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As the subject line says I am new to W40K and all it greatness. I blame my son for this. But that is okay, I like it very much. Anyway, that is not the reason for this post. I have some newly painted miniatures that I would like a critique given on them. Be as nice or as brutal as you see fit, but above all, be helpful. Here they are.

Good job on everything but the camera work....

But seriously minis look great.

So for a biginner its a quite good paintjob. You ve been a little bit sloppy here and there but the edges are mostly clean and thats worth a lot if you want to get a high standard.

So as a first improvement i would say you need to use some washes to give youre minis some depth. I would suggest Nuln Oil for the silver metals, Agrax Earthshade for copper and gold and Carroburg Crimson for the red parts. Just cover the whole areas with it and let it dry. Its some kind of auto-shading . The colors will change a bit, everything will get a little bit darker, but in the next step you can just reapply the original color on the parts that should not be shaded or should be a little bit brighter. Alternatively you can apply the washes only in the corners. You have to try what works best for you.

Then take a brighter color and highlight the edges. With those 3 steps (basic color, shade, highlight) you can archive really nice results very fast. If you have a steady hand (seems so), the models will start to look awesome. Afterwards its just adding more shading and highlighting steps to get better blending. :p

Greetings MoG

EDIT: What I forget: Drill out the gun barrels!!! Its done in 5 Minutes and the models look much better!

@MasterOfGaunts,

You have given me some really helpful painting ideas. I knew that there was something missing, but I just could put my brush on it. Would you be so kind as to explain the BOLD highlights of your statement? I have two Terminators remaining and host of other Khorne troops and I want the to look good. I would appreciate it.

 MasterOfGaunts wrote:
So for a beginner its a quite good paintjob. You've been a little bit sloppy here and there but the edges are mostly clean and that's worth a lot if you want to get a high standard.

So as a first improvement I would say you need to use some washes to give you're minis some depth. I would suggest Nuln Oil for the silver metals, Agrax Earthshade for copper and gold and Carroburg Crimson for the red parts. Just cover the whole areas with it and let it dry. Its some kind of auto-shading . The colors will change a bit, everything will get a little bit darker, but in the next step you can just reapply the original color on the parts that should not be shaded or should be a little bit brighter. Alternatively you can apply the washes only in the corners. You have to try what works best for you.

Then take a brighter color and highlight the edges. With those 3 steps (basic color, shade, highlight) you can archive really nice results very fast. If you have a steady hand (seems so), the models will start to look awesome. Afterwards its just adding more shading and highlighting steps to get better blending. :p

Greetings MoG

EDIT: What I forget: Drill out the gun barrels!!! Its done in 5 Minutes and the models look much better!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Yeah it is a pain trying to get the lighting just right with a cell phone camera.

I appreciate the compliments!!

 doktor_g wrote:
Good job on everything but the camera work....

But seriously minis look great.

TDS92A wrote:
@MasterOfGaunts,

You have given me some really helpful painting ideas. I knew that there was something missing, but I just could put my brush on it. Would you be so kind as to explain the BOLD highlights of your statement? I have two Terminators remaining and host of other Khorne troops and I want the to look good. I would appreciate it.

 MasterOfGaunts wrote:
So for a beginner its a quite good paintjob. You've been a little bit sloppy here and there but the edges are mostly clean and that's worth a lot if you want to get a high standard.

So as a first improvement I would say you need to use some washes to give you're minis some depth. I would suggest Nuln Oil for the silver metals, Agrax Earthshade for copper and gold and Carroburg Crimson for the red parts. Just cover the whole areas with it and let it dry. Its some kind of auto-shading . The colors will change a bit, everything will get a little bit darker, but in the next step you can just reapply the original color on the parts that should not be shaded or should be a little bit brighter. Alternatively you can apply the washes only in the corners. You have to try what works best for you.

Then take a brighter color and highlight the edges. With those 3 steps (basic color, shade, highlight) you can archive really nice results very fast. If you have a steady hand (seems so), the models will start to look awesome. Afterwards its just adding more shading and highlighting steps to get better blending. :p

Greetings MoG

EDIT: What I forget: Drill out the gun barrels!!! Its done in 5 Minutes and the models look much better!

Well is basiclly what i wrote so far. As an Example for the chains on your models:

1. Step - Base color: Apply Leadbleacher as a base color.
2. Step - Shading: Then cover it all with Nuln Oil. Afterwards you reapply Leadbleacher on every single chain link, but leave a smooth transition zone between the dark parts and your base color.
3. Step - Highlights: Take Ironbreaker and paint it at the peaks of the chain links.

For every other part of your model its basically the same, you need a base color, a wash for the shades and a highlight color. While Shading is quite simple the highlighting is a little bit more complex. Normally you should highlight sharp edges with a fine line, to get a better contrast. Therefore you need a steady hand and some practice. But i think you ll manage it.

If you want to do the edge highlighting, use just a minimum amount of color on your brush and keep up a bigger angle while painting the edges. If you have too much color or your angle is too flat then the lines will get thicker or become uneven. Another alternative for basic highlights is drybrushing your models (just google it )

Cause I am not that good in explaining in english I ll give you a youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20fbSweLpk

Basically everything you need to know to paint nice models and you l see the results of every step. Just one note: Experiment with different washes instead of using Nuln Oil for everything. Gives you much more variety and looks better most of the times.

Greetings MoG

MasterOfGaunts is spot on.

The point of creating painted shadows (shading) and painted highlights is that it emphasizes the shape of the model and helps you see the detail, even though the model is small.

Excellent work my friend! Definitely take some better pictures, they're not close enough!

Great work! Couple of suggestions...


Thin your paints if you haven't already.

More shade is necessary in my opinion.

After a shade, try a drybrush of red on the red bits, gold on the gold bits, etc.

I think you're off to a great start! As a beginner myself – I just started some months ago – I'd recommend spending some time on YouTube. I've found lots of helpful vids.

Also, there are quite a lot of mild lines on your models. A scalpel will get that job done. Otherwise the ideas above are all great. Shading, highlighting, thinning paints etc.

I have just finished watching video on YouTube about painting Space Marines, and the artist there said exactly what you folks here have said. The one thing that I did not do was to thin the paint as I used it. I will be doing that from now on. Also a pallet is in order. I am going to post my latest paint job. After this one I will have one more Terminator and then I will be starting on my Warp Talons. Critique time folks.

Da Stormlord wrote:Great work! Couple of suggestions...


Thin your paints if you haven't already.

More shade is necessary in my opinion.

After a shade, try a drybrush of red on the red bits, gold on the gold bits, etc.

MasterOfGaunts wrote:

TDS92A wrote:
@MasterOfGaunts,

You have given me some really helpful painting ideas. I knew that there was something missing, but I just could put my brush on it. Would you be so kind as to explain the BOLD highlights of your statement? I have two Terminators remaining and host of other Khorne troops and I want the to look good. I would appreciate it.

 MasterOfGaunts wrote:
So for a beginner its a quite good paintjob. You've been a little bit sloppy here and there but the edges are mostly clean and that's worth a lot if you want to get a high standard.

So as a first improvement I would say you need to use some washes to give you're minis some depth. I would suggest Nuln Oil for the silver metals, Agrax Earthshade for copper and gold and Carroburg Crimson for the red parts. Just cover the whole areas with it and let it dry. Its some kind of auto-shading . The colors will change a bit, everything will get a little bit darker, but in the next step you can just reapply the original color on the parts that should not be shaded or should be a little bit brighter. Alternatively you can apply the washes only in the corners. You have to try what works best for you.

Then take a brighter color and highlight the edges. With those 3 steps (basic color, shade, highlight) you can archive really nice results very fast. If you have a steady hand (seems so), the models will start to look awesome. Afterwards its just adding more shading and highlighting steps to get better blending. :p

Greetings MoG

EDIT: What I forget: Drill out the gun barrels!!! Its done in 5 Minutes and the models look much better!

Well is basiclly what i wrote so far. As an Example for the chains on your models:

1. Step - Base color: Apply Leadbleacher as a base color.
2. Step - Shading: Then cover it all with Nuln Oil. Afterwards you reapply Leadbleacher on every single chain link, but leave a smooth transition zone between the dark parts and your base color.
3. Step - Highlights: Take Ironbreaker and paint it at the peaks of the chain links.

For every other part of your model its basically the same, you need a base color, a wash for the shades and a highlight color. While Shading is quite simple the highlighting is a little bit more complex. Normally you should highlight sharp edges with a fine line, to get a better contrast. Therefore you need a steady hand and some practice. But i think you ll manage it.

If you want to do the edge highlighting, use just a minimum amount of color on your brush and keep up a bigger angle while painting the edges. If you have too much color or your angle is too flat then the lines will get thicker or become uneven. Another alternative for basic highlights is drybrushing your models (just google it )

Cause I am not that good in explaining in english I ll give you a youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20fbSweLpk

Basically everything you need to know to paint nice models and you l see the results of every step. Just one note: Experiment with different washes instead of using Nuln Oil for everything. Gives you much more variety and looks better most of the times.

Greetings MoG

Let the critiquing begin.

Here is the last of my Terminators.

Good job! The paint job definitely looks better with the improved techniques!

They look WAY better than your last paintjobs. Great work!

Much appreciation to those that have posted comments and helpful advice!! For my next trick I will be posting a picture of my squad of Warp Talons. Whether it will be a single picture or one of each troop remains to be seen.

Thanks again!