So this is a little example about what works and what doesn’t. The first is a female elf rogue from the “Pathfinder Deep Cuts” line. But despite the name, there is not a lot of deep details, and after a few priming layers and a coat of contrast paints it does not really show through. In the example paint scheme by the manufacturer, the miniature was done in almost an all black scheme. That’s a cool idea, but doesn’t really look great in this medium. I decided to go gray, but it doesn’t really look all that good either. This miniature has the look of one designed in some sort of CAD tool that did not scale down well.

The second is “Aaron, Conjurer Wizard” by Reaper Bones (another pickup from their Kickstarter). The yellow paint over the zenithal primer layers muted the tomes down a lot, and in hindsight I might have just left it white or done more highlighting. I love the monstrous faces in the spell effect, and tis guy would make a good PC mini in a pinch.

Finally, there is the third miniature, “Beastman Miniature 1” which isn’t the most original name, but on the other hand turned out great using the zenithal/contrast paint method. Between neutral and natural colors and strong details, he is the perfect candidate for this style of painting.

That is a real benefit to doing all of these different miniatures–I’m learning a lot about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to contrast paints.

Comments welcome!