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So this is my first attempt at painting, I've got tons of models but I'd like to test on other things before I start on the models. So this is my attempt and I want people's opinion on what I can do better or add to make it look more visually appealing. And just comments good or bad. Thanks

Its pretty good and clean, though off for a wreckage.

I think the model can really do well with some addition washing, chips and highlights.

I've got some highlights I'll try, and have an idea of how to highlight, but what's chips?

Chips, as in "chipped paint," I would imagine. I see some silver streaks that I assume to be large scratches, but the surfaces of the pieces are generally pristine - an odd state for a half-buried wreck. Weathering, both in the form of (more thorough) damage to the crashed vehicle's paintjob as well as surface staining and deposits, will add visual interest while simultaneously making the piece more plausible.

Just try and spatter some brown mud, black, and rust on it to make it look more like a wreck. For your first paintjob though it is pretty good, and I can see why you wouldn't want to weather it.

I'll try to weather it, gives me a canvas I can try on that I can perfect on before I go onto my models. Is it hard to do weathering and chipping and rust? I'm sure I can find a tutorial on here for them but is it very involved and take more skill then I currently poses?

Looks great! Like has been said some wash and dry brushing will go a long way, it's wreckage so dirty it up a bit.

So if I do rust and weathering and chipping I'd want to wash the whole thing after?

Well you definitely did not screw that up. I Really like the color choice and the paint job itself is pretty smooth. I agree with "dirtying" up the model to make it look more like a wreckage, but you definitely have a nice start!

thank you, ill try tomorrow to add some rust/chipping/weathering to it and ill post pictures tomorrow.

Washes are pretty flexible tools for a painter. When you apply them, how thickly, and in what color depends on the desired effect. For these pieces, you could apply a thin black wash in all of the recesses (corners, panel lines, vents, around rivets, etc.) for shading - this would be done before weathering.

They're also useful during the weathering process. Layered streaks of a brown wash are good for representing general drippy grime - oil leakage, runoff from rust, and the like. A bit of black and/or brown around your shiny metal engines will both highlight the shape and help them look used. Broad, mottled patches in various colors can be used for everything from encroaching mold or moss to heat discoloration. Thin applications (so as not to pool unevenly) across an entire surface act as glazes or filters, subtly (more or less, depending on dilution) tinting the underlying color(s).

There's a whole range of uses to explore, but that takes research and experimentation (especially the latter), on your part. If these are meant as practice pieces, though, there's no better time to get stuck in. Same goes for rust and chipping - there are any number of ways to go about achieving those effects, so find a few different tutorials, see if anything appeals to you, and try it out.

I highly recommend checking out the "sponge chipping" method - great results for surprisingly little effort. Personally, I use pigments for my rust, so I don't have much firsthand experience painting it. Many have had good luck stippling various browns, reds, and oranges, though, so check out some painted rust tutorials to get you started.

Finally, don't stress too much about your current skill level. You've already managed to put paint to model cleanly and evenly, which is something more than a few hobbyists struggle with, even after they've started exploring more advanced techniques. All painters have their particular strengths and weaknesses, starting out, but those are usually rather general - everyone is constantly learning new techniques to expand their repertoire. Having a solid foundation to work off of certainly helps, so don't neglect the basics, but if you can manage to wrap your head around a tutorial, it can't possibly hurt to try it out.

Yeah found a few tutorials on weathering/chipping/rust that ill try to do tomorrow. And im not so much as worried about this piece as i will be on later ones, so im hoping to develop at least a basic understanding of these effects so when i start doing my armies hopefully it will have a decent "tool belt" of skills i can choose from to make what id like to make. But i like input (seeing that the closest place to me is a good 20 minutes away and not in the mood to drive there for a quick answer) be it good or bad, hence why i posted here. So ill try some of these techniques and hope it will look a little better. Thanks for the help and input. ill be sure to post the newer pics soon.

And as for painting painting cleanly and evenly, there are some spots that were colored "over the lines" so to say, and as for the yellow and the lighter blue it had to apply a few layers to make it as bright as it was because the under color was showing thru and had a more green color ( for the yellow ) and a more black color for the blue, but with every layer it became more of a solid color. And i tried to use as little on the brush as possible but enough to make as solid of a color as possible. I hope that is how its done, seeing as it turned out decent from 8+ inches away, hah

Crashed Aquila lander eh? classic!

Here is my first try of weathering and chipping and a little rust. What do ya think?

A marked improvement on the clean version (Which was still exceptionally good!). Personally, I would take the washing a touch further and really muddy it up or give it a dusty look but that's purely my preference. Keep up the good work!

How do I do a dust effect?

I'm not too sure myself (I still need to learn how to weather myself!). However I gather it may be a combination of light washes, followed by either drybrushing on the relevant colour or using a relevant pigment/weathering powder. I'll leave that to greater minds than myself to explain, but I will say that the Imperial Armour Masterclass covers weathering really well - they'll be .pdf's on the web if you look around.

Ok cool, I'll look for it and try. Thanks

 Warpig1815 wrote:
I gather it may be a combination of light washes, followed by either drybrushing on the relevant colour or using a relevant pigment/weathering powder.

That's the general idea. Thin washes (acting as filters) or subtle drybrushing can tint the underlying color, giving the rough impression of a thin layer of dust, dirt, grime, etc. Not particularly realistic, generally, but skillful application can still give impressive and evocative, if somewhat stylized, results. In most cases, it simply gets the job done with no special tools and a reasonable amount of effort. Weathering powders (or the DIY version, crushed pastel artist's chalk, in a pinch) have the benefit of acting like real dust, imparting a subtle texture and building up in recesses (drybrushing does the opposite, picking out the highest points), where gunk would settle most heavily. They aren't a requirement for attractive weathering, by any means, but they're a great tool - definitely a sound investment if you plan to do a lot of weathering in the future. For now, though, I'd suggest you practice drybrushing, both as a weathering and highlighting technique. It's sometimes frowned upon as a clunky "newbie" method and a crutch, but it's a valuable skill that can, like any other, be honed into something genuinely useful, even for expert painters. Well worth adding to your repertoire, so long as you don't use it to the exclusion of blending, layering, and edgelining (not to say that would be inherently wrong - it's just limiting, as a painter).