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I've been painting for about 6 months or so now and so far have "only" painted 12 models, though each has had several hours put into them. I tend to paint in short, 30 minutes or so sessions, sometimes ten minutes here and there, but I make sure to stick to each one until it's done.

Looking back at the first one's I've painted it's quite shocking; what a difference. With this in mind, I thought it might be inspiring for very new painters to see that you can progress very quickly with some effort and a little patience. Also I'd recommend to read; a lot.

Update 09/11/10: As requested, here's a list of some of the resources I've used to learn techniques:

Basics Painting Guide
Dreanought Painting - Great for Metal Work tips
Weathering - Havn't used all of these, but some (like the mithril silver "flicks" were very handy)
Green Stuff

So I give you my current lineup of models:



These models are lined up in chronological painting order from left to right.

The first one I did was this Nob from the AOBR set.

I didn't use any highlighting - as I hadn't learned it yet - and there was very minimal washing/shading.



The second guy I did was another AOBR nob with a slightly fancier hair style. With him I began to experiment with washes a bit, using a blue one to do the recesses of his hair.



Next I did a standard boy, he being the first I drilled the gun barrel of. I think I tried to pick out a few more details on him but this paint job was a quicky looking at it now.



Another Nob followed on from him. This one being the first attempt I made at highlighting.



Warboss was next on the agenda. I gave him a plasticard helmet and jaw to make him stand out a bit and experimented a bit further with highlighting his right arm; for some reason not his left though.



More highlighting added to the next Nob:



My Weirdboy was a good 10 hours in the painting and saw me try, many, many skin tones to get the one I wanted. He does look a bit minty fresh, but I think he looks good as part of the horde. I did a lot of playing with layering and washes with this dude.



With this guy I experimented a little with slightly more complicated patterning on his shirt and weapon:



This guy involved my first real sculpting experimenting with green stuff. His shoulders and some of his arms are made from them. Also early trials with drybrushing.



I got a Tankbusta' squad for my birthday, so my next project was to get them painted up. The nob I gave a plasticard banner to and tried some more extreme highlights. While I don't think the skin was dead on, I was very pleased with his great coat.



This is the latest full Ork I've painted and is about the best model I have painted so far.



However I do have one other figure all finished up. My first Bomb Squigg. He's not perfect, but I think he came out quite well for a first attempt:



So that's all I have for now. If you got this far, thanks for reading/viewing. Hope this can inspire others to keep at painting as you can get a lot better, very quickly if you put the time in.

Your progress and your attention to chronicling that progress are both impressive. I hope a lot of people read this thread, especially people that are starting out.

When yo said "Also I'd recommend to read; a lot." do you have any specific recommendations?

Looking forward to seeing more of your army come out. I'll be checking back on this thread.

12 models down, 189 more to go, lol

Thanks for the comments guys.

Skalk: I have a lot of bookmarked websites on my other PC, I'll add them to this thread when I get on there tomorrow.

Very nice painting, for not highlighting.

I agree youre improveing with each model the most important part is being neat and youve had that nailed from the start so now just keep practiceing and trying new things and youll soon be great ,

the progression is by no means subtle. Averaging 2 characters a month is tough though, especially if your working up to a feasible ork army for wargaiming with. Great work though so far and congradulations on your progress in such a short time and with relatively few minis to practice on!

Your improvement is pretty speedy - and your base skill with a brush seems to be pretty good to me.

Some very nice orks you have - just hope you have lots of green paint

I admire your attempts to try new techniques with each mini you paint. You seem to have a decent aptitude for painting, naturally, so this adventurous approach is helping you improve rapidly (instead of jumping in with both feet and drowning, like those that try advanced techniques before they can manage the basics of brush control).

I paint in short bursts, like you, but I do small batches (3 complex models, like lootas, or 5-6 simpler models, like slugga boys) at once, so while I have more models painted, it takes me a bit longer to see those results.

Now I wonder if I should just pull out a single model to work on between painting my small batches and go balls to the wall on it. I can always strip it if I much things up terribly, so a bit of a challenge might bump me up to that next level. I like how my boys turn out (and they take me long enough, as it is), so I haven't really experimented with any of the more advanced techniques, yet. Inspiring newbie FTW!

This is just like me!

Except I never got past your 2nd level.

This thread makes me think there's still hope for my shaky hands, bad depth perception, and terrible luck with brushes

Thanks for the extra reponses guys and the kind words; I try.

I agree that it's going to take me a long time to paint up to a full ork army. I still have all the Boyz from the AOBR set to do but I only game once every month or so anyway, so I usually have a new model or two each time; that's fine for now.

Oadie: I'd give it a try. It can get a bit demoralising when you spend several hours on it and you look later and it feels like you've done nothing, but it's great when its finished.

Nu11: I have those problems a bit too as after getting laser eye surgery, I lost a lot of my super macro vision. However, I can suggest a solution for that, reading glasses. I look like a tool with them perched on my early 20s nose, but it works well. In regards to the shaking; maybe lay off the caffeine a little

Here's the next guy, though he doesn't technically go on the end of the list in terms of chronology.

This Tankbusta was 80% finished before I started the Tankhammer boy, so this one should technically go between him and the Nob, but ah well. I'm more of a fan of the Tankhammer boy's skin than this one, but I quite like my red rocket at the front.

Heres the next one, my second bomb squig. With this guy I had a go at bad moon black/yellow for the tankbusta' bomb. Watcha think?

I was thinking about reading glasses... I think I'll go buy a pair.

Wanna start a thread of how awfully scholarly we look with our old man glasses?