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Like the thread says, this is my first WH40k army. Actually, my first army of any miniatures ever, so this is all new to me.

Let's see what I screw up and what I learn!

This is my first ever figure, the Hekatrix from my squad of Wyches, before painting and after adding some flats.


Tried adding some shading. Not sure that it worked.



After painting some of the Wyches, I took a break and tried painting bikes. Here's just the metal finished:


And here's an almost-done bike:



Then I got a Ravager, so I figured I'd start on that. It was way more complicated than previous models, so I painted the bits before gluing everything together:



Then I went back to the Wyches and did some more. I'm still trying to get a decent colour scheme going. Too much gold, I think.



Lelith Hesperax showed up and got painted. It's a decent start, with everything blocked in, but I'm not satisfied yet:




Here's my Archon. I base coated him in black, then went over all of him with heavily watered-down silver. It gave him a cool, metallic sheen that you can't really see properly in the photos. I filled in details afterwards.

not bad for a starter

Should have been posted in the "Painting and Modelling" Section though.

Whoops. Well, the description says this section is for questions and tips, which I don't have, and the other says it's for finished stuff, which I also don't have, so I flipped a coin.

I blame the coin.

rofl yea but really good for a starter.

Alright, let's see more stuff:

I call this next batch of photos: PROGRESS.

Fugging look at them all. Look.


Kabalytes. Note Mr. Darklance on the right. That's gonna put holes in armoured fools!



I used one of the spare pieces in the Kabs to give my Archon the trophy rack he always needed. Word.


Here are the Incubi. Glued and base coated.


Here are the Mandrakes. Almost table painted!


Meanwhile, the Ravager is almost done:

The reaver bikes look great! I am eager to start my own Dark Eldar force eventually. The more practice you have the better your painting will look. I would definately suggest experimenting with washes because they will give you a great result with little effort. Best of luck!

the reavers are looking sick,the rest of the force looks promising too.

I gotta take some updated pics of my Reavers. They've all got glossy motorbike finishes now, and splatters of blood on the bladevanes.

...should probably paint the riders, too....

definately a good first go.
I agree whole-heartedly with Element 206.
Washes are good for dulling down some of the brightness and bring out some of the details.
I am also doing a Dark Eldar, posted up a day or two ago.
I am no masterclass painter but I found a Leviathan purple realy helped in the modest amounts when dealing with such light(white) flesh. Even a touch of Devlen mud against the gold added some wear to it.
I am sure the masterclass guys have better sollutions, but thats what I am using.
kinda jealous of how much new stuff you got for just starting.

Well, these pictures include stuff I bought back in... November maybe?

I figured I'd post the old pictures from late last year and work my way forward to what I'm doing now.


I definitely agree about how much money I've sunk into this so far, but I've also been lucky to get some stuff for Christmas and from friends.

Element206 wrote: I would definately suggest experimenting with washes because they will give you a great result with little effort. Best of luck!

Thanks. I love washes, yo. I use them a lot on the flayed flesh bits that the creepy-ass Dark Eldar carry around and the Mandrakes' butcher's skirts.

Example:
My little gaggle of Mandrakes have mystical flames now and flayed flesh skirts:


Oh yeah, and tattoos.



Learned to paint eyes.



Also, I made pain tokens:


The skulls and gory heads come with it and represent one pain token. Then, I add a drilled out head on a fence post up to three heads total per token.

I have a variety of heads, including 'nids, space marines, and a bunch of guardsmen.

Hey I really like your take on the pain tokens!
I may have to steal that one!
Great stuff!

I basically finished painting Lelith:

Lelith's looking great! The eyes turned out perfectly.

They are coming on really nicely
I love the pain token idea (consider it stolen)

Please do! I basically stole the idea from a G-W article, modified to use the bitz my comic shop had to spare.


I'm pretty pleased with Lelith, though the photos really heighten the blotchiness. She's not nearly as bad in person.

Most of the stuff wrong with the model I screwed up when I first base coated and glued her (trimming flash, mould lines, too thick base, etc.), so I'm reasonably pleased with this as a finished result.

...well, finished until I really do the base.

Its great for your first army. On the skin I would go thin thin thin with the paint. Dark eldar have tons of flesh and it you need it to look smooth. The eyes came out great lilith. I hate eyes with a passion. YOu will need some edge highlighting here and there on things. When you get this all painted and set up on a table for battle you are going to be so souped.

Steve

Does anyone have any tips on taking better pictures? I've got a pretty old 5MP camera with a macro that I'm using, but all the pictures come out more grainy and sharp than things look in real life.

Here's my Urien Rakarth, in progress. I've almost done his face and all the flat colours for the rest of him.

He creeps me out.


If you think his expression is changing in these photos, it's just a trick of light. I hope.

Crap. I just realized looking at these that I painted some parts the wrong colour.

Photos are useful!

Love the posing of the wytches! Nice colors. makes me wanna paint mine!

Thanks! You really should. They're so posable and dynamic, it's great.

Not bad! what may help you are washes they will give shadow on the sunken areas, so if you give a black wash over silver it can give it quite a bit of depth

Your stuff is wicked boss, man!

Excellent work thus far my freind!

Thanks, folks. There's so much to learn and practice, but I feel like I'm progressing well.

These are fantastic for a new painter Foo, continue with what you are doing and you will see improvements come naturally as you progress

3 tips based on your pictures though :

Make sure you are priming the models. On plastic it's possible to get away with no primer, but on metals it becomes a big problem. Your Lilith has a lovely paintjob but the metal is already starting to shine through on some parts where the paint has chipped away, looks like it on the hands of your Urien too, and it's such a pain in the neck to have really nice looking models eventually have their paint chip off.

Get some base details on A nice base can make or break a model, not having the basic black bases on these would make a massive difference, even if you just pva sand on, cover it in black ink, then drybrush on grey.

Keep your paints thinned, it's the bane of painters looking to improve. If you have problems keeping it the right consistency, a wet pallet made with basic household items will cost you nothing and make painting a heck of a lot easier.

Keep up the good work!

Looking great so far, well done!

Its a really good attempt for your first painted army, keep at it and you'll get rules.

I feel in Dark eldar you have chosen a very tricky army to paint for a beginner!!

looking good.