Re: SG 15mm minis- Painting

In message <001301c0cb9c$9826f300$40ee1a3f@pavilion>, "Laserlight"
writes:
> FT minis are nice--spray paint, flip, spray other side, and you're
> done.
> Somehow, that doesn't quite work with 15mmSG minis (although I'm
> thinking of trying it with the DS2 infantry).  So.  I've painted
> faces, hair, uniforms, boots, and I'm about to get to the details
> (binocular straps, web gear, unit markings etc) and I'm thinking a pen
> might be a little easier than a brush.  Advice on pens/ink?  I don't
> want to spend money but I also don't want to do a beautiful ("the eye
> of the beholder") paint job and see it smear when I spray dull-cote on
> it.

The Micron pens are relatively cheap and great in moderation.  In my
experience, they tend to pick up paint easily and clog, and don't seem
to last that long.  I use them only for very fine detail or for more
control (such as writing numbers, or, in your case, unit insignia).

I don't really think they'd be good at things like web gear or
binocular straps.  They're better at lines and dots than actual fill,
which definitely tends to cause annoying clogs.  Maybe it'd work on
straps (similar to a line), although I wonder if you'd have problems
of the pen slipping off to the side.

I would think drybrushing would probably be a better way to go
(although I can't see the miniature to say for sure).  For the last
several months I've been refining my own painting style (eye of the
beholder for SURE), and I honestly find it much easier and quicker
just to do away with such finery.

Two quick examples:

Modern US at http://www.cowell.org/~andy/min/15mm/images/usmod15.jpg
Undercoat black, dry-brush "Forrest Green" and lightly dry-brush
"Seminole Green" over that.  Viola.  All my fiddly webbing is painted
and stands out well, and I was finished very quickly.  The binoculars
on the Lt. don't stand out all that much, with the emphasis on the
green around them.  If I find that I mind much, I might lightly
dry-brush them with a bit of grey and they'd be fine.

British at http://www.cowell.org/~andy/min/col/images/SX-brits2.jpg
Undercoat black, paint or dry-brush (as appropriate) tan, lightly
dry-brush off-white.

These "black undercoat and two color" techniques have greatly
increased my painting time while keeping, IMO, an interesting
complexity to the figures.  I finished around three groups of eight
this weekend, including the bases which still take forever.

There's probably some rule like "80% of the visual effect is
accomplished in 20% of your painting."	This explains why even figures
with only their base coats look quite acceptable on the table.	The
average viewer is, what, two to six feet away from the figures anyway?
Especially with 15mm, don't sweat the fiddly bits.  Unless you're
painting for a competition-- or you just want to.  Just don't believe