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I spent this morning painting a few skeletons for my DnD group, I'm surprised with how well they came out.
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
I 3D printed these minis a little while ago but only just recently found time to paint them. I should be able to get to my pile of shame (unpainted minis and unassembled model kits) soon with my schedule changes.
Image description: 5 3D printed painted skeleton miniatures with red cloaks, standing on grey rocky bases, and holding various weapons including a bow, a halberd, a mace, a spear, and a sword.
these look really good!! the thin rib cage bones must have been a pain, but you have a really steady hand and made them look great :)
i actually have a couple questions about the process, i haven’t painted 3D printed objects before but i’d be interested in giving it a go at some point. what kind of paint did you use? did you need to prime or sand down the plastic at all beforehand? i can’t imagine sanding would be super possible on such tiny figures, did you have any issues with the grooves of the plastic from printing?
Thank you
I'm having to answer from one of my alts because my main isn't showing the comments for some reason.
Priming is really important for painting minis both 3d printed and off the shelf ones. It helps the paints you use to stick and spread properly.
For the skeletons I used Rust-Oleum primer (both black and grey), Apple Barrel white for highlights before the main paint job, Army Painter Speed paints for the most of it, and Vallejo paints for the weapons. Everything but the primers were acrylic paints.
The priming does a lot of heavy lifting for getting the details properly highlighted. Basically using the black primer for full coverage in every crevice, the grey primer from just the top at a few angles to leave the crevices and under parts dark, and then lightly dry brushing some white paint to highlight the high points and details. Afterwards using some thinned down paint so that the previous work is seen through makes it all pop.
For some prints sanding can be pretty helpful for removing print artifacts and using small files instead of sand paper is basically the only way for minis. These guys I didn't sand because I felt some of the artifacts added character.
thank you for the detailed info!! i appreciate it :)