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A few of my friends have been getting into this Warhammer painting business. Yesterday I invited myself to tag along as they were getting together to hang out and paint,
I borrowed some paint and a model from fellow user Falienia and without further ado here is my first attempt at painting something:


He had some paint rubbed off his shoulder in transport (the foot is just me being clumsy).
There are many things I have already learned to do differently next time, for starters I would probably paint a figure like this in 2-3 parts, but this was my first time painting anything but a wall so I think It is alright for 8 hours of effort.
The actual painting process was pretty satisfying even as I contemplated my lack of skills at this point, so I have ordered some models and paint to get started with my own figures rather than nicking my friends.

I would like to ask for suggestions, but honestly there are enough things I would already do differently that suggestions might be more relevant the next time around.

I know there is a separate forum for finished figures, but this guy is still lacking trim and highlights so I put this here for now, mostly this is me saying 'HI' and hopefully there will be better and better stuff to show off in the future.

So HI.

Edit: I should say the reason for the white knee was I heard it was hard to paint white stuff, ironically it turned out better than anything else on the figure. The blood drop was freehanded as I lacked any alternative.

OI!!!!
I know this guy and welcome to Dakka. Happy I got you lured into this hobby, and really looking forward to our journey from newbies into hopefully decent painters together.

First, Welcome to Dakka!

The one suggestion I have is to thin your paints. Thinner coats (often 2-3) will give you the color you want, without obscuring details.

But it looks like you are off to a decent start. Nice work with the black shadeing and the bolter.

Not too bad of a first try. I have two simple suggestions, as I know it's all a learning experience. First, try thinning your paints out. They're a bit thick on the model. You do this by just adding a small amount of water to your paint to help the paint go on thinly and smoothly, so it doesn't clog up any details. My second suggestion is to get a wash to apply (agrax earthshade or nuln oil are the two "big" ones). A wash is a very thin, darkly colored paint that, when applied, will fill in the recesses and create depth and shadowing on your model.

Good first model, and post your next work, too. I bet with the lessons learned on this on, your second will be even better

Yeah thinner paint is my main takeaway from the experience. I will be trying to make my own wet palette in a cd-case for my next project so hopefully that makes it easier.
I did use some nuln oil on this guy but I guess it doesn't show as clearly in the pictures despite my fancy photography technique involving a piece of paper and a smartphone.

When you put the wash on, just cover the entire mini with it. Afterward, one or two thin coats of the base color to neaten it up. Check out the tutorial vids on WarhammerTV YouTube channel

Ok I will try that next time.

Besides the 'thin your paint', I'd also throw 'mix/shake' your paint before using. It looks like there may be a couple of clumps of paint that the brush picked up.
Let's see; Layers, multiple thinner layers are better then one thick one.
Clean your brush often
Dip the tip, not the whole brush. You don't want paint up in the ferral <sp> (the metal bit at the top of the brush head)
Clean your water. Especially when switching between flat and metallic paints.
Don't clean your brush in you drinking cup and don't drink your cleaning cup. Paint is an acquired taste that you really don't need to acquire.
Have fun. Don't get mad if you can't paint as good as the next guy (You never will). Some of us have been doing this for more years then some of the poster have been alive, and still haven't won a GD or whatever (and probably never will) , but we are improving and having fun doing it. Plus, we are now effectively immortal as the pile of unpainted lead has grown larger then the GDP of some 3rd world nations =)

Man, oh man I wish I had a picture of the first thing I ever painted.,,

Let's just say the result you put out, as well as your automatic intuitions for self-improvement point to your future painting prowess

In addition to what others have said about the paint itself, I'd like to suggest looking into basic, but imperative, care for brushes: how much paint you should put on the brush, how to keep it clean, what brush to use for what surface you're trying to paint... etc

If I had to make an analogy for the importance of keeping your brushes in good shape, I guess I would tell you to picture being a kid trying to color inside the lines with crayon, but your crayon has the tip broken off. I guess you could make it work, but it'd probably just piss you the off and make you not want to color any more.

I just found this article that gives a pretty good jump off on that
http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting-weathering/painting-guide/all-about-paint-brushes/

At this point, don't get too crazy with specific brush sizes, but get a feel for basic categories and what they're for.
Which brings me to a couple of techniques you should look up (tons of videos are everywhere).

-You already used a wash, keep going with that.
-Drybrushing

Again, congrats on blowing my first mini out of the water.
And welcome to the hobby that never ends!


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Thank you all a lot, it is intimidating to get into something like this as an adult, I feel there is a much bigger expectation to be churning out something good right off the bat.
Dry brush seems like it has a lot of potential but I will focus on the regular painting first to try and get better. I think my dried paint particles came mainly from me using too much paint on the brush in the beginning.
I am still waiting impatiently for my figures, paints, and tools, but that is what I get for ordering it from a place that is fairly cheap but doesn't have everything in stock.

I look forward to hopefully show some progress in the future.

Practice > talent. The more you do it the better you'll get. Youtube tutorials gave me some great starting tips. Once you wrap your head around painting in layers you'll be able to do some more intricate work. Welcome to the hobby.

I'll not just parrot on the same 'thin layers', but I will say that you just need some practice with details, brush control does just take practice.

I basically painted the same mini four or five times (stripping it between each attempt, obviously) before I actually started on my army just to get my brush skills down and I think doing something similar will help.

As stated, practice makes perfect, or as close to that as possible. There are a great number of techniques you can use and learn but again, all this comes with time and practice. Youtube was a great help for me in many ways, colours, methods, even brushes and maintenance of my painting gear.

All in all I can say, enjoy the hobby, paint however you like to in the end and express yourself the way you want. You don't have to be a pro painter but if thats what you one day strive to achieve then never stop trying. I still have a long ways to go but I'm enjoying the trip, one model at a time

I think thinned paints is adequately covered, moving on...

(Actually - get yourself some Winsor & Newton Flow Improver, a few Reaper or Vallejo dropper bottles off eBay and some disposable pipettes. The bottles are 20ml, so mix 2ml of FI to 18ml of water. Add a few drops of mixture to your paints, stir it around and bingo - perfect paint. )

A piece of advice on colour selection: At the moment, it's very red (obviously). It may be an idea to break up the red by adding some contrasting colours into the overall scheme. For example, you may want some gold on the bolter's Aquila (The little eagle). Similarly, the cabling on the torso could do with being picked out, possibly in silver. Eyes can be very daunting to do, but with practice you'll get to it and they'll make the model pop some more.Try not to add too many different colours into your overall scheme, but in terms of the colours you do have, use them wisely to break up an otherwise monotonous model. I find this is most important on Space Marines as they do tend to become a block of all one colour inherently, as you're following a set scheme - but always remember you do have a little wiggle room to make them your own and unique.

Another piece of advice: Beginners to the hobby often go straight to GW's site to get their tools and brushes. Don't get me wrong, they aren't bad tools - they're just not as good as what you can find elsewhere and most likely more expensive. A word to the wise would be to come to Dakka (Apparently other forums do exist would you believe it? ) first with ideas of what you want to get from GW and you may find you'll come away with advice to get it from X, Y or Z. GW hasn't the best reputation with cost=quality and often their tools, glues and modelling supplies are simple re-brands of other, cheaper products (For example their Greenstuff).

Finally - If you are disheartened at your first steps, or you begin to be disheartened then don't be as that's all they are - first steps. You'll find that with practice, patience and a willingness to listen to advice and learn from your mistakes, that your painting will come into it's own and develop nicely.