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this is my first miniature that i did not just paint one color with an airbrush. it is actually all done with a brush because i planned on it being my hq but as it turns out he is no longer needed in my army. but it was an experience. it feels alot better then just painting my army one color with an airbrush just to play a game. (only 4 games played so far)

but to the real question i am afraid to varnish him because of all the horror stories. any tips or advice on the best route to do this? Also i would like to highlight him with some grey but my attempts have failed and i had to paint over/wash it off. any tips on highlighting black.

the black i used was Abadon black by GW,after getting tired of trying to pour and mix with the gw bottles i switched over to Vallejo. So all my paints that i have on hand are Vallejo


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Crud they are sideways im working on fixing that

What are you using for paints?

Not bad! much better than my first model. My piece of advice would be to thin your paints by adding water to them, my models have been looking much better once I started doing that.

GW paints are Abadon Black, khrone red, Auric Armour Gold, Screaming Skul, Mephiston Red.

Vallejo Game line are Sick green. Black ink, Skin wash.

Vallejo model color are Light orange, Deep orange, Gunmetal grey, Brass, Violet, Foundation white

The above were all used on the model.

i have Vallejo Light grey, and London Grey on hand.maybe i just could not find the right mix or i did not feel like it was looking right when i tried to highlight the black.

halfway through the model i learned about mediums and i finished the model with Liquitex matte fluid medium, before that i was mixing with distilled water but never got a mix i could work with well. maybe i am too shakey?

Also halfway through the model the wife bought me a desk lamp which helped alot and made it so i went through and redid a lot of things. the lamp also has a 4x magnifier

 psychadelicmime wrote:
Not bad! much better than my first model. My piece of advice would be to thin your paints by adding water to them, my models have been looking much better once I started doing that.

This was my thinking as well.

I started wargaming using Testors oil paints. Yes they did work however the quality was not as good as when I started to buy GW or Reaper paints. DO thin your paints and paint in layers (this will help not only with showing more detail but avoid pigment clumps.)

Its by no means a bad start (at least you can paint in the lines a skill i had to learn after several models with my hands shaking)

as stated before thin your paints, paint in coats, and your same model will turn out even better.

Also try some washes, if used well they can really make a model pop!

Are inks not washes? And i have heard the layers thing before but i never noticed it until i got the lamp. but i still dont feel as if i am getting it right. but i do feel a lot better after getting the matte fluid medium. does the fluid medium count as thinning or do i add water to that?


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Thank you for the praise and advice Zammerak, and Psychadelicmime

still looking for highlighting black advice.

I have never used inks but have heard good things about them. I use GW washes that you can buy and if i want a specific color of wash I just thin the paint sown with water. (Fluid medium works much better I just never got any) I would recommend watching "Girl Painting" on youtube or any of the "Miniwargaming" painting guides. I learned how to do most of my painting this way.

Best advice I could give is just keep doing it, sooner or later you will get the nack of it. (I play orks and my painting has improved over my countless models)

That paint looks way thick for starters and this may sound stupid but try this it may help. Instead of using just plain water for cleaning your brushes between colour changes, put 2-3 drops of washing up liquid in your brush cleaning jar/pot or whatever, this isn't mean't to be to clean your brushes more to break surface tension in the water and does help in thinning GW paint.

When I mix colours or thin out. I don't waste time on a medium I just use a GW standard brush as a measure, dip it in the jar/pot and transfer as needed to thin out or mix my colours this does look make the paint look a little watery but it still goes on well as for washes and inks I sort of reverse the process, I put about 1-2 drops of the cleaning fluid on a pallet and then add brush measures to that.

This works for me give it try it may work for you too?

ill give it a go live wire.

i just returned from the store with Vallejo gloss varnish and matte varnish. gloss for the gold and silver matt for everything else maybe it will take the sheen off from my poor lighting. cross your fingers that i do not get a film. I am still extreamly worried about ruining the chaplain.

Looks pretty good for a first model, though the paint is pretty thick. The only real problem is that its finecast. The staff is bent pretty bad, so I'd run it under warm water so it straightens. Other than that and the thick paint he's pretty good, especially if he's going to be on the tabletop. The green and the blues are a nice contrast to the black.

Ok,

There appears to be flecks of grey showing through the black, fine cast grey. Did you prime the model? Priming means an initial coat of paint, normally applied with a spray can, to give your colours a slightly rough surface to stick to. Normally black or white depending on ultimate finish, sometimes grey.

The black armour could be defined better with a fine grey line along the sharp edges, not too light in colour and not too thick. The reason you have had trouble is because black is hard! The most common mistake I see is people using to pale a grey and the contrast too harsh. Use a very dark grey, nice and thin, and in this case, less is more.

Washes will help you get better a lot quicker. Inks are not washes, they are more heavily pigmented and tend to stain what they are applied to, whereas washes are thinner and will mainly run into recesses to shade, and while they may alter overall colour slightly, not as much as ink.

NEVER apply paint directly from the pot. ALWAYS thin your paints. Several thin coats will always look better than one thick one.

I've been painting for a long time and have only just started using flow improver, it has made a big difference. I'm not sure if the liquitex stuff you mention is the same thing, but if not, seek some out.


But, like others have said, the biggest improvement you could achieve easily is thin your paints more, my biggest criticism would be that it currently looks rather caked on.

Could anyone be more specific rather then just "thin your paints" this model was done through the course of a month. And while working on some tac marines today I used my normal mix and thinned with one, and two more drops. This brought the paint to become a wash and unworkable showing brush strokes beyond belief. So I went back and did how I was thinning and the paint looked thick on the model but once dry it shrunk and details were visible ( such as the tiny notch on shoulder pads at the bottom of SM pads).

I am not naysaying advice by any means I just want to find the exact point in my learning that I need to correct. Because I have read that it is a fine line in thinning one or two drops esp. Since I only place one or two drops from the Vallejo bottle on the pallet at a time so one or two drops of water become the tipping point.

It's very much an art, not a science, but the consistency of milk is a good guide.

Oh, and brush strokes is a symptom of too thick paint, as the texture of the paint dries with them showing, if you mean the coat is so thing you can see through it, that's fine, you just need another coat or two.

Check this out, hope this helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3Qg_OvRk4

Brush strokes was the wrong term. To clarify it was so thin on coat five I could still see through it. Streaky and pure garbage. It pulled and puddled much like one drop of Nulin oil and one drop of water mixed.

amazing instruction video bro! i have not come across it yet. But i have watched every single awesomepaintjobs video.

Edit two. should i let this thread die as i started my own P&M blog? with the same topics and model plus others i will be adding?

It sounds like you may have thinned it too much and made your own wash (this is helpful later) Thinning paints is just one of those things that when you have painted enough you just sorta know how to do it and know what to look for.

Keep tying, watch lots of youtube tutorials or read books, how ever you learn better

Its really up to you how you want to use the thread if you want to continue with it or not.