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Hello all,

I was skimming the forums for some opinion on what separates the good from the great painters, etc. Obviously, to truly define this, you would have to be an expert (i.e. awards, golden daemon, lucrative painting biz) but I don't take things too seriously, so I think i'll take a shot at it.

Novice: Your ultramarine has three colors: blue for the armor, silver for the gun, and white for the omega. Oh yeah and your gear is from walmart and you overheard someone talking about 'pigment' and wondered what that was. You probably forgot to prime it though and wonder why it looks so bad when you painted it the color it should be.

Hobbiest: You found the GW paints, some decent gear, and your ultramarines might even have an extra layer to shade or highlight. You might even wash the model and you usually use over 5 paints on a smurf. You avoid being 'that guy' at your FLGS that has an army with two colors/primer. You base it in all of one style (all grass, all gravel)

War Painter: You have a layer for each color you plan to paint. You wash it once, or twice, or use separate washes for the job, maybe more highlights. You base it, with two or more styles, you even throw a shrub in there. You can paint space marine eyes with a steady hand, but god help you with eyebrows, eye whites and retinas and stuff.

Painting Enthusiast: Space marines bore you, as they are way too simple. You need something like chaos, you like the intricacies and detail. You not only doeverything a war painter does, you weather it down, you're tanks have rust or camo. You probably airbrushed most of it, thinned the paint perfectly, and most likely aren't even using GW paint, as you are way too picky for that. You have a special brush for everything, and you laugh at the time you bought ANYTHING for your hobby at walmart. You give your eldar shiny gems, and you might even have a knack for the green stuff. You usually do well at FLGS tourneys with the painting section, and you might even have a few models truly magazine worthy.

Pro: You "paint" light. You can tell what paints are from what manufacturer. You airbrush the plague on a CSM better than nurgle could. You won a golden daemon. You got a job as a professional painter (lol @ minimum wage though ) OR you started a business where people send you overpriced mini's for overpriced painting (j/k!)

Well, this IS a forum, not a wiki page, so you are welcome to post your opinion, please do!

Patience is all that separates pros from novices. Pretty sure that painting and modeling are skills that improve with constant practice.

I think there needs to be a section for the guy who blames his walmart brushes for his end results.

Patience and practice. That's about it really.

Answer: the ability to paint impressive models. Techniques are a means to an end. You can brag about how you've mastered NMM/blending/etc but all that matters is the final result.

ultraatma wrote:
You found the GW paints

Or any other paints. GW's paint is nothing special, deciding to use it just means that you decided to use GW paint, not that you've made a step forward in learning to paint.

Painting Enthusiast: Space marines bore you, as they are way too simple.

Sounds like you need to see some better-painted space marines if you think they're way too simple for an expert painter.

Also, detail on a model makes it easier to paint, not harder, since it saves you from having to make those plain surfaces look appealing.

I'd consider myself a painting enthusiast, but never use my airbrush on my minis. Even tanks. It's for painting pretty graphics on cars and motorbikes(full size).
What drives me to paint?
The desire to improve!

Between Enthusiast and War Painter.

There are some things I am doing really well...and some things (eyes..curse you! eyes!!) not so well.

Why do I paint?

Because I quite simply enjoy the challenge and fun...and the desire to improve, as tomcat said.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Between Enthusiast and War Painter.

There are some things I am doing really well...and some things (eyes..curse you! eyes!!) not so well.

This is me, too.

I average 11 to 12 or so paint colors on even basic Guardsmen, do my best with eyes, and I simply adore that Devlan Mud wash. For me, basing is fun and brings out your models (though keeping the sand on long-term isn't the easiest). Not going to beat a dead horse, though, because the "practice and experience" posters are 100% correct.