Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

so around 6 days ago I got my first minis colors etc. I assembled them and what super hyped but when I began it just didn't look good and I just did mistake after mistake and when I'm watching let's say warhammers painting tutorials it looks sooooo easy to paint so well and then i try again and fail again and ím getting really unmotivated thru this. Can you guys maybe give some tips for painting or something like that. that would be nice
thanks!

Water your paints down slightly, so that they go on smoothly and don't obscure the details of the model. Take it easy and just concentrate on getting the base colours on neatly at first.

What are you painting?

Crispy78 wrote:
Water your paints down slightly, so that they go on smoothly and don't obscure the details of the model. Take it easy and just concentrate on getting the base colours on neatly at first.

What are you painting?

harlequins
my name is misleading xD

The above, of course. Also, realize none of us were as good as the painting tutorials when we started out. I would start by gauging some of these methods from easy, intermediate, or hard. A good portion of his techniques are very excessive and for experienced painters. Begin with the easy concepts, like shading, layering, drybrushing, and glazing, and build from that. It all takes practice and you'll build on these skills as time goes on, just enjoy yourself!

Practise! It's not the first time those guys in Warhammer TV picked up a paintbrush. You'll get there.

Don't overload the brush so that paint globs and runs everywhere, but don't leave it so dry that it just leaves dusty streaks. (Unless you're drybrushing...)

Crispy78 wrote:
Take it easy and just concentrate on getting the base colours on neatly at first.

This! Get a good solid foundation first, before worrying about details.

Do you have any photos of your minis?

 Necronomic wrote:


harlequins
my name is misleading xD

Ah.

Well then, buy a brush with half a dozen hairs on it, and a big magnifier...

Seriously, my Harlequins have been assembled and primed for about 2 years waiting for me to pluck up the courage to do something with them...

Yeah, Harlequins are definitely not an easy first project to tackle!

In general, there is an easy logic that can be applied to painting minis that GW tends to follow. The logic is that you first apply a darker basecoat (on top of a primer like white or black) followed by a wash and then highlights. The basecoat will end up being the majority of the color you want the part to be. So you would paint a cloak Mephiston Red, for instance, if you want it to end up red in the end. Thin your paints and apply it smoothly in a few thin coats.

Next, you can use a Wash. This darkens the color you just applied and soaks up into all the nooks and crannies to add depth and shadow to the model. Choose your wash based on the color scheme you are trying to go for. A blue wash might look weird on a red basecoast (or awesome, I dunno), whereas a black or brown wash (Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade) might look better for red armor or something.

Next, the logic follows that you will want to brighten the model with highlights to continue to add more depth and shadow to the model by adding light. Now you pick a lighter shade of your basecoat (like Wild Rider Red as a highlight for Mephiston Red) and you thin your paints, and apply it to the edges and raised surfaces of the model sparingly to achieve the highlighted look you desire. If you want, you can even do a more sparing highlight following that with an even lighter shade.

Thats the general basic logic for painting a mini the GW style. Basecoat, wash, and highlight. They even sell their paints with this in mind and you can find nice "triads" for achieving a particular color. If you watch the Warhammer TV videos, you can see Duncan generally applying this painting logic. Hope that helps. Ultimately, practice is the key.

All that said, this is the basic structure for painting models with lots of surfaces to color in (think coloring in-the-lines in a coloring book). Painting something like a Harlequin isn't necessarily going to follow this basic structure. A dirty brown wash isn't going to necessarily look nice on a clean colorful harlequin.

Starting with the basics:

Make sure to clean your miniatures. Remove any mold lines or injection tabs, file rough spots, fill gaps, etc. Also make sure to give them a nice soapy bath and rinse to makes sure there is no lingering mold release agent. Let them dry thoroughly.

Prime with a quality primer (either spray or brush on). Your paint will never be better than a poor priming job, so make sure to put the primer on smoothly. Do not rush, do not overprime and do not spray in cold or humid conditions. Make sure your primer is thoroughly dried.

A smooth primer surface will make life much easier! For your models, I suggest a white primer.

On to actual painting. Thin your paints with water and work in layers to block out areas. Harlequins are usually painted very busy with diamond patterns, but start simple. Pick a dominant clothing color, a mask color, and a hair/trim color. Start by blocking in the clothing, then move on to the mask, hair and trim. Let each layer dry thoroughly before proceeding to another layer. If you used a white primer, you should be able to use very thinned paints to shade where you want it to go. This will also have the advantage, if done correctly, of having built in highlighting, since the washes will collect in recesses. This is also how you shade your colors generally- pick a darker shade, thin liberally and apply. Be careful to not just slop it on- use just enough to wet the surface so you don't have excessive pooling, which will produce undesirable results.

Here's a good site to get you started on the basics (with pics):http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/

thanks guys for the great tips you gave me, now I just have to stop trembling and I may get some good miniatures

Try practicing on some other miniatures to build up your skills and confidence. Do you have any friends that would give/loan you a Space Marine or two? (Or pick up some used on ebay). Practice. Take some photos, post them here, ask for feedback. Keep at it, you'll get there!

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! It's very much a matter of getting a feel for how paints act, and there's no substitute for experience. The how-to videos are awesome, I wish I'd had them starting out as they're incredible teaching tools, but you still need to do the work and get a feel for how brushing paint on to a surface acts. Hardest part when learning is actually the most important: brush control. Stay within the lines, as it were. Learn how thin paint so you don't get a gloopy mess that fills in all the detail or creates an uneven texture, but just as importantly learn to put paint exactly where you want it without flooding paint into unwanted areas. It takes a while to get a feel for it, but coupled with some of the amazing tutorials on youtube it won't be too long before you start getting good results.

Painting is not hard and it's not a natural telent you need to be born with. Anybody can do it, just a skill you need to develop.

Harlequins are definitely a daunting first paint job! It's definitely not a necessity, but if you're worried about messing up the stuff you really like (I assume harlequins if they were your first choice) try to pick up something cheap to practice on. Either see if anyone at your store has some marines you could do, or look on ebay for something cheap, there's always stuff that people have just primed and then put up for sale at a third the value.

As everyone else has said, practice practice practice. The warhammer guys are very much professional painters, and like everything else in the world you usually don't start off being as good as someone that's been doing it for years (or decades). I assume you're watching the video where Duncan freehands the checkered patterns? Because that is not an easy thing to do.

Stability can help. Are you mounting your models on something to paint?

A lot of people will drill into the foot and glue in a wire (paperclip) so they can stick it in a cork. Alternatively you could blutack the model to an unused paint pot. That extra control on holding and angling the model is really helpful.

Hey my first ever minis (back in 2001) were Harlequines too and I'll tell you now by any standards they were tragic. But you know, I learned by doing and just did whatever I liked on them and figured it out as I went along. Then about ten years later I stripped a bunch of them down and redid them with a more harlequines-worthy job.

Point is I'm sorry but its not easy. Lots of painting is about the only way to develop some skills. And it's frustrating at times but also very rewarding when you start to see improvement and minis coming out well that you can be proud of.

Harlequines are a tall order though if you're trying to copy the pro-painted images out there. I mean heck I'm still not that good!

Grab some bargain-bucket eBay job lot and try your hand at something you don't care too much about. That's always fun.

Well, I've seen your first Harlie on your other thread and I can safely say you're way ahead of my first model already!



Even better than my second batch too...



Some really great advice already. More to save money than anything, but I would definitely recommend buying something dirt cheap from eBay to start practicing on. Can be absolutely anything, but you're bound to make mistakes on your first few models so it's a good idea to get those out of the way on models you don't care about

Don t worry.

Your first models always will look bad. Its just true.
However you will improve and I've seen mine go from captain super glue mess to a a good table top standard.

Just simple practice.

Just get a cheap batch off ebay or somthibf, that be ideal for you refine skills on models that matter less of you do mess up.

One thing is to try not to be to critical of yourself. We tend to see flaws that others would not. And the camera is a cruel mistress who likes to mock us with zooming into all out little flaws.

Remember that these are gaming pieces. Their home is on the table, and will mostly be seen at arm’s length. Try holding the mini out at that distance and see if it still looks bad to you. Odds are, it won’t.

There are some techniques that take advantage of this. Sometimes layered blends on cloaks and edge highlighting looks a bit stark close up. But at a viewing distance? Much better.

Hang in there, practice. You will improve.

Are you dead set on putting those checkered patterns on there? Because those are the mother of all things that make painters say bad words...

I recently did a commission for some Harlequins (first time ever painting them) and was having issues with the checkers, so I reached out to Dakka for advice. One problem I had was that the lines never seemed to match up, because eyeballing it is a due to the shapes being diamonds rather than squares, although if you make them small enough you could get away with squares (my logic was bigger shapes=less painting time). A suggestion by a fellow Dakkanaught brought forth the idea of putting a line of dots down the leg/arm/whathaveyou, and then to either side, place another line of dots, but offset so the two lines could be connected like a zig-zag. Repeat this around the appendage, and then simply connect the dots with black lines, then fill in the every other color with your choice of diamond color. Phenomenal idea, and it really helped. Went from repeating each arm/leg at least three times to first time success (with a little luck).



But like everybody has said, thinning and practice are key. This isn't a get-pro-quickly kind of hobby. Practice, practice, practice.

And thinning.

But mostly practice.

Harlequins are not easy to paint, but you have the guts to try were as I don't think I ever will! Painting models is never easy as a beginner and from experience it takes experience to be perfect, if you do a single tester model and it doesn't go well see what went right and experiment with another or simply start with only a couple of paints to get used to painting. When I got stuck in, my first model was a metal Space Marine Terminator Chaplin. I painted him in 4 citadel paints; black, silver, red and white to get used to using paints. However I didn't have a brush and used a wooden tooth-pick to paint him. It wasn't the best finish but I was pleased to have finished at all. At least you are having a go, I know some people that are too afraid of painting and only spray models black which is a shame. You will improve over time. As for myself I started out just trying to keep the colours 'within the lines' on the bits that needed it, all these years later I am still a terrible painter trying to paint within the lines but I get satisfaction for completing them.

Good Luck with the Harlequins, the more you do the better your painting skills will be!

Please don't be discouraged from first attempts. We all started off that way. I've been doing art for over 20 yrs. There is no special "gift" I was born with. I am adamant that anyone can produce beautiful results with patience and practice. I practiced the different methods by different tutorials on my nephews marvel super heroes first and picked what style I prefer ed. I still made mistakes when I began my orks but no worries most mistakes are fixable.

 Necronomic wrote:
thanks guys for the great tips you gave me, now I just have to stop trembling and I may get some good miniatures

In addition to all the good stuff above, if you're having issues with trembling, maybe changing your set up will help. You want to paint when you're relaxed. Make sure you're not holding both arms up and have something to rest your elbows or forearms on. For really fine detail (eyes, etc), I actually touch my wrists together as well. My brother shakes really badly (runs in the family) and he's learned to time the brush strokes for fine details. Like anything, you're going to have to learn how to apply the gobs of techniques and advice to you and your set-up. Go with the flow, work on the basics as the others have suggested and when you're comfortable with those, add the next level of detail until you're happy with that.

Last tip: Remember that most of the time you're going to be looking at your minis from a couple feet away when they're on the gaming table so don't let imperfections that you spot when it's in front of your nose or in a macro photo discourage you.

 Necronomic wrote:
thanks guys for the great tips you gave me, now I just have to stop trembling and I may get some good miniatures

Try to brace your hands together as you paint - at or near the wrist. Put the back of the hand that holds the mini against a tabletop if it will help cut down on any hand shaking.

And if you're painting anything complex, try putting down an outline with a soft pencil (2B or higher) to act as a guide.

Harlequins aren't a beginner painter army, so try to keep it simple. Nobody paints to a high standard right away.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ProwlerPC wrote:
Please don't be discouraged from first attempts. We all started off that way. I've been doing art for over 20 yrs. There is no special "gift" I was born with. I am adamant that anyone can produce beautiful results with patience and practice.

This is so true. I've taught a few people to paint minis and choosing the right techniques for the right army is a big part of it as well. For example, Grey Knights (or Sisters of Battle) love drybrushing and washes, but take forever to do a super clean paint job. One guy I knew gave up on GKs trying to do a plain silver scheme (clean) because it was 'too much work'. My buddy bought and stripped his minis, and I showed him a scheme that let him paint a dozen minis a night to a good standard.

For Harlequins, don't go crazy on the detail at first, just go with alternating colors on sleeves/legs. When you get more confident, you can always go back and paint on more detail if you really feel like it.

 Necronomic wrote:
so around 6 days ago I got my first minis colors etc. I assembled them and what super hyped but when I began it just didn't look good and I just did mistake after mistake and when I'm watching let's say warhammers painting tutorials it looks sooooo easy to paint so well and then i try again and fail again and ím getting really unmotivated thru this. Can you guys maybe give some tips for painting or something like that. that would be nice
thanks!

The usual progression is flop-crawl-walk-run. You went straight from flop to '500 meter dash,' by going in on harlequins. They are amazing looking models, but you've got to get the basics under your belt first. It's like being discouraged because you picked up your first set of pencils and haven't been able to draw as well as the pictures in the rulebook. If you've been watching videos, start with the basic ones and get those under your belt. Pick up a few models that are less detail and technique intensive than the harlies, so the bar isn't set quite so imposingly high.

Keep your 1st models and use them to compare in the future and you may see how much better your progress is.

 Rahz wrote:

 Necronomic wrote:
thanks guys for the great tips you gave me, now I just have to stop trembling and I may get some good miniatures

In addition to all the good stuff above, if you're having issues with trembling, maybe changing your set up will help. You want to paint when you're relaxed. Make sure you're not holding both arms up and have something to rest your elbows or forearms on. For really fine detail (eyes, etc), I actually touch my wrists together as well. My brother shakes really badly (runs in the family) and he's learned to time the brush strokes for fine details. Like anything, you're going to have to learn how to apply the gobs of techniques and advice to you and your set-up. Go with the flow, work on the basics as the others have suggested and when you're comfortable with those, add the next level of detail until you're happy with that.

Last tip: Remember that most of the time you're going to be looking at your minis from a couple feet away when they're on the gaming table so don't let imperfections that you spot when it's in front of your nose or in a macro photo discourage you.

I have a shake.
I try to make at least one thing steady on a table. Either sprue or on a paint pot etc.

Caffine can make shake. Avoid the coffee when painting.
A glass of wine. Have a beer that can stem shakes. Not a cure mind lol.

All advice above is solid.