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Funny question, but after using a box or two of kroot to just practice my painting techniques and find a good colour scheme, I find myself getting better and better.
I'm still not exactly "good" at it, but I'm getting there.

So how long/ how much practice/ how many models did you go through before you became a decent painter?

Depends on what you mean by decent:

1.) I like how they look, as it represents me and allows me to play with a painted force.

2.) I like how my models look, as they are each their own pice of art.

I made it to one after about 10-20 infantry for whatever army I am painting. If it's an army like GK, Then I tend to like whatever I started with.

As for two, I never really got there yet. I like my models, they are characterful, but not astonishing.

Im still not "good" at painting even after like 30-40 marines, about 5 HQ models and multiple vehicles. Heck I don't do shading or highlighting on my marines.

I put good in quotes as it is different to everybody. Heck somebody who just slaps on paint as thick as possible can consider it good, though many of us would disagree.

To me my marines are at my "good" mark. Hopefully I can improve soon enough

I am I happy with them?? Damn right I am.

Saying that I have had some Necron stuff have some shading. Maybe my Dark Eldar that I want to start will get some highlighting XD

I'm still not "good" - but my standards are lower and I only paint to satisfy myself (my standards are that I should be able to tell what it is from arms' length-3' away.).

It's been 25 years. I've never been what the "good" people consider "good" - but if they satisfy me, then that's good enough for me.

I'd say it took me about 5 years to get tabletop good and then another 5 years to get to where I am now.

Sadly Youtube didn't exist when I started painting, so the basics I had to learn thru trial and error. Kids these days are spoiled I tell ya.

I've been painting for 2 years...I still am not totally happy with my work.

Depends on the standard.

I started being comfortable(ish) with the outcome after about 3-5 months, and it took about a year to be satisfied enough to be unashamed of displaying them.

Still haven't become capable of free-handing details, painting a model both quick AND nicely, doing any but the most basic (mostly with metallics, I find them easier) shading, and don't think I'll ever be comfortable with highlighting or washing, but other than those three things I have done models nice enough to warrant display cases just try what works for you.

At what level do you call it good? I'm better than I was when I started, but I don't know if my level is good.

Mr Nobody wrote:At what level do you call it good? I'm better than I was when I started, but I don't know if my level is good.

I start calling it good when it looks clean, and has no obvious flaws. I call amazing when it looks VERY clean and has no flaws, obvious or otherwise, above that is only masterclass. I do not pretend to aspire for masterclass.

I consider my painting to be "good" and want it to fall in the amazing category at some point in time.

About 3-4 I think it was to get where I am though that wasn't constantly, maybe one session every two months or so. Only really sped up and started painting more with the last two armies cause of the blog I made for them to help keep motivated. I wouldn't say I'm good either though, just alright maybe.

I found that reading a bunch of tutorials as well as being willing to paint something, not like it and then strip it has really helped me get much better results.

Also taking care of my brushes would probably help....... cause mine fray pretty quickly.

3 years. Too ke me 3 years to get to my skilll of painting

Its been 25+ years, and i'm still not that good.

I used to be better back when (when i was a teenager and actually had time and that boundless energy kids have). I wasn't going to win Golden Daemon any time then either, but i might have had a shot at being rejected

These days, i take the rejection as read I paint to amuse myself (and as a non-chemical cure for migraines painting works well for me).

Funny, PAinting induces headaches for me, But then again everything does.

Leth wrote:I found that reading a bunch of tutorials as well as being willing to paint something, not like it and then strip it has really helped me get much better results.

Also taking care of my brushes would probably help....... cause mine fray pretty quickly.

I feel my painting abilities came quickly, but I put a bunch of effort into watching tutorials, I got good quality brushes and tried my best to take care of them, and I replaced all of my original marines with new ones because my skills had progressed, second wave of painting was 100x better.

Good in terms of any art is a relative term. I like what I do now, but I'm still improving and learning and getting smoother at things. There are a heck of a lot of painters whose work I admire.
To improve, this is a game you have to push yourself in - some of the 'don't try, you can't do it' advice popping up in threads I find a little... defeatist. I've met some folks whose 'first effort' painting is astonishing. True, a lot of them were tradtitional craftpeople (illustratrors / draftsmen, calligraphy experts!), but a lot of skills are transferrable, especially in terms of fine motor control.

As others have said, "good" is a relative term and the question is what will satisfy you personally.

Some people stop when they get to here...




and others go on to here...




Here is what I call a good tabletop paint job. There's some nice detailing and shading on the cloak.



I have never aspired to high levels of skill. I"m happy with basic shading and washes, etc. My objective is to get a nice looking army out on the tabletop. E.g. my Tyranids



I did Hive Fleet Kielbasa mostly with spray cans and Army Painter Quickshade, and I was able to paint and varnish over 100 models in two long weekends.

The time it takes to get good will depend on how many techniques you learn and how many models you paint.

If you paint regularly and often, you will pick up basic techniques very quickly. Basic shading, highlighting, dry-brushing are all pretty straightforwards and can be achieved pretty quickly. Wet blending and airbrush will take a lot more work.

Whilst I applaud the level of skill shown in the highest standard models, it is unrealistic to do a large army to the same standard unless you are a fanatic.

To be clear, I think anyone can probably get to decent tabletop standard with a few weeks and a couple of boxes of troops to practice. It gets much harder after that.

I agree with what others have said to an extent. To get good looking models to play with, as long as you have the internet to learn from and time to spend it should not take more than 10-20 models to get the basics as long as you think about what you are doing and learn.

To get good in terms of it being a work of are? Like any art it takes a lifetime. Any good artist in any medium will tell you to them there work is ok, but the next one will be better.

Btw, killkrazy, i love that nid. I am stunned by what you have done in that time. I suppose it helps that nids work with that way of painting, but it is a very nice job!

I know for a fact that I will never be satisfied with my work. I mean, for me my work right now looks "alright" but not "ALRIIIIIGHT!!!", if you get my drift.

Which is good for me in the sense that I would always seek to excel.

I've been painting miniatures for 2 years now, almost full-time. Meaning more or less 5-8 hours a day, including weekends but excluding the occasional random break. I'm still nowhere as good as I want to be.

I still dont count myself as "good" at painting, though I hit the level where I didnt want to hide my models away when painted about a year ago. Not quite at the level where I'd enter any kinda comp

Been 3/4 years for me and I'm definitely better. Compare the first image of a stealth suit to the much more recent final image. I couldn't have blended those wings before then because I was so confused about the whole thing

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/232418.page

I've been painting for about 15 years and am still learning, but painting was never my only hobby so if you're focused on the minis then you'll improve in months instead of years.

When I first started out there wasn't places like Dakka to pick up tips. It was a case of trying to be as neat as possible, then as the years went by I gradually learned new techniques.

I suppose it depends what im painting, Tau always look good because all you have to do is stay in the lines. However my kroot leave much to be desired.

It's taken me about 2-3 years to get to a standard I'm 'happy' with. I'm still not where I'd like to be, and It'll take me a long while to get to something I think will impress people :(

I often find that looking at photos of your own work is a great way to improve. Having your painting blown up to a larger size really lets you see where you've gone wrong and what areas you need to improve.

I should also get out of my habit of mixing all my paints as I go along, or at least writing some of my recipes down...... I paint all my SoB to the same colour scheme but always forget exactly which paints I used giving my entire force a slightly disjointed feel

10 years, and I'm not even 14 yet.

I went from this:




to this:



In less than two years. Everyone is right, it's all about practice. I'm also in the camp that believes that painting is more so of a learned skill rather than purely talent. It especially helps if you paint the same model over and over again, as you start to pick up little tricks and techniques that you do to optimize your painting, plus you start to refine the ever so important brush control.

Also, don't be afraid to experiment. Learn how to strip models so you can experiment with ideas that you come up while you're painting. One day, I had an idea to add dirt and dust weathering to my Rhinos, and I tried it out. This is now how my weathering turns out after I've refined the technique:



So just keep going at it. It's all a learning experience for us.

Also, something worth mentioning, my satisfaction with my models varies model to model.

Sometimes I'm like "WOW! I'm entering a painting competition ASAP!"

And sometimes I'm like "oh. my. god. I am disgusted, my first model was better than this, I'm just gonna go die now."

Painting is like anything in life: 75% percent practice, 25% natural ability. You find out how much of that 25% you possess by working on that 75% percent of yourself that you can control. Plenty of people have ability, but if they never put forth the effort, hard work can trump talent. Conversely, no matter how much some people practice or work at something, they may never acquire elite-level skill. Even people who don't have a lick of painting ability can practice basic techniques and produce a tabletop-quality force.

How long will that process take for you? I have no idea. But if you're not having fun trying, than that's usually a bad sign

40+ years. Always learn about the new techniques in the hobby and adapt them to my own purposes.

I primarily paint Inlay style.

well I've been painting for a year now and I paint OK... I just got done painting a tervigon that turned out great, but that was after practicing on 60 termagants, 30 gargoyles an 3 carnifex... What i have learned is just to accept your own painting skills and don't let those perfectly painted models off the companys website and in white dwarf get you discouraged.