Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So today I finally panted my first miniature, a brave tau from a lonely squad of I believe pathfinders. Although at this point in time I dont plan on collecting tau so I just used it to practice my painting whilst I wait for my orks to arrive in a delivery. Since this is my first try at painting id like some advice on how I can improve, please note the miniature was pre-assembled so had to paint it as is. Sorry about the quality of photos, only had a phone to take them with

Its a Fire warrior with a pulse carbine

its pretty good so far though the picture focus is a bit off.

next step would be highlighting all those delicious panel lines.

There are a lot of different directions "improve" can take.

You can add highlights, or shading.

You can work on better colour choices. Red+Yellow make Tau guy look like he works at McDonalds.

You can work on picking out more details or adding a little freehand work, like caste and squad marks.

You can work on improving your basic brush control, though that looks pretty good for a first mini.

For a first attempt its pretty good. You've got the hang of a method that you should concentrate on and not deviate from; neatness. Forget about trying to add detail, aim for a tidy paint job and then down the line start trying detail, small steps.
You mentioned you are getting orks. Keep them as neatly painted as the tau figure and you will have a good looking ork force. If you want to add detail; remember that you don't need to add it all at once. Paint your orks and have fun! Don't tie yourself up in knots or you'll put yourself off painting altogether!

Yeah the colours look strange on a tau, as it was practice for the orks. You cant make it out well on the tau mainly due to the poor quality photos but there is some green in there.

My main problem would be I don't really know how to highlight, the tutorials I have looked at have been helpful. For this figure I did not mix any paints so ill mix a few and see what happens.

Only main question that I have is that many of the photos I have seen of painted miniatures are far glossier? (only term I could think of) but for the life of me I don't know how to tackle this issue.

Thanks for the tips!

"Glossy" models are those that have a layer of varnish on them that makes them reflect light. You might be referring to high contrast models, where part of the model is very dark, and part is very bright, and it looks like the model has been shaded. This is done with highlighting. where you paint a brighter color over the one you've just put down.

A simple highlight technique; For red, mix in some bleached bone(not white) until you see noticeable difference from the original colour. Use small brush(not a detail brush) and carefully drag along all edges and nothing more.
For yellow add white and repeat.
That is all a highlight really is; a lightning of the base colour where the light catches.
As for the shine; That is a combination of things. How the paint is applied, what the paint is(some react differently to others) also they will be finished models that will have been varnished in either gloss or matt or both!

Ah! I hope to be expanding my paint selection soon so this should help, I might have too look at getting a varnish for future model. For now though the rest of the brave tau await experimentation!

You are already doing what you need to do to get better at painting, just by painting.

Take test models aside and try different techniques. Test out washes, drybrushing and line highlighting. By doing it you will get an eye for not only how to do it but when also.

Just the attitude of wanting to improve and trying things out is the biggest way to improve.

As extra incentive remember that 'Painted Models Play Better!'

quechal wrote:
You are already doing what you need to do to get better at painting, just by painting.

Take test models aside and try different techniques. Test out washes, drybrushing and line highlighting. By doing it you will get an eye for not only how to do it but when also.

Just the attitude of wanting to improve and trying things out is the biggest way to improve.

As extra incentive remember that 'Painted Models Play Better!'

I agree with pretty much all of this. Just keep painting and playing about. Once you have got a bit of practice under your belt you will know what you can and can't achieve then you can start to look for help to aid you in progressing the way you want to go.

Neatness goes a LONG way when you're starting out. I'll echo the person above by saying, just work on a clean, neat paint job and maybe later when you're getting really consistent with the neatness, step up and work some shading and highlighting in there. I started with high elves and there was no highlighting going on. I've got a lot of skills and tricks left to learn, but starting early just trying to be as neat as possible has helped me a lot, I think.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, red makes Ork stuff go faster! The yellow I might save for hazard stripes if they're 40k Orks.