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Hello.
I have been in the hobby for a couple of years and love the gaming, modeling and fluff. I also enjoy painting however I still use basic straight from the pot colours and have never used washes. The only technique I can use is dry brushing.
Basically if someone could talk me through the various different techniques used then I would be very grateful. I can also direct my friends over to this thread as well so in effect you are helping a whole group.
I attach a couple of photos of some of my better stuff

Try to visualize every part of the mini to be colored have 3 shades at all times.

From the pics you posted , an immediate tip would be
to leave the crevices black. This way it has a way to define depth with shadow ( which something miniatures lack due to its size and sculpt )

For example as seen in the pic , even the reds are mostly left in black . Only the brightest areas
are painted in red , same with grey.

they look good,i see mold lines:( get some washes,they work great like the skelly horse a brown wash over him and theres your simple shades

To be honest, I like them! Especially your choice of colours.

Thanks for your kind words.
Maybe I'm not that bad at painting however I would like to find out about different techniques such as washes. Also how do you apply paint without obscuring the detail?

Why not pick up "how to paint citadel miniatures".I am sure that will contain atleast some helpful tips.

I really suck balls at painting too, like you i know how to drybrush a little but would really like to know how to get the best from the paints/washes etc, i'm trying to find out how to get that smooth look on the model without it looking like its a painted with brush strokes...

But for now check out this thread:-

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/208707.page

the stuff on here is off the chain....

and also has some intro into how to use washes :-)

Not to pimp my website, but we update every week with new stuff on painting or modeling, you might get some good tips you haven't thought to use from there.

Here is a link

yani wrote:Thanks for your kind words.
Maybe I'm not that bad at painting however I would like to find out about different techniques such as washes. Also how do you apply paint without obscuring the detail?

A lot of GW publications say, you should use some thin layers of colour instead of one strong layer. I think this works really well. (However, sometimes you just have to put all the colour on the model you have acces to, yellow is a kind of problem )

I've found the Cool Mini or Not article section to be invaluable in learning to paint

Here's the link: http://www.coolminiornot.com/article

Hope this helps

I'm not an expert painter, but one thing that I notice is that your paint (mainly on the terminator) seems a bit "clumpy" and not smooth. Try watering down your paints a tad and layering with your paints leaving the last color in the recesses / edges to get a good highlight buildup. I have started painting my Deathwing this way and they turn out as a solid color blend and its very smooth and not just a clump of one color.

My best advice to just google painting guides for you army. You find how other people paint and can just try it out. That's how I got my paint scheme.

Your paints need to be thinned slightly before you brush them on. Sometimes color straight out of the pot can get little dried spots, or slime trails, inside of the pot from being left open for more than 10 seconds. GW paints will do this on a hot day before you know what has happened.

Since you are just learning to paint though, I have a suggestion. Go to your local craft store and pick up Cermacoat 2 oz craft paints. They are $0.99 for 2 oz, and the color range makes GW paints look limited. You can use every single technique with these paints that you can with regular GW, and using them will allow you to build your skill levels up without putting a monster sized hole in your wallet.

Once your painting skills increase, start supplementing your “craft” collection with the more expensive gamer paints like GW, P3, Oils, and Vallejo. Or not, I know more than one “professional” painter who uses craft paint to achieve wonderful results.

I agree totally with Luna. Thats pretty much exactly how I paint the skin on my Orks. I think the black contrast leaves a very cool looking feature

Those miniatures are not my definition of "poor," with the possible exception of the mold lines.

You mentioned washes. Honestly the GW washes are pretty idiot-proof. Some people can use them better than others I'm sure but even just slopping them on won't look bad. Just get a few and dive in. Try black, brown, and sepia colors first. They'll sort of tone down the arguably sloppy look of drybrushing.