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Its really getting on my nerves and my brushes arent helping

Generally speaking, make sure your paints aren't too thin (if they're watery, they'll run), ensure that your brushes come to a sharp point, or if they're synthetic, not kinked, and that your brushes are clean. Paint the most recessed areas first, and work your way to the raised areas, since painting the recessed areas is more likely to get paint onto the raised areas around it, than vice versa. Practice will fix everything else

Good luck.

I think almost any random "how to paint any random WH mini" includes the thining. Most of all ensure that you dont have a "ball" of paint in the top of the brush.

This helped me a lot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpNjkfvKHnE

I know this is specifically for GW's layer paints, but I think it's a good intro on a general "how to paint miniatures".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bDoIMCSfk

Don’t paint too soon after coffee. Or whatever caffeinated beverage keeps you moving. Jitters and detail work don’t mesh well.

Good brush
Right paint consistency
Brace your mini and your hand.

And sometimes, you just need to clean up the slop.

Yea usually I don't do it but when I do ugh. I definitely thin my paints, I know that meme lol. But the thing is I base coat my minis in Khorne red, then dry brush with wazdakka red then coat then in agrax earthshade. Now I figure using wazdakka red to clean up the red would work but it looks so bright against the rest of the mini n I don't wanna rewash

Clean up is always a pain.

Try and get 1 very nice brush

One with a solid tip that wont split (aka spend some good money on a good detail brush like WN7 or whatever other people usually suggest) and keep it clean with brush soap.

You can also cheat a little by only painting the top of the details and not the sides where the two colors tend to met. and use washes to blend the edges together. (like the lip of Space marine shoulder pads and stuff.

adjust your height so that the model is very close to you and have your hands resting. mid air painting is not the best painting

I bought some brushes from hobby lobby. Spent like 6 bucks on the set of four, all detail brushes. Can' any soap wash a brush?

Im not sure of normal soap

But this stuff

being a few bucks will last a LONG time and will keep your expensive brushes clean and conditioned as long as the paint didnt get in the feral.


Those small packs of brushes might work a few times but the cheaper stuff tends to start freying and curing fairly quickly (though not bad to have)

Yea i noticed that thr cheap brushes fray quick. Im actually on my 2nd set of brushes. Where could i buy the good brushes amd cleaner? The cheap route never works with minis lol. supply wise

Amazon has Winsor Newton 7 stuff
16ish for a size 0

I think a 00 was pretty good for the majority of details. 000 i dont use often besides eyes.

I think rosemary stuff was ok but never used.

Andredre wrote:I bought some brushes from hobby lobby. Spent like 6 bucks on the set of four, all detail brushes. Can' any soap wash a brush?

You can, but brush soap works better. I use a bar of soap hand soap most the time and my brush has held up for quite a while now. I just use one of the cheapest bars of soap I can get, lol. I've never tried liquid hand soap, some people have said it doesn't work as well but I've never tried to know.

Andredre wrote:Yea i noticed that thr cheap brushes fray quick. Im actually on my 2nd set of brushes. Where could i buy the good brushes amd cleaner? The cheap route never works with minis lol. supply wise

That'd probably be because they're synthetic brushes. Acrylics tend to destroy synthetic brushes very quickly. Look for sable brushes, specifically Kolinsky if you can get it but any sable should hold up better than a synthetic. The common recommendations are Windsor and Newton, Raphael and Rosemary brushes, but if you just go to an art store and look for Kolinsky sable brushes you'll be far better off than using cheap synthetics (though some people do prefer synthetics, each to their own).

As above - good brush and thin paint. I'll use a little thicker for details honestly, get a little paint on the brush tip, dunk tip in clean water, wipe a bit of excess on newspaper, then go.

It is usually easier to add a little more paint than to clean up a booboo, so use tiny amounts of paint for small details. Also, try washing after entire basecoat is done, details included. This makes back and forth a little easier. You can always highlight after.

Cheap brushes have their place. I'm not opposed to buying $5 brush sets then using them for terrain etc after their unit is done and they are beat up a bit

Good luck! Keep at it! I find you have to quit when you start to get bored, or you will rush and be unhappy with final job

Steady hand, careful technique, and just take your time.

I have a similar problem with Human Skin. I can paint orks, dark elves (WoW style), Neverborn flesh or any other abstract skin tone to a conistancy I am happy with. Move on to human faces like my Guard.

So to practice I usually line up all there heads on paper clips and cork and practice on 10 heads at a time.

I'm still not happy but I am slowly getting there.

First of all, 'smart building=clean mold lines, fill bubbles with green stuff, magnetization, pinning, section building to avoid undercuts" goes a long way.

Second, I almost always prime my stuff black, go over with a watery black to cover up missed areas, once dry use xacto knife to carefully clean pooled up areas of paint. Heavy drybrushing a dark grey like Vallejo German grey or GW eshin grey, lightly mid tone grey like codes grey so I can see the details. Using wet palette for paint consistency.

Thirdly, I almost always start on the flesh tones, eyes, brows, hair, ogryn wash, then the layering colors, mid tones, and highlights, wash on each color before going to the next, changing out rinsing water bowl very often.

Fourthly, I work on the metals, I rinse out the bowl if I need to go back to non metal colors to avoid contamination of metal glitters in water.

Lastly, I work on decals, weathering, tattoos, etc. to finish up the batch.