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Currently doing a few washes on my chaos sorcerer to see whether the colours ive picked will look good, as well as lay something of my first coat.

But all the tiny little details like the scroll cannisters, chains and some other things are really doing my head in. I try as hard as i can to be as detailed as possible and yet i still cant seem to be able to stop my details ending up looking terrible.

The tiny detail bug me as i always seem to manage to get the adjacent colours either overlapping, or almost ALWAYS the dark colours going all over the things im going to paint white, cream or bone. (normally where theres a crevasse that you cant get to easily so in order to get the brush in there it hits something else one the way in, like in this case I had to get to some armour underneath a sash, but ended up getting blue all over the underside of the sash too).

Is there some technique im missing or literally buy a smaller brush and practice getting more and more accurate with the brush tip?


Many thanks again guys. Sorry for this one but its really beginning to get on my nerves.

I am not very handy with a brush myself but i think that practice makes perfect.

Im thinking it may well take a lot of practice to get myself used to painting the smallest details, but its one of those things im not sure if its something im doing inherently wrong.

Think i should also say that the brush im using is a GW smallest brush you can buy.

I used to buy the SMALLEST brush I could find, but honestly all you need is a good sharp brush. Another thing that helps with thinning your paints, you will need less strokes and less movement to get coverage, and the small details won't be covered up. You also might try bracing yourself better. Take the human element out and try to be a...machine so to speak. Eliminate shaking and you will greatly improve your detail work. If your eyesight isn't the best you could always get some kind of lit magnifying glass to help you zoom in.

I am looking to get myself the stand that has a magnifying glass and clips to hold the model as i paint details.

In the meantime, I use a small brush and use dry brushing for small details like the chains and scrolls and such. So many people have been saturated with "detail" painting the edges of the model parts that they forget to discuss dry brushing for more "organic" parts of a model, or to get the "weathered" look.

At the moment I dont really have a problem with all the small details such as control panels and cables and the like, stuff thats particularly raised. Its the ones that are in areas with "a lot going on" if that makes sense. Or when the detail is in a recess so is really hard to access.

I also have found that im always watering down my paints and i would personally say that i do have steady hands, but bracing myself more couldnt hurt.

EDIT: by "i dont have a problem" i mean i can do them and need to practice my current tehnique for them, but ive got grips on doing them.

ah. Just a problem where some of the details just don't work so well in mini scale then. I hate when that happens on a mini or model.

It's just practice. When you already have a callus on your middle finger where the brush hits your hand the hardest, you know you've been painting a lot.