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So, I was rifling through my old LotR figures and I realised that I was a really bad painter, back when I was 10.




If you still have them, show me some of your first minis. I really want to see them.

That is the creepest looking gandalf and aragorn ever, lol.

I'll try and dig up my first miniatures, a unit of bretonnian archers, it was actually not bad because I didn't try and fancy things, the later units actually look worse because i was attempting techniques I didn't really understand (washing and drybrushing, back in the days when GW only sold inks, not the easy-mode washes we have these days, lol).

Gandalf and Aragorn look truly terrifying. Where are your faces!?

Pleased to say I have improved since these were painted

Got to slap it on thick to protect them from the weather. The reality is they were up to three different paint jobs at that point, all over the previous.

Same models 1 is my first 'best' attempt at painting, the other a repaint of the same model.

This is my first batch of models... I don't remember which one was the "first" though.



I'm also proud to say that I've come a long way in a little over two years.

Two guys from my first squad of grey hunters.

Only been at it for about 6 months, few hours a week so I have a long way to go still...

These were my first two models one a High elf mage the other Aenur from Mordheim as a High Elf Noble.

I have to find my first chronopia miniatures... they must be around here somewhere..

OK, I did it. Every time this topic comes up I am tempted to go digging around and find the old chunks of lead and expose them to the light of day. I’m going to put them behind a spoiler tag. Remember, what has been seen, cannot be unseen.

This is you last warning. Make sure there are no women, children or pets nearby. Seriously, there is actual lead behind the spoiler tags, that stuff causes brain damage.

This is from when I first started painting again, which was a few years ago. I wish I still had my miniatures from when I was younger, I had complete Epic armies for Tyranids and Eldar, plus some 40k stuff for both as well. I used the cheap water-based paint you buy in the big bottles from craft stores, didn't prime, painted plain green bases...now that was something to see.I'd love to strip the old metal ones I had and repaint them now, though.

Oh, and I also got better at taking pictures of my miniatures.

These were my first few. I did a few models when I was much younger but don't still have them.

First paint jobs? Those are lost to time, hopefully crushed somewhere. Nothing is to be gained by seeing things like some old fantasy hag model slathered head to toe in metallic gold Testors enamel with a splash of gloss green for the face. Nothing.

These are instead from a couple of years after those first bumbling steps, my oldest surviving figures, when 40K was still fairly new, I had started making the switch the acrylic paints (but not entirely) - almost 25 years ago:

This was one of my first ever. I am thinking I will revisit this model soon, to see what I can do now.

This is from the "heroscape" game. I think this was my first ever model. Enjoy

Well, they're still not completely done, and they could use better closeup pictures, but here you go.

The gaunt there has actually been overpainted on the carapace a bit as I didn't like the first pattern I tried (the spinefists I used to test out my color scheme didn't scale well and I ended up totally redoing the carapace on my first gaunt to something different.)

If you want to get totally nitpicky, I can take a picture of my black primed dwarf model I got a drybrushing lesson on with way too much paint for drybrushing. That would be the first mini I put paint on

It's not my very first, but one of my earlier paintjobs is the Terminator on the left, with a more modern take on the same scheme on the right: