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Hi all

I recently returned to the hobby after around 10 years without painting

I started on terminators as I had primed and base coated them around 6 or so years ago

The base coats were on thick (I tried revived paint with water) and I ended up, re-base coating, then replacing my brass for gold, my washed khorne red for mephiston red, then changing the gold back to brass and leaving the red (unwashed still)

I used Astrogranite to try make a base like a rocky moon surface, that could also blend in with an industrial flooring. It turned out OK but I am interested in comments on the bases please

Still, I am happy with how they turned out, but I know there is tons of room for improvement


Then I painted cultists which were a fresh batch. I am still learning with thinning paints but definitely getting there. I am again happy with how they turned out but know there is tons of room to improve. I still have to paint some of the hair and the necron on the champions base.

Please comment and critique with advice so I can try my best for my next miniatures

Looks awesome!

Use more washes to really accentuate the shading. It will really make the little details pop more.

Thanks!

I did add a wash to the terminators where the red meets the brass and washed the brass, as well as all of the rivets - it did add some depth!


I realize I should have posted this in the Showcase section - next time!

Hi there,

Those are some really nicely painted miniatures, your brush control and attention to detail really give it a little nudge toward awesome.

I'd say that the models are lacking some depth though, your terminator with the red helmet looks like he hasn't been highlighted, or washed, or had his eyes painted. Nuln oil in the recesses, nice bright red on the edges and it'll look much better imho. Red eyes are an issue you can solve in planning - they look great on the black dude, not so much on the red - green eyes would look good on all of them.

The second picture shows another issue for me, your models still have visible mold lines and undrilled bolters - I think that is really letting you down, as your painting is actually quite nice, so being distracted like that takes away from it.

Your cultists are good, but again could use a wash over the skin for a bit more depth.

I'd be really happy with those minis as well mate, you've done really good. Be sure to join the painting comp next month!

helluva start for your first ones. my advice would be to get some inks/washes. theyll make the crevices and recesses on your models looks a lot more natural, instead of painting the lines on the terminator tusks for example. other than that, just keep going as you are. the techniques will come to you with time and practice.

Better than I was when I started. Add another vote for washes all around. Look into a darker grey to add some highlights to all of that black and I think it'll really start to shine.

Since I think you'll have got the picture about washes by now, perhaps I could offer some insight on the bases. My experience of Astrogranite was that although it's very easy to apply, shade and highlight, my word to the wise would be that after you've replicated the effect you currently have, across a sizable force, you'll soon wish you'd done something more interesting and more importantly something a bit cheaper. I'd humbly suggest you go out and find yourself some sand and small rock fragments (I prefer crushed Sandstone fragments) and possibly some odds and sods of an enemy of your choosing and base them up with those - I can almost promise you that it'll transform your models. Don't get me wrong, GW's texture paints have their uses, particularly to simulate mud, but the effect you've used them for can be done a lot cheaper and with greater effect if you use other materials. Other than that, and the aforementioned washes, I think that's some really good work - well done!

A really good start. Very neat painting!
I would echo the other comments. Visible mould lines and gun barrels that are not drilled really detract from whatever paint finish you achieve.

Washes will really help you. For example of shading the skull on the autocannon, and the tusks. I would recommend Army Painter Quickshade washes (not the big can of dip, but the small pots of wash). They are so much better than the Games Workshop washes.

The red areas could you a much brighter edge highlight, and the black areas need a highlight. Either a very subtle edge highlight or start with dark grey and wash with black.

Blood splatter is really hard to get right. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you are going to go all out with water-effect modelling stuff.

The cammo stripped trousers on the cultists could use an additional colour. At the moment the single blue marks are confusing for the eye. They could be misplaced highlights. Adding another colour (grey for example) would tell the eye that it is cammo.

Composition - blue and red in fairly equal amounts on a model don't go well together. The same is true of any two primary colours. So the blue trousers and red top half on the cultists is not the best combination. If the trousers were green cammo, then green and red go together well (re orks).

The colour of the ground on the base blends into the base edge too much. If you have a very dark grey ground, then go for a different colour around the base edge like brown.