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So, I've been in the hobby now for 7 months, and frankly, I'd would, for once, actually paint my guys instead of just building them, cause boy is that bit both easy and fun, to me. However, I want to stimulate my brain. Which is why Im gonna be doing things different with both building, stopping, and then painting, instead of building completely. and What better way than to post my pic journey and start off, with an ork. Specifically, an Ork Warboss in Mega-Armor.

From back angle, but that's not all!

NOt sure why all of them are coming out on the side, but hey, its whatever. Let me know how I'm doing! also, just so I don't have to answer before hand, this is being painted with Vallejo Paints

Looking good so far. I especially like the Ork's face, it's coming along nicely.

Hard to comment too much until we see the final model. It looks to me that the paint might be a bit thick, though that might change once it's complete.

Hey fella, that green skin is looking nice!
A couple of things to help you on your way as you start out.

Definitely undercoat your models - either using a slightly watered down black or white or a spray paint.

Use a darker basecoat colour first before using such a light colour like that bright red. Looks like you haven't been getting a lot of coverage (paint not sticking to the plastic) and that's why you are laying it on thick.

Hope that helps!

 Olthannon wrote:
Hey fella, that green skin is looking nice!
A couple of things to help you on your way as you start out.

Definitely undercoat your models - either using a slightly watered down black or white or a spray paint.

Use a darker basecoat colour first before using such a light colour like that bright red. Looks like you haven't been getting a lot of coverage (paint not sticking to the plastic) and that's why you are laying it on thick.

Hope that helps!

I would like to say that this does sound helpful. I have also before putting on the paint, did spray it with rust-oleum 2X grey, if that helps, of if I've been making a terrible mistake this whole time.

Update, update! we got an upper arm and orky sigil up and painted.

the rest of he pics, I feel pretty proud with the engine as its silver mixed with gunmetal.

More progress, and this time, just focusing on the mini before adding more stuff on.

If you are a complete begginer it would be a good idea to check some basic youtube tutorials about painting miniatures.
From the pics its quite clear that you seem to be winging it a bit, which is fun and alright for a first paint, ut you´ll save yourself a lot of pain by just following classic simple steps and then developting your style once you got a couple of basics down.

First, you need to prime your minis, generally with an spray can. This will give you a good coat of paint that will stick to the miniature correctly. You are probably having some issues when painting directly into plastic since the paint slides everywhere and does not cover correctly, and priming either with black or white would solve this. you will not need to use a thick layer of paint in order to cover the mini, and instead you can do with thinner coats to not mask all the detail of the figure.
Plus, the paint will not chip off the mini if you hit it later.

At the very start is good to try to focus on your brush control for the first basecoats, when you are just putting a base color on the right areas. Yo can see in your last pic that when you added green, you touched quite a lot of the previous red areas. This also is due to the fact that you painted areas that are easier to reach first, and harder to reach later. You generally want to paint in the reverse order, so your brush does not mess up your previous colors just because you cant reach certain gaps easely.

Once you have a flat color on everything, you can use a wash, then some highligts and some edge highlights to finish the model.
Im not sure what paints are you using but they look really glossy, maybe a matt barnish at the end would help to turn all of that shinyness down.

Looking foward to see your progress

 Killatores wrote:
First, you need to prime your minis, generally with an spray can.

This is the bit that would help most, to start with.
The paint does not appear to be going on well, and an undercoat will sort that out.

Skinnereal wrote:

 Killatores wrote:
First, you need to prime your minis, generally with an spray can.

This is the bit that would help most, to start with.
The paint does not appear to be going on well, and an undercoat will sort that out.

Killatores wrote:If you are a complete begginer it would be a good idea to check some basic youtube tutorials about painting miniatures.
From the pics its quite clear that you seem to be winging it a bit, which is fun and alright for a first paint, ut you´ll save yourself a lot of pain by just following classic simple steps and then developting your style once you got a couple of basics down.

First, you need to prime your minis, generally with an spray can. This will give you a good coat of paint that will stick to the miniature correctly. You are probably having some issues when painting directly into plastic since the paint slides everywhere and does not cover correctly, and priming either with black or white would solve this. you will not need to use a thick layer of paint in order to cover the mini, and instead you can do with thinner coats to not mask all the detail of the figure.
Plus, the paint will not chip off the mini if you hit it later.

At the very start is good to try to focus on your brush control for the first basecoats, when you are just putting a base color on the right areas. Yo can see in your last pic that when you added green, you touched quite a lot of the previous red areas. This also is due to the fact that you painted areas that are easier to reach first, and harder to reach later. You generally want to paint in the reverse order, so your brush does not mess up your previous colors just because you cant reach certain gaps easely.

Once you have a flat color on everything, you can use a wash, then some highligts and some edge highlights to finish the model.
Im not sure what paints are you using but they look really glossy, maybe a matt barnish at the end would help to turn all of that shinyness down.

Looking foward to see your progress

Guys, Thank you for the advice, I truly mean it. I however, will say again that I did spray it with primer paint from the very beginning, maybe what happened was that I didn't prime it well enough, so maybe that why it may look a little shoddy to you guys. Second off, the paint I'm using is the Vallejo painting kit for fantasy stuff, to answer your question.

 Gitzsmasha wrote:
I however, will say again that I did spray it with primer paint from the very beginning.

I had missed that comment, what with all of the pics.
As you say, it looks as though that coat did not full adhere.
It is not a brand I know, so I cannot say whether I have heard of others having problems.

Those exhausts and engine though, they're coming along well. They'll take a dark wash or dark paint into the pits and gaps nicely.

Ok, so im kind of closing in to almost finishing this model, just on the last few parts and I'm wondering, should I paint these bits separate before adding them on? cause I feel like I might need too before I do. thoughts and opinions appreciated.

Welcome to the hobby!

Others have given some good advice already, but I think the issue with your primer is that it seems to be giving a satin/gloss finish. I think that’s stopping you getting good coverage. Your primer should give a matte finish that helps the paint stick to the surface.

As for painting in assemblies, it’s a personal choice. I find it works well if there are hard to reach details. If it completely obscures an area, then it doesn’t matter anyway (unless you’re wanting to win a painting competition!)

The dakka P&M community is a great place to get inspiration and tips, the more you get involved the more you get out of it!

ok, some updates to my project, painted my little grot's skin, some I think slipped off the nose, but other than that, its painted and also now the shoulder plate. looks good yeah? just gonna do the other arm bands on the grot and other accessories and then its time for the big old buzzaxe.

I’m pretty sure rustoleum is a primer used specifically for metal, like wrought iron and steel and to be over painted with a meths base paint. So probably not the best primer to base coat plastic minis with. I’d have a look out for an acrylic spray primer, suitable for plastic, it’ll make painting so much easier for you.

Nice to see a new person start, and I'll throw a tip into the pot:
Basecoating you metal areas with brown, and the just drybrushing some metal paint over the top gives a cool and simple aged/rust effect that would be ideal for orks...
Most of my metals are painted that way.

When it comes to painting models in different parts I find a couple of things to consider.
First, painting things separately generlaly will increase the amount of work you do. I would only do it for things that are quite obvious and simpler to paint in parts , such as gunner on a turret, for example, or for models I want to have the best look I can.

Most of the time, you can paint the models completely glued together. In the case of that particular warboss, I painteded it only with the backpack not glued, having an easier time reaching the back of the model and the grot on top. It also helps that the contact between the pieces is well defined. I would never paint in parts something that has a split between 2 organic areas of the model, because those would be really visible and a pain to try to fix after the paintjob is done.

This also applies for the base. Gluing the model to base and making the base look decent from the very starts helps in a couple ways. First you have a good way to grip your model, and second, you dont need to restart painting and gling after finishing your model since you still need to do the base for it. Do it all together as part of the model.
People have different approaches, but I prefer to do the frist layer to both model and base. Then paint the base almost completely, then paint the model completely, and add some weathering at the end to tie the base and the model together (some sand or mud).

This is something you'll learn with experience, but for now you shouldn't worry about it. You are barely putting the first layer of color on your first miniature and thus your primary focus should be brush control so you dont paint outside the area you want to paint.

I'm wondering how your painting sessions look like, since you've been posting this model for over a week yet you just have 4 colors on it. There is no rush, but this suggests a bit of an extrange rythm when you sit down to paint. IF you feel that you dont know what to do next, find reference images of similar models so you get an idea of how to get there.

hey folks! update on the model! let me know what y'all think!

You've got a good stead hand and your choice of colors is pretty good. Getting everything basecoated can seem like it takes forever, but then you're into what contrasting high's and low's you're going to paint and suddenly BAM! you're done.

I'm in the unfortunate habit of using just about whatever spray can of paint is lying around as primer and had a trying experience with Rust-o-leum 2in1 primer and paint where I had trouble getting acrylics to stick afterwards. Regular Rust-o-leum has never seemed to be a problem. When I use that or Krylon or whatever Lowe's/Home Depot/Walmart has for cheap that is acrylic and not shiny (so a matte finish) seems to do well.

Having gotten your first, major color on (the red) you've got something to work with. The rest is coming along nicely.

Rock on!

I prime with rust-olium painter’s touch white. There might be more about it’s sub-brand on the can. Generally has worked fine for me. One habit I try to do as much as posable is touch the minis as little as I can. Painting handles help a lot with this. But some sticky/poster tack and a cork can also do the job.

There are different philosophies on sub-assemblies. If you can’t get a brush there, you can’t see it, so glue entire. Vs. the ease of painting everything without obstructions from good angles. I generally glue the bulk of the model, but leave off things like guns that cross the chest.

Washes and drybrushing are two techniques that will serve you well. Right now everything is a flat color. Drybrush things with a lighter shade for instant highlighting, or toss a wash on them to shade the recesses. Metalics get a lot of milage out of these, I put a black wash (Nuln Oil) on all my silver/iron, and a brown wash (Guiliman flesh contrast) on my golds. I think the handle wrap on the axe would also benefit greatly.

more progress made today, and I feel like this all now really coming together too!

More updates, this time, with some more details added here and there

Looking good! If your hand is already that steady and your lines are already that neat, you'll have no problem moving up to more advanced techniques before you know it!

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
Looking good! If your hand is already that steady and your lines are already that neat, you'll have no problem moving up to more advanced techniques before you know it!

My hands are not that steady, I'm still learning. but thanks for thinking my lines are neat.

Wellll, this is it! this is the endgame! these are the last few pics in my progress with this model, and I feel damn good about it! the very last thing I gotta do now is just cover it in null oil and the job is 100 percent done!

If you are taking photos with a phone, just go into the photos and make sure they are the orientation you want. I'm not sure how tech-savvy you are but you can just select the picture in your photos gallery, hit edit, and use the "rotate" button in the crop/rotate controls to make sure it's upright.

For a beginner that is a really god paintjob, to take it to the next step I would invest in some washes to add more definition to the details

Washes often make the model.
You say you'll use Nuln Oil, but I swear by Agrax Earthshade these days, for most paint schemes I do these days. Nuln Oil is great for washing over silver, and I use it for lots of other colours too. But, it is not the best choice for some effects. I check the GW Colour app for likely outcomes before I commit.
A bit of highlight or drybrush where it got a bit too insense, and you're good.