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Hi all,

So I started painting miniatures a few months ago and...well I suck.

I can't quirlte put my finger on what I'm doing wrong. I have followed tutorials and for some reason I always get this chalky look.

Besides the obvious things of having a steadier hand, what else am I doing wrong here?

P.S, please be kind. I know they are not great and I want constructive feedback but that can be done without being cruel :-)

The first thing that will help you is to get us some better pictures. If you can go outside tomorrow, either just out on the sidewalk if it's cloudy, or in the shady side of your house if it's not, that would be great. Flash photography washes out detail and color, which makes it really hard for us to see what's going on and give you good advice.

From what I can see, it looks like it would help if you hit the model with black wash again, and make sure to drill out those barrels.

Without better pictures, the only guess I can make about the "chalky" is that the primer didn't lay evenly, and when you paint over a bumpy surface, the end result looks sort of like drybrushing, even if you don't intend it to.

OK I will take better pictures tomorrow. Thanks for the tip on the flash.

That might make sense actually. I am using army paint wolf grey and maybe I am doing something wrong with the base coat.

I actually did another lot of base coating today and they did not have that chalky look to it that this one had after I base coated it.

None the less, will take better pictures tomorrow. Thank you Ailaros.

Are you drybrushing all over the model? If so, that quite commonly leaves a sort of "powder" look on the model, especially when using broad strokes that hit large areas, as it catches all the small bumps in the paint it is being brushed onto. Consider either using many small, localized strokes while drybrushing, or learning some wetbrushing techniques. These will leave your model smoother looking.

OK thanks for the tip, any way to fix it if that is the cause? Or would I wetbrush over?

You could hit all the blue areas with a blue wash to try and smooth it out, but if that doesn't work the only option might be to just repaint all the blue areas, using highlighting and wetbrushing to get smooth gradients where you want them, and leave the drybrushing out entirely, except for the pelts and a few select areas on the model.

Where do you live? Very cold and very humid are really bad conditions to be spray priming in. Unfortunately, that sort of describes most places in the US at the moment.

If this is going to be a chronic problem for you, it might be worth trying to find a way to do a little bit of your spraying indoors.

A few key things to keep in mind when you start painting miniatures, other than the key stuff like always cut mold lines and prime your models.

- Always thin your paints. Whether it's with flow improver or a little bit of water, never put thick layers of paint on your models as it makes them look chunky and can obscure detail.

- Try to pick out detail areas in contrasting colors to make the models pop more.

- Drybrushing is not an alternative to highlighting. Try to focus your highlights on areas where the light would hit the model. Build from dark colors in the recesses, to lighter colors on the highest points. The lightest and darkest colors should cover the smallest surface area.

- To create easy shading and blend colors together more seamlessly, use a wash. Be careful with how much you use it, as it can leave your models looking dull and lifeless if you overuse it.

- And the most important tip I can give you is to never say that you suck. You just started a very short time ago and already you are on the track to being better. Getting good at painting isn't just watching tutorials and then doing it. It's practice and learning what techniques and ways to do things work for you.


Keep at it and you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised with how great your stuff can look.

Chalkyness often occurs when the paint is too dry.
And another thing that sounds trivial bit is quite important: shake your paints well. Like really, really well. If you think you did it enough give it some more shakes. That'll help with the general coverage. For most colors I even use small metal balls to help me stirring!

Good tips, thanks all.

I was spraying in the garage which was 30f so assume that contributed.

Should I strip and restart or is it OK to respray? At what point would I lose detail.

That depends on how thick your primer is and how heavy you go on with it. I use cheap Walmart primer, it's like a buck and is really thin so I could reprime a few times if need be.


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Also what brand paints are you using for the minis? I use Americana which is cheap and some of the colors I have to use a different brand because they will always get chalky.