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Hi everyone!

A while ago i bought dark vengeance box, paint, brushes and guide "how to paint dark vengeance miniatures".
So, after i painted one of the dark angels space marines and saw at him from distance my eyes started bleeding.
After fourth painted space marine i realized I'm doing something wrong.
This is my best SM for now:



And this is new one, basecoated with Caliban Green.

So, the question is where i making a mistake? :(

i would say that you use to much paint. thin it down a little bit more

Is it wrong to find it therapeutic to see people make the same mistakes I did???

1) Remove mold lines in particular at the top of the model like top of bolter, remove the rough sprue cut on the tops of the backpack spherical vents, not sure if you got the top of the helmet.

2) Your edging is probably 2 shades too bright, try 3 parts original green and 1 part white, or the "next" brightest green in the GW paint line (if you used that.

3) When edging have the brightest highlights only on the top edge surfaces, noticed you did almost the complete square of the trigger back of hand (top and bottom of knee pads), You could use a one shade lighter on the lower details if you want but it is easy to make it look too busy. Try to run the edge of the brush along the sharp edges to keep them thin, you have just that tiny bit more blobiness that makes the lines wide and causes the Stigmata of the eye.

4) Very thick on the white, I understand, did it many a time but then looks chalky and clumpy. Start with the brightest basecoat grey you can and then go to white. Apply white thinly, you may need 3-4 coats unfortunately but it will look better.

5) It is easy to go outside of "the line" or raised feature. just apply a green wash along the outer edge to hide it or the full paint if you feel accurate.

6) Washes hide many evils, I think your paint was applied too dry or thick, wet your brush to start then apply paint and you will see less brush strokes. Washing over and re-highlighting will make it look more uniform.

7) Aha! took me a minute to figure those strange reflections on your model: Do not mix water and brushes that had metallics used in them. Ever get a hug from someone with glitter on them? You can never get the stuff off: same principle.

8) Looks like you black primed so there are some cool shortcuts that work great with this: try full black prime and do a light drybrish / edging of white on all the raised areas. Then wet the green paint right down ("like 2% milk" they like to say... I just say watery) and just smear that stuff all over and let dry. See what you think, repeat if you feel you need more green.

9) Glue, gravel and paint your base, it gives better contrast and helps with your decisions when you have a "backdrop" to compare against.

Best I can do for now, good tabletop grade model until you want to get all "fancy" and then it is a slippery slope of figuring out when you are done.

Good Luck!

Talizvar alredy pointed all "technical stuff", but let me point something else: dont be so hard on yourself. Those look pretty good for a first try (you should have seem mine ).

One little trick for "dark green" though:

Prime your model black.
Do the edges with greens.
Wash it in some dark green color.
Do the highlights.

(if you look the dark eldars in my Galery they have all been done in this manner).

And always remeber the following:

1) You can always add more point to your model, removing is harder.
2)You can always strip and to it all over again

Good luck with your paintings

You know these are better than I ever did when I first started.
Folks above have already given all the best tips, just keep painting and it develops from there. Haha should have seen the Orks I painted.

Thanks you all for answers!

 Talizvar wrote:


2) Your edging is probably 2 shades too bright, try 3 parts original green and 1 part white, or the "next" brightest green in the GW paint line (if you used that.

3) When edging have the brightest highlights only on the top edge surfaces, noticed you did almost the complete square of the trigger back of hand (top and bottom of knee pads), You could use a one shade lighter on the lower details if you want but it is easy to make it look too busy. Try to run the edge of the brush along the sharp edges to keep them thin, you have just that tiny bit more blobiness that makes the lines wide and causes the Stigmata of the eye.

4) Very thick on the white, I understand, did it many a time but then looks chalky and clumpy. Start with the brightest basecoat grey you can and then go to white. Apply white thinly, you may need 3-4 coats unfortunately but it will look better.

5) It is easy to go outside of "the line" or raised feature. just apply a green wash along the outer edge to hide it or the full paint if you feel accurate.

6) Washes hide many evils, I think your paint was applied too dry or thick, wet your brush to start then apply paint and you will see less brush strokes. Washing over and re-highlighting will make it look more uniform.

I painted SM in guide order, where first layer was Caliban Green, then Nuln Oil wash, then Caliban Green. Edge higlight was made with Warpstone Glow and Moot Green.
In fact i didnt get idea why i need to apply Nuln Oil for entire miniature. As I understand for now, washes intended to give "volume", add some depth in the miniature, so as I see it just need to be applyed in recesses. In the guide it also was used to give some "dirt" effect at bolter.
And this edge hilghting is pretty hard for me, because of hand shaking :( At some stage i tryed to use some drybrush, but it didnt go well..
Thanks for idea with green wash, i will try it!

I'm trying to be more accurate with paint dilution, but it still hard for me to acquire nice paint on the pallet. After I add water it all goes too tick and after I add paint it goes too "viscous" again :d

Try a wet palette, never worry about thinning paints again

Wet palettes changed everything for me. It even resurrects some dried out paints, for the painter on a budget.

I am lazy and hate doing 4 coats of paint when I can go straight out of the bottle and do 1, but, I hate cleaning palettes and having paint dry up on me quickly (both the wastage aspect and the results).

My wet palette forces me to paint thinned, which I honestly couldn't be stuffed doing otherwise.

+1 for the wet palette, also what brushes are you using? i just changed from synthetic to red sable and noticed a big difference in my painting quality. Always get 2 sets of brushes, one for metallic paints, and one for everything else. Same goes for wash water and palettes.

Araxnid wrote:
Thanks you all for answers!
I painted SM in guide order, where first layer was Caliban Green, then Nuln Oil wash, then Caliban Green. Edge higlight was made with Warpstone Glow and Moot Green.
In fact i didnt get idea why i need to apply Nuln Oil for entire miniature. As I understand for now, washes intended to give "volume", add some depth in the miniature, so as I see it just need to be applyed in recesses. In the guide it also was used to give some "dirt" effect at bolter.
And this edge hilghting is pretty hard for me, because of hand shaking :( At some stage i tryed to use some drybrush, but it didnt go well..
Thanks for idea with green wash, i will try it!
I'm trying to be more accurate with paint dilution, but it still hard for me to acquire nice paint on the pallet. After I add water it all goes too tick and after I add paint it goes too "viscous" again :d

For getting paint the right amount of "wet", some people swear by diluted "Future floor polish" (it is acrylic) but really you only need a "matt medium" acrylic paint with water and a drop of "flow aid" to help (I go to an art store and use "Liquitex" additives/paints, they are the ones that invented acrylic paint).
I keep that mix in a squirt bottle and put a bit into a small container (plastic shot glasses are ideal and cheap) and wet the brush with the mix and "tease" the edge of the blob of paint I have on my pallet until is wet but not "runny".
This is just something you figure out depending on how comfortable you are with the flow of the paint.

I do have to note that the stuff I am listing is a genuine attempt to help, as others have pointed out your efforts are good but if the results are offensive to you this is the best I can offer to help speed-up the learning process. We all have been there. I did squads of 10 at a time. By the third set of ten there was a noticeable difference in quality and I wanted to re-do the first set (there be the path to madness...).

A few of our members have medical reasons for shakiness, I do not know if that is the case for you.
Some things to help with that:
1) No caffeine (or very little) when you go to detail the miniatures, I have experienced a typing stutter when over doing it so painting tiny things get only worse.
2) Some experts I admire have taken to wearing an apron and resting the model on their chest while leaning back and resting the heel of their hands on their chest. It is a more relaxed position so would reduce the shakes from say being hunched over a model. I do that for detailing but not messy block-painting.
3) Sometimes those carpal tunnel sleeves work in supporting the hands/wrists better so less fatigue.
4) The usual good lighting and some kind of magnification for your eyes if you are getting older and focus issues are an irritant.
5) Some kind of music or show playing in the background helps sooth the impatient part of you that may find painting too much like work.

I am now re-learning skills with an airbrush that took me years with the brush so it seems to never end, but it always gets better

My guess is it is just your age and not use to the action of this style of painting. Looks a little heavy handed, lots of practice and getting use to the motion comes with practice. But age also has alot to do with it older you get the more steady/better hand eye coordination you get. Video games help too lol.

Great advice so far. Future floor polish and a better brush really helps, but you really just need time and practice. No substitute for that.

OgreChubbs wrote:
My guess is it is just your age and not use to the action of this style of painting. Looks a little heavy handed, lots of practice and getting use to the motion comes with practice. But age also has alot to do with it older you get the more steady/better hand eye coordination you get. Video games help too lol.

Until that moment I had no idea that I may be mistaken for an old man in the Internet :d Maybe my psychological age much bigger :d

Thank you all again, I'm going to buy everything for wet palette and continue my journey.

I use a paper towel and parchment paper lol, there was a tutorial on here somewhere explaining it.

1x Citadel flock Tupperware container box
1x Kitchen sponge
1x packet of P3 wet palette refill papers

You need to cut about 10mm off the papers to make them fit, but they are otherwise spot on