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I've been painting miniatures on-and-off since 1994. I seem to have crested about 5 years ago and cannot up my game. I finished these wolves last night.

1. I thinned my paint-almost everything is at least 2 coats.
2. I tried 2 washes: Agrax for the two on the left and Paynes Gray + medium for the one on the right.
3. I really tried to edge highlight, using the new $20 citadel brush

I'm unhappy with the bone/scrolls/seals because I tried to use the citadel method instead of tried-and-true tan+bone+wash+drybrush, so I'm comfortable I can do better on that score.

The bases were an experiment, and will most likely be replaced.

How can I get better?

Ive found glazes to really help sooth out edge highlights and help blend my painting also i have found less is more with highlights

Seems like to me that you've over washed the entire models. I suggest do this:

- Apply Nuln Oil to all metallic ornaments
- Apply Agrax earth shade to all Gold/Brass ornaments

I think they look pretty solid, in addition to the above suggestions, I'd suggest the following:

1) go back over and touch up around your highlights. In some places they are thick and spill out from the 'edge'. That will make them look cleaner.

2) use a lighter flesh color to paint on the raised areas of exposed flesh: brow, nose, tops of the cheeks. As it looks, its a uniform flesh color, and glossy from the wash.

You can also do the same with the armor, a slightly lighter color on the outermost areas of armor will leave the recesses even darker.

Then I would use a matt varnish to dull it all down.

To further Dalin's points, I usually do all of my painting and edging and layering, then use different washes depending on the area. The wash helps to tie it together.

Try some of the above and re-post some pics!

With re to the bases, I think they look good, but the brightish blue draws the eyes thee, rather than to the model. Try either a black rim on the base, or a dark blue/almost black. That will move the focus back to the snow and model.

Thanks for the tips!

So I should try:

1. Base coats
2. Wash
3. Edge highlights
4. Glaze

I'm going to try glazing with my layer color and see how it looks.

I'd also add that when doing the highlights, you have too much paint on the brush. You can see where the brush stroke started in places. Wipe the excess paint off your brush, so you can see the bristles, and not a droplet of paint, then practice trying to paint even, thin lines, then once you can do that on a flat surface, go back to the contoured shapes. They are nice table top models though, so don't be hard on yourself.

I agree with the points raised so far, and I'll add that a wash/highlight on the gold areas might be nice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another thing I've learned about highlights is not to "draw" them on with the tip of the brush. Try to hold your brush perpendicular to the edge so that the raised part is all the side of you brush can touch. Then just trace along the edge.

You need to work on your neatness. The base color is blotchy, washes are all over the place, highlights are not even.

In my opinion: Take a practice miniature and work only on getting your base coat neat. Take close up pictures of your mini and put it on full zoom on your computer screen and notice all the mistakes you make. Fix it.

If you can manage this next step would to be practice your edge highlights. Do the same thing, Take close up pictures, evaluate your mistakes. And fix.

In my opinion you have to step back and work on your basics to move forward.

Skip the washes and work with layering paint until you got that technique down.

Those tips about highlighting are gold--I can remember thinking I maybe had too much paint, but I never would have removed that much. Thanks!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 DanceOfSlaanesh wrote:

In my opinion: Take a practice miniature and work only on getting your base coat neat. Take close up pictures of your mini and put it on full zoom on your computer screen and notice all the mistakes you make. Fix it.

If you can manage this next step would to be practice your edge highlights. Do the same thing, Take close up pictures, evaluate your mistakes. And fix.

Neatness has always been my bane. I hold the pencil wrong, my handwriting is terrible, I am a mess.

I will try this computer technique. That's a great idea!

 3orangewhips wrote:

3. I really tried to edge highlight, using the new $20 citadel brush

Really, how much you paid for a brush will have little bearing on how well it works. Citadel brushes are vastly overpriced - visit an actual art store, preferably a Michaels with a 50% off coupon and you'll get a better brush for 1/3 the price. Even other mini hobby supply companies supply brushes at reasonable prices.

The main problem I'm seeing with your minis is you're using way too much of the washes, and washes have definite limits. If you just want to get to tabletop ready, washes are the bomb, but if you want them to look really good, you either have to be VERY careful about procedure (certain colors and washes and dirty tricks like using gloss varnish before washing) and/or cleanup of excess, or you have to spend more time being careful with the wash.

And by this I mean treating the wash as if it was a paint you put in the recesses only, rather than slathering the whole miniature. This is more time consuming but just plain looks better, and any small mistakes generally disappear because of the nature of washes. When you coat the entire mini, you change the color of the basecoat and you can get mottling if your'e not careful. Your colors will NOT pop if they've been washed, unless you go back over them and restore the original color.

Importantly, for flesh tones you should be using flesh colored washes.

Other posters are correct in that your highlights are way, way too thick. I generally paint most highlights on raised edges with a sweeping motion of the side of the brush with very little pressure, and with not a lot of paint on the brush. If you paint with the tip and have too much paint on the brush, you get those really heavy highlights. This also adds to the importance of keeping the original base color of the mini, because it lets you do clean-up of messy highlights without being obvious.

It's possible to highlight before washing, which makes this easier, but for some colors or subtle highlights it doesn't work great with the stronger washes, especially if you want your mini to 'pop' and appear more three dimensional.

 John Prins wrote:

Really, how much you paid for a brush will have little bearing on how well it works. Citadel brushes are vastly overpriced - visit an actual art store, preferably a Michaels with a 50% off coupon and you'll get a better brush for 1/3 the price. Even other mini hobby supply companies supply brushes at reasonable prices.

This is a great point. I have a bunch of brushes right now but I've found the two I use most for all of my detailed edge work are a $3 brush I got at an art store and a brush that cost less than a dollar at Walmart. With the proper technique you should be able to do pretty detailed edge highlights with pretty much any brush. Again, you're only painting with the side of the brush so it's more about the amount of paint you have in your brush and the amount of pressure you're applying as mentioned above.

Im not that good of a painter and most of the stuff people have already covered.

I'd like to see more for the bases. Add more variety to the bases with stuff like: rocks, bushes, fallen trees, broken equipment, pieces of slain enemies... whatever you can think of. Do you have leftover stuff from different armies? Use them to create some detail to your bases. Maybe add some cobblestone or pavement so they look like they are fighting in a city covered in snow. I've found that basing is as fun as painting and you can do ALOT of variety to miniatures with a very little effort. Good base always makes the miniature more interesting especially if it has story to tell.

Lots of great tips in here. I knew I was getting rooked with that "precision engineered" GW brush.

I'll be honest...I think the bases are ruining the appearance of those minis. The snow effect is not working too well and the rather bright blue edging is really jarring/distracting. I think the paintwork is completely fine for nice tabletop level stuff. The bases are an eyesore to me. I think a lot of people try way too hard on bases and it, more often than not, heavily detracts from the model itself.

 Elbows wrote:
I'll be honest...I think the bases are ruining the appearance of those minis. The snow effect is not working too well and the rather bright blue edging is really jarring/distracting. I think the paintwork is completely fine for nice tabletop level stuff. The bases are an eyesore to me. I think a lot of people try way too hard on bases and it, more often than not, heavily detracts from the model itself.

I agree 100%. I'm going to try a brown ring, and if that doesn't work I'll rebase with my standard gobbo green + flock, which makes me very happy. I just saw that stuff and said, "Hey, it's cold on Fenris but not here in Houston."

I think the snow is fine but I agree about the blue ring. I would at least try a more muted shade of blue. The rim of the base is the last thing you want to draw the eye to.

What makes me chuckle most about everyone basing Space Wolves on snow...that essentially assumes they're always fighting on their homeworld of Fenris?

 Elbows wrote:
What makes me chuckle most about everyone basing Space Wolves on snow...that essentially assumes they're always fighting on their homeworld of Fenris?

Hey, I'm doing the bases on my DA to approximate my personal vision of Caliban, and Caliban is supposed to be floating space debris.

 3orangewhips wrote:
Thanks for the tips!

So I should try:

1. Base coats
2. Wash
3. Edge highlights
4. Glaze

I'm going to try glazing with my layer color and see how it looks.

I'd alter this a bit, namely because it depends on how you apply the wash. If you are doing careful pin (recess) washes, then it's fine, but if you are just slapping washes onto the model then you need to add an extra step here.

Something like this covers it, and will give you a neater look. Substeps (i.e. 2a, etc.) are optional and kind of case dependent.

1. Basecoat
2. Wash
2a. Tidy up your wash with your basecoat
3. Edge highlights
3a. Tidy up your highlights with your basecoat
3b. Glazes (if you need them).

Also your glaze colour should probably be the same as your basecoat.

Winter wrote:

 3orangewhips wrote:

Something like this covers it, and will give you a neater look. Substeps (i.e. 2a, etc.) are optional and kind of case dependent.

1. Basecoat
2. Wash
2a. Tidy up your wash with your basecoat
3. Edge highlights
3a. Tidy up your highlights with your basecoat
3b. Glazes (if you need them).

Also your glaze colour should probably be the same as your basecoat.

I base with the fang and then another lighter grey. I assume I'd glaze with the lighter grey?

 3orangewhips wrote:

Winter wrote:

 3orangewhips wrote:

Something like this covers it, and will give you a neater look. Substeps (i.e. 2a, etc.) are optional and kind of case dependent.

1. Basecoat
2. Wash
2a. Tidy up your wash with your basecoat
3. Edge highlights
3a. Tidy up your highlights with your basecoat
3b. Glazes (if you need them).

Also your glaze colour should probably be the same as your basecoat.

I base with the fang and then another lighter grey. I assume I'd glaze with the lighter grey?

I base with either fang/russ grey or two coats of russ grey, depending on the primer below. Usually i go with White Coat.

Having recently done a fair bit of snow flock to varying degree's of success I found painting pure or near pure white any area you intend to snow up helped, not sure translucent is the correct word but whatever is 'under' snow tends show though way more than green flock

The artificer brush is a good investment. I have used one for over a year and it is still going strong and I use it for all my highlights.

For me the most immediate thing is to paint your base rims black. Black looks best, if you don't want to take my word for it scroll down the Golden Demon website and you will be hard pressed to find any other colour.

After that, I would just try brighter colours. Your skin looks like it's Bugman's Glow washed in Agrax, instead try Kislev and wash it in Reikland Fleshwash.

I think your models are only a few steps away from looking great.

 Bottle wrote:
The artificer brush is a good investment. I have used one for over a year and it is still going strong and I use it for all my highlights.

For me the most immediate thing is to paint your base rims black. Black looks best, if you don't want to take my word for it scroll down the Golden Demon website and you will be hard pressed to find any other colour.

After that, I would just try brighter colours. Your skin looks like it's Bugman's Glow washed in Agrax, instead try Kislev and wash it in Reikland Fleshwash.

I think your models are only a few steps away from looking great.

You nailed the flesh. I'll try the lighter color--I bet it's closer to what i used to do before they changed the names on me.

And, WOW--all black bases. Nice! You are 100% correct.

Black bases might be good for painting competitions...I think they look rather lame on the tabletop, personally.

 Bottle wrote:
The artificer brush is a good investment. I have used one for over a year and it is still going strong and I use it for all my highlights.

Counterpoint: I have inexpensive art store brushes that I've had and used for 20 years.

I'm not saying that GW isn't selling good product, but they're not selling good value for the money. You can spend 1/3 the money and get as good or better hobby tools elsewhere.

 Elbows wrote:
Black bases might be good for painting competitions...I think they look rather lame on the tabletop, personally.

I'm going to try both ways and post for comments when I complete my new test model. I went back to my tried-and-true methods, and it went better.

Like riding a grimdark bike. 2 years away and I can recall the mixes pretty well.


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So I painted up a regular marine in SW colors, based it in my normal fashion. It looks... OK. Tabletop. I'm wondering if the edge highlighting is something I should pursue.

I did a wash on the original guys, repainted the base rims and did new skin.

They both look better than the original blue. Obviously, go with whatever one makes you more happy. My thoughts on basing are different than many folks!

You might be better only applying the wash into the recesses and panel lines, not across the entire surface of the armour (Use the base colour to touch up the flat areas after applying the wash if need be).

If you're really looking to seriously improve, I'd recommend three things above everything else.

1) Learn from the amazing expert painters out there on the internet. Ben Komets is my #1 for this. Search for painting buddha on youtube.
2) Use a wet palette.
3) Buy a very high quality brush. This would either be a raphael 8404 series brush, or a Winsor & Newton series 7 watercolor brush.


All of the individual advice about your posted models is fine, but it's only applying to that specific instance. Don't lock yourself into only painting one way, such as always basecoating -> highlighting -> glazing or some other combination, because then you'll always limit yourself to that style.