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Hey Guys,

Just finished this CSM attack squad. It's the first squad I've painted in 8 years and 2nd in total. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed! Let me know what I can do to improve, as I plan on doing a lot more painting coming up and would love some advice.



Thanks.

Good paint job. Keep on

they look great. The only thing I can say is try some ink washes. They will give any mini added depth. Just make sure you try it on a test model before going to town on all your wonderful minis. Keep up the great work!!!

Mike

Neatly done, which is half the battle

I would recommend darkening up the red a little... it's a bit bright and garish for blood spatter as is.

You could also try running a wash of black or Devlan Mud over the metal, which helps define the detail and kills the over-the-top shininess a little.

Otherwise, a good solid effort.

As already said a wash would make them look really great. Baddab black on the metal areas would make a huge difference.

Ditto on the washes. The eye lenses in the helmets also need painting - red and green are common colours. Just use a solid colour to paint them for now.
It also looks better if you paint black dots on the front of the weapons to show that it is actually a barrel and not a steel pipe they're holding.

Looks alright. Use Devlan Mud wash on the gold and Badab Black on the silver. Paint the eyes red. Pat yourself on the back for having nice looking minis.

Brother SRM wrote:Looks alright. Use Devlan Mud wash on the gold and Badab Black on the silver. Paint the eyes red. Pat yourself on the back for having nice looking minis.

This. I also feel that blood spatter is best stayed away from. It takes real skill to make blood spatter look good.

Red is a little bright. perhaps darkening it a little bit so it looks more like blood?

Seems to be some decent comments so far. I want to say good job on the bases. A lot of folks seem to leave them undone, yours look like they didn't take too long but add a nice touch to the figures.

Jake

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I've added the red to the eyes and I'll be headed to GW tomorrow to pick up the washes and maybe a darker red for the blood splatter (even though some of you may not like it ). You would think Blood Red would be a good choice for, you know...blood. Also, as the blood splatter goes, it may not look too good now, but the only way to get better, imo, is to try it out until you get better. Same goes for the overall process of painting them.

I will be focusing more on bases as I progress with scenery building.

I really appreciate everything so far. Keep it coming; I'd love to hear all I can.

Its awesome, plain awesome

Our blood is the colour of blood red, but it darkens quickly on exposure to the air. Dried blood tends to look black and old blood stains tend to look brown.

Chestnut Ink (If GW still produce it) followed by Gryphonne Sepia washed over the gold will give added zing.

P4NC4K3 wrote:Chestnut Ink (If GW still produce it)

Pretty sure they don't....

Mate they look deadly!
I could only imagine how good you will be after you get a load of practice.

Id just like to say I agree with above. Plus I like your troops. They will look great on the table.

To be honest Im not a fan of the blood at all. It needs to be watered down. If you want some gooie goodness then add some body parts as trophies instead (maybe?). Or add some body bits on the ground and add blood there.

I like your bases. Again, nice and neat and the colours work well.

Update when ya can plzzzz.

cadbren wrote:Our blood is the colour of blood red, but it darkens quickly on exposure to the air. Dried blood tends to look black and old blood stains tend to look brown.

I know, I was just kidding . However, my blood is not the color of Blood Red, it's darker. I have decided to get rid of the blood. My wife said it was "meh" too. She liked it, but "meh".

I'll post new photos in a couple of days without the blood, red eyes and using the washes that were suggested by just about everyone.

I'd love to do glowing eyes, but I'm not sure if I'm capable of doing them correctly yet.

Thanks again, everyone.

Here is a great tut for glowing eyes, if you stop halfway in it still looks pretty good.
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?autocom=ineo&showarticle=127

Good blood mix: red gore+chaos black+ 'ard coat (gloss varnish)+ a bit of PVA glue, looks real gory and dark! Because they have chainswords you could try splashing the blood mix onto then using an old tooth brush by dabbing it in the mix and flicking the bristles as a final touch

Personally, I don't like mixing trim colours - but you have done it nicely. Good job.

nice work man !

Not bad at all! Very clean, neat Painting for someone with so little Painting Experience. Well done, you should be proud!

There are a few things you might want to try out in regards to your Metallics there. For the Silver, just give what you've got a Badab Black Wash, which will tone it down nicely and tie it in with the Armour somewhat. For the Gold, though, try a Basecoat of Mithril Silver, and then 3-5 Washes of Gryphonne Sepia. It gives you a really interesting, depthy Gold.

Happy Painting!

i really wish washes were never made.....its nothing new

and its not a fix all,and its not always needed,unless of course you post in the dakka painting fourms


your models are great,keep them the way they are.


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save some money on washes,learn brush control

simply do not paint the resesed areas,leave them the dark base color



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and its not washing the model its lineing out the model

Angry at washes because they allow less talented people/people with less time to paint a chance at having great looking minatures?

Washes are awesome, they are a great way to get your miniatures to good tabletop standard, and combined with highlighting etc, they can help taking miniatures above tabletop standard

I think they are great table top quality models! They are just fine the way they are if you just expect to use them at the hobby shop.

madmartykmf wrote:they look great. The only thing I can say is try some ink washes. They will give any mini added depth. Just make sure you try it on a test model before going to town on all your wonderful minis. Keep up the great work!!!

Mike

Having painted a Black Legion Army myself, I heartily second this opinion. Pick up the GW washes "Devlan Mud" and "Black" and try them out. I think you will be VERY happy with the result.

You have a perfect foundation paint job for these washes... give them a try on a test models shoulder pad or helmet and see what you think. I'd wager that you will love the results.


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P4NC4K3 wrote:Chestnut Ink (If GW still produce it) followed by Gryphonne Sepia washed over the gold will give added zing.

Vallejo is making all of the old ink colors that GW used to sell. If your miss having those track some of the Vallejo Game Color Inks down.

Picked up the washes last night. Bought Devlan Mud, Badab Black, and Gryphonne Sepia, but only used Devlan and Black. I'll try out the Sepia on something else.

Got rid of all the blood splatter, got some red in the eyes and washed 4 of them.

They look great! I am very happy with them. My wife, who is an artist and also into miniatures, thinks they look better too.

I'll finish up the last one tonight (got too tired to continue and cats were bothering me) and I'll probably post them tomorrow for you all to see.

Thanks again for all the advice. Next step: better bases.

EDIT: Also, I drilled holes in the bolters for the barrels. Decided I'd rather drill than use a black dot. Looks better. Screwed one up, so I took an extra bolter, drilled, cut the end of it, glued back onto the other. Looks great!

Here's an updated photo of them:

they were already very good, but now they are just soo much better. I never thought something as easy as slathering a wash on a mini would make a difference but man it just adds so much. Great job and I can't wait to see whats next.