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hello, so ive recently started 40k and the army i chose was imperial fists, I bought 2 tac squads and a rhino and primed them with white, then yellow primer so they look great. now im trying to really paint these guys up to make them look good. so im following strikingscorpions painting tutorial and I just cant get it right at all, my hand is not steady whatsoever and ive already ruined 3 models. I dont want to paint anymore just to ruin the dudes ive built and primed since they are so expensive. does anyone have any tips for someone just getting into painting?

first of all, stop, relax. all mistakes can be undone and sorted. you need to tell us what youre having a problem with, for those of us not familiar with the tutorials you mention. as its imperial fists i assume your problem is with painting yellow?

no he yellow is extremly easy. i sprey pained the entire figure yellow so thats ok. the eyes and shoulderpa trims are my biggest problems. i dont have a steady hand so the eyes just look blotchy and horrible. the trim i do a little better job but i still get the red trim onto the shoulderpad and mess it up.im trying to make the shoulder pad trim red with the eyes black

I've been painting for over a decade, and every single mini I paint I feel looks like crap until it's finished. That's the best advice I can give: finish what you start, do not give up halfway through.

StrikingScorpion vids, while good, can be deceiving. When he says certain schemes/techniques are easy, he's been painting for a while, so it is easy for him. Imperial Fists are notoriously challenging to paint because yellow is such a difficult paint to work with. Completing every model you start will give you muscle memory and improve your hand-eye coordination, and slowly but surely you'll see your skills improve with every mini.

My tip for a steady hand is to rest both of your elbows on a flat surface, and when holding the mini try to keep your brush holding hand in contact with your mini holding hand. Doing this will stabilize your hands and give you a comfortable painting posture. If your hands are too shaky, take a break. Slow is smooth, and smooth is good.

When you make a mistake, don't worry, it's only paint. Wait for the mistake to dry, then paint over it. You're new to this, and while it can be very rewarding, it can also be very frustrating, but you can't kick yourself for not immediately replicating the quality of work of someone who's practiced for years. It takes time, and if you stick with it you'll develop your own style.

Aside from unsteady hands, is there a specific detail or technique you're struggling with?

ok, well im afraid things like that are purely down to brush control which is something you develop with lots of practice. the only advice i can offer here, is maybe put a little less paint on your brush. the size of the brush is also important. for small details a fine point is required. 0 or lower at least. the last thing is to remember that everyone will make mistakes. we dont all get it perfect every time..we have to go back and correct things all the time too.

BaronVonSnakPak wrote:
I've been painting for over a decade, and every single mini I paint I feel looks like crap until it's finished. That's the best advice I can give: finish what you start, do not give up halfway through.

StrikingScorpion vids, while good, can be deceiving. When he says certain schemes/techniques are easy, he's been painting for a while, so it is easy for him. Imperial Fists are notoriously challenging to paint because yellow is such a difficult paint to work with. Completing every model you start will give you muscle memory and improve your hand-eye coordination, and slowly but surely you'll see your skills improve with every mini.

My tip for a steady hand is to rest both of your elbows on a flat surface, and when holding the mini try to keep your brush holding hand in contact with your mini holding hand. Doing this will stabilize your hands and give you a comfortable painting posture. If your hands are too shaky, take a break. Slow is smooth, and smooth is good.

When you make a mistake, don't worry, it's only paint. Wait for the mistake to dry, then paint over it. You're new to this, and while it can be very rewarding, it can also be very frustrating, but you can't kick yourself for not immediately replicating the quality of work of someone who's practiced for years. It takes time, and if you stick with it you'll develop your own style.

Aside from unsteady hands, is there a specific detail or technique you're struggling with?

Thanks, the thing that im struggling most with is painting the eyes. i just cannot get them to look right

a cheap and easy way to do eyes is to wash them first. do you have nuln oil or agrax earthshade? give the face a wash with one of these. it will leave dark recesses in the eye slits. once these are dry take your desired eye colour, red/green etc, and apply a tiny amount in the centre of the washed recess. this way means you dont have to try and cover the whole eye with paint, increasing the chances of overspill onto the helmet. and the wash will also give the eye depth.

Try painting the eyes, then repainting the face plate. That way any blotchiness can be covered up. Another tip I found is to turn the mini upside down when painting the left eye (or right if youre left handed).

I feel ya, when I started I absolutely HATED painting marine eyes.

Use your detail brush, paint in the eye with your base color, I hold the mini horizontal and paint from top to bottom as thats the smoothest stroke for me. Wait for them to dry. Use nuln oil with your detail brush and paint some into the eye and it will outline the base color. If you went outside the lens lines with either paint or wash, just let it dry and then paint over it with the yellow you've chosen.

If you want to take it further, use your detail brush and with a tiny amount of white paint put a dot near the outside corner of the eye (inside the lens).

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
a cheap and easy way to do eyes is to wash them first. do you have nuln oil or agrax earthshade? give the face a wash with one of these. it will leave dark recesses in the eye slits. once these are dry take your desired eye colour, red/green etc, and apply a tiny amount in the centre of the washed recess. this way means you dont have to try and cover the whole eye with paint, increasing the chances of overspill onto the helmet. and the wash will also give the eye depth.

You sir are amazing. i have nuln oil and this is a great idea. thank you so much

no worries mate. theres some good advice on here. just take it on, and read up and watch tutorial videos, and practice! keep at it

This is maybe just me... but i've noticed that my hands tend to be shakier if i've drunk a lot of coffee. I usually have a few cups when i'm studying and if i try painting soon after my hands tend to be too shaky for details.

When I was just starting to paint, marine eyes were damned difficult. Sadly, it's mostly down to practice.
Some tricks: as queen_annes_revenge said, use washes... they are really awesome in the recesses of the models.
I would never be able to paint without stabilizing my arms on my desk (halfway between the elbow and the hand for me). When I do details I usually stabilize my brush hand as well (either on the hand holding the figure on my desk directly). My English is a bit crap but I usually place the part between my pinky and wrist on the desk (when doing details... for large brushwork this would be uncomfortable).
Try holding the miniature in a different angle. It took me a while to try this. When I paint marine eyes I usually apply at least the first layer by holding the model almost upside down. So starting the brush stroke from the eye part closest to the nose and going backwards. I find it is easier to do the brush stroke towards me than away from me. You usually have quite a lot of control where you start your stroke.

If you feel something isnt working for you, try something else. Try another brush. Fixing the paintjob by painting over is usually not problematic. Accept that mistakes will be made... that's how we learn.


Also... Nuln Oil is fething magic.

Take your time and practice, practice, practice. I always started with acrylics because they're easy enough to strip if I need to. Also, Nuln Oil can help add depth and darken the shadows without a ton of paint.

This guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFOdtzPf7C0

For the eyes, I would just use ultrafine Sharpie permanent markers with the needle tip. I think it would go so much faster for you, almost idiot-proof that particular step.

The shoulderpads, I'm not sure there's an easy fix - for that, you just need to be patient and careful.

Good luck!

When doing fine details hold the model in one hand, hold the brush in the other (as you would normally). Then rest your elbows on the table and press your two wrists together. Doing this should make your hands more steady, even if you are Shakey Magee, like me!

The other thing is try to enter a relaxed state before painting. This will reduce your base level of shakiness; don't get yourself all anxious about how you are going to mess up!

All great advice!

I am an experienced painter and I soak up this stuff, what others do in their techniques, tools they use etc etc.

About eyes, just look at folk from a distance, generally you really can't see their eye detail much at all from distance. I will actually paint Dwarf flesh over the primer, then Flesh Wash it, then highlight up from there without adding eye detail. But that's just me, generally the Marines are squinting so I don't bother with it. If you do then a tiny tiny brush or as mentioned an ultra fine tipped black felt tipped pen. When painting the whites of the eyes you'll remove most of the paint from the brush and carefully tap it at an angle into the length of the spot you want colored white, then black over the spot for his eye, using the fine tipped pen or that ultra fine detail brush. Using tooth picks and sewing pins is something I've heard folks mention when they ask how I got such detail, that is a strange myth I've never know those to work.

I don't recall anyone asking about you're lighting, how is your lighting? If you don't have a pull down light like a desk light with a long bendy arm you should pick one up, they are really cheap. then for the light bulb not just any bulb will do, but a true to natural light bulb is what you need. they aren't usually as cheap as the others so when you buy a box of them save them for your hobby table. Being near a good window that allows sunlight in is a bonus.

Relax, take breaks, come back to it later, put another kit together for a bit, have a few little projects out for these little breaks from painting. Only when the model is finish do you need to be critical because during the process of painting the figure it most likely will look horrid.

Keep reading advice we have very talented folk here, and remember even when you've been painting 25 years there is always something to learn and evolve to.

Good advice above

A steadier hand will come with practice. You can't really expect your body to instantly have the same muscle control that people who have painted hundreds or thousands of miniatures have. However, there are some things you can do to cheat!

1. This seems obvious, but I see tons of new painters who complain about shakey hands hold their model in one hand and paint with the other. If you're doing detail, and your hands are shaking, set the model down. This way, you only have to worry about one shaking hand! If you use a vice (like the Dremel one), you can rest your model at the correct angle while you paint.

2. Your hands will shake much less if you brace your palm. Try putting the bottom of your hand against the table edge, and just paint on a piece of paper. You'll find it much easier to paint cleanly.

3. Have a can of coke or a candy bar! Not only is this yummy and bad for your health, but those sugars are energy for your muscles and will largely stop shaking. The reverse is true too: if you are hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) because you haven't eaten, you'll shake horribly and your painting will be a mess.

4. Learn your painting hand. Sounds weird, but all of us have certain movements that just come more naturally to us. A brushstroke towards the body is different from a brushstroke away from the body. A brushstroke from left to right is different from a brushstroke from right to left. In certain circumstances, which brushstroke you use makes a huge difference when painting fine details like eyes.

For example: if I want a consistent line width, my best brushstroke is a downstroke, because I can more accurately ensure that the same amount of brush contacts the model. If I want a super accurate line, on the other hand, if I want a very accurate stroke, painting away from my body (upstroke) is more controlled.

5. PRACTICE! Believe it or not, after a lot of models, your body, muscles, and brain compensate for the deficiencies that our non-gene-seed enhanced bodies suffer. I assure you, things like painting a straight line which seem insanely hard when you start, become a lot easier with practice.

By the way, painting nice eyes is one of the hardest skills that you have to overcome at the beginning (if you don't want to just cheat and skip eyes/visors ).

Hi there.
I've been reading Dakka since I got back into 40k at the start of last summer after a very very long break. The friend that got my daughter and me started is an very good painter with a steady hand and great eye for detail.

Fair to say I am not!

But your post has spurred me to actually join Dakka and post here for the very first time... and all I really want to say is DON'T PANIC.

My first attempts were terrible and I felt much like you have been feeling. Then I got some tips from other gamers (local GW runs a one day paint comp and everyoneone there was friendly and helpful giving great advice). I stuck with it, talked to others, read forums and watched videos. It doesn't come overnight but you will find with each try you get better.

I have just finished painting a squad of Deathwing knights and though it took days I am increadibly proud of them... but they still are not as good as the ones in store.

Like any art it's all about expectation. If you think you can pick up a pencil and draw like one of the masters you will be sadly disappointed. This is why most people say they can't draw.

Ok I'm just rambling now. But I do feel your pain and just wanted you to know... it will get better.

p.s. sorry for spelling the painkillers have kicked in!

Welcome to 40k and all the joys and tribulations that come with the hobby!

Lots of great advice here for eyes and whatnot. All I can add to the eye part is perhaps choose a different colour than black over yellow. I say this because black is a NIGHTMARE to clean up with yellow. You've primed yellow (perfect choice) and go to do the eyes in black. Out comes the chaos black with a fine tip brush and....covers waay too much, goes outside the socket lines and messes up the helmet. Great. Throw up the hands in frustration, swear a lot. It's okay, you think...it'll be fine, I'll just cover the black with yellow and clean up the lines. Out comes the yellow that matches the primer and....wait, what? The black is still there...WTF...

I'm familiar with that moment, when you realize that yellow cannot cover black. Black covers yellow VERY well however. So...advice on the eye. Either use nuln oil a few times to get a nice blackish glaze, or maybe try green. Yellow and green should be able to cover eachother fairly well, so cleanup would be easier. Just food for thought. Also; practice this on a spare bit of sprue, just to see.

On the issue of the shoulder pad edging; I'm surprised nobody offered anything on this. It's rather simple, really. When doing the edging on the pads, start from the outside edge of the pad, and slowly cut the brush inwards toward the middle. That way you can watch where the paint is going and stop the stroke long before the paint gets to the middle. Get good enough at this technique and you can even start doing this to that miniscule little ridge that dips down to the middle. That comes later though, for now just start cutting in. Do the same when cleaning up anything that needs a finer line - cut in from the outside.

Good luck, and take pictures for the rest of us to enjoy!

nightwynd has good advice Correcting yellow where there is stray black is a pain, and better suited for a time when your skill level means fewer stray brushstrokes.

But, if you want to do a yellow helmet with a black visor, there is a better way. First of all, don't attach the helmet to the head until it's done.

1. Prime the helmet BLACK.

2. In the future, If you want to be fancy, put a dot of white on the upper part, and a swish on the diagonal lower part, but don't try that for now. At the moment, cheat: paint the visor (only the visor!) with 'Ardcoat, which will make the eyes naturally glossy. Don't worry if it isn't precise.

3. THIN Averland Sunset, to the point where it will take about 4 coats to cover the black. Make sure your brush isn't overloaded. Patiently paint the helmet, around the visors.

4. Paint 1-2 coats of THINNED Yriel to brighten it.

It seems counter-intuitive, but it's much easier to paint yellow around the black and get it to look nice, than it is to paint black into a recess, and correct the yellow. Partly, this is because it is always easier to paint the recesses first, and the raised areas afterwards. You're less likely to get the brush accidentally into the recess, than you are to hit a raised area.

If you aren't sure how thin to make the paint, practice on a sprue. Prime it black, and paint coats of Averland; if you can do it in 1 or 2 coats, it's definitely too thick (you'll end up with brushstrokes). 3 coats is pretty borderline. 4 or more coats is where you want to be. If I'm doing a large flat area susceptible to brushstrokes like a blank shoulder pad, I might even go for 6 coats and just patiently achieve opacity for the basecoat, then another 3 coats to get a nice, bright yellow from a layer paint.

Have you considered the "Blue Table style"? JK

I had some issues a while ago with health and my hands were constantly shaking. It was awful. The wrist move is great to do, and breathing is important. Take a couple deep breaths and then make the mark as you exhale. Totes zen.

The most important thing is to not quit. Paint em yellow and call it a day, then go back and only paint the next biggest areas (so the 2nd most dominant color). Don't even worry about the details until they can make it through a few battles.

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
The most important thing is to not quit. Paint em yellow and call it a day, then go back and only paint the next biggest areas (so the 2nd most dominant color). Don't even worry about the details until they can make it through a few battles.

This. If you have assembled & basecoated minis, that's good enough for getting on the tabletop.

Are you talking eyes or lenses? Eyes is a huge matter of steady hands, washes, and practice. For helmet lenses, I found turning the mini upside down helps. You over paint less for reasons I don't understand, but it was recommended to me on this forum and seems to work.

Just remember, all detail work is a matter of practice. Accept that your first models are going to be rough, but keep trying and keep practicing.

Prime the helmet BLACK. what

Just thought I'd add some advice, seeing as no one has mentioned it:
If you happen to spill some colour onto the yellow, clean your brush, load it up with water, and 'wash' the spilled colour off. If you are fast enough, you should completely remove the mistake.

Painting well isn't a skill you can just achieve. It takes practise. A lot of practise. Just strive to do the next marine better than the previous, and before long, you'll have an army and a host of painting skills!

I applaud you for painting yellow, it's a tough colour!
Best of luck

Fonsio!!

There is some great advice above. Let me give you one bit that seems is left off..

If you finish a model and you feel it is TRULY ruined: Go to the Dollar General. Spend $3.00 on a gallon of the cleaning product called "L.A. Totally Awesome" drop your models in a bowl of it for 8-12 hours. Scrape off any remaining paint with an old toothbrush. Profit.

A final bit of advice from me. I only paint Terminators and i'm now at my first Contemptor. What i always use to paint the eyes are ... toothpicks. i prefer the solid tip as opposed to the flexible brush one that might go "overboard".

As i usually spray my models, going back with a brush to correct mistakes is a bit difficult and not really fool-proof.

Great to hear of another Son of Dorn!

As a fellow IF painter i feel your pain. my first models were terrible and I found the eyes very difficult.

im sure if you follow the advice above you will be hitting it out of the park in no time. I have only a couple of things to add from personal experience.

1) Zambro's tip is a must for all of us. However, if you gloss coat around the eyes of the helmet first (and let the coat dry) you will be able to clean even more of the mistake off. You will have to dullcoat the model afterwards but honestly, this is worth doing anyways.

2) make sure you use thin paints and only load a tiny amount onto the tip of the brush at anytime. thick paint will smoosh around and go where you dont want it to go. its better to take 3 coats of thin paint that you can place neatly.

Is there any chance you could load up a couple of image so we could see the issue? as you've seen people on dakka are very friendly and helpful and im sure would be happy to help more if they could see the problem.