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Friends, hello...A few of us guys have been kicking around the idea of forming up a little bit of a common interest club here on dakka, much like the league of extraordinary riveters, but with a focus on fine miniature painting. A place where painters and those interested can talk about their projects in a highly detailed fashion, trading painting tips and techniques, all in the spirit of bettering their craft and gaining more understanding of actual fine painting skills as applied to the hobby of mini painting. The idea came about because, unlike cmon, which is more of a painting focused site, there doesnt seem as much of a place here for peeps who paint for the sake of painting, daring to get better and pushing the envelope for advanced techniques. (not necessarily to field a squad for a game). If you think that this is something that youd like to be a part of, post your thoughts here. Already there seems to be a bunch of guys who are super into it, and i know weve got a slew of painters here, each with different styles, with alot to share. All levels are absolutely welcome, only a mature and respectful view of the art of mini painting is all thats required. PS the title is somewhat of a joke, i imagine an ork with his pipe and slippers, painting minis....something like that. The idea is that we have another blog, where we can share our work with each other and have a bit more of an open discussion about how we do what we do. Anyways, thoughts guys?
Thanks

Bebop

i'm down

as a start, i use my Blogspot page as a repository of my paint recipies for others to use as a resource:

http://jahminis.blogspot.com/

it is definitely due for an update, but there are a good amount of paint breakdowns to page through already...

one interesting thing to start off this thread could be a show of "before and after" to show how much a painter has improved already...
for instance:

2001:



2016:



even better, two of the same scheme...

2001:



2010:



it is clear to see that a dedicated effort to improve does pay off...
i didn't start with any kind of natural talent...
i have some real stinkers from back in the day, but pushing for a smooth transition from shadow, to mid-tone, to highlight really helps a mini look good, even with the standard 'Eavy Metal style of line highlighting...

how about you painters???
where was your painting at when you were painting just to "get it done and on the table", and how have you improved since you decided to "paint for the sake of painting", and really push your skills???

cheers
jah

As always Jah, your figgy painting skill is just amazing. I can't wait to see where this goes and hopefully I can steal some good techniques in the process. Seems like a win-win to me

Wouldn't mind getting in on this action, while I'm not a painter of the calibre of Jah or Bebob, but I do like to do my bit in pushing my technique and trying to figure out new ways of getting certain looks or effects. Hopefully as someone who definitely paints more for the love of it than to get something on the table, I qualify!

To follow Jah's example, a few shots of when I first started taking painting seriously enough to post here and where I'm at now! There's undoubtedly a big improvement due almost entirely to the feedback and inspiration I've gained from these forums since then.

Alpha Legion, June 2014:


Alpha Legion, December 2015


While I've improved again since that, the thing I think it shows best is an evolution and development of my own style; heavy use of metallics and weathering, better understanding of colour theory and just a generally better application of techniques. As an example, the model is mostly washes over a silver basecoat, something I'd never have even thought about back a few years.

Another one, Space Wolves in mid-2014:


and just last month:


Another example of the development of my own style, I think, and also much more thought in terms of composition both colour-wise and in the model itself. Also there's the obvious change in photography, something I'm definitely still working on.

And finally, just a couple of examples of what I think is the best I can do at present, which I'll leave here as a benchmark that I can hopefully come back and improve on over the next weeks and months!


I look forward to ogling the work of the fine painters this thread is sure to attract! Bring on the inspiration and discussion!

Clear!


Now that I'm here the party can only get better.

Well though I am no painter, I am down for this. Just take me as the "before" and what you guys do for me (you already inspire me) will show the after.

Going to be a pleasure to be around you giants.

Learning new things and improving skills and techniques is always a good thing in my eyes.

And while I'm at it, let me get the soapbox out; It's very easy to look at other people's work and say to yourself that "it's no good, I'm never going to be as good as (insert name of an artist), why bother".
It's important to realise that we are all our own worst critics. You know where the errors are and it's easy to focus on them and not take in the whole picture. Everyone does this, nobody's perfect and there are always little errors that nag at the artist, even the competition / Golden Daemon / Crystal brush winners. There is always room for improvement.

Don't focus on someone being "better" than you, focus on what you can learn from them.
The reason that there are people out there that can produce seemingly unobtainable works of art, is that they have put in the work to improve. For every "flawless" work of art, there are thousands of errors that have come before. Your little smudge, slip, slightly imperfect blend, etc. is just one of those errors to improve upon on the journey towards the "perfect" result.

Keep this in mind, study tutorials, ask questions, try new things and learn from past mistakes, and when you look back at what you produce today compared to what you will produce, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that Jah had a good idea to get this thread going.

I have a couple of good examples of my own after re-painting some of my early work.
These space marines were the first miniatures I had painted, coming from a background of Airfix-alike model making.
Without any experience of anything more than painting within the lines back in 2012, I found DDakka and learnt many of the techniques that produced the difference below (in 2014):

I've also improved my photography...






But they are not the best examples of what I can do now. Let's see, that would be...
...These probably show the best range of effects (rocks, stone, wood, metal, rust, dirt, freehand, blending, etc. even some OSL):



More:


Now the problem is...
How do I fit the link for this thread into my sig'.

Very well said, Dr H! Particularly this bit:

Don't focus on someone being "better" than you, focus on what you can learn from them.

can't be stressed enough. One of the best ways to learn and improve is to find the folks painting the way you eventually want to be, and just look at their work. Rather than taking a quick look and being amazed, study the methods, the composition, the techniques. See if you can work out how the end results were achieved, and if you can't, ask! I've not found a painter on Dakka unwilling to answer questions about their methods, the vast, vast majority are more than willing to share tips, tricks and tutorials! Often, it's simpler than you think! 'Basic' techniques applied with care and precision can produce something as nice to look at as a model exhibiting all the fancy tricks in the book.

Amazing models all in one place? Count me in.

So far our confirmed "members" are:
Jah Joshua
Paradigm
Camkierhi
Gitsplitta
Dr H
Bebop

and I assume as we continue the thread the group will continue to grow!! I've created a banner for the group, nothing too crazy so if someone is actually skilled at this and wants to do a better job, by all means....flying this banner in your sig is not required of course, but it does set us apart from just another random blog or even the showcase and gives us a bit more cohesion. Again totally not necessary but if you're feeling it....the banner is here


Also a few more notes regarding this blog before jumping in to some fun stuff. Members please feel free to upload your all your WIPs and your final pics here as well. This is a community blog and we welcome you to have another place to show off your work! My only request is that we cater to the topic of the forum, so maybe not every project you are working on fits this description...or maybe they do! If you do post WIPs, please give us some background on what's happening technically. The point of the blog after all is to discuss painting technique along with the pictures.

Now on to the fun stuff!!

@ Jah. Welcome sir!!! I've loved that Sally mini you did since the moment I saw it. Fantastic painting all around and I love the idea of posting your before/after shots as an introduction to the group! I will post my own below Mind going into some detail about your process for the metals on the Hammer? I've been painting mostly NMM but want to get back into using metallics...

@Paradigm. Happy to have you mate. Youre a gifted painter, and I love your style, it's is very unique and I'm more than fascinated by your approach of using silver as base coat! Sounds very grim dark, which is something Im not too familiar with when it comes to the painting of it. Could you share some WIP pics coming up on your next projects where We can really see how you're applying these techniques?

- ALSO - I agree 100% with paradigm about "staring" at work you love so you can copy it. I'm totally self taught and thats been through literally staring at models and dissecting them in my mind. Sometimes it's trickier with certain techniques but it's been so so so helpful. There are some great PM blogs on CMON worth following just to be inspired.

Dr H. Welcome!! Those terrain pieces are fantastic works!!! Especially the weathering! As a painter looking to expand my abilities with basing, I'm particularly interested in the base with the sand bags and how it was made. I can also safely say I am my own worst critic. I have not put photos up because one tiny niggle bothered me so much!!

And now my turn :

My name is Bebop and I'm a paintaholic Been painting figs since I was 7 years old, the first one, I knew it was something I loved. I've been hooked since, taking breaks when life demands it. As a professional drummer, sometimes the act of painting takes a toll on my hands and arms and back and I need to take time off to heal. I guess that's the price of constantly working with your hands. :( Anyways, a before and after pic.. My first uploads to dakka were in 2011, I had some confidence in painting by then but I'll have to photo some of my FIRST minis to really show my roots I still have almost all of them...


NOW



In between then and now I learned a few things that were significant in my developing a stronger "bebop" concept.
1.) Use a wet pallete and thin my paint to the consistency of "water". I feel like I paint with thinner And thinner paint by the mini and then thinner i go the more pleased I am with it
2. Zenithal Priming is my best friend. But take pics of the primed mini with no paint so I can keep referring to it for light source.
3. Real Sable brushes. This is something I JUST discovered. I'm kinda an insane painter so I ruin brushes rather quickly. It's not something I'm proud of, but alas, I just splurged and paid 80$ for about 4 brushes...Windsor Newtons,....real sable. And I am blown away at the difference. The paint flows, stays wet, the precision is MUCH stronger, I can see better...the money is absolutely well spent. And you can bet I'm taking it nice and slow with them

Alright so that wraps up and introductory getting the ball moving post....Lets see where this goes. Happy Painting everybody!!!

Ironically, nothing I have on my desk right now is actually using that metallic base technique I mentioned, it's all NMM stuff at the moment. I'll grab some WIPs next time it comes up, though. In the mean time, the best examples I have to hand are below.



All the metalwork on those models is done over a black prime then a heavy silver drybrush, similar in application and effect to a zenithal pre-highlight; you get the same accentuated raised/upwards facing areas and darker shadows, then the colour is applied through washes. On some, like the Iron Man, the final colour is just applied in several coats, on stuff like the Ad Mech I add 'splotches' of other colours to add depth to the final look. In the case of these particular models, it was primarily green and purple, before a wash of Vallejo smoke ink over the whole thing to give that nice worn brassy/bronzey look.

It's a surprisingly quick method to actually apply too, all the highlighting and shading is done in the initial silver drybrush. the rest is just 'colouring in'. I mean to experiment with the same method over a white/off-white drybrush instead of metal, I just need to find a model with the right sort of textures for that to work...

Paradigm wrote:... 'Basic' techniques applied with care and precision can produce something as nice to look at as a model exhibiting all the fancy tricks in the book.

I'm very much in favour of this; just because you have learnt to wet blend, doesn't mean you need to forget dry-brushing. They both have a place when used well.

bebopdrums2424 wrote:Dr H. Welcome!! Those terrain pieces are fantastic works!!! Especially the weathering! As a painter looking to expand my abilities with basing, I'm particularly interested in the base with the sand bags and how it was made. I can also safely say I am my own worst critic. I have not put photos up because one tiny niggle bothered me so much!!

Thanks BB. Not to derail the painting theme before we get to the end of page 1, you can follow the build of both of those terrain pieces from this point in my Money-making blog here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/840/549077.page#8020654
However, if there's something about the weathering you want to know about, that would fit in here nicely. I'm quite happy with my techniques for wood and rust in particular.

Also, I should point out to those of you that may have missed it in my blogs, I paint almost exclusively in Enamel paint. So if anyone has questions about these I should be able to answer them.

The Tao of Sable:
steal from the best!!!

this was going to be my first talking point, but you guys got to it first, showing that it really is an important part of developing your skills...
before anyone finds their "way", or develops their own style, there is inspiration...
inspiration is the seed that everything grows from, and it is the work of others that inspires the long hours at the painting table trying to achieve the skills to manipulate acrylic in the manner you envision...

i steal from everywhere, be it mini painters, tattoo artists, comic book artist, car painters, computer animators, graffiti artists, illustrators, everyone!!!
if something inspires you, even if it is outside the realm of mini painting, use it...


@Paradigm: you have come a long way in such a short time...
always good to see hard work pay off

@Dr. H: that dugout is a work of beauty
one day i will get the time to build a base like that...

@bebop: your painting was good in 2011, but your current stuff is really good...
it shows that you have stepped up to the next plateau with your skills...

the metals on the Sallie were done in the time when i first started to work with pushing the contrast of my metal...
using matte paints to shade really dulls down the shine of the metal in the shadows in comparison to the highlights...
my shade for steel is blue, my shade for gold is purple, and my shade for bronze is green...
shading with color really adds something visually interesting, and gives life to the metals, whether you are doing TMM or NMM...

here is a little step-by-step i shared in my WIP blog:

steel base coat: P3 Pig Iron
gold base coat: P3 Battlefield Brown



steel wash: one drop P3 Coal Black, two drops P3 Armor Wash, three drops water



steel clean-up: Pig Iron
gold base: P3 Rhulic Gold



steel midtone: P3 Cold Steel
gold wash: one drop P3 Sanguine Base, two drops P3 Flesh Wash, three drops water



Grey Knights blue steel: one drop P3 Blue Ink, ten drops water
gold base: Rhulic Gold



1st steel highlight: three drops Cold Steel, one drop Vallejo Air Aluminium

1st gold highlight: three drops Rhulic Gold, one drop Vallejo Air Gold



final steel highlight: VA Aluminium

final gold highlight: one drop VA Gold, one drop VA Aluminium



i hope that those stages show the process well enough to be helpful..

cheers
jah

Hi, I'm Gitsplitta. Been painting since I was a kid. I don't have any photos, but imagine an old RalPartha hydra that looked like it had been dipped in brown enamel paint... even though it hadn't... and you've pretty much got the idea. I'm a professional biologist with no art training save what I could pick up off dakka and the internets. The earliest models I can show you are my original space marines, the Mantis Warriors. I did these soon after they were released as the first plastic marines GW had ever made.



I suppose a decent example of my recent work is this Emperor's Children centurion I did for last Adepticon. I got a lot of help from MajorTom11 getting the colors of the purple right. It's not a very complicated paint job... but it turned out OK.



Sooo... I've made progress but still have a very long way to go.

I'm gohkm, and I've been painting for the past 20 years. Only took it seriously in the last 3 or so, though.

In the late 80s/early 90s, paint dilution was optional. Gloss was in. My miniatures stunk.

My latest piece is entered into the latest Dakka Heroes & Villains contest.

 jah-joshua wrote:
one interesting thing to start off this thread could be a show of "before and after" to show how much a painter has improved already...

Those b&a's give me hope for the future

I'm Tom. I just started painting a few months ago. I love the idea of this blog, as a beginner who is primarily interested in painting for display, I'm looking forward to soaking up as much as I can from you guys.

@ Gokhr / Tom: welcome!! Glad to have you with us !!

@ Gits: awesome models man. There's definitely clear progress there and if the illustrious major Tom is giving you pointers, hard to go wrong. That purple is super vibrant. And those old mantis warriors are a fine beginning to that massive force of yours.

@ Dr H: Enamels??? Now I'm really fascinated. Why enamels?

@ jah : thanks for sharing. I'm definitely going to be doing something with RMM, but I'm painting mostly infinity right now and I'm really focused on nmm so I'm not ready to move my focus just yet. Will be referring back to this when I do. P3 paint too...I definitely like some of their colors. They have a pink that has so much pigment itd turn black...pink...lol..

oh this looks like a nice place! ...I'm always looking to improve my painting, and always love seeing other people's work, everyone's got their own style/methods/intricacies...no two painters do everything in the exact same way...it's fascinating.

I discovered 40k around the start of 2014, then bought my first minis and started painting in may 2014 - one of those starter 4-packs of snap-fit ork boyz - I had no idea if I'd be able to paint them, since I basically hadn't touched a brush since highschool art class, a decade ago...so I bought myself some cheap "dollar-store" acrylics, along with a pot of "ironbreaker", and the new shiny "agrellan earth" and "blood for the blood" god technical paints, and had a go...I was bloody terrified of the tiny models, progress was very slow, and I don't think I'd tried harder to do anything in my life ...I think it took me about a solid week to paint those 4 basic jobber ork boyz - but, I was pretty darn happy with them when I was done....and then I was hooked
here they are (I think they actually look a little better in the pic than in real life ) :


...and now 2 years later, after ~1500 points of painted nurgle CSM's, ~1500 points of painted nurgle daemons, and ~2000-2500 points of painted orks, and a few other painted bits and pieces...though still with a good 10000 points in second-hand and new-in-box stuff I've since acquired that I need to work through ....I'm starting to feel like I can "hold my own" with painting, but I know there's still a lot of stuff I could really improve on...I'm still pretty lousy with fine-detail edge highlighting, and stuff like fancy space marine eye lens-effects still baffle me, and that painted-on highlighted tiny paint-chips/scratches effect - making something look worn and dirty, but still a really clean smooth paintjob...but painting primarily orks and nurgle stuff doesn't really give me much opportunity to practice stuff like that...
anyway, from those 4 ork boyz 2 years ago, to my Zhadsnark "Da Rippa" I painted a couple of weeks ago, which most of you might've already seen in the painting challenge thread, but here it is again anyway


I'm happy with my personal progress so far, but there's still a lot I have yet to learn, and improve on

Pretty amazing start round here already, thanks for the metallic tut already, I have never really tried too hard at the NMM, always stuck to RMM but have messed with colours and layers, never as good as that though.

Well I will join in the B & A crowd I guess....

I am primarily a modeller I guess, been painting since the early 90's actually got quite good standard for a short time at the turn of the Millennium, but that was a different era and painting in general has come a very long way since then. I am my own worst critic most of the time, though the Dakka gallery can kick you in the teeth once in a while! In the gallery I average somewhere in the 7-8 region, but have some stinkers at 5's.

Here is an early warboss of mine, think the "new" orks had just come out in the AoBR and I tried pretty hard at the time on this, so this is a best of what I was doing....


Now Dakka rates this as my best....

Which is part of a bigger piece....


Personally I like what I managed to achieve on these...



As you can see I don't really build armies, though I do have many and collect them, and do want to one day have an actual really nice painted army. Instead I paint whatever takes my fancy at the time, most of it ends up on a shelf gathering dust.

I have an awful lot to learn and am really looking forward to what I hope this thread will become. Thank you all for being here.

I am curious how to achieve that seemingly wet, vibrant looking blood and gore. I was hoping paradigm or anyone else who excels at this might give us some tips. Thanks!

What a fantastic accumulation of ideas and painters - a pleasure to see a medium through which painters of all levels can share questions and techniques.

I am Lipsdapips, a 19 year old lad who's been painting since he was 5, or thereabouts. I have 3 images for comparison, as well as a wee history lesson for anybody interested.
I used to live on Guernsey, an island on the English Channel - when I was very young, my brother and I stumbled upon Carousel - the only hobby shop on the island. They sold Warhammer and a bunch of other things. We bought the 3rd ed CSM codex because its brilliant and we loved the pictures - and I was hooked ever since. This Black Legion Chaos Marine is the first miniature I ever painted - and you can see that my ridiculously young age DEFINITELY is reflected in the paint job



My family and I moved to New Zealand when I was 8, and my interest in the hobby persisted until I settled into ultramarines with the releases of battle for macragge and AOBR later. I found jawaballs' tutorial for painting Ultramarines and it served as the basis of my technique, and continues to do so to this day. The second image of a tactical sergeant was one that I entered into a Golden Deamon competition when I was 13. No successes of course but I was very motivated (I ended up recieving a finalist pin for being top 5 under 14s in Australasia the next year with, would you believe it, a captain ).



In 2011 I joined this site and all hobby developments have occurred before your eyes one of my latest paint jobs being the final image. I've come far but have so much further to go - i'm going to have so much fun and learn so much from this blog and the passing of knowledge from some of my painting idols such a bebop, jah and gits - and hope to help others in any way I can - will definitely post in future sharing techniques and all the business.



Thanks guys

LDP

oh man, Cam! I love those dioramas!...I think I just spent about half an hour admiring all the little details on them...just oozing character...love 'em!

 Heretic Tom wrote:
I am curious how to achieve that seemingly wet, vibrant looking blood and gore. I was hoping paradigm or anyone else who excels at this might give us some tips. Thanks!

And once again,, we go back to the 'simple is best' mantra! This right here is all you need:
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Citadel-Technical?s=99189956005

The trick is in how you apply it, though. This model probably shows it best:


On the left hand, the power fist that has just pulled a guy's head off, I went all out with the gore, literally covering the whole thing in nice, gloopy Blood for the Blood God paint, it gives a proper 'blood soaked' impression great for blunt force weapons or anything with a Khornate side to it.

On the right, you can see the opposite, plenty of gore on the axe blade itself but comparatively little on the rest of the arm. This is achieved by thinning down the paint, getting an old, stiff-bristled brush and flicking it towards the mini. Hold the tip of the brush in the place you want the spray to originate from, then just give it a good flick a few times until you have the desired size/range of blood spatter. This works great with edged weapons, and can give a great sense of motion and direction to a model

It you want really bright, fresh-looking blood, paint the area red first, this will show through and make it really vibrant.



Great to see some more interest pick up in here, welcome aboard to the new folks! Great to have you!

Another trick I've seen from an excellent painter... as blood pools and coagulates, it turns more black than red. What he did was to paint the areas he wanted to represent in this way (say, pools on the ground) black. Then went over them with the red, extending the red beyond the black so there was an area of transition. Looked pretty darn good.

I found a crude attempt of mine to duplication the effect. The ramp didn't turn out so well, the black is too dark... should have used a dark red... but if you look into the body of the ork ambulance, you'll see it worked much better in there.



That brilliant vehicle was built by Cam by-the-way. Here's a spoiler of the final product.

@cam so glad to have you here my friend! Just lovely stuff with such creative passion. You embody the true joy we all have in the hobby!

@ LDP right on brother good to see you here. That marine is just clean as a baby's bottom. An fantastic example of fundamentals and clean execution.

Guys let me point you in the direction of two pm blogs on cmon that visit often.
David Powells
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?51026-Bailey03-s-WIP
And David Soper (this years slayer winner)
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?54571-Sproket-s-WIP

I study both of these blogs often...

Amazing work from everyone here.

I've been a painter of canvases for a lot longer than miniatures, here is were I was at ten years ago



Some things from 4 years ago




Proudest pictures of this year





Hope you like them.

@Bebopdrums - Great idea for a thread and your timing is perfect. Count me in!


A little about my artistic career: I learned woodworking as a kid which inspired me to obtain an arts degree in technical theatre (scenic design/construction & stage management). After uni, I worked as a carpenter building decks, fences, and finishing basements until the housing bubble burst at which point I moved into the corporate world. To keep the creative juices flowing, I then decided I wanted to learn how to work on cars and bought a 1974 Jeep CJ5 which caught fire one day when I turned on the ignition. I've never been so happy to be in a car without a roof or doors in my life! I then went to work the next day and informed everyone that I needed a new hobby. A friend brought in his FoW Americans with some paint and tools and we painted at work (grave shifts are awesome). I was hooked. The rest, they say, is history.

I started painting in 2010 with a DKoK army for 40k. It quickly became apparent that while I love the 40k aesthetic, GW changes their rules too frequently for my glacially-slow painting style to keep up with. I needed something slower and more stable, so I moved over to a Blazing Sun fleet for Dystopian Wars. It was while working on the DW fleet that DzC came on the market and I've been apologetically hooked ever since. It wasn't my plan for this to happen, but the first time I saw their models I was hit by a bolt of inspiration so strong that it's powered four years worth of work.

The reason I say that your timing for this thread is perfect is because I've spent an enormous amount of time over the last few weeks posting new pics and tutorials in my painting log over on the Hawk Wargames forums (Hawk is the company behind Dropzone / Dropfleet Commander). I've been debating mirroring that post here on Dakka and adding in the work that's been done for 40k & DW (I also have a KG Peiper starter for FoW that's NIB and needs to get started at some point). Scaling 10mm tutorials up to 28mm probably shouldn't be too challenging for most people so it's probably worth the effort. It'll also be an excuse to take photos of all non-DzC models I've painted, which is probably way overdue (4-6yrs. Oops.). Your post here has given me the motivation I need to get my online house in order before moving on to the next project. Thank you!


Here are some samples of the work I've done over the last 4 years with the exception of the DKoK soldier. He was one of the first models I painted. The other older stuff will get posted and shared in the near future. The remaining models are all for the Post-Human Republic (PHR) for DzC.





This is an amazing group of artists and I very much look forward to what will be shared & learned as result of bringing everyone together. It's exciting

Weeeee I'm in! love painting! I'd love to get better. It's always nice to see someone's opinion of what you could do better, and better yet, HOW you could do it better. Plus I find it interesting the things that stick out like a sore thumb to me aren't even noticed by other people. You get a little fixated on projects I find and only see certain aspects of it, having someone else mention what they like/don't like about it helps break you out of that.

As for before and after, well mind you I've only been painting again for about the last two years now, so honestly not a ton of improvement. Most of it has been learning my tools I think, and simple blending and using highlighting which I didn't "know" about when I did my first minis. (not showing my very first minis those are like 30 years old and sensibly hidden lol)




Old ^^




Latest Clanrats ^^

Well, I think I have to actually finish a project to be considered a painter, but I'll toss my fancy hat in.
I can't do photos currently, but I'll return with my shame for all to see.

I'd like to join in, if I may.

I'm Knightley, middle aged 34 year old who just loves painting, My comparison stems back to 1990's which shows an eager young painter who got bitten by the bug very quickly


This moved on to my real first army being the Dark Angels


In the early 2000's I was deployed overseas with the military and started a small Ultramarines force


Mid 2000's Tau were released and I tried my hand at some eldar


Fell off the painting train for a while as gaming took over, kicked it back into gear around 2011


The latest model painted


I feel I have come a very long way, and I also feel I have some info to offer.