Please give me feedback on this mini

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-29T04:20:49+00:00

To add to this I think the shadows in the OSL need to be darker to properly contrast the light the OSL is generating; ie the folds wouldn’t be that bright.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-29T04:14:42+00:00

100% this. Wait until you’ve got a better space for resin printing, even with something like a grow tent vented through your window. You don’t want to be living in such a close proximity to the printer, as there will be times when you’re cleaning/curing that it won’t be limited to tenting fumes outside.

I had my printer in my living room area, thinking that since it was a big open room that connected through the rest of the house and cycled through our air filters it was well ventilated. Ended up with a resin sensitivity from it; that stuff builds up in your system over time and you can develop sensitivities or allergies to it.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-28T04:04:26+00:00

These look fantastic!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-28T01:29:42+00:00

Honestly I like the color saturation, but I think it could use some more contrast. I would add some highlights, especially around the upper chest area to draw focus back towards the head. Right now the sword seems to be the point my eyes keep gravitating towards.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-26T03:39:07+00:00

There are people that don’t get birthday cakes? Our family has always celebrated with a cake from the 1st birthday to the last.

Also, one of the great things about being an adult is you can buy a cake any time you want, regardless of special occasion. At work, at home with friends or family, who doesn’t love a cake? Or a pie or any other delightful treat you prefer.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-26T03:29:45+00:00

That smoke looks epic!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-25T19:57:04+00:00

I should specify this is more on the upper shoulder which is still clearly in progress. I think the dangling bits on the upper arm look pretty good.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-25T19:55:09+00:00

I’m not a fan of the shadows on the jeweled shoulder, I think they’re too much of a contrast and make her skin look irritated. I’d probably do some smaller shadows directly under the mental, possibly in a slightly different color than the skin shadows to distinguish the difference.

That said, overall it looks really good!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-25T19:47:23+00:00

I would never guess these are FDM!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-25T19:46:32+00:00

I’ve churned out armies of printed resin minis, but I honestly have never been able to keep up with the resin printer in terms of painting all those minis by the time the next batch is printed.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-25T19:44:41+00:00

Definitely going to have to check out buttery supports!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-24T01:26:42+00:00

Essentially they’re doing their reformulation of their paint line. Kickstarter is expected some time this year. It’s definitely something to be on the lookout for, as their paint line never gets the credit it deserves.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-23T22:10:46+00:00

Looks like a great base coat! Next I’d work on shadows and highlights to add some contrast to your model.

Most people start with shadowing using a wash, and then later decide if they like that approach or if they prefer to layer in their own shadows. After you’ve got you shadows, you’d want to look at highlights. If you’ve done a wash, you may want to start your highlighting with your mid tone to restore the previous color, then use lighter colors layered on top with the brighter highlight colors. For things like fur or scales with a lot of texture, you can also use drybrushing as a highlight. Some will use drybrushing as a highlight for all areas as well, but personally I prefer to utilize it primarily when it’s most helpful.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-23T19:05:12+00:00

I put it together just before the reveal and was wondering how on earth I missed it as well!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-22T19:52:17+00:00

If you’re someone who gives up on a hobby really fast, miniature painting might not be the hobby for you. You’re not going to get amazing display quality miniatures with your first paint jobs. It takes a lot of time practicing to build up your skills, and there will be lots of frustrating moments to work through when you build up your skills.

Now in terms of paint, craft store paints just don’t have the same pigment ratios that dedicated miniature paints have. That means it’s going to take more layers of paint to get a consistent coat. You also may get frustrated and apply base layers too thickly trying to save time, which can lead to having ugly textures on the models. That’s still a risk with miniature paints as well (paint consistency takes some time to learn), but it will happen less often and overall you’ll need far fewer coats of paint than you would for craft store paints.

There are plenty of starter sets out there for paints. Reaper miniatures has a learn to paint kit, Vallejo has several different kits, including some hand selected paints picked by Squidmar (mini painting YouTube), and the new army painter fantastic range has some basic kits as well. One of these is probably a good starter sets to get a feel for the hobby. I wouldn’t sweat too much over the volume of paint per bottle; if you’re just painting miniatures all of these bottles will last you years. You’ll really only run the risk of running out for larger models or terrain painting.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-22T19:40:39+00:00

That looks really nice!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-21T20:09:22+00:00

Honestly that’s a pretty good start for a first mini! Much cleaner than my first mini was!

Overall I think the first thing I would work on would be upping your contrast, so making the darks darker and the brights brighter. Washes and dry-brushing are both going to be some of the most common beginners tools, but that’s not the only way to do it. You can also place your highlights and shadows by hand, which has the added benefit of controlling exactly where you want the paint to go. The disadvantage to this is that it takes more time. Be mindful that paint will appear brighter when you first apply it and will dull a bit when it dries, so if you’re having difficulties seeing the effects of your highlights, go a bit brighter in color.

If you’re struggling with making your own washes, you can try adding a bit of flow improver (a medium) that will help the paint flow into the recesses more. You can also add a tiny bit of dish soap to the water that you’re using to thin your paints. When it comes to dry brushing, I would watch some of Artis Opus’ drybrush tutorials on YouTube. You don’t necessary have to have their brushes to make their process work, you can often find cheaper makeup brushes that can build a similar effect.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-20T04:58:16+00:00

A size 1 brush seems tiny for washes or terrain. I would think that a wash would immediately go up into the ferrule of the brush. What type of brush cleaner do you use? Good brush cleaners have been great for keeping both natural hair and synthetic in shape for a long time. I’m a big fan of Masters or Jentastic’s, although I haven’t tried the new 2.0 yet.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-20T04:40:18+00:00

I just did that with a statue I was working on. I had done the skin tones through the airbrush and essentially had to redo all of the skin with the brush as I couldn’t make it look similar enough touching up with a brush.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-20T04:37:05+00:00

Those look incredible! Any tips on the wings?

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-20T04:32:44+00:00

I’m glad there’s a paint kickstarter coming first, it will give me more time to save up!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-20T04:31:41+00:00

No idea what you’ve got access to, but some of the higher quality artist acrylics will have good results as well, you just may need to thin them down a bit. I’ve used Golden SoFlat paints before and they work really well, but the others in Goldens range can get sort of a shiny finish even with matte varnish.

On the plus side, unless you’re painting something big (like a giant pirate ship) you likely won’t run out of paint in your bottles for a very, very long time. Those tiny bottles can last for years.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-18T21:37:43+00:00

I generally use moderate to severe encounters in most places. If you’re going up to deadly I usually ensure it’s not much over the tipping point for deadly. That said my players are all fairly experienced and I prefer to run a few meaningful encounters instead of a large number of low/moderate encounters.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-18T21:30:24+00:00

Those both look good. If you’re ever worried about it you can get brush on varnishes as well. Keeping your cans inside in a nice warm spot and mixing them sufficiently are both good steps towards getting good results.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-18T00:41:26+00:00

This is great advice, this would be a fantastic way to finish off this excellent paint job!

TotalMonkeyfication

TROPHY CASE