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So I've been advised to begin a blog to allow me to track my progress painting my first army and with any luck this will help me to stay motivated at times when I feel like my minis suck ass. By looking back and charting my progress (I'm hoping I'll get better anyways) it should be easier for me to shake off the the feeling of hopelessness I get when my results do not match my vision.

Throughout I'll try and upload pictures of my progress, thoughts on my army list and any fluff that I conjure up to tie in my custom coloured wolfies.

All comments and criticism welcome as I want to improve but please bear in mind I'm an absolute noob to war gaming and miniatures and until about 4 weeks ago had never held a brush.

So I'll start with what I'm hoping to achieve, visually. The following two images were found on google and represent the kind of colour scheme I want.

And now for a few pictures of what I've done so far. I'd like to mention here that I'm quite unhappy with the overall look of these guys, the brush work I can live with but the contrasts and dullness lead me to want to strip and start again.

Some nice looking minis really like the effect you've done on the power weapons.

So far my army is comprised of:

10 Grey hunters.
Having 10 men allows me to upgrade 2 bolters so have chosen a flamer and a plasma gun. The captain of this squad is gonna be magnetised to allow me to switch between power weapon and power fist and he's also rockin' a werewolf head for mark of the wulfen. All models are pretty much WYSIWYG and I've added holstered bolt pistols to complete their war gear loadout.

5 Fully magnetised WG Terminators which I can swap to any loadout I desire, I've also purchased some melta bombs separately and a cyclone missile launcher which is also magnetised. I've thrown one of my werewolf heads onto a termie for mark of the wulfen again and because I love the way they look.

6 WG with sons of Thor backpacks & cloaks. These will also be magnetised as I really want to be able to utilise the WG vast array of options when it comes to war gear. I've done 6 because one of them will be separated and used as a lone wolf, he also bears the mark of the wulfen and a werewolf head.

Then my Wolf lord, another werewolf again magentised to allow me to play with wargear options.

Lastly I have 13 or so Blood claws, there's not much room for load out management so all will be glued together mostly with bolt pistols and chainswords. Squad size is 5-15 so I plan to have 17 units. Two squads of 6 and one squad of 5 with each of the half dozen squads featuring a captain with power weapon and plasma pistol who can both be removed to form one 15 man squad. After I've finished these units then I'll look to change the shape of my army with a a few vehicles & dreadnaught, some Fenrisian wolves and maybe nice HQ character.


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Thanks Gianluca, I'm probably going to redo them at some point with a nice tutorial I found on youtube.


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That is an impressive Army you have BTW

Man those look very good! You should be proud of them but i know where your coming from on the "not quite the look I want" thing.

This is just a suggestions and its actually what I'm doing to some Ultramarines right now (will post pics of them soon)

If your wanting them to pop more or be more Vibrant I suppose is a good way of saying it. Take two of your models and expect them to be "throwaway" prime one in white and one in black and then paint. The white will lighten up the colors but even if you hate the way it looks you will get to see the differences in the color combination. Ive taken a whole tactical squad and 5 are primed black and 5 are primed white and I'm using a different blue for each pair just to get the right base coat I want.

Worse case scenario you can strip em and know you learned what you didn't like.

I did try that but they ended up looking kinda similar. I'm wondering if I should highlight with a more vibrant pink colour to make them pop like Vallejo purple warlock or GW screamer pink.

Hi mate, welcome to Dakka. I like your colour scheme a lot, and honestly I think your armour highlights look great- don't change them!

I'd (humbly) recommend that you focus your efforts on your metallics and your secondary colours. The bronze especially looks flat; maybe you could try building up to that colour from a dark metallic like warplock bronze? This would give the metal depth and a rougher feel.

Secondly, I like those shoulder pads which you've worked up to the bone colour- it complements the purple perfectly. The reds and yellows however, clash a bit sharply with the purple. You could maybe get away with one of those- either purple and red OR purple and yellow.

Anyway, that's just a few ideas, and it depends what look you're going for really. I'll be keeping an eye out

Thanks for your help! Do you think the metallics would look better if I kept the bronze as a base and highlighted with a brighter colour like shinning gold.

With regards to the pads, whilst I agree the colours clash I wanted to kept the colour markings the same as the codex and the blood claws are red and yellow. Maybe I could mute the red and make it darker perhaps?

Thanks!


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Also I'd like to ask what everyone's thought is on back pack, I've tried two options, silver with brass accents or purple with silver accents, I can't decide

Yeah you could highlight up to gold- I do pretty much exactly this on my dark eldar, check out my blog if you want to see the end effect.

I would say go with the silver and bronze. They simply look better.

So I've just primed my terminator squad and the entire box of weapon loadouts. I used nearly a full can of primer and to my horror my room now looks like an antique. I sure sure hope I can get this stuff off. I should probably invest in an airbrush and spray booth. Anyhoo here's how things are looking, I did get a couple of smudges when I touched the wet paint but I'm hoping these won't be too bad or I'll strip the affected parts.

Looks good, smooth primer on the models over all except the one small spot. Even if it shows through put some silver in there with a little black and instant battle damage or wear! Airbrushes are great just takes some getting use to but makes the main color coat so much more clean looking to me. You don't even have to get an expensive one to do main colors. With the thinner coats of paint you'll see a big difference in the primer color you use too.

Yeah I definitely need an airbrush it would make base coating so much easier, and am I right in thinking I can prime with one too?

 andywalker07 wrote:
Yeah I definitely need an airbrush it would make base coating so much easier, and am I right in thinking I can prime with one too?

You can indeed. Vallejo offers some good surface primers that can be used without having to dilute or mix around with ratios.

As far as your models go, they're pretty nice. A nitpick that i have is that there is too much warmth. It seems like you need more cold colors (silvers, and blues, things like that). With all the reds, the golds, and the purples, it all kind of melds together to me. The random splashes of blue stand out, but there doesn't seem to be enough of it.

Overall, your definitely on the right track with these. Keep up the good work.

Thanks scarecrow. I feel the same about the colors. I think ice blue really compliments this color nicely and want to work more into my minis. As for the squad markings, I was trying to stick with the codec color schemes but do you think I should use my own also I'm thinking of separating the colors with a thin silver border? Power weapons I wanted to avoid using blue as I wanted them to be easily distinguished from frost blades which will be blue.


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Out of interest, given your comments, do you prefer the purple or silver backpacks

Ok, so I've been fiddling with my colours. I think I'm finally happy with the 'feel' of my look. I'm basing with Xereus, then dark wash, then repainting with a slightly thinner xereus leaving the receases, then a mix of xereus and screamer pink probs like 70:30 respectively, then a white, red and screamer mix I've premixed into an old pot which I mixed 50:50 White and pink then added maybe about 25% of the total amount of cheap red acrylic. BUT on one mini leg I 'Big' highlighted with pure screamer pink before the edge highlight if that makes sense. I dabbled with a white extreme edge highlight but it didn't really work so I'll leave it for now.

They don't pop like I'd like them to at home but this may well be because my house isn't particularly bright and it's winter and by daylight hobby light is only good when the mini is right under it. In the GW store however under the flourescent lighting they seem much brighter. And with the new 'pinkier' colour (pictures below) I'm using, I think I'm getting closer to my goal. The problem I have now is the sloppyness of my highlighting. Painting fine detail isn't too bad and fixing slips leaves me with a finish I'm happy with for my current skill level.

The big problem though is edge highlight and hardline detail. I'm getting better with sharp edges but its things like the little vent in leg armour thts causing me trouble as I keep getting messy blurry lines and even painting over the dark lines and having to either re-wash or black line.

The minis below show what I've been upto. The 3 on sticks were done in the GW when I bought the screamer pink. They're a bit rushed and I will clean them up before continueing. Then there's a marine that I had previously painting and then applied the new method over the top. It's still a bit messy and requires work.

Lastly is the terminator. I watched a vid on youtube from miniwargaming jay on how to paint space wolves termies and he used a dry brush so I gave it a go. It means the model looks quite different from the marines but I still kind of like it. I've tried dry brushing my marines before but it always ends in disaster. They're just too small and flat I guess.

Any feedback would be welcomed. I'm especially struggling with details.

Thanks all.

So here's one after a bit of clean up. And I think I'm just about happy with the armour. Now to add details and repeat for all my other guys.

Looking good! You managed to get a lot of depth and shades of purple into that post-cleanup one.

Looks Great! The shades give it a good depth. Color choice is very cool too very close to the original pics you had posted without completely pulling off the exact color!

THanks guys, it means a lot. I'm feeling a lot happier with my minis now. I still need to improve my brush control loads but I'm getting a finish I'm happy with for. Now, Scoundrel those Purple and white ships look cool and Coyote, can't wait to see some detailed images of your guys they seem really detailed what what I can make out.

Nearly finished another terminator this evening, I've still got so much work to do but I'm getting quite excited by it now.

These are some very manly marines. They can wear pink and not feel insecure about it. The edge highlights look a little thick to me, though. If you use the edge of your brush instead of the tip for edging, you'll get a consistent width.

If you still need a spray booth, you can make one utterly cheap by putting a cardboard box on its side. You can probably get one for free by asking at your hobby store. As for the spraying itself, don't do it indoors; aerosols have some nasty chemicals in them.

Looking good mate, I agree that the edge highlights are a little thick but as stated in previous post that comes with practice. I find that a thinned paint loaded to the whole brush then dabbed on tissue to remove excess first works. just feather the defined edge with the side of your brush and it should give a nice pin line. failing that you can make a stencil from acetate sheet for the common parts (marine arms and legs etc.) you then put this up to the model and paint. (easier with airbrush but more than possible with normal brush).

It's all in practice and re touching. It also helps if you have good quality brushes. What are you using??

Yeah my boys are confident enough in their sexuality to pull off pink haha. Good points about the highlights. I've struggled with thin lines but for now I'm trying more to get them straight rather than thin, ATM thin means wobbly. I'm trying to get better though. I find it really hard to use the side of the brush at certain angles, I guess it just takes practice, I have humbrol palpo in 00 0 2 and 4 I also have GW fine detail and medium dry brush. The palpos are looking pretty battered already and the tips are pretty poor, which doesn't help.

Your brushes could be your main problem then mate. The GW counter sold brushes are at best 'bad'. They release every now and then their eavy metal brushes that are good quality (but expensive). I asked a member of the eavy meatl team what is best and he (along with numerous others) said that the Winsor & Newton series 7 are the best. I have to agree with him. The paint both loads and applies much better and the tip is magnificent. The problem is they cost a fortune. You can get a collection set on ebay and the likes for about £50 but honestley the money is well spent.

The dillema I put to you though is do you keep using normal brushes whilst praticing but maybe not getting the results you want or do you spend the money and get the better ones. Also add in the fact that you have hinted at an airbrush.

How much 'spare' (partner allowing) cash do you have and what type of airbrush are you looking at getting??

At present I have very limited finances hence the cheap brushes. My gf bought me the GW fine detail but I read that they weren't great. Later in the year I'll invest in any required purchases but for now I have to shop clever. WN series 7 is what everyone was telling me and TBH for just the detail brush I need its not that pricey. What I am a believer in though is that low price doesn't always mean bad quality and vice versa. Doctor Faust and his painting clinic videos explain how he uses anything that works well regardless of price and buying the best kit won't instantly make you awesome. He even uses tachlon over sable, go figure. At first my understanding of what makes a good brush was limited but now I know what I'm looking for it should be easier to find one.

So I haven't updated here in a while but I have been busy painting. I've got 3 termies nearly ready justa few final highlights left. I've also made, primed, base coated, wash and recoated the other 2 termies ready to receive the details and have also painted most of the weapon options for my guys. I'm really happy with the colours now and my highlighting and edge highlighting is coming along, I'm hoping in a few months I'll be painting with the kind of results I want. I'm especially pleased with the cloak and the power sword and generally loving the blue accents. Thoughts and opinions are welcome as always but do bare in mind that these are the very first minis I've painted. Thanks all.

You've made some excellent progress with your minis! Your purples look great and have much more depth then before.

Your termi's look great, especially the sergeant. Your blues have turned out very well and the spots of bright colors like your yellows stand out nicely.

Your regular marines seem like they're lacking a little though. The shoulder pads seem unfinished (maybe thats what it is) but I feel like there should be a little more separation between the gold and the white, like with a thin line of gray or something. Your silvers could also use a little more highlighting, since they seem a little flat.

If possible, try drilling out the bolter barrels. Its a small detail, but does add a nice touch.

Love the work you've done so far and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks scarecrow. I agree that the marines are quite far off and as you rightly suggested it is in some case because many parts are unfinished. The cheap skate in me doesn't like mixing up to much paint which mean I don't assembly line parts quite the way I should. This means I'm forever having to go back and do parts I've missed. The white shoulder pad will be receiving a sepia wash but if that doesn't work I'll try gray. I'm going to re-do my silvers using leadbelcher, wash then rune fang steel to highlight. I am having problems highlighting metals currently though. I try to highlight my bronze with silver but something just doestn't look right. Also do you have any recommendations where I can buy a pin vice to drill my bolters (An inexpensive one hopefully) Thanks again.

Most hobby stores should have a decent pin vice, or there's always the GW one.

For highlighting bronze, I usually use silver as the finest highlight, while using gold as the middle highlight. To me, it looks like a better transition then going straight to silver.

Your plan for the silvers sounds like a solid one, as does the wash on the shoulder pads, so give it a try and see if you like it.

Liking the terminators.

Thanks, gianluca. Scarecrow, I get some gold and see how the transition goes.