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Specific: If you are willing to paint ANY miniature to a better than tabletop standard, you must learn about colour theory. This teaches you about mixing paints, the way light reacts on different textures, the way light reacts on metal etc.

Simply google colour theory and you will get loads of info. Beasts of War also do a great video on colour theory.

Basic: Keep your painting area clean/tidy. I CANNOT stress on how important this is. With a untidy painting area you will loose lots of valuable parts, tools, brushes.

This will also leave you with NO motivation to paint at all. Starting a painting session by having to clean you workstation is really annoying. A better thing to do is clean up afterwards, motivating you to paint more WHILE your painting. (if that makes any sense to you...)

Another one I have picked up from Dakka:

Ultrasonic jewelry cleaners will take the paint off old metal and plastic minis with plain tap water. No need for toxic chemicals (I have two toddlers so I don't like having brake fluid and such around) and it gets paint out of the niggley little corners.

This lets you paint up minis and repaint them as many times as you like so you save money when starting up.

Always keep the first mini you paint so you can see how much your painting has improved.

n0t_u wrote:I agree, initial incompetence can take away any advantage those tools would have and just waste money. Start with half decent then go to the better stuff. I myself am still using brushes from a $2 set I got a couple of ages ago. They may not be good, but they're good enough for what I need for now.

However I'd suggest getting a decent 00 or smaller, quality does seem to have a huge impact for that size.

Totally agree. Things like air brushes, clay shapers or fancy brushes are a complete waste of money if you dont put the work in.

Beginners- When mixing up some green stuff, estimate how much you will need for the job then Half it. This rule is 95% fool proof and cuts down on.. erm... 50% of your waste. Mixed too much? Either roll it flat into a sheet (using the handle of your hobby knife for example) so you can use it to make straps or find something to press mould. Freezing it also adds a couple days.

Niche- Personally i much prefer using DIY hobby knives to store bought hobby knives (way more precise and better control imo). If you want to give it a go simply take a stanley blade and wrap the top in duct tape/parcel tape to make a handle.

GW specific- Keep a matchstick or paper clip to slide through the hinge of the non wash Paint pots. Stops them drooping.

General- Listen to radio 4 or 5 when painting. For non-uk readers talk/news radio. Not only is it less distracting but you also might learn something . Never paint infront of the TV, it is distracting and frustrating on both counts lol.

Thats the first few i can think of.

@MaximusPrime, Sonophos and Perkustin:

Thanks, all helpful, will add it now!

Has anyone got more?

I acttually thought of one this morning:

Unless you are painting in full daylight all the time get a good bright hobby light. If you can't see what you are doing how can you paint well or sculpt accurately.

Something like this:

http://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.php/power-tools/lamps-light-boxes/versatile-mini-task-lamp.html

The one caveat is that daylight bulbs will disrupt your circadian rhythm so you may find yourself feeling like it's 11am at 1am even when you have been at work all day; but at least you won't get Seasonal Affective Disorder. You may begin to suffer Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after a few nights with only 4 hours sleep though.

So, for the tools, I'd note that you can do practically everything with a x-acto knife blade (or whatever you want to call it). The best part is that blades are very, very cheap, so you can afford to just chuck them with the blades get dull or their points chipped off. Blunted, pointless blades do, however make good tools to sculpt GS with, though, so it's a good idea to keep a couple around once they've gone dead on you.

Also, there are some tips specifically for greenstuff:

- greenstuff must be anchored to something. You simply can not work with it if it is freestanding. If you want to have a part of the conversion that is freestanding (like a billowing cloak or fur pelt or something), you first have to put something down to act as the armature, and then apply the texture you want with GS on top of that.

One of the easiest GS armatures is actually GS. Just put down the GS in the basic shape you want it (doesn't need to look nice, as it's structural), and then use a second step of GS to get the nice smooth billows, or fur texture, or whatever.

GS just isn't rigid enough while you work with it to allow freestanding things to be put down in one go.

- GS will stick to everything but what you want it to stick to. It will stick to knives, and to fingers, and to itself when you don't want it to, but it never will stick to plastic, metal, or to GS when you do want it to.

The best way to handle this is to put down a tiny amount of superglue down to glue the blob of GS to the model, and then work from there.

- Make sure to keep your working tool lubricated. Spit does fine.

- GS "mellows" over time. This means it's flat surfaces become bowed, and it's nice sharp corners become round. The ways to fix this are to let the GS cure a little before you start doing your finishing touches, to keep on going back every half hour and re-creasing/flattening things, or to go back after the GS is cured and cut new corners/file down large areas.

- GS has to be thoroughly mixed. Every time. It's green stuff, not yellow-and-blue-marble stuff.

- the more blue you mix into greenstuff, the better detail you get, and the faster it cures, but the harder it is to work with and the less time you have before it cures.

- don't get hung up on making something perfect in the first go. If the GS doesn't come out quite right, you can always modify it with cutting and more GS later. Overworking GS will kill your work every time.

- be very gentle with greenstuff. It tends to have a "memory", especially if it has extra blue, or has had a bit of time to cure. I once heard that you should sculpt the GS with no more force than a jedi would use sculpting with his mind. Seems apt.

- your biggest limitation to working with greenstuff is mental. It is easy to see something and think "I could never do that, that's insane". Once you get basic skills down, though, you have the ability to do quite a bit. It's just a matter of trying out new things to build new specific techniques, having the willpower to keep working on it, and having the self-confidence (or insanity) to try things even without knowing how you will do them.

Also, a couple for plasticard

- you don't need to cut all the way through sheet styrene, you only need to score it and then snap it along the line.

- plasticard is difficult to work with. Use thinner plasticard when you can get away with it, and consider sandwitching several layers of thinner styrene, rather than one layer of thick styrene, when you can't.

- measure thrice, cut once.

thanks guys, especially Ailaros; Its a lot of useful advice at once!
I'll add it tomorrow, it is getting late here in Germany..... midnight already......

Alright, I'll put my hand in this a little:

General:
+If you've got a question, research. Check other forums, search Google, etc.

List of resources:
-Google
-Youtube
-Warseer
-Thetyranidhive
-Librarium-Online
-Coolminiornot
-Dakka (we have a search function )

+I'll say it again, if you've got a question (but research has failed you), ask here on Dakka. We're more than willing to put forth any advice we can give.

+"A fool despises good counsel, but a wise man takes it to heart." - Confusius

Thanks for doing this article dude, I'm learning stuff and I've been on Dakka for awhile now.

added it

keep it coming!

Bump

it has grown quite big thanks to you all!


Keep it coming!

Has anyone got more?

Painting: Write down paint recipies! There is nothing more annoying than coming back to a model and not being able to remember how you mixed the colours. This is especially important if you use NMM techniques. You can make the process easier by using dropper bottles; Vallejo paints come in dropper bottles as standard, but you can also buy empty ones from a few websites and transfer you GW ones into them if needs be

thanks J.Black, will add this now

gen

share your work on dakka and other forums to get comments and learn how to improve!

Poor thread! Needs a bump!

also,

General modelling:
Working with greenstuff is much easier when you put some vaseline on your tools. It won't stick to them then. Just make sure to wash the GS before adding any new layers.....

Water can also be used for a more temporary effect. Not to mention if you want to roll it out flat you can put a touch of water on the surface and the tool and it will not stick to it. When handling GS you can reduce the chance of leaving finger prints my using gentle pressure and by constantly keeping your fingers damp; however it is much easier if you attach it to a sort of temporary handle. Either way the less you handle it the less likely you are to mess it up with finger prints.

If you don't fancy an enormous bag of sand, or buying the ridiculously overpriced small tubs of basing sand, a nice compromise between the two is birdsand, available from your local pet stores or supermarkets (I get mine from Wilkos). You can also pick up birdgrit and mix them for a good graduation of sizes. It's also clean, unlike beach or playground sand.

Hey there, I may not have a high post count...but I've been collecting and painting (more collecting than painting) miniatures since about 1988.

Here are a couple of things I've learned over the years...

Basic: If you are painting a unit for a game, it may help you save time and effort by batch-painting. This means you take 2-10 figures that will have similar color schemes and paint one color on all of them before moving on to the next color, and so on. Example: A Squad of 10 Dark Angels Space Marines; Spray prime all of them Black, then paint Dark Angels Green base coats on all 10 models, then paint black back over the spaces between the armor, then shade or wash all 10, then paint on the armor highlights on all 10, then paint all the chest eagles, Dark Angles Chapter emblems and Robes their base color (some light brown color), then highlight all of those up to Bleached Bone/white, etc, etc, In the long run, you will save time cleaning water and brushes between colors, closing opening new paint pots, etc. And you end up getting a more consistent overall look across the unit. If you paint particularly slowly, maybe keep the max batch to 5 models so you don't get discouraged by painting forever and not having completed models to show for it.

Basic: Catch up on Podcasts or listen to Audiobooks while painting. Its been mentioned before to listen to music, or talk radio, and to not have the TV or a movie going on your computer (if you paint near either) but being a husband and a father of 2, my ME time is already stretched pretty thin. I also like to read, but seldom have time to do so AND spend on my hobby...audiobooks allow me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Basic: Only have the model (or unit if batch-painting) that you are currently working on out on your work-station at any given time. This will keep your area clean and stress free and wont distract you from completing the task. This is something that I still haven't mastered with my ADD personality...I tend to have loads of minis, from multiple game systems out on my desk...and I am constantly distracted by this and that, and never seem to make any real solid progress on anything. So, do as I say and not as I do.

Cheers Fango, I've added it to the list!

pro tips!

Dont lick your brushes! paint is bad for you and it saliva wont do your paints/paint job any good!

DONT DRINK THE WATER YOU USE TO RINSE YOUR BRUSHES! ITS BAD FOR YOU AND TASTES AWEFULL!

and if you survive you will become mr Hide

Here goes;
1) Get yourself a notebook and write down all the paints you are using on your latest painting project. This is handy when painting an army unit and you need to exactly remember how you did specific parts.
2) Do not try to copy anyone else's style! Its you who is holding the paintbrush, develop your own trademark and you'll get more out of painting.
3) There is no right or wrong way to paint; as long as you aim for a tidy finish you can get away with anything!
4) Someone mentioned diamond files for tidying up mould lines. I've used them and to be honest they leave deep scoring. Use normal needle files.
5) In regard to lighting go and get yourself a daylight bulb, your eyes will thank you for it in the long term!
6) Always look at books, newspapers, magazines,films etc. Specifically for colour schemes they are good to see what combinations work.
7) If you come up with a colour scheme you have 2 basic options; Stick with it all the way through your project or Stop at the start! You don't want to end up with an army you can't bear to look at, do you?
8) As many others have mentioned don't stick to one range of paints; you'll find that other manufacturers are better at certain colours than others.
9) Have fun! Too many people get put off if they can't emulate the best painters straight away and give up. That's not what painting minis is about; you paint to enjoy. Create your own style and over time it will become more refined.

DijnsK wrote:pro tips!

Dont lick your brushes! paint is bad for you and it saliva wont do your paints/paint job any good!

DONT DRINK THE WATER YOU USE TO RINSE YOUR BRUSHES! ITS BAD FOR YOU AND TASTES AWEFULL!

and if you survive you will become mr Hide

1. Any paints we use for this are 99% likely to be non toxic and water based.
2. No one should be licking brushes that still have paint on them. You lick after rinsing to reshape the brush during painting sessions.
3. I don't think anyone was using saliva as a paint additive.
4. I agree not to drink the water, but not for those reasons. I don't want pigment getting all over my teeth. I maintain that the amount of actual acrylic in it would be quite harmless.

@DijnsK: .....erm... you're using the wrong paints

@Slipstream: Cheers! Lotsa new stuff to add!

@Merlin
how am i using the wrong paints? acrylics might be water based and their not toxic but acryllics = plastics and its really not beneficial for your body!

I don't know... maybe their not beneficial, but then again their not very harmful either... I know a few people who sometimes accidently drink their paint water, it does them no harm. Also, a mate's cat LOVES drinking paint water and is still as healthy as ever.

DijnsK wrote:@Merlin
how am i using the wrong paints? acrylics might be water based and their not toxic but acryllics = plastics and its really not beneficial for your body!

non-beneficial =/= harmful. The amount of acrylic that would be ingested by licking a brush would be ignored by your body and passed.

Even most things that are labeled as harmful are not in fact harmful in 99.99% of situations. Toxicity and half life are HUGE factors in what can harm you ingestion wise. You could drink a gallon of industrial strength pesticide and be relatively unharmed from it(some skin and esophageal irritation would occur with certain chemicals I can think of, in most cases they would just taste bad and make you a little nauseous).

Liquids that are not labeled as toxic or poisonous and are sold over the counter here in the US generally have to go thru testing and approval, and all have an msds document somewhere(many are available online) which outline the hazards of any given chemical compound or liquid.

You think GW would be allowed to sell potentially toxic paint to children? Aerosols are probably the only potentially harmful paints in our hobby, and those can't be sold to minors here in the US(although for reasons that have nothing to do with health and safety). Even then, aerosols won't kill you. They will give you a headache, and make you write awesome songs in your apartment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzaVd6zl2bA

Oh wise paint masters a newb seeks wisdom. I heard someone mention that standard acrylic primer (I use Krylon) won't work properly on pewter models. As my entire last army was composed solely of plastic and my new army is literally 100% to the model pewter, I've never run in to this before. I've heard whispers of something called "Self Etching primer"?

Also what brands are best for brushes? Especially the 00 and other supah fine detail brushes as mentioned in the Top post as being well worth getting good tools on.

Apologies guys, slightly off topic, but I'll answer him anyway.

Young Jedi,

Krylon will work just fine. No need for self etching, because self etching is permanent. Just your everyday indoor/outdoor multisurface primer is just fine.

Aka this-
http://www.krylon.com/products/indooroutdoor_primer/

As metal miniatures, any primer that's not self etching is more likely to come off easier, but giving the primer ample time to dry will help adhesion (I'd say 12-24hrs is safest).

If you're still concerned, give your miniatures a clear protective coat after your paint job is complete. Hardcoat (or any other clear gloss will work fine) followed by a coat of matte finish (I use Krylon for this as well) will give it double-time protection.

Best of luck.
If you have any other questions, PM me.

When I paint, even when I thin down the paints, the coverage is very patchy. Help?

What colours? Some lighter colours can require a gradual build up if you're using a dark base.

Also it may be the pigment settling, try giving it a good mix.