Painting Interlude

While participating in the Reaper Bones V Kickstarter, and ending up spending more than I thought I would, with the full knowledge I will be spending even more over the next several months while the pledge manager is open, I bought one of their learn to paint sets. This was the layering set, and it comes with 3 minis and the directions on how to paint them as well as the paints.

I started with the easy one, Aniron the Wood Elf Wizard. Laying is more subtle than I expected, but easy to do when following the directions. Coming up with the colors to combine myself will only take time and practice. I am actually pretty happy with how he came out. While the washes I also use do some of the same things, actual shading and highlighting by varying the paint seems to work out better. I need to improve my wash technique some more, but that is true of all my painting techniques.

For a paint review, I cannot say that the Reaper paints are significantly better than the cheap acrylics I get for about 1/10 the cost at Wal-Mart. With the techniques I am learning and practicing we'll see if they are indeed any better. They do have really good names, and there are colors I cannot get otherwise (pretty sure the paint stores will not carry a color named Fresh Blood!) so there is a significant higher variety. After I've worked a few more painting sprees I'll probably be better able to compare paints.

I also started following back on some of the people who are following me - hello people! There are some good posts out there, and without the extra push we got from Google Plus sometimes it feels we're talking to the void. For me that's okay as most of my ramblings are just that, ramblings. I do have my game notes here as well for the games I am playing but some of my fellow players are not quite as on-line as I am.

I also feel I need to be more productive in these posts and not just ramble. You know, helpful hints to gamers and things. Except that there are already so many of those. The newest blog I added a link to is the Frank GM. More general fantasy gaming, but good advice. The other blog I added today deals with the Solomani Rim. I've never played Traveller there - pretty much the Marches or MTU. There is some interesting posts there as well. As my next game (yay!) is in the Rift area, we will be closer to the Solomani Sphere so some background may be useful.

The blue is the stick stuff I use to stick the mini to the tube I use to paint with. I even use a wet palette, which for the Reaper paints thins them out more. I had to adjust the directions a bit for when they add water as the paints are already on a fairly damp surface. The advantage is that the paint stays usable much longer. Acrylics dry out really fast.  For a wet palette, I took the advice of one of the videos I watched. Used a container, stick a paper towel in it, get it wet, drain out the excess and stick a piece of parchment paper on top. As I also bake (I have a weakness for muffins!) I actually have parchment paper. Reusing a yogurt container, so being thrifty!