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.

Hi!

This is my first attempt at painting a space marine.... on that note my first painted model ever!
(although I have a vague recollection of carelessly painting/yoghurt coating a model F16 as a child so perhaps it would be my first serious attempt at painting a model ever!)

As you can probably tell from the photo's I am in need of improvement.
The first thing I noticed when i took stock of everything i had done was the fact that my highlighting is very sloppy.
Is this something that will just improve with experience or is there a trick to it ?
as it stands I am using a sable 20/0 brush as I figure the smaller the bristles the finer the line

I chose Black Templars as a first as they just seemed the easiest to start with being entirely black and all.
Next I might give Mortifactors or maybe Flesh Tearers a crack as they seem to be at least half black (baby steps) though im very apprehensive as being a noob i have no experience with blending or layering or any of the other amazing skills
that are needed to make these really awesome (expensive) models look tops.

Any advice and or constructive criticism would be appreciated.

First off I will say this should be in the PM thread or the Modelling Showcase... That aside if this your first painted model I say hats off. That is faaar better than my first and as good as many of my current models. The only criticism I wil say is your highlights may be a bit stark, but that's oly opinion. Good work.

Thanks for the feedback Sarpedon_702

I might take the post down and redirect it to the right area

For a first time painting models you've done a great job.
Better than when I started

I'll move the thread to painting showcase

Welcome.

Haha can that even be done?
I think I should have familiarised myself with the forum before posting!

Moderators can move entire threads...

Ok cool, thanks for the feedback Waaagh_Gonads & thanks for the help with the thread too.

I sent a message hopefully it gets moved across

you thought painting black was easy??
lol

you did it well though! as black is one of the hardest colors to paint!

the edge highlighting is a bit rough, and the white is a bit lumpy, but other then that i'd say your a natural

Like others have said, nice work for a first. Water down your white a little and apply thinner coats, darken your edge highlight a bit so it's not so stark and I think your on a great path!

Looks good, especially for a first model. I think you would get better results with the white if you thinned it down more, and applied it in layers. in my experience, it comes out smoother that way.

DijnsK wrote:you thought painting black was easy??
lol

you did it well though! as black is one of the hardest colors to paint!

the edge highlighting is a bit rough, and the white is a bit lumpy, but other then that i'd say your a natural

It is easy. The trick is WORK BACKWARDS from the highlight (ie, put your rough highlight on, then layer back towards black). Very fast, and easier to neaten (as you're working towards a larger area rather than trying to control an edge).

For a first model it is actually quite good ^^

You still have a long way to go to say Golden Demon, but I think for the game it looks fine

I know a lot of people how have played the game for years and their minis don´t look better than this one

Keep up practicing and improving tho!

Great looking scheme and execution.

winterdyne wrote:It is easy. The trick is WORK BACKWARDS from the highlight (ie, put your rough highlight on, then layer back towards black). Very fast, and easier to neaten (as you're working towards a larger area rather than trying to control an edge).

Truth - it's way easier to cut into a fat line and "trim" it back than it is to paint one, outright. For your 2-step edges, paint the extreme highlight, cut in tightly with the midtone, then clean the whole thing up with black. Once you have some more experience blending/layering, you can cut out the middle paint, as the gradient produced will cover that range.

Generally, I must say that, as a first model, this bodes well for you. As mentioned, the highlighting is stark, but you're already working at varying the intensity with layers. You essentially skipped the first grade (no coloring books for you! You can stay in the lines, so it's time to start drawing. ) and are starting to work on the second stage of technique. So long as you don't neglect the fundamentals (it's hard to call things like brush control and paint thinning "basic," as they're core skills but can take a lot of time/effort to master), you'll likely improve pretty quickly. You've already achieved an acceptable tabletop standard - something that takes some painters months (or even years - gasp!) to match.

painting black is the hardest thing to do ... hahahahaha
and youve done a great job!

the highlights are a bit to thick... some thiner lines of the highlight would look better but other than that... perfect model

"yoghurt coating" Too true.

Bloody good work mate. Made even more impressive due to the fact its your first model. As was pointed out the highlights are a 'bit in your face' but its not something that will take you long to get better at.

I like it.

I noticed you can see black through the shoulder pads though, which means you likely tried to put a lot of layers of white on it. It would be quicker to put down a layer of gray (celestra grey I think) and THEN put white ontop or mix in white with the gray.

I wouldn't be too harsh on your highlighting for being your first I think it looks great. Much better then my first attempt.

Thanks for all of the feedback/advice

I will experiment a bit with a few more Black Templars and put into practice the recommendations I have received on this thread

Hopefully I can become somewhat proficient with my highlighting in a short amount of time. Though I wont get my expectations up to high as it really seems like the kind of hobby that goes hand in hand with patience.

I have a whole AOBR kit to practice on so I might start on Orkz at the same time.
As stated before I am very apprehensive about colours other than black so the green skins might be good exposure.

I don't know why exactly I guess I just have a misguided preconception that bright colours are harder to paint & dull colours/shades are easier.

As far as the shoulder pads go those who pointed it out are spot on I applied way to many coats and didn't water my paints down enough. Though the black that you see on the pads is actually some GW badab black wash I applied to try and give it a grubbier look.

Does anyone think it might be a good idea to take to this 1st one with some watered down black to clean up the edges a bit?

or should I leave it and try to correct my mistakes as I go on my 2nd?

Went through and touched up the highlighting with some thinned black on my first one & started on my second today

definitely feeling more confident with it fingers crossed i'll see some improvement.

If anyone is curious to see here are some picks of the touch ups from the same angles as before.

(sorry about the OCD but they definitely had to be the same angles haha)

Agondrae,

I really have to commend you. I'm certainly no master painter but I've been exposed to many new and master painters alike. Long ago I used to work for GW and did a lot of the instruction for beginning painters. I can safely say that this is one of the best "first time" models I've seen. You've already started to touch on some topics like line highlighting that are beyond the usual "How to Paint 101" stuff. I don't know how long it took you to get it to this point, but you're certainly a natural. Well done!

In terms of constructive criticism, I'd suggest the following:

- As others have mentioned, you definitely want to work on thinning your paint when you apply it, particularly on the white. This will allow you to build up more coats without getting a texture on the model like you're seeing. I know trying to cover black with a light color is a huge PITA, but the extra effort is worth it.

- If you're painting a lot of black templars, I might suggest priming your shoulder pads separately. In this way you can prime most of the model black, then prime the shoulder pads white and not have to deal with covering black with white.

- When painting white you can also try starting with off white as a base coat and "build up" to white, leaving the darker color in the recesses. Some like light blues for this, others light greys. Experiment and see what you like.

- Recently I've been trying some other colors as my "black" base colors rather than straight black. For example, I'll use a dark, dark grey (Vallejo Heavy Charcoal for example) as the base coat for black. In doing so I can still use a black wash to get some effect from shading prior to highlighting. I also find that reducing the contrast a little bit makes the black look more "natural" on the model. Something worth trying out.

- It also looks like on the tactical emblem that you hand painted the black shadow around the edge of the arrow. For this type of work (where you've got a clearly defined edge), I'd sugget looking to a wash of some kind to get your shading effect. You'll find its a bit more uniform and once you ge the hang of it is much easier than trying to lay the shadow in by hand.

Just some tips, hope you find some helpful. Again, really great job for a first model!

-Jeff

You've done a great job with a first model.

constructive criticism:
1: paint over the separations of the plates such as between the bicep and forearm, the shin and thigh, etc, paint it silver then give it a black wash, that'll add some detail and make the model a little less plain looking.
2: use multiple tones for the eyes, not just straight red. make the brighter colors more toward the center of the eye to give the impression that the light is coming from an inward source.
3: Build up to white with colors other than white. Thin mixes of codex grey, to fortress grey, to white work best for me..but it depends on the kind of look that you want. I don't like a stark white shoulder pad so I tend to go for something that's a little off, it gives a more worn appearance without really having to do anything.
4: keep going! This is a great start, it's certainly better than my first black templar!