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Hey everyone. Figured I'd post my first model I've finished since joining Dakka. I'm no pro. Now that's not to say be nice or anything, because cruel criticism works.

Just made my first space marine biker, and I gotta say after looking through some of the models people post here I feel like a 5yr old in a coloring book.

So my friends say it looks like something I'd find in a McDonalds happy meal, mostly because of my attempt at free-handing flames.







<3

Some friendly suggestions:

1) you have no color on your exhaust, guns or your rims. They're metal, just a layer of leadbelcher will make a huge difference. Even if you wash it with a black wash after, I think it'll come out with an effect you'll like.

2) You have no highlighting and it makes the paint effect seem drab and flat. I would suggest dry brushing maybe a mix of a lime green with the dark angel green across the majority of the model, and then doing another dry brush of just the lime green on either edges or on the portions of the model that catch the light

3) The fire effect looks cool, but very "thick," as in it has the characteristics of none of the other layers of color as it continues from red to yellow. I think in the future, if you're going to do it again, I would go from red first as you have it now, and then divide it into 5 sections. Section 1 is the whole thing, and should be red. Section 2 should be from the very front to the back 4/5ths of the intended fire section, and should be a mix of red and orange. Section 3, the same but 3/5ths and just orange. continue in 5ths, blending the colors as you go forward, using a little less each time.

These things said, I do like the concept and I think you're on the right track

Excellent, thanks for the pointers! I'll probably be doing a solid 9 more of them so I'll try to input the pointers into the next model.

I would suggest edge highlighting over drybrushing for the bike. Just take a lighter green, and use the brush at an angle so that your more using the side of the brush hairs that the tip of it to stroke of on the edges of the bike. This, if done right and with some minimal practice, should create almost(and sometimes even a 100%) perfectly straight lines where the edges are, making it look like the light is reflecting from them. This technique can be applied for any color on any model that has hard edges, and as you are painting SM, I can tell you from personal experience its a very nice thing to have a handle on.

I can also tell you that a wash of sepia or ogryn flesh(no idea what they are called nowadays..) and then doing a highlight over the gold will make it look much deeper and not as flat.

A wash over the whole thing of Agrax Earthshade or a thin dark brown ink is the cheese

All of the above. Plus, thin your paints dude. It's by no means a bad job, but thinner paints give a smoother, more even texture. Other than that, looking good

additionally, if you find yourself getting too much bright and cheeriness from your model after all the layers of green, a black wash like Nuln oil can do wonders to darken it up.

Yeah, unfortunately I've painted about 40 other models in this flat green because I just started buying models and painting them without any guidance. Was thinking about starting a 2nd army and putting what I've learned now into practice.

Thanks a ton for the tips and pointers everyone. <3

Just start washing them now

Seriously, previous mistakes are almost always lessened via washes. They add depth, complexity, and layers to paintjobs that otherwise lack them.

Look at my Gallery. I suck. Like, I'm probably in the top 10 worst painters on the site, but washes make it look like I only suck 1/2 as bad.

Lastly, your paints can never be too thin. Yes, this takes longer and takes more layers, but the result is a much more even coat that looks more natural and less caked on.

What exactly is washing, and when, where, and why do I do it? Basically does anyone know where to find a tutorial or something that can help, or just be awesome and TLDR it for me? lol

Washing is basically using super watered down paint in order to allow it to flow into the crevices and gather instead of showing on the paint surface. It gives a shadow effect and lets your higher points on the model show better.

I do it after I have my basecoating done then paint my other layers on thinner and without going all the way to the edges leaving a shadow effect. Other people do it toward the end but it's all a matter of preference. I only touch up thin spots I think need more washing at the end because ultimately it is going to darken your other painting.

For now you can wash the whole figure...Slather it on and touch up what you think needs to be more green. As you get more comfortable with washing you will fine tune it. When I first started with my blood angels I learned fast that red is one of the harder colors to hit and requires many layers so slapping washes on at the end just made more work. So I started doing my wash after my base coat so I didn't have to go back over all the bright red. Then at the end you just touch it into the deepest cracks to achieve that dark shadow.

You do it so the model has depth. It is an easy way to show color changes from shadow to bright flat areas fully exposed to light since washes pool darker in the cracks.

You can either buy them premade buy just about any miniature paint company or make your own by doin like a 90/10 water/paint mix. Since you are starting out I don't suggest the latter.

An easy way to improve your painting is to always start darker then you want your model to be. It is much easier and requires less coats to use darker colors and work your way up to your brighter colors then to just slap on the color you want over and over. It will take away a lot of the detail of the model. For Dark Angels I would probably suggest something like this.

Black Primer
Medium to Dark Brown Base
Dark Green Layer
Medium Green Layer
Bright Green Highlights
Dark Brown or Black Wash

Once again with these colors you should water them down unless they are coming pre watered. For base coats I would use like a 75/25 (these are in %s) paint/water and get thinner as I go. Dark Green and Medium Green would be around 50/50 and highlight would be closer to 25/75 paint/water. Doesnt have to be perfect but you will need something to use as a pallet. For the wash if you buy it pre done do not add water.

Hopefully this helps a little..if anyone has more to add of a better idea for colors feel free to drop input as I don't do much green. Layering will save you time and money because you aren't wasting a ton of paint to achieve that color you want and this can be used for just about any color.

Just remember always start about 2 shades darker then you want to finish and don't go all the way to the edges on the layering to leave those darker colors in the cracks...if you can see the difference in the paint in the cracks don't worry because your washes will clean that up.

Good Luck!

Wow, a forum of people that actually help. You guys are great! No guys a space marine doesn't cry. I just got a little bolter smoke in my eye...

AngelusMortis wrote:
Washing is basically using super watered down paint in order to allow it to flow into the crevices and gather instead of showing on the paint surface. It gives a shadow effect and lets your higher points on the model show better.

I do it after I have my basecoating done then paint my other layers on thinner and without going all the way to the edges leaving a shadow effect. Other people do it toward the end but it's all a matter of preference. I only touch up thin spots I think need more washing at the end because ultimately it is going to darken your other painting.

For now you can wash the whole figure...Slather it on and touch up what you think needs to be more green. As you get more comfortable with washing you will fine tune it. When I first started with my blood angels I learned fast that red is one of the harder colors to hit and requires many layers so slapping washes on at the end just made more work. So I started doing my wash after my base coat so I didn't have to go back over all the bright red. Then at the end you just touch it into the deepest cracks to achieve that dark shadow.

You do it so the model has depth. It is an easy way to show color changes from shadow to bright flat areas fully exposed to light since washes pool darker in the cracks.

You can either buy them premade buy just about any miniature paint company or make your own by doin like a 90/10 water/paint mix. Since you are starting out I don't suggest the latter.

An easy way to improve your painting is to always start darker then you want your model to be. It is much easier and requires less coats to use darker colors and work your way up to your brighter colors then to just slap on the color you want over and over. It will take away a lot of the detail of the model. For Dark Angels I would probably suggest something like this.

Black Primer
Medium to Dark Brown Base
Dark Green Layer
Medium Green Layer
Bright Green Highlights
Dark Brown or Black Wash

Once again with these colors you should water them down unless they are coming pre watered. For base coats I would use like a 75/25 (these are in %s) paint/water and get thinner as I go. Dark Green and Medium Green would be around 50/50 and highlight would be closer to 25/75 paint/water. Doesnt have to be perfect but you will need something to use as a pallet. For the wash if you buy it pre done do not add water.

Hopefully this helps a little..if anyone has more to add of a better idea for colors feel free to drop input as I don't do much green. Layering will save you time and money because you aren't wasting a ton of paint to achieve that color you want and this can be used for just about any color.

Just remember always start about 2 shades darker then you want to finish and don't go all the way to the edges on the layering to leave those darker colors in the cracks...if you can see the difference in the paint in the cracks don't worry because your washes will clean that up.

Good Luck!

This is all really good advice.

I have a small quibble though. The salamander armor is not a dark green like that of the dark angels but a bit brighter. Otherwise good work

Oh...It is Salamander...oops next time I'll read the subject lol

Sweet looking bike! I really like the Salamanders and their awesome flames. Keep up the good work!

But please remove the mold lines before you paint the others! Don't want to have your paintjob tarnished by silly things like that!

You need a scalpel and a miniature file for that, plus some modelking putty or cement to fill gaps.

Nice work mate

Now if you want to be "lazy" Get a can of Army painter Greenskin primer. It is almost spot on for Citadel Snot green or warpstone green.
The color most people seem to use on Salamanders (I may be wrong but heck )
Then you just use the wash of your choise. Agrax earthshade or a green one (my poison) I just use wash where i want it( in nooks and crannies),
and highlight the sucker with a light green. The glaze Waywatcher green binds all the shades nicely together.

Welcome to the greenside

Judging by the badge, it looks like you're going for second company. White dragon on a black field.

The numeral on the right pauldron is unconventional, normally they have a flame motif or a unit type insignia. In the case of assault marines an stylized X. If you insist on the numeral however I would recommend either VIII or IX as these squads are the assault squads of the salamanders second company. Squad V is a tactical squad.

In last few months I've painted a lot of DA. I tend to paint them a bit more bright than necessary I think...
Salamanders attracts me a lot, fot the BG and for the flames...
There's my recipe for this model, at least it's how I'd paint it.

Skull white primer (it helps a lot to keep the model bright and clear).

The marine:
A lot of painters, start from the dark green then add lights. In this case i'd start from a mid tone
Mix 1:1:2 snoot, warpstone and water. At this point the power armour will be quite light green.
Wash it with nuln oil (or agrax earthshade, but nuln is better). Wash it, NOT dip it. Pay attention to not create pools of wash.
At this point you got to add lights, make a mix of 1:1 warpstone and water. Then drybush the zone of the power armour to light. You can also do it better by wet blending, but drybrus is more fast and easy to do.
Add details like lenses ornaments etc (if you want i can be more specific). In this case the key for the success is precision.

The bike:
Paint the metallic parts with leadbelcher (1:1 with water), then wash it with nuln. You can also try to wash exausts with seraphin sepia to get a cool effect)
For the green part you can follow the same of the power armour.

The flames:
They are the most difficult part cause you have to do transitions. Drybrush is not very effective in this case, but you can try for the first times, wet blending is quite better.
I suggest you to use: mephiston, evilsunz, an orange layer and a yellow layer. Start from mephiston , then mix mephiston with evilsunz and water 1:1:2, and so on untill the yellow.

I'm sorry for my english... However always mix colors with water, and be precise on details. You'll be able to obtain a much more better quality in half time.

PS:
when you use decals, paint with ardcot the whole surface (ie the shoulder pad) then apply as usual the decal, then paint again the whole surface with lahmian medium.
This will prevent that decals' polished effect.

 6^ wrote:
Judging by the badge, it looks like you're going for second company. White dragon on a black field.

The numeral on the right pauldron is unconventional, normally they have a flame motif or a unit type insignia. In the case of assault marines an stylized X. If you insist on the numeral however I would recommend either VIII or IX as these squads are the assault squads of the salamanders second company. Squad V is a tactical squad.

Then you would also know that tactical marines are well qualified in every aspect of combat so a 5th company marine is quite fit for a bike, as well as the fact that every codex compliant marine maintains his combat bike training. Besides what about tabletop armies is conventional or normal?

On the other hand "wash", "layering", and mixing things with water makes no sense to me, and all my attempts end in messy globs of green, gold, and wet fail. No more showcase threads for me. *peacesign*

Here are a couple of pics of some bikes I have done with flames on them. They are green as well. They are not the best but it may give you some ideas.





And a couple of Razorbacks to see how I did the flames.

I try to never look at other people's jobs, because it makes me feel like absolute gak. Those free hand flames make me want to crawl into my little modeling corner and cry myself to sleep in the fetal position.

I appreciate all the help and pointers, but this is too much.

Lots of good advice in this thread. My only addition would be one that many people happily ignore, so YMMV.

Stay away from freehand until you've got rock solid brush mastery.

It's definitely hard on Salamanders especially, but freehand work ruins so many otherwise great paintjobs. Flames especially are often butchered by even fairly sophisticated painters. Perhaps a more straightforward scheme would serve you better as a beginner.

 BladeTX wrote:

 6^ wrote:
Judging by the badge, it looks like you're going for second company. White dragon on a black field.

The numeral on the right pauldron is unconventional, normally they have a flame motif or a unit type insignia. In the case of assault marines an stylized X. If you insist on the numeral however I would recommend either VIII or IX as these squads are the assault squads of the salamanders second company. Squad V is a tactical squad.

Then you would also know that tactical marines are well qualified in every aspect of combat so a 5th company marine is quite fit for a bike, as well as the fact that every codex compliant marine maintains his combat bike training. Besides what about tabletop armies is conventional or normal?

On the other hand "wash", "layering", and mixing things with water makes no sense to me, and all my attempts end in messy globs of green, gold, and wet fail. No more showcase threads for me. *peacesign*

Looks like a second company to me, not fifth.

 BladeTX wrote:
I try to never look at other people's jobs, because it makes me feel like absolute gak. Those free hand flames make me want to crawl into my little modeling corner and cry myself to sleep in the fetal position.

I appreciate all the help and pointers, but this is too much.

Sorry I did mean it to help. I am the opposite. I like to look at other people models to get a feel for the color range needed and where different areas of a model get different colors. I just thought I had some green stuff with some flames so it might help to see how some one approached it.

To speak directly to my own flame technique. What I do is draw with a pencil the outline of the flames. Think of the way you see flames on a hot rod car, usually they are done with a very distinct outline our edge. I start by drawing this edge with a pencil. Then I go back and in layers paint the entire outlined area with a color, starting with orange. Then I go back with successive layers of color each time stopping just a bit further from the original edge, leaving a bit of the previous layer exposed. As a final step I go back and do the flame outline again with a black micron pen to establish the edge. I find paint applied with a brush can never really define a hard edge like this so I help it with the pen.

The other suggestion I would have for your painting in general is not to leave portions unpainted with black primer. Getting a visible parts of the model painted make it look more finished. Even if that part is going to be black it is a good idea to paint it black rather than leave it as primer. In an area like the engine and exhaust which is all the same basic color, a technique I use is to pick out distinct parts and use slightly different colors on them. Maybe even the same color but darkened or lightened a bit. So I paint the engine and main exhaust chrome and then paint the perforated metal part over the exhaust pipe a more muted metallic color. This breaks up the model visually so it will appear more detailed. The GW models have a lot of detail and put don't want to lose that with a paint job. Not using the same color in adjacent area will help with that.