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Hello, I'm a pretty much brand new painted to the genre. I've read some guids and got some paints for my first space marine army- a sucessor chapter to the Black Templars called the Crusaders Eternal, but when I put brush to minature, I came away with a few questions.

[*] How do I get rid of the fact that the paint has very obvious brushstrokes on it, even when thinned?
[*] What's the best method for basing after gluing the model down?
[*] What's the best way of dealing with fiddly things like eyes?
[*] For things like aquilas, which are behind guns most of the time, what's a good way to paint them after the gun has been glued in place?

Thanks!

Hi, welcome to the hobby! I'll try answer the best I can.

1. You may either need to strip the model and start again (recommend getting a bottle of the strongest isopropyl alcohol you can) or adding a second coat.

2. A tub of textured paste like Vallejo Grey Pumice and some paint, or sand, PVA glue and paint.

3. A fine point and a steady hand. Or do the eyes first and clean up afterwards.

4. I'd recommend keeping the gun-holding arm separate. But a fine brush and patience.

Hope that helps!

 anyname121 wrote:
Hi, welcome to the hobby! I'll try answer the best I can.

1. You may either need to strip the model and start again (recommend getting a bottle of the strongest isopropyl alcohol you can) or adding a second coat.

2. A tub of textured paste like Vallejo Grey Pumice and some paint, or sand, PVA glue and paint.

3. A fine point and a steady hand. Or do the eyes first and clean up afterwards.

4. I'd recommend keeping the gun-holding arm separate. But a fine brush and patience.

Hope that helps!

1. It's not quite that bad, and I have a ton of Iso because I got the wrong sized bottle of rubbing alcohol, but I don't want to do that. It's just had a few base coats- do layers flow more smoothly?
2. That's super helpful thanks.
3. The first one isn't much likely, so it looks like cleanup it is!
4. Yeah, after I realised what I'd done I've kept the bolters off and the chest open. It's a pain.

1. Layer paints are generally thinner and flow easier, but need another coat or so to cover fully. Depending on how bad it is, you might be able to cover it over once more with a second coat.
2. You got it! I swear by the big tubs of Vallejo texture. Less than a tenner for 200+ models.
3. Painting in the eyes and then covering over with your armour colour is super easy compared to finely painting tiny eyes.
4. It can be done! Just be careful and paint everything you can see/reach. Arm's length rule.

Also, if you're painting an unhelmeted head...don't bother painting eyes. If you can't do them well (and 99.4% of us can't) they only look comically bad if you try to paint them. A simple wash in the creases and some highlights will be preferred - you won't see them from tabletop height anyway.

 Elbows wrote:
Also, if you're painting an unhelmeted head...don't bother painting eyes. If you can't do them well (and 99.4% of us can't) they only look comically bad if you try to paint them. A simple wash in the creases and some highlights will be preferred - you won't see them from tabletop height anyway.

This. A million times this. A little sepia/flesh wash is fine with a highlight.

 anyname121 wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
Also, if you're painting an unhelmeted head...don't bother painting eyes. If you can't do them well (and 99.4% of us can't) they only look comically bad if you try to paint them. A simple wash in the creases and some highlights will be preferred - you won't see them from tabletop height anyway.

This. A million times this. A little sepia/flesh wash is fine with a highlight.

My friend gave me a tip (he's an IG player) for doing human skin:

Bugman's, Emperor's Children, Nuln, more nuln, then flesh. It works pretty well.

Sounds interesting.. Emperor's Children is a very pink colour. I'd like to see how that works out if you can show me.
I use Bugman's, sepia shade then Cadian Fleshtone/equivalent.

 anyname121 wrote:
Sounds interesting.. Emperor's Children is a very pink colour. I'd like to see how that works out if you can show me.
I use Bugman's, sepia shade then Cadian Fleshtone/equivalent.

He actually has a pot of imperial primer that he added water too by accident, and he uses it as a tint. It's not quite a wash, but it works, especially after the two shades of nuln. I have a model I'm painting to see how well my painscheme is going to work with a bare head, I'll show that to you when he's actually done.

Some interesting ideas. Gotta think outside the box sometimes. I'm intrigued by this method for flesh. I'll keep looking at this thread!

Welcome to the hobby! Just like everything practice and repetition will help with all of these.

1. If the model is very large like say a titan, a larger brush can help hide brush strokes. For large area solids look for brushes like GW's XL base brush. You may also need to thin your paint down more/add more layers. Some colors are harder to paint and require a lot of experience and time to get right. White, yellow, and red would fit in this category.

2. I used to PVA glue sand, but have found the GW texture paints or Vallejo basing materials to work and look the best. Use some old or cheap brushes when working with the texture paints. If your using the flaky stuff paint the base a similar color first. Otherwise, wash and dry brush after laying on the coat. This guide is pretty helpful and can get you the result you want. <https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Paint/Textured_Paints.pdf>

3. Practice and mess up a ton. A little white, nuln oil for the outline, and a toothpick to dot the eye. Some of my friends have gotten tiny ink pens to dot the eyes, but the toothpick works fine.

4. If you cant see it, don't paint it. If you have any tough areas hit them early in the basing stage so you can clean them up if needed.

1. Are you talking about the paint after it dries, or when you're painting? If it's the latter, glazing (super-thin coats of paint) always works, although it takes longer to put on a ton of thin layers than a few thicker ones. Glazing over brushstrokes is worth a shot, because you can control where you put down the paint.

2. Put a thin coat of glue or paint on the base, then dip in fine craft sand, or playground sand. Or paint with primer if you want a flat surface.

3. Search on Reaper's "Bette Davis Eyes" technique. Basically, you paint the eyes first, then the face, then the rest of the mini.

4. I usually paint individual parts first if gluing them to the figure blocks my ability to paint the figure. Takes time this way, but you can then do assembly-line painting for the individual pieces.

Just tried adding a layer and watering it down significantly. It might be my brush. Any cheap and good quality brushes?

I really like Army Painter brushes. The Regiment brush is really nice if you keep cleaning it with brush cleaner. Can get 'em pretty cheap off places like Element Games too.

I second the Army Painter Regiment brush. That thing is awesome for just about everything except very fine detail. You can really slam on some base coats with it.

Like everyone has been saying, there are a few reasons you might see brush strokes. In general, the thinner and more numerous your coats, the better the results are going to be. Also be mindful of your brush strokes and try not ti pick up your brush in the middle of large, smooth surfaces, because it will leave a little mark every time.

Get a good light. A good bright light you can move around. Preferably with a daylight bulb.

Gamechanger!

 3orangewhips wrote:
Get a good light. A good bright light you can move around. Preferably with a daylight bulb.

Gamechanger!

I have an old anglepoise lamp that appears to have the sun itself trapped within it's bulb. It's fantastic.