Mini Minmi's repaints (updated June 27th)

[Mini Minmi]

I've been inspired by so many talented people on these forums and after reading the page suggested by Tyrant Queen about how to paint miniatures and watching Kayakasaurus' painting videos I decided to give it a try.

To start with figures that were not too expensive but still had halfway decent sculpts, I bought the Carnivorous Dinosaurs toob from Safari Ltd.

Because I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it or be any good, I didn't buy too many paints. I got a blue, yellow, red, white and black and from those I can make pretty much any color I wish. It's a bit more work than starting from pre-made colors but it's easier on the wallet.

And here is my first attempt: the allosaurus.
I went with a lighter grey on the belly and a dark wash on his back with added darker stripes. I wish I had a smaller brush at the time for the stripes, I find them a bit large.


Next I painted the dimetrodon. Not a dinosaur, but I have a soft spot for this sailed bully. I went with a light yellowish green on the belly and a more green back. A dark blue wash enhanced the wrinkles in the skin and gave the sail its base blue color. I then added a bit of watered down red to the sail to make it more flashy as well as a little white marking to the face.


I then attempted a gradient of tan to reddish brown on the T.Rex inspired by our beloved JP Rexy. The end results does not look like Rexy but I was still able to gradually fade from tan to brown so the experiment itself was successful.


And last, this morning I tried to paint this itty bitty acrocanthosaurus the same as the new 2018 repaint Papo gave its acrocathosaurus. It was a valiant effort even if the end results are so-so.


A few more practice dinos and I might get brave enough to attempt a larger model. Not sure which one though, we'll see who I have that I can spare.

Hope you enjoyed!
Feedback welcome!

[Beegfood]

Hey

Nice Repaints, I like the last one!
I also just started in repainting, I myself started with some chinese no names, I dont know where I bought these.

I think like a few more and Id start with bigger models too...
I also bought just a few paints

LG Beegfood

[Minmiminime]

Ooh, they're really nice! Keep it up

[Dilopho]

You did well! The T. rex looks nice.

[Mini Minmi]

Thanks everyone.
I'm having a lot more fun than I thought I would. I'm getting the hang of washes but I'm still weak in dry brushing. I'll have to practice that on my next one.

Beegfood did you post pictures of yours? I'd love to see!

[Beegfood]

Yes, I actually did!

Theyre on my collection thread on page two

[Mini Minmi]

I painted a few more mini dinos since last time.

I practiced my dry brushing on this carnotaurus with strangely flat horns by reproducing the paint job of the one by Mattel.


Then I got this idea of making a stripey velociraptor. I'm not super thrilled about the results of that one. I tried a darker wash and lighter dry brushing on its base color but my colors weren't contrasting enough to really show. Then the paint was too thin for the stripes and my hands too shaky, you can see the strokes. I'll have to practice longer straight lines some more.


For this dilophosorus, I went for a turkey inspired look. It's facial expression just kills me on that picture.  I don't often think of using blue on dinosaurs but I should, it's a rather common color in birds and lizards.


I then turned to the minis I had bought when the first Jurassic World came out for more models to paint. I did the Indominus Rex which for some reason was a brown figure, and a triceratops. First picture shows both without paint, for once I remembered to take a "before" pic. I wonder if it's because the plastic is different from the Safari minis but both figures had the same problem: the paint started peeling off on bumps and textures when I tried to rub off the excess wash like I normally do. Something to keep in mind.




I don't like the horns on triceratops. I tried to make a gradient with the point being darker and the base lighter but I couldn't figure how to make a gradient on the smooth surface. It kept ending with a sharp cut from pale to dark. Any tips on how to achieve a natural horn look welcome.

[Minmiminime]

They're all looking great! The wobble in the strip of the Velociraptor makes it more organic and natural looking, I think you're being too hard on yourself 

[Mini Minmi]

Thank you Minmiminime, I'll look at it that way.

My ultimate goal is to get confident enough to repaint the Safari Yutyrannus (who's sculpt I love but find the paint job so-so)

With the colors of the Kaiyodo one (which I think would really make this sculpt shine)

[Minmiminime]

I adore that tiny Kaiyodo Yutyrannus The Safari version would definitely be improved in those colours! I find the factory version a little bit reminiscent of the Wampa

[Jose S.M.]

Oh I bet it would look amazing with that coloration, can't wait to see it.  I repainted my Yutyrannus too, it was my first repaint.

[Lone Trike]

I don't like the horns on triceratops. I tried to make a gradient with the point being darker and the base lighter but I couldn't figure how to make a gradient on the smooth surface. It kept ending with a sharp cut from pale to dark. Any tips on how to achieve a natural horn look welcome.

You could either try to mix the colors directly on the horn, while still wet until you get the gradient you want. Or you premix the gradient colors by taking for example the base color for the top of the horn and add an incrementing amount of the other color. Hope this helps Nice paint-jobs by the way!

[Mini Minmi]

Thank you.
Yes I put a base color on the whole figure and only returned to the horns at the end. I probably should've worked them while they were still wet. I'll try that next time.

[Mini Minmi]

I finally dared. I repainted my first model that was not a mini.

It is the Safari Yutyrannus painted with the colors of the one by Kaiyodo.

It doesn't really show in the picture but the base coat was actually beige with a darker grey wash for shadows and bright white drybrushing on highlights. It pretty much just looks entirely white in the picture. :p


Now with added blueish dark grey on the back and a bit of orange yellow on the snout.


And the final look with black spots and stripes. I'm not 100% happy with the stripes and spots, they don't really look natural to me. But I still think I did a decent job of reproducing the Kaiyodo paint job. I think I'll add a dark wash on the claws, they look a bit too even to me.

[Minmiminime]

Oh wow that looks brilliant 😻 Excellent work!

[Mini Minmi]

Thank you so much, I worked very hard on it. 

Now that I've reached my goal though, I don't know what else to paint. Hehe. That is, until I get my hands on the Schleich psittacosaurus and oviraptor...

[Jose S.M.]

It looks amazing!

[Dilopho]

Woah! Yeah, that looks like it is a real factory paintjob!!

[Minmiminime]

Thank you so much, I worked very hard on it. 

Now that I've reached my goal though, I don't know what else to paint. Hehe. That is, until I get my hands on the Schleich psittacosaurus and oviraptor...

Yes!! Do it

[Patrx]

You've got some nice repaints here! I think the Yutyrannus turned out really well.