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Hi, all.

I'm new to wargaming, and after reading summaries of all the armies, and looking at their units, I decided I really liked the Eldar, and bought a box of them to paint. I don't know what I was thinking, and I picked up a box of Harlequins. I'm almost done with one of them, but compared to some of the work I've seen on here, I'm in awe at how much better some of the painters here are, compared to me.

I realize that Harlequins probably aren't the best unit to start off on, so I'm thinking about shelving them for when my painting skills get better. What would be a good Eldar troop unit I can get, to practice some techniques on?

Also, I'm worried about equipment. I have a set of brushes I bought from the local hobby shop. I'm pretty happy with them, with the exception of the smallest brush, which I feel isn't pointy enough to work on the finest details. Is there a particular small brush that you guys recommend, for doing very fine detail work?

In terms of paints, I've been working with the regular paints bought from Games Workshop stores, and diluting them with water. I'm pretty arbitrary about how much water I use - are there guidelines for how watery the paint should be? I'd like to be able to at least attempt all of the "advanced" techniques, like dry brushing, washing, and blending. Is there anything I will need besides the colors of paint that I want, to do this stuff? (One reason I ask is because I've been reading articles about using paint thinner or whatnot to make certain techniques easier).

Thanks in advance.

I'd start with a box of Dire Avengers to get you started with painting. They're simple enough to paint and you'll be able to figure out what color scheme you'll want to use. Eldar aren't the easiest models to paint because they are very slender compared to most things. Good luck.

The GW paints don't need to be watered down. So stop that.

Welcome to the hobby. I can't emphasize enough the importance of finding a handful of throw away models to simply try stuff out on. Your local shop or gamers probably have a couple they'd just give you. Use these to practice color combinations, drybrushing, washing etc.

Here's an article I wrote on getting started: http://www.kan.org/michael/mkp/new_painter.php

Jump in and paint. Read and look at others jobs and skills. You will learn. We all started with less than great skills.

Have fun with it.

You have any friends who play/paint? Or a local GW store? Start there and ask questions. Ask for lesson in basics paint skills.

I taught 2 guys the basics and one of them is a painting machine. Not the greatest, but certainly not the worst.

Foundations and washes will make rookies look like respectable painters

Dire Avengers would be a good choice, as they are always useful, especially since they're troops.

Fire Dragons and Striking Scorpions are both solid colors and in full armor, so they would be fairly easy (and useful, although that would use up your elites).

Guardians are sort of cannon fodder anyways, so they'll not be held to too high of a standard.

Harlies are just about one of the hardest things you can even try and paint, if you go by how they're supposed to look in the fluff. Coming back to them later isn't a bad idea.

Welcome out of the drudgery of the unwashed masses, into the divine light of Hobby Glory.

Dire Avengers would be great to start, being Troop choices and also quite simple models relative to the others in the current Eldar range.

Try painting one model, then practicing on another. You will be amazed at how your skills improve through thorough practice, and early knowledge of some very simple techniques. The new Washes and Foundation paints will help you out loads when just starting, then moving onto more difficult techniques - layering, blending, and feathering - will be a doddle.

Good luck, get some models painted!

~sA

The single greatest painting tip you will ever hear is black wash.

Badab Black wash makes everything look better.

You still have time... for god sake run!!! Save your self!! Oh no the painting monkeys are here to drag me away to paint another 20 ork boys ..help! ........then theres the bikes and that new truck and 18 more gaunts and the new guard army is out soon. Will this never end?

vodski wrote:You still have time... for god sake run!!! Save your self!! Oh no the painting monkeys are here to drag me away to paint another 20 ork boys ..help! ........then theres the bikes and that new truck and 18 more gaunts and the new guard army is out soon. Will this never end?

No ! It won't, I've lived with this accursed hobby since Rogue Trader's UK release !

Elin : Welcome to one of the most addictive passtimes known to man that doesn't rely on abusing your body ( though lack of sleep through painting may become an issue ).
As most of the posters before me have said, PRACTICE is what makes your skills grow. I've been doing this on and off for years and I still get disgusted with some of my results. Don't be afraid to experiment, even a poorly painted model may give you a new idea to try on another. If a model is THAT badly painted, and it's expendable, look at it, figure out where you went astray, then chop the sucker up and use it's bits on your bases !

Come here for information and feedback often, the guys here can sometimes sound a little harsh, but their hearts are in the right place ( at least, those whose hearts have been located ! )

For brushes, this is the one area where I'm more than willing to spend. Good brushes are a vital tool. That said, I use cheapies for drybrushing ( it's murder on the bristles ) and even these get kept, after a brush has been worn down to only a couple of bristles it's ultra-fine and, carefully cleaned up and looked after, is perfect for eyes and ultra-fine details ( my eyeball brush started out for drybrushing about a decade ago and has only 2 bristles left ! Been dotting eyes with it for about six years now ! )

For starting models, again this has already been said, pick a Troops choice from your Army List. These are your cannon fodder on the table and the most numerous in your army, and therefore your collection. In a lot of cases, the squad sizes are variable ( though I don't know if that applies to the Eldar ) so not having the entire box contents on the field is often possible. That way, if you're not happy with the result of 1 out of a 10 troop box, you should be able to field a slightly smaller squad and have a body for your bits box.

Above all, follow the GW "Golden Rule", HAVE FUN. Remember, it's supposed to be a hobby not a crusade.

I've just read my own reply, and I sound like Obi-Wan !

"Trust your instincts, Luke. The Blood Red will show you where it needs to go !"

The Dreadnote wrote:The single greatest painting tip you will ever hear is black wash.

Badab Black wash makes everything look better.

QFT. It's my Guard's best friend.

First, I wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to respond. They're definitely encouraging words, and I'll go get a box of regular troops (probably Dire Avengers) to improve on my basic techniques.

Some specific questions:

Old Man Ultramarine: I don't know anyone who paints or plays (I'm interested in both). Some of my friends seem kind of interested in it though, so hopefully I'll have people I can learn with. I do plan on going to the GW shop, just to talk to some of the people who hang out there, and already know what they're doing.

Reaper6: You're not the first person who's harped on the importance of quality brushes. What brand brushes do you recommend?

Most of my work is done with GW brushes, drybrushing with revell, humbrol etc. but that's just my personal taste. You should use whatever you feel gives you the best results and you are most comfortable with

The Dreadnote wrote:The single greatest painting tip you will ever hear is black wash.

And Prime in Black. Black primer hides a multitude of sins, and can be used to make a model look like it's been black-lined. White primer is better for light colors that are hard to cover, like yellow, and red but for everything else black is THE way to go.

BigToof wrote:And Prime in Black. Black primer hides a multitude of sins, and can be used to make a model look like it's been black-lined. White primer is better for light colors that are hard to cover, like yellow, and red but for everything else black is THE way to go.

The man has a point, I use a Black primer for pretty much everything. Can't imagine how I forgot to mention that one earlier !

Your first models will always suck just keep at it and read up on techniques on sites like this and you'll see your stuff get better

A good way to add some nice detail with little work is to invest in some of GW's washes. Just paint the model in solid colors and then paint on one of those washes, it will fill in all the cracks and add a lot of depth.

For brushes, I just go by what looks good at the art store. I haven't used GW brushes in years so I don't know what they're like now, but usually the art stores have better brushes for the same or cheaper prices.

The harlequins will be nice for the army but you should read the codex and figure out what style of army you want. Then start out by getting a HQ and 2 troop choices together. And you'll still have those harlequins for extra spice. Put together a list with everything you have and find some folks that want to play some small point games with you and after you play a couple of times you will start to see what you need. A lot of people you play with will say "You need this or that to win or if you take these units people will think you're cheesey" .. don't always listen Just play, and go with your what your gut tells you

BigToof wrote:

The Dreadnote wrote:The single greatest painting tip you will ever hear is black wash.

And Prime in Black. Black primer hides a multitude of sins, and can be used to make a model look like it's been black-lined. White primer is better for light colors that are hard to cover, like yellow, and red but for everything else black is THE way to go.

Complete LIES! Always prime WHITE!

That way, if you are painting a bright colored model, you won't have to layer up the color as much, and if you need dark, just hit it with black wash! The true best of both worlds.

I took a number of classes with Golden Demon winners at GenCon and ALL the teachers recommended Winsor Newton Series 7. I've recommend at least an 0, a 00, and a 000.

Most of them also seemed to go one way or the other with the primer, but nobody seemed to do a little bit of both, which is sad.

yea id say guardians would be good, they are cheap and come with a bunch of minis. also the way the minis are sculpted you can practice a few different ways of painting.
and onto painting the best and easiest way to get the pointyiest paint brush is to take one of your fine brushes, and cut almost all the bristles off. be careful and go slow so you get the right amount of bristles on there. that way you can make them as short or long, and as few as you want. i used to have one that literally had one bristle on there and it was uber stubby. great for eyes or texts.

ALSO like ive said to many people that start out on painting minis ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS plan out first in your head what you want the mini to look like and go from there. dont just grab a few colors that grab your eyes and jump in. GOOD LUCK!

I wouldn't advise going mad and getting top quality brushes, but you should read up on caring for them. Yes, we're probably all guilty of abusing brushes but a few tips...

Paint with the tip, don't dunk the brush up to the metal hilt because paint will clog in the base of the hairs and make them splay outwards and not form a point. This brush is now only any good for drybrushing.

Wash your brushes at the end of a painting session, liquid soap is pretty good, but you can buy actual brush cleaning fluid too.

Don't use the same brush for water based and solvent based paints. If you're using enamels, oil or acrylic, keep brushes specifically for each, switching between them ruins a brush over time and that won't form a point either.

All the above are good practice that will make your brushes last longer. I've broken all of them and end up buying new ones.

Show us some pictures if you can, explain how you did it, etc.

I've always primed black, but since starting Eldar I've realised that I possibly should have gone with white. Vivid isn't exactly my style, though.

gojira316 wrote:
The GW paints don't need to be watered down. So stop that.

Here's the thing... + water = smooth finish. If you paint right out of the pot, you better lay it on even, with no brush lines. And don't let it pool in cracks and corners and also say goodbye to 1/3 of your small detail depth (eye lids). Even if I'm trying to cover stuff in minimal coats its still a 2:1 mix paint/water.

If you go 1:1 its actually better for learning and you will turn out better minis.. you will see gradual changes with every lick of the brush and "accidents" are less catastrophic.

just my opinion of coarse

Please be aware that many Dakka poster have sold their soul to dark gods for painting/modeling skills.

I' have being painting for the last 12 year and many thing I see around here are WAY out of my league...

Update:

I have a box of Dire Avengers, and so far all I've done is cut them from the sprue, and sanded them down. I glued the legs to the bases, but I'm reluctant to glue the torsos to the legs because I'm worried I'll accidentally glue them facing an awkward angle.

I'm also worried that if I glue the entire figure together before I prime and paint, I'll have trouble reaching some of the parts that get covered up when the arms are glued into place. Any suggestions?

Yeah, don't worry about it. Particularly if they're your first models. If you have a hard time reaching it, the odds are that people will have a hard time seeing it. This is why black primers are best, you can leave that spot in shadow. If that makes coverage hard, Foundation paints are very useful. The only time black probably wouldn't be good is if you want something extremely bright for some reason.

As for the gluing problem, I tend to put the entire model together before putting it on its base. This way I know it'll be centered right. You can do a dry fit with all the pieces before actually using your real glue. If you can find some sort of reusable adhesive, you can put the arms and torso on to see how everything will look before you commit to a pose. I have something called "HandiTak" which is for posters and stuff.

It is perfectly acceptable for your first models to look like garbage anyway. Don't make this too hard for yourself. I know I did, and I am dumb.

if you think a part will be hard to get to, paint it on the sprue and touch up after assembly. ( Sorry, first sent from cellphone in a hurry. Corrected now I'm home )

Painting is a craft skill and like any other needs practice to build up to high level.

Do your practising on cheap models.

If you really mess up something so much you want to repaint it, acrylic paint can be stripped, letting you start again.

There are tutorials, books and articles on Dakka for various techniques. For example, magic dip or a Payne's Grey wash can be used for quickly turning a basic paint job into a shaded job that is fine for battlefield use.

Personally I don't like black primer as it is so hard to cover with the ligher colours. White can also be hard to cover though it does lift colours if you want them bright. I prime using grey.

Kilkrazy wrote: Personally I don't like black primer as it is so hard to cover with the ligher colours. White can also be hard to cover though it does lift colours if you want them bright. I prime using grey.

It's a good point. Black works ok for darker schemes, white's fine for vivid ones if you get a smooth undercoat. I suppose grey could work well for those "in between" schemes. I'll have to give it a try sometime.

(See what I mean, Elin ? I've been doing this for two decades and there's still ideas I've yet to try, or just plain not thought of ! Thanks, Kilkrazy )

For every army, the best box to start out with is going to be a troops choice. Try to find some of the most basic troopers your force can take.

For you, it is either going to be Guardians or Dire Avengers. Both of these can be very good starting points for your army.

As for the harlaquins, I suggest that you don't try out any free-hand right off (ie. No Diamonds). Instead, you can block off sections of the mini to do in different bright colors.

For Color Theory, if you leave some sections of the harlaquin in black, the other colors will pop more, they will show up.

And welcome to the hobby. My best advice for the new painter is always be on the lookout for things you don't think you can do. Trying new things is the best way to improve.

A nice, simple way to paint hariles is pick two nice bright harmonious colours (i.e Red and Yellow) and imagine the model is split into quarters, paint the top left and bottom right quarters red and the other two yellow, with a variety of colours spread through the squad it will make a pleasing effect without the pain of doing lines of diamonds