Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Where to start??

I’ve known about the hobby for years but I was never that interested in it (drinking and girls took up most of my time, although not very successful in either).
Recently I’ve had the unfortunate time to be in hospital and signed off work for a couple of months, and so for something to do my wee sister bought me a space marine starter kit.

As I was in hospital there wasn’t much to do, so I started just flicking about on t'internet at different sites, galleries that sort of thing and it got me more and more interested.

I’m out now and I’m halfway done on the starter kit and I’ve found myself really enjoying it and thought I would like to keep on going................

I’m not really interested in the gaming side of things (but that may change in the future) so wanted to concentrate on the hobby side of things.

And here is where my problems begin............................... where to start?? It all seems a bit daunting!!

Do I concentrate on single models or do I start collecting an army............... I like the idea of collecting the same army but with over 30 different armies, which to choose??
I can count out the lord of the ring armies, didn’t enjoy the movies, never looked at the books and have no interest in the world.
So that leaves fantasy and 40k, I’m more interested in the 40k , love a bit of sci-fi, but in saying that I do like the look of some of the elf armies in fantasy (Skyrims fault!!).
I did have it narrowed down to Eldar or Dark Eldar with the orks coming in a close 3rd, but I’ve changed my mind that many times I’m confused and will no doubt have changed my mind again by the time I’ve finished this post!!

Ok so let’s say I’ve chosen an army, is there any essential items I need to get?? What’s the best way to start out?? Individual models or an army set??

Then there is colour schemes, how to choose?? I like the idea of my own colour scheme but again no idea where to start!!
I’ve been having a look at some of the blogs on here, some quality brushwork (someday I’d like to be as good as you guys)

Obviously I want to be able to walk before I can run, so that’s why I’m on here, to get the advice, comments, hints, tips that all newcomers need to better themselves.

I’ll keep posting to show the steps I’m taking to get into the hobby and hopefully get some good pictures up to see how I’m progressing (for my sake so I can see how I’m progressing myself).

Thank you for reading and I apologise for a complete lack of knowledge in the world of miniature painting.

Ok so while typing this I’ve been watching game of thrones and I like the Bretonnia army now (see what I mean about changing my mind all the time!!)

OK well i suppose the first thing is to get a better camera!!

Sorry bout the quality......

Any hints?? Tips??

So what should i be doing next, when i finish the kit. More paints, tools, finally decide on an army (Changed my mind again, back to Eldar).

Looking good for a starter! IMO you should start asking around(like you are doing) But the most important thing is Go with what you like. Go to your local gaming store and watch a few games and ask questions.

Cheers Ghostmaker.

Well I’ve finally finished my starter kit....



Quite proud of it, needing to work on my finishing skills though (I’ll put more pics up of single figures later)

Really got into it once I got started...

Things I’ve learnt while doing my first set of miniatures................

1. My hand is not as steady as I thought it was
2. Ask your girlfriend for a nailfile for the moldlines before you take one, cause if you just take one it always turn out to be a specialist one she got for her work. (Who knew there were fancy glass nailfiles?? Ive never seen her use it!!)
3. Don’t put your nice new red hoody in with the normal wash for its first wash (unless you like pink that is!!)
4. Patience is a virtue
5. After you think you have all the mold lines........Double check!!
5. I’ve got a long way to go!!
But every day is a school day so I’m learning.

Things I need to work on for future works.....

1. Consistency of my paints - One minute it’s too thick, add a bit of water.............. now it’s too thin. How do you thin your paints and keep it consistent?? Is there a sure fire way or is it trial and error??
2. Keeping out of the little details - E.g. The gaps between the armour, tried my hardest to run along the lines and not go in but ended up just filling them in as paint kept running into it. Would that be because my paint is to thin??, my unsteady hand?? or a mixture of both??
3. Order of painting - E.g. Painting the bolter giving it a wash then realising I forgot to paint the little details in gold, doing that and washing again (Not a big problem I know, but caused extra work when I didn’t need it.)
4. Coverage - Getting a good coverage without leaving brush marks or looking to wishy washy (Again this is down to my paint consistency)
5. Everything else!!
I’m sure there are other things but I can’t think of them just now.

As I said I need to walk before I can run so kept it very basic, no blending, no highlighting, no mixing paints............ There all for a later date.

Ill pop up a few photos tomorrow of close up so I can get some C&C's from you, cause I need all the help I can get.

Again cheers for reading and if you have any invaluable hints or tips you would like to leave me that would be great.

Well here’s the close up photos (again sorry about the quality, only using my phone)

Here’s a couple of them front on view



Side on views (Omega symbol look ok here dunnit??)



But on closer inspection................................



And from the back...



Well?? What you think??
Where can I improve (other than the obvious going over the edges, needing to work on my finishing skills)

Well I did enjoy that..........

Now onto the difficult decisions, my army I want to start collecting
As I’m just doing this for the painting side of things (might try the gaming side in the future but not just now) I’m going for what I think looks cool and what I think I would enjoy painting.

I’ve narrowed it down to 2 (I think) High Elves and Eldar.

I like a bit of sci-fi and like the clean lines, transport vessels and troops of the Eldar.
But then I’ll be honest and say that I like a bit of the Elves because of Skyrim, Oblivion and all the RPG's I play and looking at the models I think they would make a nice uniformed army (once I’ve chosen a colour scheme)

So I like The Eldar but I also like the High Elves but I can’t choose only one, so there is only one way to find out..................................................................... FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!

I’m leaning towards The High Elves so I think ill choose them (I can always collect a few eldar down the line I suppose).

Ok so army chosen..... Now a colour scheme!! Emmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................................
I’m a blank, I think a contrast of light and dark would look good - Black and Yellow, Light Blue, Light Red even maybe a Light Green or White with darker shades.
Think I may have to think about this a little bit more!!

As always any C&C's, hints, tips or advice is always welcome.

Cheers

Well a day of sitting about the house waiting for deliveries and phone calls, what to do...what to do??

Since I gave finally chosen my army to collect (High Elves) I though I would look into colour schemes.
Not having much luck really, I’m really stumped as where to start!!

I keep staring at the pic on the GW website of the Archer Unit trying to visualise different colour schemes........................

I’m looking on different site, different threads on here, but just don’t know what to do!!

Although white seems to be the norm for the army, I’m looking to step away from that.

I like the sound of a nice bright green for the main colour (white in the pic), but where to go the second colour (the blue), would black work, yellow, red or even purple.

Does anyone have any good ideas when it comes to colours?? I do not want to go out buy the army and the paints to find out that it looks hideous!! lol

Any colour theorists out there fancy helping someone in need??

Cheers

Your Marines are looking good, especially considering its your first miniature army!
But they are still lacking depth, so I'd suggest the purchase of a few washes. Something dark blue for the armor and black for the metal

Now, you said you weren't sure on which army to collect and hinted at Eldar, Dark Eldar and Orks.... well, I play Orks and my brother plays Eldar, so if you're looking for advice, message me (or him)

my blog:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/409193.page

and his:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/432136.page

Cheers MrMerlin.

I only kept within what you get with the starter pack at the moment, but next time I’m in town I will get a blue wash and give that a try.
The Metal has been washed with the Badab Black you get in the pack, is it not showing?? Might give it another coat to see if that looks any better.

With regards to the chosen army I went left field and completely ignored what I said in the first post and have decided to go with the High Elves, as I’m not going to be using it for gaming just the painting and modelling side of it, I can always pick up a few Eldar or Orks down the line to see how I get on.

I’m still staring at the picture lol, now got my girlfriend on the go trying to get colour advice from her, she’s a colour coach for a make-up retailer so know a fair bit more than I do about colours.

I’m still thinking bright green but now thinking that it might be to overpowering as the main colour so might use it as the sash and trouser colour, still haven’t come to an accent colour yet, still thinking black.............. or maybe purple or orange or yellow or awwww I don’t know!!

Before you buy a blue wash, maybe first try it with a thinned down dark blue (maybe add some blue to badab black?)?Oh and appy that only to the recesses. not all over the model, as it will just look dirty then.

There are a few washes that are universally useful, like badab black and devlan mud (and their equivalents in the new paint range), but the others are more limited in what you can do with them....

Since you are planning to limit yourself to the painting side of the hobby (I also nearly exclusively paint and convert, have only played a handful of battles in over a year) Look for other miniature companies than GW! Really, while their models are really nice, others are better and cheaper. Mantic and Infinity for example are great!

Well since I’ve finally decided on painting a High Elves Army I’ve now to decide on a colour scheme.

I’m thinking after reading some fluff on them to go for either an emerald green, sapphire blue or ruby red scheme (after the 3 gates of Lothern)

After reading some of the other posts about starting painting I’ve decided to start slow and steady and not jump in feet first.

I picked up a High Elf Archer Unit to practise on.

I did plan on going in and getting everything I needed, base paints, washes, layers, glazes metallic for the 3 schemes which looking at the list seemed rather daunting and kinda put me off, I was reading on another post where he had his army but was scared as everything he painted didn’t look right to him.
He was advised to start off slow try out bases first till he was happy with that and then move onto the next step.

Seems logical I thought, so I threw out the list and decided to pick up a few base paints and start from there.......

Creamite White for the sashes on all 3
Caliban Green for the beginnings of my emerald scheme
Caledor Sky for the Sapphire Scheme
Mephiston Red for the ruby scheme
Also picked up Rhinox Hide for boots, gloves belts etc...
Balthasar Gold for metalwork
and Ratskin Flesh for skin

Pretty good place to start me thinks.

I also couldn’t decide where to start for primer, thankfully I did have white and black primer in the garage so I’ll try some of both.

So now it’s a sunny day I’m off out the back to prime some figures.

Thank you for listening to my mutterings, ill post pictures once I'm done.

EDIT: So apparently its my turn for the housework!! So maybe ill get some in later

Well finally got some models primed (thanks Scottish weather!!)

I did 3 in white and 3 in black to see how they looked with the colour schemes I’m thinking of.
The black gave a really good coverage but the white seemed really patchy, dunno if that was me or the paint.

I then base painted the main bits I wanted my colours to be with the different primers.

Here’s how they came out.........

Green (I used Caliban Green)



Blue (I used Caledor Sky)



Red (I used Mephiston Red)



I’m still having issues with the consistency of my paint on my palette but I think I’m getting it under control, i have ordered Flo-Aid so should be getting it soon, that should help, yeah??
I am going to use white for the sashes and gold for the metalwork.

After I’ve finished the base painting would I be better giving it a wash with the relative colours (Green on Green, Red on Red, ect...)?? Or try a bit of layering?? What colours would you recommend for the next steps??
Or should I go down another route altogether??

As always C&C's are welcome and needed!!

Thanks for reading.

Those are going to be some interesting shemes.

Yeah, white always is a little patchy and hart to work with, because light colors tend to have a low pigment density. You'll need to thin it with water (I don't think you'll need flo-aid) and apply a few more layers than usual....

When your first layer is dry, you can proceed either with shading or highlighting. Shading means darkening the recesses, with a wash. Highlighting is the oppsite, brightening the prominent parts.
I'm not really sure about using a wash on their cloaks, they have no real recesses, not much of a texture, so the washes would pool where you'd not want them to. The shirts and sleves however should be fine with a wash or two, and highlighting after that.
On the cloaks I'd build up several layers of colors, each brighter that the last and applied so that the other colors are still visible towards the recesses. But you can use a wash to better blend them together I think.