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So me Wife saw me painting the other day, remarking how cool it was to see all the hard work and detail.
So we decided we'd purchase Dark Vengeance and paint the models together and learn to play.
So we're only a day or two into the painting side and my Wife seemed a little down, said her model didn't look good enough.
I told her if she saw my very first model she'd be well happy with what she has done so far.
So can anyone on here give her some words of encouragement?
Would be greatly appreciated.

That's a lot better than I usually see on the table.
For a first that's great going.

Looks pretty cool to me

Darker colours are in some ways a lot harder to paint as there is less option to add shade easily.

The easiest thing that could be done to improve would be to paint with a slightly lighter shade of green and then use a wash (such as either black wash or a mix of sepia and green) to then wash the armour to tone it down and give it shadowing. Similarly with the white areas, a very light (ie watered down) black or grey wash would just give them a little touch of shading that would make them really stand out.

Using a blue ink applied over a white base for the lenses would also really make them stand out (inks generally dry with a gloss finish too), although they look good at the moment.

And no model is complete without some decent basing

But certainly a very solid start anyone should be proud of.

 loki old fart wrote:
That's a lot better than I usually see on the table.
For a first that's great going.

Cheers guys. I'll pass that on.
I told her my first ones I didn't thin the paint down and they looked more like blobs with guns.


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 SilverMK2 wrote:
Looks pretty cool to me

Darker colours are in some ways a lot harder to paint as there is less option to add shade easily.

The easiest thing that could be done to improve would be to paint with a slightly lighter shade of green and then use a wash (such as either black wash or a mix of sepia and green) to then wash the armour to tone it down and give it shadowing. Similarly with the white areas, a very light (ie watered down) black or grey wash would just give them a little touch of shading that would make them really stand out.

Using a blue ink applied over a white base for the lenses would also really make them stand out (inks generally dry with a gloss finish too), although they look good at the moment.

And no model is complete without some decent basing

But certainly a very solid start anyone should be proud of.

For a first attempt that is actually pretty special. The lines are nice and neat and the paint is fairly even. At the end of the day it is your first attempt and as such it will never be as good as your second. Seriously, you show excellent potential, please don't give up. I have been painting for about two and a half years now, and I have won several local gw competitions yet I still have a long long way to go before I'm anywhere near ready to play with the big boys, and I can honestly say your first attempt is far better than mine was. I'll post a picture below of one of my first minis, one from a year later and one from the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this will show you how quickly you will improve with a little practice, and one of my favourite models I ever painted, which I really pushed myself with about six months ago.

A lot better than my first one!

Just look at my captain of the first company of awful painted miniatures on the thread
companychampion wip

to see the difference lol.
I added it just to contrast my later ones where my skills are notucebly better

That is a perfectly respectable model. That is solid tabletop quality. Better then some of the armies at my FLGS.

Are there things that could be improved? Sure. You don’t start with all the advance tricks out of the gate. And even people who have been painting for years are still improving their work. But if she can do an army to that standard, she will have something to be proud of.

That looks very nice. White on black is hard because any little mistake looks absolutely glaring. I would show you my wife's first model but she would beat me to death afterwards .

As someone returning to the hobby I remember fondly my first ever minis painted with my mum, yes MUM, she supported me in everything and she was bloody good at doing it all too, from the pics you have posted your wifie is doing very well indeed, mine looked bugger all like that. She has the basics well in hand and by that I mean its neat. Very neat for a first ever attempt and you should both be very proud of it, tell her to forget the highlights and fancy stuff for now and just keep going with bases and washes, a lot can be achieved with simple techniques but no matter how fancy you try to be if you cant keep paint where you want it a model will always look bad, she has very obviously got a bit of skill with a brush and small details. If I could have turned that dark angel out like she has just did with my first attempt I would be over the moon.
I tip my cap to your good lady and I'm firmly jealous that you have someone in your life that likes what you do as a past time enough to try it herself.

My first ever mini was a space wolf blood claw that I painted with matt cherrry red enamel and added torquoise bits to the wolf tails. lol, wasnt pretty at all.

Better than mine lol. I use a lot of dark colors and wash every inch of it to make it look filthy

Let me put it this way. That model's black is gleaming in a way i thought it was the light. The second picture at a slight angle change, but not altering the shine told me it was painted that way.

Thats something thats respectably hard to pull off - shiny black armor. Tell her she cant compare herself to the best, else you will always think your work is crap.

I am one of maybe two people in my FLGS that actually paints their army with any sense of talent....out of a dozen or so people. That model you linked rivals what i can put out after almost two years of painting, my gallery is testimony to this (its all older stuff, none of my newer is up there as i want to upload it all at once). And my armies, even my older models, are way better than what im usually facing lol.

Also if she really wants to put more detail than that into common models, shes going to be putting an insane amount of work before fielding a painted army even at a small point level. Ive been cheating on mine, taking shortcuts on lesser important models, and i still cant field a painted 1500pt army lol. Always something unpainted.

tomcat31 wrote:
For a first attempt that is actually pretty special. The lines are nice and neat and the paint is fairly even. At the end of the day it is your first attempt and as such it will never be as good as your second. Seriously, you show excellent potential, please don't give up. I have been painting for about two and a half years now, and I have won several local gw competitions yet I still have a long long way to go before I'm anywhere near ready to play with the big boys, and I can honestly say your first attempt is far better than mine was. I'll post a picture below of one of my first minis, one from a year later and one from the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this will show you how quickly you will improve with a little practice, and one of my favourite models I ever painted, which I really pushed myself with about six months ago.

This post has given her some perspective. Hearing it from folks other than me has made her see the light.


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 Nevelon wrote:
That is a perfectly respectable model. That is solid tabletop quality. Better then some of the armies at my FLGS.

Are there things that could be improved? Sure. You don’t start with all the advance tricks out of the gate. And even people who have been painting for years are still improving their work. But if she can do an army to that standard, she will have something to be proud of.

we both painted o e and we went through it together stage by stage, and hers is as good as mine.
If she can do the rest as well then like you say any battlefield would be happy to have them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jeff200sx wrote:
As someone returning to the hobby I remember fondly my first ever minis painted with my mum, yes MUM, she supported me in everything and she was bloody good at doing it all too, from the pics you have posted your wifie is doing very well indeed, mine looked bugger all like that. She has the basics well in hand and by that I mean its neat. Very neat for a first ever attempt and you should both be very proud of it, tell her to forget the highlights and fancy stuff for now and just keep going with bases and washes, a lot can be achieved with simple techniques but no matter how fancy you try to be if you cant keep paint where you want it a model will always look bad, she has very obviously got a bit of skill with a brush and small details. If I could have turned that dark angel out like she has just did with my first attempt I would be over the moon.
I tip my cap to your good lady and I'm firmly jealous that you have someone in your life that likes what you do as a past time enough to try it herself.

My first ever mini was a space wolf blood claw that I painted with matt cherrry red enamel and added torquoise bits to the wolf tails. lol, wasnt pretty at all.

I'm doing the exact same as you, returning to the game and hobby.
It was music to my ears when she said I'll come along for the ride too.
But I don't want her to feel low at the first hurdle...We have a lot of stuff to paint before all out war...and relearning the rulez looks very tough...seems to have changed a bit since vers2.


All these posts have been great guys. She is loadz happier with the finished model.
Now we just got base it and move on to the next one.

Way better than my first, or current works. Very nice freehand, would recommend a little more shade.

People tend to be far more critical of their own works then they are of others. This is true not just of minis, but all artistic endeavors.

I know when ever I look at my own stuff I keep thinking “I could have done that better” or “That didn’t come out they way I wanted it to” Very rarely do I look at something and think “I really like the way that came out"

Never fear! Her brushwork is very controlled for her first go at painting. My first models were second edition Space Marines from way back when and I didn't have any sort of brush control when it came to painting the eyes for instance. Looks like she got that marine's eyes no problem! Also painting contrasting colors such as white and dark colors like dark angels green can be quite a challenge for beginners. The more she paints, the more she will improve! I think its awesome that you two are able to share the hobby together. I think I would just die if my girlfriend asked if she could start painting with me!

Keep it up!

That's better than most of the 'pro painted' minis I've seen on eBay,

It's great for a start! Now onto highlights and shades! It's all about time, effort, and learning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3p_VuPIS2c

There's much worse out there...
This is far better than decent for a first model!
Mine were much worse... now I commission paint!

Really good for a first attempt, as said before, a lot better than my first attempt. Keep up the good work, Mrs. Indy.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, we both felt that the photo we posted didn't fully do her justice, So I have taken a decent photo to show you all.
I'm gutted, these are better than mine!

Holy gibbles, thats better than I thought. Way better than any of my work, past or present. Then again, my word holds no real weight as I've painted a grand total of 15 minis. Still, I see potential in her painting skills.

They look fantastic. This picture is a lot better at showing them off.

The added weathering and basing really finishes them off. A little static grass, some rocks or other scatter on the bases would be my only other suggestion for these guys. Other than that the painting is excellent. Certainly a high end tabletop in the most part - a couple of minor fixes and embelishments and I would say they would be character/display level in terms of quality.

If you guys are anywhere near Oxfordshire I would love to play against your painted armies

 Hive Fleet Cerberus wrote:
Holy gibbles, thats better than I thought. Way better than any of my work, past or present. Then again, my word holds no real weight as I've painted a grand total of 15 minis. Still, I see potential in her painting skills.

I painted hundreds back in the day, and it has taken me a little while to get up to speed, but the misses went right in. I took her through stage by stage and if you put Hers next to mine wouldn't really notice a huge difference.


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 SilverMK2 wrote:
They look fantastic. This picture is a lot better at showing them off.

The added weathering and basing really finishes them off. A little static grass, some rocks or other scatter on the bases would be my only other suggestion for these guys. Other than that the painting is excellent. Certainly a high end tabletop in the most part - a couple of minor fixes and embelishments and I would say they would be character/display level in terms of quality.

If you guys are anywhere near Oxfordshire I would love to play against your painted armies

Yeah was looking at grasses the other day, unsure where's best to get them from.....
We really wished we drilled the barrels as well now....
Oxfordshire....Hmm...We're in the West Mids. And a while from completing a full force. But yeah dude if we're ever in the area. Tis War!

Those look great! I think anyone would be happy to have those on the table. Tell her she has real talent. That's something that can't be earned. The rest just requires practice. Keep on painting.

Indy wrote:
Yeah was looking at grasses the other day, unsure where's best to get them from.....

Element games (via a dakka ad link, or straight to their site if you don't want to go via a referral link) are pretty good for all things hobby related. They stock a range of static grass as well as pre-made "clumps" and othe basing materials from several manufacturers. Prices are reasonable and postage is a (quite low) flat rate.

We really wished we drilled the barrels as well now....

An easy fix to do post-painting - especilly if you then soot blacken the muzzle

Oxfordshire....Hmm...We're in the West Mids. And a while from completing a full force. But yeah dude if we're ever in the area. Tis War!

Sounds like a plan

Whilst there are a few painted armies at my local club it is always nice to see a good looking army across the table

That first pic didn't do them justice - this one blows them out of the water, those DA are awesome! The basing is great too, your wife's done a great job.

Keep it up. Thats a great start for your first mini.

Looks fantastic!!!

Man if those are her first...she needs to keep at it, they're awesome as is and I can only imagine what the later stuff will look like.

You all taking commissions? LoL.

Seriously though, I like the way the paint is very even and defined, not too watered down or clumped in spots, nice even spreads. The eyes too, I have a stupidly painful time with SM eyes, it's nice to see someone who can do them well.