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I think comradepanda is right, you do seem to have improved since you begun the blog. I'd actually say you and your friend's painting is at a very similar level.

The advice I would offer now is to just keep plugging away at the suggestions already given by a few people, keeping chipping away at the column until you have a needle, as I was once told. Apart from that, try finding other people's work you like and copy their tutorials or take bits from them and practice the technique a lot. I like to give myself targets to achieve or someone's work I'd like to be able to replicate one day.

Keep it up kes!

To be fair, mine took the better part of three hours, he had that done in 45mins flat xD.

I'll definitely dig around for tutorials as I place my order and then wait for the HMG. Thanks for the advise!

Supply drop!



I did a little conversion work. I figured since I'd be using the viral rifle loups the most, I'd want them to look awesome, and the rightmost pose on the box just wasn't doing if for me. So I did a simple gun-swap, swaping the shotgun for the rifle.



I like this much better, as it looks as if the rightmost guy is pumping the shotgun, or simply checking if a round is cambered (always a good idea when handling a firearm), due to the angle of the gun and pose. I guess i'll call him the gun safety "garou"

I debated going for the briscard box set instead of the loups, but ultimitally, it was the looks of the loups that won me over. Also, the Heavy rocket launcher briscard was the one I was really interested in, and that doesn't come with the box set.

More painting to come, probably monday or tuesday.

Nice work mate, looking forward to seeing them painted.

Aye i too am looking to see how you paint the models.

Aight. So I got a little painting in. I've run out of painting stuff, so I've got to go out and buy some paints and primer.

Anyways, next up is the Metro with an HMG. I love the model, as it instantly reminded me of hooded badasses in general. So I wanted to make this guy look the part.


"Viva la Ariadna, bitch"


and a super-close-up:



IMO, I succeeded. For the face, I painted the top part black, followed by a thin grey blend into the skintone on his chin. It gives the illusion that the hood is shrouding his face. At first, the gun was going to be black, but I didn't want it to blend in with his jacket, so i tried something new, using yellows and blues and then muting it with a thin grey-ish wash, as I thought it looked a little TOO bright. I'm still on the fence about the gun, but I do like how everything else turned out, except maybe the pistol holster and the hands(they could use a little more detail). In any case, Working with yellow requires too many coats to get a bright yellow

Another thing to remember is that I like to take super-close-up pictures so I can see my flaws better. One of these day's I'll take pictures from a distance, like a group shot or something so it doesn't all look horribad.

Anyways, let me know what you think!

Good job chief. I seeing improvements with each new miniature you do!

At this stage I don't think you should bite off any more for the foreseeable future. Chew on what you are doing for a while. Just keep practicing the basics until you can do them with your eyes closed. It might be worth buying a box of cheaper minis to practice on actually, something with a range of textures and 'materials' to be painted. Something from the WHFB range is probably the best idea, maybe a box of 20 Empire models or something.

One thing I'm noticing that I really think should be your aim to fix on the next model is the slightly dirty, grainy look of the paint in places. At first I thought it was your paints but looking back I can see your friend had cleaner results and it's not on every part of your models. With that in mind I'd guess you might not be cleaning your brush enough between colours or your not leaving any time for paint to dry before the wash. The former is more likely as I think you are thinning the paints just about enough for them to dry quickly.

It may also be that it's because your thinning your paints and painting these bright colours over black. That'd mean your friend as actually using thicker paint or more layers. More layers is the way to go and you'll also want to use a few different types of each colour. If you are going to undercoat in black then add these colours your probably going to have to do this as a minimum for both the blue and white:
Undercoat Black: 1-2 coats
Basecoat Medium Blue/Yellow: 2+ coats
Wash Dark Blue/Red/Orange: 1-2 coats
ReBasecoat Medium Blue/Yellow: 2+ coats
Highlight Light Blue/Yellow: 4+ coats(Use the current paints for this stage)
I think that is pretty much the bare minimum you'll get away with this but others might be able to tell you otherwise. It's just a very difficult paint scheme to execute. 12 coats of milk thin paint might seem labour intensive but bright colours take a lot of work, especially over black. If you Undercoat white you can probably approach this a different way but you'll have to paint the entire miniature, every nook and cranny, or it won't work.

I think you need to decide which way works best for you and definitely buy a box of minis to practice on, you could even try out a few different ways of doing things on them. I'd be happy to go over some other processes if you decide to change your undercoat.

Overall, as I always say, you're improving, keep practicing! I hope that helped.

That helps a lot! I've found that I have better results when I prime with white, however, I only had black primer available and I'm feeling a bit of a time-crunch, a as a local ITS tournament is just around the corner. Today, I'll go out and buy the bascoat again, as well as some extra paints.

Great advice on all the layers, however, if I stick with white primer and the blue/yellow that I've been using, what would that process look like, layer-wise?

It's also very good to know that I'm getting better. I've always wondered why I'm getting a bit of that grainy look. In case, I'll slow down and wait a bit longer between layers. With some white primer, some time, and many, many, layers, I think I'll have a brilliant team of Loups!

Glad to be of help.

Yep, many thin layers is the key. If you go back to white primer there are a couple of options but the principals remain.
Undercoat White
Basecoat Medium
Wash Dark
ReBasecoat Medium
Highlight Light
I think this is your best option, it's the simplest of them and highly effective. Other options include preshading and building up colour with washes, using no washes and layering from dark to light or a mixture.

You can simplify the process even more by drybrushing. You will find it massively faster but the quality will drop. It's a great place to start though, you just do the last two steps with drybrushing instead of layering.

Whatever route you take make sure you leave some of the last layer visible around the one you are currently painting.

So I think I've figured out what's going wrong while doing the base color for my two loups. Take a look at the pic below.




So, with the loup to the left, his cloak has a darker, grainy look to it. The one on the right doesn't. With the left loup, I was a bit paranoid about having the paints thin that I'd leave the brush in the water a bit too long when I thinned the paints, as such, the brush would pick up the dull-gray color of the water and apply a little bit of it to the loup. The problem isn't apparent at first, but it does seem to build up after a few coats. With the one on the right, I'd wouldn't leave my brush in the water for too long, and if I found that it was starting to glob, I'd quickly dip the brush in water and spread it around a little more.

Good to have that solved. Still eats up time to do layer upon layer of yellow xD. If I ever start another faction, I think I'll avoid yellow.

'

You're thinning your paints completely wrong..

You should not be using your dirty paint water to thin your paints!

You should have placed them on a pallet and with clean water apply it to the mixture until the paint is a similar to milk consistency on the pallet. Now do layers with that, if the paint dries out while working add more water to it, ect. It should be almost like painting with water color, almost..

Do not dip the brush in paint, and then in water and then apply to model, that is a sloppy and bad way to thin your paints, and gets the color tainted.

NEVER USE YOUR DIRTY PAINT WATER TO THIN YOUR PAINTS. YOU HAVE CONFIRMED IT TAINTS IT! PURGE THE HERESY!




*runs off to find a painting commissar*

No wonder I've been having trouble lol.

Anyways: Update time:







These guys did great in the last tournament when they were linked-teamed up. Holding their own against ALEPH and absolutely decimating the Toa. They were picked apart by an opposing nomad link team in the last game, but I still managed a win.

For the dakkanaughts not familiar with infinity In infinity, and only if you run a sectorial, some units can form link teams. These are basically highly-trained fireteams which act as a squad. Having units in a link team gives them massive bonuses, such as another dice to roll while shooting, a bonus to their ballistics skill, and the ability to react even in an ambush or if the model shoots from outside their facing. They make a great team!

Fluff-wise, these guys are the riot police or Ariadna. That might not sound badass, but just remember Ariadna is full of werewolfs, American cowboys, Scottish highlanders, and boisterous, badass Russians. Yeah. They deal with all that.

I wouldn't have gone for yellow cloaks if I knew how many layers it would have taken. The original reason I went with yellow is because other players in my store already have some loups. One painted their cloaks blue, the studio color, and the other painted their cloaks green. I wanted something different, that would stand out.

Nice cloaks! your yellow is actually smooth and solid. Something to be proud of.

Yep, big improvement there pal! Could use some slightly better pictures but the yellow looks much more solid now.

Keep working at it, next step should be defining your layers. Don't worry about the individual blends just now but start with a dark basecoat, then a middle range colour and highlight with your current choice of yellow. Your dark base can be a lightish brown which'll also help you with coverage.

looks like I'll have to buy a dark yellow or brown tone next time I go to the store.

anyways:





I messed up a bit on the shin pads, but I decided to call it done rather than mess it up more.

Three down, one to go.

Well done, kes. That's a solid and flat looking yellow, mate. Makes sure you do the same with the other colours.

What paint range are you using? We might be able to give some better advice of what to use if we know. Also, would you consider putting a miniature aside to paint up really slowly? If you are interested I think it'd be beneficial to paint up one stage at a time under advisement, posting pictures before we describe the next stage. Once you've done that once you'll probably be able to duplicate it really easily from memory.

Am I still not good enough for dakka?


I've got six paints total from the citadel range:

Ceramite White,
Abadon Black,
Kislev Flesh,
Caledor sky (medium blue)
Lothern Blue (light blue)
Yriel Yellow.

Any colors you recommend?

I'd be glad to paint up slowly, as soon as I get my next mini (probably the sniper garou). I've been working on all four of these minis at once, and already have a bit done on the last man in the squad. As soon as I get the next loup in I'll let you know and we can start from scratch on the last loup garou. I want to wait until i pick up my paycheck monday, becasue infinity has been sucking up some of my income, and I don't want to over-spend.

Your defiantly getting better with each mini kestril

May I ask what your using for your white primer as I can see bare metal in places so it might be affecting the rest of your painting. In regards to painting yellow, after the white undercoat I'd use a coat of Averland Sunset which is a base paint and then go over the raised areas of the cloaks in Yriel Yellow if you want to highlight further then a thin streak of Flash Gits yellow down the middle.

Goodness, you brits are so helpful. I may just have to cross the pond and invite myself over for a cup of tea.

As far as priming goes, it's a can of white krylon primer that I picked up at the local hobby store. I've noticed this too, it's mostly on curved surfaces, like the ends of shoes, where the paint refuses to stick.

Thanks for the paint advice! I'll be sure to pick those up next time I drive into town where the game store is.

Keep it simple, most of all. Averland, Yriel yellow layer, gryphonne sepia wash, well-watered down yriel layer, flash gitz highlight (if you feel up to it).
Alternatively if you prime white just an yriel coat, sepia wash, yriel layer might do rather well. as to the small straps on the legs, you might consider using another color than yellow for your own sanity Still, if you insist, try a ceramite white coat (there are other options than GW paints but the new range does have a gem or two and availability is more or less universal), thin application of yriel, sepia wash and a real thin line of either yriel or flash gitz either down the middle or on the top of it - all depending on how straight and thin you think you can get the lines!

As to the blue, I'd say the white edge highlights are a *bit* stark; even if they'd be perfectly applied I don't think it'd "work". Try mixing your base color with the white for a rather more subtle effect then *maybe* apply a bit of white on the most highlighted/highlightable bit of the edge (but really, that one's optional).

The effect on the visor is quite nice! I'd imagine that'd work real well on a tabletop, nice work!

If I were you, I'd focus on getting blacklining in between colors as much as you can (not necessarily actually black; a selective application of a dark wash in one of the colors you're already using, or complementary to that, works real well too!); that's really the one single easiest way to get minis looking good from some distance.

as to the flesh, try a coat of ratskin flesh (works over pretty much any color in one go, maybe two thin ones), layer cadian fleshtone over that, wash reikland fleshshade, layer (more subtly this time!) cadian fleshtone again, then apply some selective highlights to knuckles, cheekbones, chins etc etc. with a mix of cadian fleshtone and white. I stress the *some* in "some white" here; your propensity for enthousiastic highlights can, with some practice, be extremely cool for armour etc if you have the patience; fleshtones however are a different story!

as to the black, start with black and highlight very thinly and sparsely with a rather dark type of grey, then apply a bit of a lighter grey tone to the corners and bits of edge where the light would hit the "sharpest". it's quite hard letting highlighted black still look like black (because of course there's no darker colour to start from and there's not really such a thing as a "light shade of black"!)

edit ah, just missed your post I see uhm, I've heard good things of krylon so that shouldn't be it; are you applying it correctly? (thin but not too thin, correct distance, time between coats, correct temperature/humidity)?

Great advice from Bolognesus, If you follow that you wont go wrong

 Bolognesus wrote:


A bunch of awesome advice.

edit ah, just missed your post I see uhm, I've heard good things of krylon so that shouldn't be it; are you applying it correctly? (thin but not too thin, correct distance, time between coats, correct temperature/humidity)?

I applied the krylon when it was blazing hot outside. The base globbed up a bit to give it a gritty look.

In any case, I've ordered this guy , and he should be in by wednesday. Then I can start painting under the guidance of the internet. I'll also stop by the game store tomorrow to pick up some more yellows.

I've changed the thread title, and finished the last guy. However, my camera just ran out of batteries. Expect updates monday of the four I've painted now. Then I'll go slowly, step-by-step, on the last squad member with you guys, from start to finish.

ooh, ooh, when you stop by the game store pick up a pot of gloss varnish as well. selective application of that stuff to the visor will really make it shine (...sorry ) IRL (not so much on camera, but that hardly matters!), combined with what you're already doing.

also, a pot of black wash is always useful and especially when a white-primed mini needs blacklining added. It's really one of those things you might as well pick up because it's useful when painting pretty much anything

More pics! I upgraded all the visors on the team.



For some reason, the flash was really harsh this time around, but the lighting isn't the best in my room, so hopefully you'll get a better idea with the flash off.








Anyways, the last guy I'm waiting for comes in wednesday or thursday. Then I'll start painting it one step at a time with you guys.
I've also picked up Averland Sunset, flash gitz yellow, a seipia wash, a black wash, and a varnish.

I'm really looking forward to taking it one step at a time. Hopefully it'll come out to be the best mini yet!

It just might. However, contradicting views may slow you down. Nice look on the yellows.

kestril wrote: Am I still not good enough for dakka?

Haha, it's not that! If your happy with them that's all that matters mate! We are happy to guide your progress though.

I keep seeing improvements in your miniatures and I think your going to nail the next one. Panda is right about too many cooks spoiling the broth though, if everyone pitches in with a different idea about the next step you'll have a rough time trying to get something good from it. Have you heard the phrase, a camel is a horse designed by committee? That's very much how things will go so choose one plan and follow it to the letter taking advice at the end of each stage.

I'm happy to walk you through using my suggestions if you'd like, we can take it nice and slow. If you have a certain way you want to do things I'm happy to work alongside that. Also, I won't be offended if you want to use someone else's advice, the important thing is you get what you want out of it.

If you use the method I suggest then the first step is very simple. Get a nice undercoat down and post a picture so we can see if there are any issues before moving to the next step. I'll take this very slowly with you so you might want to continue painting other stuff as we go.

Keep it up, bud!

What, disagreement? on the *internet*? Surely not!

...At least we actually agree on the undercoat, that's something

I think we agree'd on pretty much the majority of it and there are loads of ways of doing things. The best thing is not to get confused by overlapping ideas though.

Do what you want. Get feed back. change it a way that is still doing what you want. Best way to get advice from dakka in my opinion.

So not a painting update, my roomate mistakenly used all of my primer for one of his projects. I'm still waiting for him to get back to me with a new can of primer.

Anyways, I picked up a new model today, the paracommando with a light grenade launcher, but I'm not a fan of the LGL, so, I did some converting work with the weapons pack that I won at the last local tourney. I tried to make him look as if he's trying to keep a low profile while moving forward, rather than dragging his gear out of the mud. I chopped up a haqqislam sniper rifle and glued it to the back end of the LGL. Then, I cut the barrel and made it a bit shorter, so I can run it as a rifle, instead of a sniper if I want. Also, I can even run this guy as a heavy machine gun, I'll just say it's in the bag!







At one point my superglue globbed up on me and wouldn't come out of the bottle. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to bite the globed-up glue to allow the rest to flow out. Needless to say, it did, and splorted all over my mouth. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn't a stupid enough to close my mouth, but now I have dried superglue coating some of my teeth and lips. it's quite irksome.

I'm still debating if I want to keep the bag or not. I could just cut it off, but as of now I'm still indecisive.