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I think I have finally figured out what is wrong with me and this hobby, I am scared to paint the models. I frequent here a lot and view all the painting and modeling threads and see how these guys paint and when I go to attempt the same thing it turns out horribly. I don't know what it is but I am scared to paint the things, I have hundreds and hundreds of models ready to be painted and tons of paint but every time I go to paint them I usually spend quite a few hours on one model and then it turns out horribly. I don't know if this is common for people just getting into the hobby or if I am just a special case but I need to figure out how the heck to fix this because I am wasting so much money on modeling supplies that I am not using. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am in dire need of some help. Thank you.

I think this is pretty common, hell I wont touch my own grey knights because I just cannot paint metallics as good as I would like to.

One thing I have found though before you go in and paint your main guys, get ahold of some trash models or something that you've stripped or what not and just use them for experimentation, try and decide what you want your proper models to look like, and then hunt around for guides as to how to get your desired effect and simply practice on models that you don't mind or care if they come out like poop. Worst case you wont use them, average case you can always just strip it and try again.

The deal with getting stuff comfortably right I've found is taking breaks. I'm a slow ass painter but my beastmen I have coming along I take a whole bunch of breaks when I'm painting. Paint for maybe 1 color or 1 effect or 1 particular thing, take a break, evaluate and head on from there and if you come into trouble or theres a piece that you can't quite get your head around, hit the practice model and tutorials that are all around this place.

One of the worst things you can do really is sit down thinking "I'm going to paint!" and then force yourself into the zone, painting for hours without the discipline to stop yourself to evaluate your work. I know when I used to struggle a whole ton I would just keep applying paint working back into the mini over and over and over thinking "I've got to get this right eventually" but it never quite turns out that way.

"You're going to have to break some eggs to make an omlette."

The above statement is 100% true when it comes to trying pretty much anything new. Unless you're some sort of artistic painting prodigy genius, your first few to dozens of attempts aren't going to look like the guys who win GW's Golden Demon.

I'll let you in on a little secret...there are so many painters out there who are great artists who are completely self-conscious of their work, and feel like it isn't up to snuff, because we are often are own worst critic.

You can't let yourself get discouraged because you take a few hours to paint what you consider a poor attempt at a paint job. You just take what you have done, and keep practicing. As you paint more, you'll learn more and more how your paints flow, how you can mix them better, and how you can apply various painting techniques to make your models really pop.

By no means do I consider myself to be an outstanding painter, but I've improved by leaps and bounds from my skills when I first put paint on my first Firewarrior. Even though I had a background in building and painting model aircraft, when I started my Tau army, I have to be honest, it took me about an hour or two just to paint one Firewarrior (nevermind the 6-8 hours to paint a Crisis suit). And that was just to basic tabletop quality. Nowadays, I can blow through a decent paintjob on a FW in about fifteen minutes (plus drying time in between coats), or complete a Crisis in about three hours.

So, just remember, just because you aren't the greatest painter now, does not mean you don't have the potential in you to do much better. Just keep practicing, and if you're not satisfied, strip the model down and try again. And, always remember, it doesn't matter what other people think of your army...as long as you are happy with it, that's all that really matters!

I think your experience is more common than you think.

Best advice I can give is to dive in and just get painting. Most people aren't savants and it takes hours and hours of practice to get results similar to some of the models people have posted here. If you don't practice and "fail", you won't improve. Don't look at a finished model of yours and simply say "well, that sucks" or "that's not as good as other people's" and stop at that. If you're going to say that or something similar, follow it up with "now how do I improve on that?"!! If it helps, take a quick snapshot and post it here and ask for some additional pointers. Everyone has to start somewhere and while you might get the occasional knuckle dragger that belittles your work / effort, the majority of the community is supportive and generally quite helpful.

It might also help to check out your flgs (if you haven't already) and see how their communities are. A number of shops I've been to also have great, supportive communities and either have painting clinics or are more than happy to have you drop by with a fig and some paints and have at it there.

Hi,

I have been building models since I was 5 yrs old, some 37 years. I know, I know, old fart in the house right?..lol
Anyway, If your trying to get your models to look like the stuff alot of the guys here do, you won't. You have to start from the beginning and work your way up as your skills develop, also have fun! that's what a hobby is or should be foremost, take some spare models and just practice. Take the advice and techniques you learn from the other modelers here and wherever else you may find how to videos etc, just don't try to emulate them. I also agree with the other comment on not forcing yourself to paint, this isn't a chore, it's a hobby so enjoy and keep at it.

Couldn't agree more with all of the above, just don't be afraid to get it wrong. I've got models in my army that I can't stand the sight of anymore because I painted them at the beginning of my hobby, and a few that I look at that I am really proud of and that inspires me because I can see my own progress.

That being said, most of the images I see on dakka are much better than mine, I can barely touch the surface despite years of practice. I still can't highlight no matter how easy people tell me it is just to draw little lines on things and washes still just look like muddy water to me when I use them on my models, but wow, my control of base coats is fantastic!

So, keep trying and celebrate the successes rather than count the failures mate. For every model out there that looks awesome, there are a hundred that look like Ronald Mcdonald after a bender, and then a thousand more that are just grey plastic!

I think the OP's problem is a homerism.

"Trying is the first step towards failing."

Sometimes you just have to jump into the deep end and hope.

None of us started out as artistic geniuses.
Some of us have reached those heights, yes - still more have been forced to lower our sights and set goals that we can reach (like me).

You must know that painting, drawing and designing is not a talent: it's a skill. A skill that requires three things: practice, practice and more practice. And even when people think you are good already, you will still think that you suck. This is from experience. The other day one of the posters told me that I was one of the best painters here on Dakka.... but I'm really not. Far from it, when comparing my works to Orki and winterdyne, my works won't even be suitable for Golden Daemon.

Same goes with my illustration pieces (click on my Portfolio down below to promote shameless plugs and... art, I guess?): a lot of non-artists think I'm really good at it, but there are A WHOLE DANG LOT of artists infinitely better AND younger than me, and it makes me conscious and insecure of my work.


Another thing: I thought miniature painting would be easy because I have a background in painting on canvas. Same rules apply, right? Turns out, they don't. Not by a long shot. I needed to start from scratch with this skillset, and the principles like color theory and composition still apply, but the actual painting of miniatures? It's very different and I had a hard time painting miniatures(and it doesn't help that I drink a lot of coffee. About 5-8 cups a day. Now I only drink one so that I can paint small details.). What I'm trying to say is... being "good" with something is like being pregnant: everyone congratulates you but they have no idea how many times you've been fethed. And in this hobby, the first time you paint something, it will more or less suck. The trick is to stick with it, and know that you can strip your models in the future to repaint them once you get to the point when you can be proud of your paintjob. That's what I'm doing right now.

And to boost confidence, buy a lot of cheap miniatures, and practice on them. I have a lot of DnD minis and MageKnight minis (some given by friends, most of them purchased for very low prices since both games are practically dead), and I practiced on them a lot.

one word, sprayprimer!
if your scared to paint and have it turn out bad, atleast slab on some spray on primer. the Army Painter has some great colored primers that at least makes your models distinct from your opponent models. then just paint some metals, maybe some faces, eyes or different pieces of armor, throw some of the amazingly easy Army Painters quickshade on it and your done!!!

btw i dont work for the army painter nor do i sell or even use their products, i just recently got a tour of their products and for people that dont want to spend a lot of time on their models they have some great products... they even have pre colored basing materials!

I practice my painting on my brother's models. His painting skills aren't quite up to my level yet (and he doesn't especially enjoy painting), so we both get something out of it. He gets some nicely painted models and I get to practise on a model that I don't have an emotional connection to.

I'm just like you Synister_Intent, I have a ton of SM to paint and I've been on here, and watching videos to help me out, and so far I have a warp spider that I started, and haven't gone back to in a few months. Its a practice figure, but still haven't touched it. Like all these guys said, just have to practice, which I'm getting ready to do in a bit. Thanks for the motivation guys.

Meh, even after you've been painting for ages it can be scary picking up a paintbrush. If you've spent hours and hours constructing a model there's always some apprehension about ruining it with a dodgy paint job

Heh... it's when you take a power sander to a Titan that things get spooky. :-p

Although at some point very I'm going to be using a big-ass power drill to core out the legs so I can install a couple of lengths of 3mm steel rod.... Don't like whizzy spinny things at the best of times... :-o

Seriously though, this hobby is all about learning - get your basic techniques sorted first and the rest is just 'tricks'. Good brush control, and a steady ish hand are all you need.

And plasters. Lots of plasters.

Hey Synister, you are definitely not alone. There are several guys in our local group that got really excited about the game and blew a lot of money on models and paint - spent hours and hours building the models and prepping them - and then got "paint shock" when they realized that they didn't know what to do after they were all primed.

Another friend of mine would assemble a few models, paint them, and then assemble some more and then paint some more. He learned quickly this way and has eventually gone back and repainted those first models that he thought looked like crap.

I would say that it's fun to experiment if you are the creative type and don't mind making mistakes, but if you're not, then try to have a plan and take baby steps: decide if you want to prime black, white, grey, red etc; then pick a base color (or experiment with a couple) and paint that on; then slap on a wash and see how it looks; three steps and you haven't done anything to the model that you can't undo.

In other words, you don't have to grab one model and start painting it from start to finish, painting all the surfaces and all the details because generally, when you are new to painting and you do it that way, you are increasing the odds that you won't be satisfied.

So, if you start with the big, basic steps, you are making progress, covering most of the model (usually), learning a bit about the process, and it gives you time to think about the how you're going to paint the details.

Also, don't worry about being a little sloppy (getting some paint outside the lines so-to-speak), that's what washes are for; most models don't look good until the last few steps.

A wet palette helps a lot - easy to make! and saves $
keep clean water and rinse your brush regularly
Not all the paint is the same, learn how each paint covers and use them strategically

I would give my experience, but Ira Glass summed it up more succinctly. Just change writing to panting.

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

I was scared to start my grey knights army because I have zero experience with metallics so far, as I've only been in the hobby for about a year. I decided to just go for it with a base coat of black, layered some silver on it, and washed it heavily with the new badab black. Sprinkle on some gold metallics and a bit of red accents and presto, it turned out pretty nice.

Point of the story, I took a leap with trying a new paint job, and it turned out well, and now my confidence with a brush has improved.

spectreoneone wrote:"You're going to have to break some eggs to make an omlette."

heartserenade wrote:You must know that painting, drawing and designing is not a talent: it's a skill. A skill that requires three things: practice, practice and more practice.

This!

While it is a heck of a lot easier to say than to do;

Get on with it! Start painting....anything really.


Here is my practical advice; Get three (near) identical models, like three marines or something.

Paint the basic colours on all three.
Give a shading wash on two of them.
Highlight one of the shaded ones.

Now look at all three models.

What improvement would enhance the end result the most?
A cleaner base-coat, a more subtle (or different) wash or crisper highlights?

Work on that next time.

Repeat as needed.


...

I'm by no means a great painter, but I am a decent painter.

I painted one UGLY color scheme of marines (yellow and grey, quartered/checkered) with dashes of bronze metalics and sandstone/bone for the weapons...

It's ugly as sin, but I don't care. I liked the challenge of learning to work with the colors and lines, and even with the bad paint-scheme, i could have stopped at the 10th model in, but I stuck to it, because in the end, that is going to be MY army, which nobody will ever be able to mistake as theirs, or "accidentaly" take my models once a game is over.

This army was painted in its colors because I was sick and tired of painting green, and my previous army was painted entirely in green, in some cases, the paint work was ghastly, and a clear progression in skill was visible on the models.

In the end, just paint anyway. Knowing what to do does not always translate to being able to do it, so just go kill a few models with a bad paintjob so you learn the practical behind the theoretical.

Practice! That's the only word I've got to say.

When I started with my nids, I went for a basic Leviathan scheme, and compared to my friends it was a freakin' picasso in artistic comparison. But it was by no means great. Now, a few months later, and a few miniatures later, I've gotten much better. Still no Golden Daemon, but I've progressed.

Practice! Spend hours painting? Practice! Still looks like crap? Practice! Starting to look a tad better? Practice! Compare to original paint jobs. Much better? Practice! Get the hint?

It all depends on what you want to achieve. I'm really good at drawing so am quite critical about anything 'arty' which means I'm often left disappointed with my painting as I'm not as good at painting as I am at drawing.

But, I paint the models so i can play 40K. If you're content with tabletop quality, then I recommend my technique - overbrushing. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you can drybrush, you can overbrush as it's basically drybrushing with a bit more paint and you get more coverage on the model. I can get 5 models (regular marine sized) upto the only needs details doing stage in a couple of hours. Just undercoat, overbrush then drybrush your main colours. It's really easy and using this technique, I'm not afraid to tackle painting (although it's still a chore to me). You won't get amazing results but they will be good. Check out the pictures in my gallery - I did them a while ago but they're still a fair representation of my work as I've not tried to improve all that much.

I agree with just about everyone above. Just gotta dive into it an do it. No model is perfect. As you will notice over time, you will develop your own particular style and standards. This thread reminds me of this one:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/399173.page

Interesting to see how people progress as time goes by.

Stick to simple color schemes, and use plenty of washes May I suggest Necrons or Tyranids for start? These armies can be painted with very simple schemes and techniques and yet still look great. Should give you some experience as well

Synister_Intent wrote:I think I have finally figured out what is wrong with me and this hobby, I am scared to paint the models. I frequent here a lot and view all the painting and modeling threads and see how these guys paint and when I go to attempt the same thing it turns out horribly. I don't know what it is but I am scared to paint the things, I have hundreds and hundreds of models ready to be painted and tons of paint but every time I go to paint them I usually spend quite a few hours on one model and then it turns out horribly. I don't know if this is common for people just getting into the hobby or if I am just a special case but I need to figure out how the heck to fix this because I am wasting so much money on modeling supplies that I am not using. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am in dire need of some help. Thank you.

Basically what everyone else has said, practice makes perfect, is what I would say myself. That being said however I have some guys that I game with who paint basic stuff and come to me to paint their HQs and so forth. It has come to a point where I have offered to show them my techniques the way I learned them. While it may take time to master anything (and I am by no means 'super-awesomest-ever') at least they have been shown the effect that I utilize to make models good looking.

If you see someone you play with who has a really nice model that they painted try asking them if they wouldn't mind helping you learn a few things. This is always flattering for me, I am sure they will feel the same.

I echo most of what you said, and everything people are telling you here. I have had 4 armies worth of unpainted stuff for years. Instead of finishing one army I would simply buy more to assemble because that was the part I enjoyed the most.

Here's what helped me gain the confidence to paint my models.

1, base coat a model, post a picture online for advice
2, wash the model, post another pic
3, add a layer, post pic
4, couple more layers, pic
5, highlighting, pic

See where I am going? You aren't alone in this daunting hobby

The advice I garnered made me very happy with what I am churning out. It's not about getting everyone to like your stuff, it's about getting the advice to gain that confidence. My stuff isn't great by any stretch of the imagination but it's certainly way better than it used to be and I am very happy with it. I love painting now

Thank god im not the only one, im just starting out painting miniatures and find it all very daunting!!

Lots of good advice on this post, thanks for bringing up the subject.

You can try what i have planned, got the idea from some of the posts on here, after finally choosing what army im going to paint.

I had a list of paints that i was going to get, bases, washes, layers, glazes, metallics pretty much everything i would need for a finished model.
Looking at the list made me very wary i was never going to be able to finish a single model never mind a whole unit or army.

One of the other posters advised doing it in steps.
So ive thrown out that list and im just going to get a few base paints to try out different colour schemes and this will give me practise base painting.
Once im happy with that i can then move onto the next step

One other thing ive found can be helpful is starting a painting blog, put all your thoughts, ideas, concerns and photos down in your blog and hopefully some of the nice users on here will be able to give you advice as your working along your project, plus it gives you a chance to see how your advancing with your painting, ive just started mine and got some phtos and random ramblings on it, but it helps me see how im progressing.

But as everyone on here says its all down to practise.

Good luck on your painting, hope to see a few photos in the future.

Ah, something else I might suggest that CoyoteCub just reminded me of:

Don't try to paint your entire army all at once. Do it squad by squad, so that you don't get burned out. Because painting really is the most daunting part of the hobby, you also don't want to overburden yourself, ya know?

Example--
Hey, I've got 1500 points worth of nids to base coat..... yay.... great... this sucks....

vs

Hey, I've got 10 Gaunts to work on... then my Warrior squad of 5... sweet...

fenrir1997 wrote:Ah, something else I might suggest that CoyoteCub just reminded me of:

Don't try to paint your entire army all at once. Do it squad by squad, so that you don't get burned out. Because painting really is the most daunting part of the hobby, you also don't want to overburden yourself, ya know?

Example--
Hey, I've got 1500 points worth of nids to base coat..... yay.... great... this sucks....

vs

Hey, I've got 10 Gaunts to work on... then my Warrior squad of 5... sweet...

To that I both agree and disagree.

I disagree in that I have 45 infantry models that I have just recently finished putting the smooth multi application Iyanden Darksun base coats on, it felt like it took forever but now that it is done I am very relieved. For me the biggest barrier has been looking at the masses of grey plastic rank and file troops that I needed to paint. This helped immensely.

On the flipside I agree in that I am now doing what Fenrir has said, and doing squad by squad painting to the standard that I want my whole army to be. You really need to find what works for you. Having 'some' paint on every model got me over that hump.

I also talked to the local GW store manager and he says he has many clients/customers with the same problem. Just not knowing where to start. Apparently relatively recently a local business professional just couldn't motivate to paint the models he wanted to. He asked him what he did for a living, among other things a big part is Project Management. He then suggested that he used some of his every day skills to project manage his hobby. Apparently the difference in his abilities was phenominal. Verbatim advice to me was, and I quote, "Base coat every model you have and then wash, once that is done, base every model, once you have a force you can confidently field and play with you can go back and finish the army to the standard you want one squad at a time."

We all possess the transferrable skills from everyday life, it's just knowing what we can apply and where is the key.

My further suggestions? Write it all down on paper (which is what I do), get a plog setup for motivation and advice, and set yourself modest goals; I'm doing 12 at a time and once they are done I will 'reward' myself with a cool model I can do to break it up, then onto the next 12.