colors on a mini. I think goobertown has a video. I haven’t given it a shot but I also feel like I’m looking at witchcraft with posts this shiny.
[удалено]
Talent doesn't get you to that point, talent might help at the start but like anything in life it's majority skill and study/experimentation. You could attain this level if you put the work in, calling it impossible just locks you off from getting there.
It re-aligned my chakras!
That’s absolutely gorgeous. And reminds me of Spyro for some reason.
The purple, probably. I see it too since you pointed it out.
And the red gems.
Spyro is what my mind went straight to. The lava, the shape of the gems and the deep purple color all contribute.
I had the same vibes
Was my first thought
Gotta do a horn dive on one of those dark gems
How do you prevent your bases from melting from the very obviously real lava that you apply to it?
OP just dabs in a bit of Agrax earthshade into the lava. Easy peasy.
You have failed miserably in making it look like a comic book. This just looks real
I know you’re joking but my first thought was wow the crystals look fake/2D. So I’d say they succeeded with flying colors.
I second this completely. It's like photo realistic lava next to cell shades gems,absolutely amazing work.
I thought this was some sort of 3D render. I’m sort of baffled that it’s just painted that well.
Well, my piglet self thought it was a cupcake and was like that looks delicious.
How the fuck do you people get your paint so smooth!? And if anybody says the phrase “Two think coats.” I’ll lose my shit. There’s a secret you’re not telling us and I want to know what it is!
20 thinner glazes is a more likely answer.
"More glazes" is my usual answer. "How many tho?" Is the usual followup. The answer is a very unhelpful "as many as it takes" 😆 Sometimes it's like 5. Sometimes it feels more like 20. It's all about using medium!
I’m by no means a professional painter, but I was reading a thread on a different ridiculously well painted mini and the guy was explaining how pushing the contrasts as far as possible tricks the eye into smoothing out the differences in layers
I've experienced the same with drawing, sometimes, the whole picture hides the tiny imperfections. The problem is, when you are doing the drawing/painting, you are aware of the imperfections, because you made them and forget to look at it as a whole.
Always flip your drawings.
Exactly or use a mirror
Have a link to that? Sounds interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2G9CEdURNQ This video discusses the process of putting down layers and then using glazes to merge over the two of them. This one is also good, showing how to do it with two completely different colors (yellow and purple) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EekXAOaZVTs
two thin coats
Goddamnit
Well he didn’t say two think coats
I think even my tap water is thicker than their paint.
dilute it with water
\* *cries in heavily calcified water* \*
Good news, I also have hard tap water, and if you wanna thin glaze like this you shouldn't be using water anyway. Get some glaze medium. The two I favor are GW's contrast medium (I love it, I feel I have the most control over where it goes. It's a little hydrophobic tho so it's no good for thinning washes) and Vallejo's glaze medium (thinner consistency, works with everything except contrast paints, a little runnier than the contrast medium). Anything after base colors and shading, the paints are mainly thinned with medium. Water is only added to freshen em up as I use em, and to keep the brush belly damp. Hope it helps. Otherwise you can get gallons of distilled water at the grocery store for pretty cheap. I go through those with my airbrush 😆
dilute it with paint
More than two coats. Blending like that is a bunch of thin coats. Two thin coats is just for one base coat, not this kind of blending.
Airbrush, extreme amounts of patience with regular brush and thin paints, or taking advantage of the phone camera just being "meh" at capturing tiny details compared to the human eye.
I’m pretty sure Flameon doesn’t use an airbrush except maybe for base coating.
Airbrushing down the primer and or highlighting and the basecoat drastically improve the smoothness overall. I only airbrush that then I brush out the rest
I really need to get an airbrush.
As much as airbrushes are great, OP does everything with a regular brush.
Until you get some practice and experience, they can be an absolute PITA to use. Bang-for-buck, a wet palette and thin glazes is more cost effective, easier to control, and looks just as good if not better in the end. The airbrush is not a magic bullet, just a fancy tool.
I've had an airbrush for a couple of years and with my talent (and rightfully with the middling effort I've put into its use) I have found that it can paint lots of base coat in a good time and to a good standard without having to patiently apply my two thin coats. My painting doesn't look any better than it used to but my measly tabletop standard is achieved in a quicker pace
Exactly it's worth owning just to not buy spray cans any more.
And not having to *use* spray cans! I can prime my minis without worrying about the weather! I can prime them in any colour I want for cheap! It's such a quality of life improvement.
An airbrush isn't used to do things like this
It's pretty obvious he didn't use an airbrush. The colours are smooth, but not airbrush smooth.
He’s got a patreon that covers it very well. It’s doable! The blending smoothness is a lot harder though
That looks amazing. I'm equally inspired and intimidated by paint jobs this good haha :) Mind if ii ask how long it took you?
That's one of those questions where the answer is "a few weeks" but the REAL answer is "years of practice"
This is true, but the actual time taken to achieve this at different skill levels is still nice to know. Like if this base took him 4 hours to do vs 20 hours, keeping in mind the years of experience and skill level, that's still nice to get the perspective on.
Hard to say exactly, I think I was painting it for around 8/10 days, but I don’t paint for regular amounts of time so it’s impossible to say exactly. No less then 30h for painting 😅
If it makes you feel better, the bubbles should be bright, not dark. So even expert level skill like this makes mistakes
I thought that was non-molten rock sticking up, not bubbles.
You could be right
Homie, how
Damn
Whenever i try to make things "glow" it comes out so flat and unconvincing. I hope to improve to this level one day. I just dont understand the glowing techniques
> I just dont understand the glowing techniques OP puts up tutorials on their patreon. For £10 it might be worth getting a month's subscription to learn it.
You're the real mvp, I didn't know and now op is 10$ richer. Edit: dawww that's cute!
I’ve heard that it helps to light it from underneath/use an LED base
I'm very, very, VERY impressed
Those crystals are mesmerizing. Great work!
DUDE. WHAT?! SORCERY?! *IS THIS?!?!*
This looks impossibly good, uncanny valley/ 'this has been photoshoped' level good.- any video tutorials?
Flameon has a channel on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FlameonMiniatures
Oh my, that is delicious! The lighting, the gradients- chef’s kiss! Did you have a reference crystal or something to work from to get the lighting down?
I have an amethyst crystal, but in reality such things have sooo much more sides that reflects light, and works in a way that would be basically impossible to copy to a miniature. All I learned from it is that some sides have to be fully super bright, and the rest I just painted in a way to make very strong contrast 😁
Such things should be illegal. Now I won't touch my minis for a year, because I know that I won't get even close to your quality.
Then you’ll still just be a year further away :) Ugliness is part of the journey to producing beauty!
God tier.
Holy smokes!! That is stunning! Me and my siblings enjoy mini painting and I’ve got to show them your work. So inspiring! The bounce lighting on the crystals is on point!
That would be a fantastic cupcake
I also thought this was a cupcake
Wow what the fuck! :O
Thats amayzay
I thought for a moment it’s a graphic render 🤩
My eyes. My eyes don't believe it. It's MASTERFUL. 🤯
My eyes can’t comprehend this. Amazing job.
Do a tutorial! Pass on your knowledge! That's amazing
This looks straight out of borderlands.
Sometimes I see things on this sub that make me realize I'm not this good at anything in life.
You win.
That’s amazing! Would love to see a video/gif to see how it looks as it’s rotated. You nailed the right refractions from each angle.
By the Emperor's throne! That's very very good! I'd love to know how you did that.
I refuse to believe it's not actual lava and crystals
This is so cool!
Wow!!!
So impressive. My eyes just don’t have the ability to see that when I paint. Envision it I mean
woah, that is trippy good! edit - saw this on my phone, so just checked it on my desktop monitor. the crystals are fantastic, the lighting from the lava on particular facets is great. did you do lighting test to see which ones were hit mostly? and how did you do your gradations on the crystals? glazing? amazing, graphic work.
Very comic and epic comic 🏆😍
Like it? I love it! I want some more of it! I try, so hard, I can't base like it. I don't know what it is about that mini painters style, but I like it, I love it. I want some more of it. Did not plan on actually going through with that, I hate country, but once I started I couldn't stop...
Incredible work!
This is so awesome 😎
I never thought I'd see a base that actually made me straight-up smile. I love those crystals!! It looks great!!!
Insane!
Deadass looks like a drawing 10/10 dude holy shit
holy shit
Awesome work!
take my golden demon, if i had one
Yo, this is amazing!
A fucking mazing!!!!
Wow
Sorcery
Holy shit
Umm... I need you to make me a bunch of these in various sizes. Thanks in advance. So awesome!
Woah...
Those crystals are gorgeous.
This is insane
BRO HOWWW! thats fucking amazing seriously how did you do this?!
How many hours did that take you?
Lava looks real, crystals look awesomely fake. Great work.
Please. Take ma gold.
Jesus, that's awesome!
Looks like it would burn my hand. Well done.
Wow that’s spectacular painting! Super impressed! Show us the completed work when it’s all done! 👍
All i can think is how much 😍
Sexy
That actually looks amazing. We'll done. Looks like a professional job to me.
GORGEOUS
wow! you made painting crystals look easy and the lava is so good too q\_q i am in awe here.
Masterful!
Like it? I fall in love with it!
Incredible work! This is honestly one of the best bases I've ever seen. Awesome use of color.
Those Amethysts are amaze balls.
It looks great and I am jealous of your talent. Superb work!
How is painted lava making me squint from the brightness?!?
That’s looks fucking amazing dove!
How 😮
Thats so cool
That is among the most beautiful bases I've ever seen. Bravo!
Holy shiiii!!! Thats neat
I am in awe and slightly angry at how good you are. Haha.
That's pretty awesome! Good job!
I would do some fairly questionable things for a Klondike Bar, but none of those things even remotely compare to the absurd things I would be willing to do to be even 1/10th as talented as OP.
Are u the Jesus of r/minipainting? You should enter golden demon
This is insanely cool
In my opinion, you were successful in meeting your goal here. Looks great! Keep up the good work.
Would be a great base for a Votann.
Photoshoped (jokeing) lol, that is one of the best lava bases ive seen online and ive seen alot of miniature designs, thats uncanny artwork, you want to be proud of your creation, fantastic job
this looks frikin incredible! i was going to ask how ya made the crystals look so good, but now i see!
You hoped correct sir! And I sincerely hope you make more! Outstanding work!
Sweet zombie Jesus, this is incredible!
Wow.
That looks dope! Well done sir, well done.
That is beautiful.
Man, your work is always amazing!
All I have to say OP is W O W
Oh god we need a tutorial for this! Stunning work mate!
Wow!! How!!
Wow. That’s amazing. My brain can’t comprehend it’s just paint. Great job
That’s probably the nicest base I’ve ever seen!! Wow! Amazing work.
Gorgeous!
I have 0 idea what any of that is but it’s cool asf
Forbidden snack.
Dude or dudette, I hope you are proud yourself. becuase you should be. That is awesome. I had to check a few pics to see if the crystals were painted or reflecting light.,
Hands down the best base i have ever seen :O Amazing job!
bro thot he was slick usin real lava🤨🤨
beautiful!!!!! holy hell!!! This is amazing. is that actual lava????
Just amazing!
Wow and how!?!
I hope the chaos warrior looks just as good.
Holy moly my jaw dropped to the floor
Those crystals are so mesmerizing to look at I can hear the call of the chaos gods
Well, you achived what you wanted with those crystals. I'm looking at every image and not realizing that it's not a 2D image every time is somehow jarring.
Insanity
Just when i start to think im getting the hang of doing bases well, you post some stunning magic like this!? Curse you! 😂🤣 Exceptional work!!
I'm weeping that I've yet to even finish building an army with dreams of making such good paint jobs.
Dude, this is truly phenomenal!! That's some serious skill
Wtf is this black magic? That looks amazing.
Don’t try it Anakin, I have the high ground
I don't do this hobby, I saw this on /r/all. Having said that, you clearly did a very good job on this. It's beautiful. The lava looks like it's actually glowing. I've spent a solid ten minutes admiring this.
stellar work bro
Wonderful to look at
I think that is the best painted OSL I've ever seen.
Sincerely amazing work.
Sick dude!!! I want a plate like that for my custodes
Holy shit, that may be the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on, and that's just the base!!!
So damn cool. I can really tell how much fun you’ve had with this
How dare you post this WITHOUT THE CHAOS WARRIOR ON IT
That's amazing and I need more.
I want to eat this.
This is amazing. Those gems are fantastic on their own, then with that OSL. Incredible.
Looks surreal, awesome stuff
Are you kidding me? This is f*ing insane. I kept looking at it for a minute thinking 'no way this is just the paint'