New to painting. Dark Vengeance. (CSM\DA) Now with Hellbrute

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**Spyrocks**

So I received a Dark Vengeance box from my wife for my birthday and have fallen in love with the 40k universe. I wanted to get some opinions of people who aren’t married to me on my paint jobs. I have lurked on the forum for a couple weeks now and from reading other people's posts I already see something I can improve on (like filing edges of models down before painting). Anything your keen eyes can catch would be great. Let me have it, let me know how I doing so far.

Cheers,

**Rorschach9**

For your first time painting, bravo!

Now on to the critiques;

Why are some of your shoulder pad symbols white and others red? Also, some of them don't appear to be quite finished (they don't quite meet the edge of the raised area in some spots and go over in others).

The marines seem to lack a bit of depth to them. I would probably suggest painting the flexible points of the arms and legs something different than the rest of the armour (Perhaps a black or dark grey would work), filling in the mouth area of the marines helmets similarly. This alone should add some depth to the models. Maybe a bit of highlighting as well.

I'm sure you'll get more tips. Overall a very good job, especially for a first timer! Just small details that could use some work.

**Spyrocks**

In my mind, the different colors meant different ranks. I pretty much did it because I wanted to try using some other colors. You can’t see it but the leader has yellow arrow pads.

Ah I see what you mean with the depth, I did not think of that.

I see what you are talking about. I need to work on coloring right up to the lines and also not going over them. Thanks for the feedback.

**SilverMK2**

I can certainly recommend getting some washes to instantly give your models some shadowing - your DA look pretty good as is (and the face of Ralph looks great as far as I can tell from the picture quality).

I'm not sure what the names of the new washes are, but sepia and devlan mud are fantastic for doing skin, and devlan mud is great on whites and metallics.

A blue ink would be good for the plasma coils if you apply it over white (since it has a gloss shine when it dries). Similarly, an ink of the appropriate colour over white for lenses is always good.

For painting black, never start with black. Paint a dark grey, then wash with black to give better depth of colour. You can also add a little blue into that to give a kind of midnight black.

For gold trim, you can use sepia wash on mithril silver (whatever the new colours are - basically the brightest silver colour). Alternatively, it is always better to start with brass, then add gold on top as a thin layer or drybrush, then devlan mud or sepia wash on top.

Also, basing is a must - some PVA and sand from your local DIY store and some paint around the edge of the base (I find graveyard earth a good colour whatever that is in the new paint range, or a dirty mid tan/brown in any other paint range) will really make your models pop, especially if you add some static grass - Galeforce 9 make lots of different colours and it is widely available.

But I have to say they look pretty cool so far.

**Spyrocks**

SilverMK2 wrote:
I can certainly recommend getting some washes to instantly give your models some shadowing - your DA look pretty good as is (and the face of Ralph looks great as far as I can tell from the picture quality).

I'm not sure what the names of the new washes are, but sepia and devlan mud are fantastic for doing skin, and devlan mud is great on whites and metallics.

A blue ink would be good for the plasma coils if you apply it over white (since it has a gloss shine when it dries). Similarly, an ink of the appropriate colour over white for lenses is always good.

For painting black, never start with black. Paint a dark grey, then wash with black to give better depth of colour. You can also add a little blue into that to give a kind of midnight black.

For gold trim, you can use sepia wash on mithril silver (whatever the new colours are - basically the brightest silver colour). Alternatively, it is always better to start with brass, then add gold on top as a thin layer or drybrush, then devlan mud or sepia wash on top.

Also, basing is a must - some PVA and sand from your local DIY store and some paint around the edge of the base (I find graveyard earth a good colour whatever that is in the new paint range, or a dirty mid tan/brown in any other paint range) will really make your models pop, especially if you add some static grass - Galeforce 9 make lots of different colours and it is widely available.

But I have to say they look pretty cool so far.

Ah great advice. I would have never thought when I paint black to start with a different color.

Ya the only wash I am using is a black ink style one. I can't remember the name. I am going to see if I can pick up some others.

Ya my basing comes next for sure.

Thanks again,

**Lint**

As already suggested above, try some inks and washes for more "depth" on your models. Other than that my only recommendation is to thin your paints some, particularly on the gold of the CSM.

All in all you sir have a much better grasp of this than I did when I first slapped paint to brush. Keep it up!

**Spyrocks**

Lint wrote:
As already suggested above, try some inks and washes for more "depth" on your models. Other than that my only recommendation is to thin your paints some, particularly on the gold of the CSM.

All in all you sir have a much better grasp of this than I did when I first slapped paint to brush. Keep it up!

Ya I didn’t thin the gold very much at all because I wanted it to be very bright in contrast to the black. Maybe a little to much. I mixed gold with a dwarf bronze to make it.

Any particular inks you would recommend?

**Lint**

Spyrocks wrote:

Any particular inks you would recommend?

I'm a big honk for Reaper's paints >>> Reaper Mini MSP.

Also Secret Weapon has an absolutely amazing looking line. I haven't tried them myself but I keep looking over the selection and drooling. SecretWeapon Washes.

If I don't actually have an ink/wash I will make my own by mixing paint and water along with a drop of dish soap. I don't really have a formula beyond that, just a high water to paint ratio until I like how it's flowing on the model. The metallics are a little trickier just because of the pigment consistency, but it's always better to start thin and go back after.

**Spyrocks**

So I finished the CSM squad. I took your guys advice and looked at the secret weapons site, where I ordered the custom bases from. I am really happy with how they are turned out.

I am definatly learning alot as I paint more and more. Next up is the Hellbrute. He should be a little bit more difficult for me. I am also planning on converting the DA terminators and bike squad into Nurgle CSM. Any tips on that would be great. Should be a interesting learning expierence.

**Lint**

Hey now, those look really good, I'm impressed!
I always gain some smug satisfaction when I convert loyalist models to chaos, so have fun with that. And keep the updates coming, I look forward to seeing your hellbrute progress.

**Spyrocks**

Here is 2 more close ups I found on my phone for anyone who is interested. Thanks for all the encouragement.

**Spyrocks**

I finally finished my Hellbrute. I am not sure if I am entirely happy with it. I love how his back and stomach turned out but not liking his face and some other details yet. Maybe after a few touch ups. I feel his face is a little too dark. I wasn't sure if I should paint it a different color than the rest of his skin. This was the first larger scale model I have painted as well as being the first that has a large amount of skin showing. It proved difficult for me for awhile but I learned a lot trying to get this guy up and running.

Next I am going to finish his base to match the other CSM by adding some bones and some homemade barbed wire. Hopefully it will turn out well and make the whole model stand out more.

**Patmandude**

Your DA look really good. I'm not a big fan of the CSM's colors, but they are well done, too! they just look a little bit... boring? But good job so far!

**Spyrocks**

Now looking at this pics my camera doesn’t show the body very well. The pic looks much better on my phone. Next ones will be better resolution.

**Spyrocks**

Here are some more hellbrute pic but with better lighting