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Ok, my first attempt ever at painting a miniature. I am using Army Painter.

I took care to Thin My Paints. The base coat (gray) came out great, very smooth, just like I saw in the best YouTube tutorials (i.e. Warhammer TV).

My issue has to do with the Strong Tone shader. I tried to eliminate pools while it was wet, but after drying it looks like this. That gray is all dirty now.

I started to edge highlight (with white) but gave up because I already knew this one was going to have to be stripped and re-done.

Basically, I am asking for any and all advice as to how I can get better than this. Thanks.

http://imgur.com/a/kPTVC

I cant see the pictures :(

Yeah when I started out I thought you could just smash wash everywhere and get a good result. Turns out that wash that's dried on big flat surfaces looks pretty bad.

EITHER

Appply the wash all over the complicated textured parts but just paint it carefully in the crevices around the flat sufaces

OR

Re-paint the flat surfaces after washing it all. I find this slower and more annoying though.

OR

Paint it a darker colour then drybrush/highlight up in a variety of tones.

Thanks. Since I really like the smooth finish of my airbrushed base coat, I'd like to avoid dry brushing the whole model, and I don't want to repaint.

So I'll use my fine detail brush and try to do the lines. I'll also keep a Q-tip handy to immediately wipe off excess (tip I found since my first post above)

Although the finish isn't exactly what you wanted, it isn't bad for a dirty veteran kind of look.

Looks good for a first time.

As said, I would paint over the raised areas to bring them back out after the wash.

And while the gray is well applied it's a very monotone model. Painting isn't just technique but there's also the whole color theory part to it too. With a nice neutral base you have going any color would add a nice splash to the model.

What has happened is that the wash has collected in large areas where you don't want it. To avoid this, thin your washes and apply them to the recessed areas only, guiding them with your brush.
Controlling application is important. There is no reason, for example, that you needed to wash the shoulder and knee plates (unless you were going for a dirty look, of course). Wipe away washes from raised areas with a slightly damp cloth or paper towel. Be careful with q-tips as the can leave lint.

To fix this, just thin down your base color and touch it up. The nice thing about paint is that unless you get silly, it's generally easy to fix.


Also, work on cleaning the mold lines before painting as they tend to draw washes.

Thanks everyone. Here's my second attempt. I did a base coat of Wolf Gray, and then did a top-down spritzing of plain old light gray. This gave the pauldrons and backpack a nice gradient.

...then I messed it all up by trying to paint the shading lines. I suppose that's just something that will have to come with time? (steady hands, knack of the brush, etc?)

Pics:
http://imgur.com/a/35puu

I don't think it's too bad. I can see what you mean about the shading lines, though.

Basically, do what Jmurph said. Don't worry too much about painting it right into the recesses with a fine detail brush; use a slightly larger brush with a bigger, thinned load of wash, and let the recess draw it in. Should leave you with more even lines and more of a gradation from the basecoat. If you get tidemarks from the edges of the wash, and a bit of spill around panel lines, like those on the forearms and back of the legs, touch it up again with the basecoat colour.

Okay, I think I might be figuring some things out. Mix the ink 50/50 with water, and go really heavy with it, total wash with a soft brush. That helps a lot to eliminate the smudges. I am also improving my edge highlighting:

http://imgur.com/a/9wOC6

...however I'm kinda "meh" about this color scheme. I thought I wanted neutral gray but it turns out I don't like it that much. Switch to blued. No pics yet, but I am infinitely happier with what I'm working on right now...

Try to clean the mold lines a bit better when assembling, they might not look like much initially but once you apply a wash they're really visible (most noticeable on the insides of the legs in these pictures).

You've got the basics down well. The colours are pretty cleanly applied and nice and smooth. The wash seems better in this pic too.

You really, really need to clean those mould lines though! It doesn't matter how good the painting is, having such obvious raised lines across the whole model will make it look ugly.

One other thing: your colour schemes are a bit too neutral. A splash of colour somewhere would be helpful. With marines the bolter casing is normally a good area to add that colour.

In the background of your second set of pictures, it looks like you have paint brushes resting in a pot, with the bristles facing down. It's going to bend the bristles, and ruin the brushes quickly.
It's best to clean them thoroughly after each use (a brush soap is the best way to do it), then dry them quickly and store them flat.

On the mini itself, I also think the mold lines are very visible. I usually don't mind a model with a narrow color palette, but I would also add some color somewhere, and maybe paint the base with a strong contrast. It might be because your grey looks a bit like "bare plastic grey".

When you upload something to imgur, you should see an V that you can click on then click "get share links" and copy the BBcode one. If you post those in, people will see your pictures right from the thread rather than having to click away.

As for the next step, I think it's dealing with the mould lines. And you probably want to get some paint on the basing texture as the way that the light catches reminds the brain that it's glued on sand and not ground the guy is standing on.

As for getting the knack of the brush, I'd recommend using a larger brush than you'd think you should for a while and apply paint when you pull the brush/your finger tips towards your palm rather than pushing it.

Also if you find you shake at all, you can anchor your forearm on the table edge and then hold your brush hand with the other hand. Depending on how you hold the miniature you might be able to still hold it with a few fingers or have it sitting on the surface in a manner that it won't move.

If you put your hands lower palm to lower palm you should be able to still have the thumb and two or three fingers to hold the miniatures. It's often good to mount them on a little something to use as a handle with either white or hot glue. Then for extra stability you can anchor your forearms to the table and your elbows into your torso. Then if you really need to steady things move your head forward and touch your cheek to the back of the brush. Do this sparingly as it can be hard on the back to crouch over like that. The forearms to the table and a handle to hold is probably all you need for most detail work.

Not sure if it was mentioned, but you should apply washes over satin/gloss coats (not over matte). And if you are working with homemade washes (oil paints), then you can easily remove them from unwanted areas just with a q tip and some white spirits.
Working with oil paint washes gives you more control, just be sure to cover the mini with satin/gloss varnish before you start.