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I can kind of define jumps of improvement in my painting through big 'discoveries' I have made and thought it would be interesting/useful to share and see if we can pick up anything new.

My top 5 are (in no order!):

1) Thinning paints
2) Working out that mixing up to white rather than using standard colours is actually good for most (though not all be any means) highlights
3) Using rapid cure to help superglue bond (this is prolly my number one ever!)
4) Using lots of thin layers (15+) to build up a gradual colour transition
5) The absolute, absolute importance of how to load paint on a brush for different tasks (this is also fighting for number 1 spot!)

ANyone else?

I would say getting to grips with colour theory is more important than 2 but 1 and 5 are monsters. 15+ layers is a bit excessive as thining the paint should help create a natural blend but i would deffinately go with 5+ when painting a centre peice, HQ, etc you want to stand out.