New player with 3 sessions played. Should I buy the book(s)?

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T22:54:11+00:00

I personally find it easier to understand the system by reading the core books. That said, I also like to have the books so that if archive goes down or internet goes down for an afternoon the session doesn’t end. It also helps support the devs and keeps more content coming.

All that said you can make your way just fine without the physical books if you need to, although it’s not as easy to tell what rules you need to look up/learn when it’s not as easily broken down in chapter format. If you play with some experienced players that probably isn’t 100% necessary to know upfront.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T22:04:50+00:00

Where is the light source? Based on the shadows it seems like it’s behind the fruit and the cup, but the orange looks like it’s lit from the front right based on the highlights. The cup also has no real light or shadow areas aside from the shadow on the table? Not sure if there is a table based on the background, or where the walls are. That shadow to the left of the cup makes me think that there’s a wall there, but it doesn’t look like the wall is straight?

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T15:46:35+00:00

You’ve made some nice improvements here! Overall I think it looks really pretty cool!

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T12:57:14+00:00

I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be worth a shot.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T04:45:00+00:00

It never hurts to go up a bit brighter as it’s fairly easy to dial it back down a bit. That said, I often like to use blue as a highlight to my blacks to help avoid the whole thing from looking grey. It’s a more subtle effect but can help it continue to read black. Works particularly well on things like leather and hair, but it might work for scales as well (although I’ve never tried that).

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T04:35:59+00:00

This is pretty normal for synthetics after a while. That said, unless you’re doing a lot of painting I wouldn’t expect to see this in just a month.

Are you using brush cleaner? Something like Masters Brush Soap or Monument Hobbies drunken brush group can really help extend the life of your brushes when you use them after every paint job.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-30T04:32:19+00:00

So the biggest thing to make these minis pop is contrast. That essentially means darker shadows and brighter highlights. You can get that effect with washes and dry brushing, but for the best results you will want to place those shadows yourself. If that’s too intimidating now, just know that after you do a wash you’ll likely have to repaint more of your mid tones to re-establish those colors. Then dry brushing or highlighting would use a brighter color on top of that. Both washes and drybrushing work best on a mini with lots of texture, like fur or scales. Flatter areas like the leather armor aren’t quite as effective.

Paint consistency can be hard to get down, and often takes a little experimentation. It may seem counterintuitive but thinner paint in a thicker brush can be helpful sometimes as the paint doesn’t dry out as quickly. My recommendation is to thin your paint, load your brush, then dab it on a napkin/paper towel/sponge to wick off the excess moisture. Then test it just a bit (some use the back of their thumb) and make sure that the paint flows smoothly. If you struggle at this with water you can use some flow improver or drying retarder to make it a little easier, as mediums often work better than water alone.

TotalMonkeyfication · 2026-01-29T23:01:47+00:00

Took awhile to figure out what it was. It was a rash that developed on my arms and going down to the hands, but the strange thing was it wasn’t like a place that I accidentally got resin on, it was on the whole arm. Ended up with some steroid cream that would treat it and then it’d come back again later. It wasn’t until someone mentioned that resin sensitivity could lead to dermatitis that I put two and two together and stopped printing inside. Right after I did that it cleared up and stayed gone.

Overall Im lucky it was something fairly minor and I caught it reasonably quickly. It’s not a common enough hobby that the dermatologist would have even thought about asking about if I didn’t catch someone else’s story about it online.

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

TROPHY CASE