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So, it's been a while since I've posted anything here, and that's largely because it's been a while since I've been able to paint or build anything.
I've had to restart my army a number of times throughout the years for various reasons; most recently when the shelf that housed my models "mysteriously" fell, and broke a large number of them.

Anyways, with the surplus of downtime I've had with the COVID-19 outbreak, I've been able to try again and start my Word Bearers.
And these, are the first models I've painted in over a year. They're far from perfect, and I realize now that I see the pictures that I've missed some spots on a few of them. My eyes are getting worse.

I selected Cultists to start with, because I have so many to paint, and thought they'd be a good refresher.


This one, I think, is my favorite.


I know I missed a few spots on her.


This is the first first one I painted. I think it shows.


I noticed a lot of places that I need to fix up on her.

Any time is a good time to start again. I really like the gal with the Maximus mask, too. The skull on her base is awesome.

Definitely better than my first mini's painted after returning to the hobby. About the only thing I'd look at fixing would be the base rims. Clean off the extra sand/material on the lips and paint them a single color (my preference is black since it helps the models stand out from the terrain IMO)

They look like you've taken some time on them. I love what you've done with the lenses on them. Overall they're pretty solid given that they're a part of a mass army.

If you want some help with improving further I'll be happy to pont out a couple time saving techniques. It looks like you're applying ink to the whole model when you're doing your shading. This isn't a huge problem but it does dull the colors of the model and takes more paint and time. Try only applying the ink to the recesses of the model so you can have brighter colors on the flat parts of your models. Also, if you're doing layering which i assume you are given the detail you've been attentive to, try feathering colors in a gradient. It sounds difficult and scary but its actually a huge time saver and paint saver too. I swapped to gradients and feathering techniques and spent about half my normal time painting and got better looking results.

I hope this helps and that you keep painting and playing!! Also, welcome back to the game.

Welcome back!

I dont see any missed spots.
Colors contrast and models reads well, well done!

Great job and much better than some of the minis displayed here and there...mine included.

orkboy232 wrote:Definitely better than my first mini's painted after returning to the hobby. About the only thing I'd look at fixing would be the base rims. Clean off the extra sand/material on the lips and paint them a single color (my preference is black since it helps the models stand out from the terrain IMO)

I took your advice on the base rims when I was doing the touch up I noticed, and I have to say you're right; they do look a lot better than the primed grey look. Thanks!

Freya wrote:They look like you've taken some time on them. I love what you've done with the lenses on them. Overall they're pretty solid given that they're a part of a mass army.

If you want some help with improving further I'll be happy to pont out a couple time saving techniques. It looks like you're applying ink to the whole model when you're doing your shading. This isn't a huge problem but it does dull the colors of the model and takes more paint and time. Try only applying the ink to the recesses of the model so you can have brighter colors on the flat parts of your models. Also, if you're doing layering which i assume you are given the detail you've been attentive to, try feathering colors in a gradient. It sounds difficult and scary but its actually a huge time saver and paint saver too. I swapped to gradients and feathering techniques and spent about half my normal time painting and got better looking results.

I hope this helps and that you keep painting and playing!! Also, welcome back to the game.

I was going to say that I ink the whole thing to intentionally give it a darker, muted look, but then I realized that I highlight them anyways.
I had to look up what feathering actually was, but from what I've seen, that does look like something that would save some time, and the effects look really good as well. Thank you for your advice! I will try those on my next batch of cultists.

And thanks to everyone for the compliments. It's easy to get discouraged with all the top quality models around the internet.

While I haven't been super productive during quarantine, at least as far as painting goes, I've gotten a few more models done. Mostly a few more Cultists, and I tried out a couple CSM to see how I could do after so long.









They aren't going to win any contests, sure, but I think I'm slowly getting better.

They could win a contest against me!
Seriously, this inspires me to maybe slap primer on a bunch of my troops and start putting paint back into my schedule!

It might just be photo, but only thing I would add is final sharp highlight at key points to make the paint really pop.

Currently, your final highlight isn't too far off from your mid tones.