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I’m new to this and haven’t really tried yet to paint one, but was wondering if y’all experienced painters could give me some pointers like how to blend colors and use metallics and interference paints. Also, how would you go about choosing a base coat, and should it be a flat color? Can you use pens and do you recommend doing this? Do you cover the whole piece in the base color or just the part that you’re going to paint in that particular color scheme? Do you put a clear coat over it or something to protect the piece whenever it’s done? Thanks so much for any help and sorry for all the questions. I really want to try to paint something but am a little hesitant until I kind of know what I’m getting myself into LOL!! Thanks again y’all!!😍😘
I will email ya😊
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.Good luck!!! Please show us your WIP
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
These are good questions to ask before starting!
For myself, I generally basecoat based on dark/light – if I’m doing a dark color for the main color, I use a dark basecoat under all the areas that will have the main color; if I’m doing a light color over most of the piece, I use a light basecoat, usually white (but at least once I used light grey). For dark pieces, if there are lighter patches or markings, I’d basecoat those spots in white, but not vice-versa; small dark areas can be done on top of a light basecoat without needing a separate basecoat. In general, it’s always easier to work from lighter to darker – applying a dark color over a light one will be no problem, or just need a couple extra coats on those spots, while trying to apply light colors over a dark one can dull or muddy your light color.
Paint-blending… honestly, I don’t know? I just do it. 🙂 Mess around with cheap paints and see what you like. One thing I do find useful is a “test swatch” – I took a strip of white cardstock and painted a square of every metallic paint I own onto it, in rainbow order. It’s helpful for me to have something I can hold up against a basecoat or another color and “match up” what would blend best with it (or have the most contrast!) before I put that next color on the piece. Paint often looks a little different when dry, too, so it can be hard to judge just by looking at the contents of the paint bottle whether, say, “Deep Blue” or “Marine Blue” is the right choice.
Experiment with different shapes and dampnesses of brush on some textured paper to get a feel for your paint. A wet brush will apply paint very differently than a dry brush! The thickness of your paint will matter, too. Try a thick paint, then water it down and try it again with the same brush. Be aware of direction as you paint, too! Windstone pieces are usually highly textured, and your brush can leave tiny bubbles in the paint if you’re not careful. I try to always work with the lines of texture instead of across it (i.e. painting down the vane of the feather or the shaft of the hair) when I’m aiming for smooth application. (Drybrushing across a smooth basecoat with a metallic color can produce some neat effects!)
Definitely use some kind of topcoat/sealer after your piece is painted! In general, there are three choices: matte finish, satin or semigloss finish, and gloss finish. Matte is least noticeable; it will not add much extra shine. Satin/semigloss are shinier; you will definitely notice some sheen to it. (I like satin finish for PYOs with fur – it looks to me like the natural sheen of a hair coat, softly shining without looking lacquered.) Gloss is the shiniest; things sealed with gloss coat will have an extra shiny layer over their paint that is visible; they may look like glazed china, or lacquered furniture. All this is going to vary by brand of sealer, and by your application technique, though! I have managed to get a satin-like finish with a matte sealer, either because the brand was just a little glossier than I expected or because of how thickly/thinly I applied it, or perhaps just because of some quirk of the paint color contrasting with the sealer.
Good luck on your painting adventures!
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Wow Nightcrow thanks so much for these pointers!! This will help immensely!!! Now I really cannot wait to get started on my first PYO and maybe my first hardest decision is which to choose first to do?
What sculpt will you try first? Have you decided?
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
I don’t paint, but I have a suggestion anyway. Buy a PYO with large smooth areas, and use it as a paint tester. Put two or three different basecoats on different parts, then put swatches of your paints over each of them. That should give you an idea of how different things turn out. Off the top of my head, I think the sushi cats are the smoothest, but I don’t know what their price is like compared to others.
Also, the muse is intended as a test piece because it has most of the different textures you might find on a Windstone.My keyboard is broken. I keep pressing "Escape", but I'm still here.
I haven’t decided what sculpt to paint first, but I’m leaning towards the unicorn or muse like GardenNinja suggested. I also like the long haired flap cat so I may pick a couple and if I HATE the way I paint, I can always commission someone else with my blanks LOL!!
That sounds like a good plan, Sherry!
I’ve never done a Muse, but I’ve done a wolf, two dragons, several griffins and kitty griffins, a kirin… I think in general large smooth areas are actually harder to make look good, because there’s nothing to distract the eye from a small flaw like ona more detailed piece. More texture makes the physical work of painting more of a pain (higher chance of bubbles, or missing an oddly-angled surface) but also helps hide imperfections because there’s so much to look at. 🙂
And I did once try to do an elaborate paint job on something only to realize it was beyond my skill; I commissioned someone else to do it and don’t regret it at all. It looks good beside the simpler pieces I did myself, and gives me something to aspire to and keep practicing for.
I have never done a Flap Cat, but they’re closely related to the Kitty Griffin, which I’ve painted four of (I… really like it, yep) and I find them really enjoyable to paint! The small size means I can finish one in a few days, without waiting days for a layer of paint, or one part of the piece I need to hold, to dry. Plus the smaller scale helps make even simple paint jobs look good; I think it’s easier to shade in ‘depth’ on a smaller piece versus a larger piece, because the larger one means bigger surfaces to shade and it can end up either too busy or too flat. If you’re somewhat accustomed to doing smallish projects, I’d definitely suggest the longhaired flapper! But I have friends who prefer larger-scale jobs and are boggled at my willingness to work in miniature, so if you lean toward that side of things the Muse might be better; she’s a bigger piece.
Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).
Here’s a link to a tutorial I made a long time ago on the way I paint.
https://www.deviantart.com/prezaurian/art/How-I-Paint-PYO-Windstones-502799383
You can check out my work on dA & Redbubble!
https://prezaurian.deviantart.com/
https://www.redbubble.com/people/prezaurian?ref=artist_title_nameMy first one was a keeper but I had worked on ceramics and canvas before.They are still my favorites.
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.My first was a Keeper also – and for one of the PYO Swaps too! I did pretty well (you can ask Bodine!) but I also had some background on painting ceramic figurines.
I LOVE the Muse! It’s small and has a lot of surfaces to try. Normally it doesn’t take too long either. If you want a ‘paint-by-numbers’ type of sculpt with defined areas to break up the design and test some different textures I think the PYO Ki-Rin (not the Fancy), the PYO Dragon (small, not the Keeper) and the Flap Cat/Kitty-Griffin are nice choices.
Good Luck! Have Fun!
IN SEARCH OF MY NEXT GRAILS:
Black Peacock & Butternut Adult Poads
Kickstarter 'Rainbow Tiger' Bantam Dragon*~*~*~* Ela_Hara: The DragonKeeper *~*~*~*
*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comThanks y’all!! All this information has really been helpful and I’m close to making my decision!! I’ll post pictures here when I’m done!!
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