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Right, so I'm fairly new to the hobby, I used to paint warhammer as a kid and thought I might pick up the hobby again since I'm unemployed and I got too much free time.
the thing is, they dont turn out the way I want. I really would like to learn how to paint my miniatures so that they look good!

Some people work on their minis for a week to make them look good, but what are they doing this whole week that takes so much time?
when I paint a tyranid for example.. I follow the guide in the "how to paint citadel miniatures" book and it says basically wash the figure, paint red, wash, highlight, done. But my tyranids don't look like the ones in the describtion!
the skinn turns out awful and leaves me frustrated!

I came across this page http://www.darkeyestudios.co.uk/Jay/Home/Home.html and I keep wondering to myself how you can possibly learn to paint like this?
Maybe I'm too hard on myself, but I would really like to create a somewhat smoothe finnish and I feel like I don't know the right techniques, dont use the right colours (GW paints)..

Anyway, since I cant paint tyranids good, I decided to move on to chaos space marines, they seem a little noobfriendly. I'd appreciate all help I could get.. what colours to use, what to highlight, how to shade etc.


apart from painting miniatures, I'm a little artistic.. can paint portraits,landscapes etc.. but maybe miniature painting is another kind of artform, and I know I have alot to learn, I just don't know where to start.


kind regards, dave.

slandered advice:

prime your models with black/white spray

water your paints down a little and keep your brush wet so the paint flows well if your doing red then white is the best option IMO

keep practising as it can only ever get better

hope this all helps also if you post some pics of your minis then we can all give you a little bit more help

Hey there

I totally know your feeling. When I started a year ago, it was just the same. I wanted to improve, so I started lurking dakka
I think this will really help you:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/416755.page
It's a thread full of useful painting and modelling advice!

Got any models to show us what it looks like at the moment?

Just as DPBellathrom stated, watering your paints down make a huge difference to how you paint, but your base colour will help you
Coloured primers such as the Army Painter range can definately help your painting, if you were to for instance, go for a brown coloured Tyranid? I would use a tan basecoat and work on watered paints to get it to the tone I want, using watered paints will help detail stand out when your finished with the model, when I started the hobby around six months ago, I was slapping it on everywhere and losing out.

Another huge tip to improve your painting would be to learn to drybrush, it can give you as the name would state, a dry look to the model, I use it on my space wolfs all the time to give them a stone look.

Good luck with improving your painting, a huge tip would be that youtube is the best place to learn how to paint, it allows you to see how others paint, not what they've painted.

Go to the dollar store and pick up some cheap armymen. Practice on them for a bit. Once you feel good about your techniques, THEN start painting your expensive GW minis.

Buy an airbrush and compressor. 90% of the blending on those models are airbrushed.

thanks alot for all the helps and tips.. airbrushing? didnt know you could do that with such small figures..
drybrushing? thats when you use little paint and go over for example black to get a dusty metal look ye?

I will post a picture sooner or later
I'm waiting for my abbadon the despoiler, which is ordered in metal so that I can re-paint it if it doesnt turn out the way i want.
while I'm on it, I might aswell ask you guys if you got any advice for when painting gold.. since that's pretty much what I'll be painting in the future with my chaos army..


kind regards, dave.. and thanks again for all the answers! great place this

hi
golds one of those one that you can get looking realy good very easerly ,, with a black basecoat apply a even coat of a mid brown
,,once dry add a coat of a dark gold/brass colour then with a lighter gold go over most of it again ( leaving some of the dark gold in the recesses/ underside of the armour eg where there would be shadow]

then give the whole thing a waterd down "wash" of the dark gold mixed with a little black [try not to drown it just use enough so it pools in the recesses and adds further depth }

once dry you can get the light gold and use it to pick out the top planes of the armour eg the bit where light would hit .

and then get the light gold and add a bit of white and a bit of yellow and with this pick out the very edges of the armour [mainly on the bits that are painted with the light gold but to add depth to the peice you can do it on parts that are dark gold aswell this will make the edges of the armour look sharper..

you can use this with silver aswell but change the darkgold/black wash to ether black/blue for new looking metal or black brown for old metal ..

dry brushing is when you wipe most of the paint of the brush {enough so if you brush it very lightly across your finger it will just pick up your finger print} you then brush across the mini [ eg if you have wood planks running verticly you would run the brush across horizontaly ] and the paint then catches on any raised details {so for example on a wooden sheild you would coat the whle thing dark drown then dry brush the whole thing with a mid brown and then drybrush the very edges of the planks with a light brown ..

let us know how you get on :]

Haha you beat me to the drybrush explanation (: It can stop a need for an airbrush if you perfect it (:

Good Luck!

+1 on watering down your paints a little. I think the biggest mistake new painters make is painting straight from the bottle. Especially the foundation pants. These are the thickest paints I've ever seen. This is what gives you the streaks and the chunky paint look on your models.

My Golds were always layered up with numerous stages. Drybrushing works too, but it can make the colors appear dusty.

I started with a basecoat of Tin Bitz. Wash with Badab Black to darken the shadows and gaps between plates. First layer Dwarf Bronze, then Shining Gold, then Burnished Gold. Edge highlight with a 2/1 mix of Burnished Gold and Mithril Silver. Then a final glaze of 1/2 Orgryn Flesh and water.

Properly done it looks spectacular... but is a serious pain in the to do. It's certainly only for elites and characters, not mass troops.

So heres my progression.. I bought a new brush which is amazing! I'm still not sure what to do with the white skinn.. if I wash it, it becomes too dark... and abaddon is kinda old and daemonic looking so a tann doesnt fit him.. has anyone got any tip on the skin/face

You could use a blue or purple wash to make it look pale but not tan. You could also thin your washes to make it not as dark and more subtle.

I would use a really watered down grey, it should give him that sickly pallor your probably looking for.

edited for afterthought...

Maybe a grey with a tiny ting of a light green added.

How does that suck in anyway shape or form?

Take a bit of brown wash, water it down about 1:4 and apply a light layer to the face, it'll add some natural shadow to the face and give it the tones you want

It looks great so far!

been painting all day long.. with walking the dog breaks, this is how he looks now.. waiting for some paints to arrive so I can start working on his sword..

I went for a similar look with the claws on one of my Wolf Gaurd, it looks well, but you don't suck

DPBellathrom wrote:slandered advice:

prime your models with black/white spray

water your paints down a little and keep your brush wet so the paint flows well if your doing red then white is the best option IMO

keep practising as it can only ever get better

hope this all helps also if you post some pics of your minis then we can all give you a little bit more help

I approve this message! If you look at my older pictures you will see that I was the same. It really is just about how much practice you put into it!

Thanks for the feedback, actually got very happy with how he turned out.. maybe tyranids aint my thing.. hehe

Another question.. How do you make it so that your models get this kind of dry look? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRRtWebretg
I've coated my miniature with Purity seal but it doesnt get that kind of touch I see other painters get.

/dave

Try a Matte Varnish instead of purity seal, I find it tends to dull the colour and make it shiny, not my taste, whereas Matte Varnish's will make the model look dry and retain some colour

DavyCookie wrote:Try a Matte Varnish instead of purity seal, I find it tends to dull the colour and make it shiny, not my taste, whereas Matte Varnish's will make the model look dry and retain some colour

Is purity seal not a matte varnish?

No, I find Purity seal gives you a slight gloss (:

Purity Seal is a satin varnish. The few models I've tried it on so far has not added or removed gloss or colour in any greater quantity.

I will say this, though: letting Purity Seal dry outside in temperatures below 10ºC when it's overcast - DON'T. Unless you like strong frosted effects. It's also very difficult to remove this on anything but flat or exposed surfaces. Two Dire Avengers will never be the same, one Warp Spider can probably be salvaged and one Wave Serpent shows no lasting effects.

A little update on my painting.. the terminator to the right!
I got very pleased with how he turned out. I thought a bit about that "muting" and tried it myself..

(i have not painted the daemon prince)