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I have little to no skill in painting. So I haven't painted my models yet. The reason I have painted them yet is because I fear if I tried to they would just turn out looking stupid. So is there an easy way to make them somewhat decent?

Metal colored primer and ink can be 80%+ of the work if you're going for basic but presentable.

The only way to learn is to do.

This is the very first mini I painted:



This is what I am currently painting at:



My Chappy that I run with my Death Company



One of my Death Company



A Squad of normal Assault Marines without Sarge and melta guns.

I know that they are shiny because that is how I like them. I also keep that first marine in my paint booth as a reminder of continual improvement ... seems to have worked for me.

 OIIIIIIO wrote:
The only way to learn is to do.

This is the very first mini I painted:



This is what I am currently painting at:



My Chappy that I run with my Death Company



One of my Death Company



A Squad of normal Assault Marines without Sarge and melta guns.

I know that they are shiny because that is how I like them. I also keep that first marine in my paint booth as a reminder of continual improvement ... seems to have worked for me.

Damn dude. I'm impressed.

 Eldarain wrote:
Metal colored primer and ink can be 80%+ of the work if you're going for basic but presentable.

This ^^

Inks and washes are great when starting out, as they're by definition a very thin paint - they automatically create shading where the paint 'goes in to' all the recesses of the miniature, and highlights the model where the paint is too thin to cover the raised areas adequately.

But also just as OIIIIIIO said, practice makes perfect! if I remember from when I started painting years ago, getting to a 'reasonable' standard isn't as hard as you might think it is at first. If you read a few tips around here and, well, all over the internet you should be able to create some models you're happy with in not too long. A few days ago there was a thread on this forum titled 'Basic painting tips in one's notebook?' (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/586745.page) - if you give that a quick browse there's some absurdly helpful advice for when you're starting out.

Good luck!

Patience = Skill develope over time
Practice = Repetitive it might be but think "Karate Kid"
Practical = Go with what you can do and then expand little by little on the project.start small now and eventually go big at the end.

Things I have learned about painting:
-Your first few models will suck. Accept it, and learn from your mistakes.
-Brown and black washes are liquid talent in a bottle, once you've learned how to block paint.
-Practice makes permanent. Bad habits learned early will always come to bite you later.
-Try a variety of paints, especially since not all paints are created equally. There are as many preferred paints and mixing ratios as there are painters, so take advice from others and use it to help your own skills progress.
-Brush control is 5% talent and 95% muscle memory. The more you do, the easier it gets.
-Fear not the oil or watercolor washes, just remember that they have their own issues and limitations.
-The "best" is the enemy of the "good." Whatever you do, don't start a new painting project before your current one is finished.
-Store your army somewhere visible, but out of sight of your painting area. Few things are more encouaging than seeing a painted army grow to completion, or more discouraging than seeing the long road ahead with a brush in hand.

Necrons are a pretty easy army to paint. For the most part, an effective scheme can be achieved with a dark metal base coat (a gunmetal or bronze works here) and light metal drybrush (likely a silver, gold, or brass) over the bulk of the model. Do some pinpoint eyes of your choice of color (green?) and maybe some chromatic colored details on places like the shoulders or gun, give it a black or brown wash and you're good to go!

Look into the "Army Painter" stuff.

They have a few different metallic colored primers and then experimenting with their shades would give you a pretty good looking Necron force.

eally depends on what look you are going for...


Prime Black
2 thin layers of a dark metallic grey (wait for 1st to dry before 2nd)

Wash with Nuln oil (or similar)

Heavy Drybrush of same metallic silver/grey using downward strokes from top to bottom (head to feet).

Light Drybrush of a bright/light silver in the same fashion as above.

Then hit the head and some of the chest or shoulder panels with another colour, metallic if desired. Do the eyes and base.

Should turn out fairly good!

Just thin down the paints with a little water and go over it again if too thin. Layers, just like ogres... Err.. Onions.. You Know what I mean. :-P

As for vehicles? Well. YouTube might help.

I think Necrons are really starter-friendly. First, decide whether you want them to be metallic or ceramic/plastic in appearence. The later is I think more difficult to achieve properly, so let's go with the former.

Decide what metal you want to use. There is more out there than boltgun metal/gunmetal grey. There are various shades of brass, bronze, copper, some strange blue or greenish metal paints... lots and lots to choose from. Pick one you like and maybe another similar one, just of a lighter shade.

Prime the model black, then drybrush it heavily with the darker metal. Wash the whole model with a wash. Use black or brown to make it dirtier/darker or use a colored wash to give it a bit of color. Do highlights with the lighter metal (controlled, softer drybrushing will work here too). Make the colored parts (in your case: eyes or some gems or power cells or whatever they have). If you used a colored wash, the details should probably be in a similar color (ie if you washed your silver models dark red, eyes should be light red). Done.

You could also try the ceramic look for some black/white apple-style necrons. With a glossy varnish, this may actually turn out all right...

There's some great advice on this thread for new painters.

My suggestions:
1) Have a go. Painted models always reflect well on the owner; if only to show that you care about the other person's enjoyment and immersion in the game.

2) Work from the inside out with simple block colours – by which I mean paint the recesses first and then overlay the outer parts of the model. You can be messy early on, as the later layers will tidy things up.

3) Contrast is the key to a striking miniature. If you paint your necrons in a midtone metallic like Chainmail (or the new equivalent), then choose a dark colour (perhaps even black) for the guns, and a light colour (such as Scorpion Green) for the accents/details. This helps the parts of the models 'read' as different elements, which will give a good result.

4) Set a modest goal, and aim to improve with every miniature. There is no need to go all out for detail at the very start; pick the focal point (generally the head or face) and spend a little more time on it than the rest.

5) Spend time choosing your colour scheme, and remember contrast is key. Find the dark, mid and light tones in the colour schemes below; and note that the midtone covers the largest area, with the dark shades and light tints reserved for smaller areas (such as the faces and guns). This is a good way to draw attention to these important areas.


6) Time-saving techniques like washes and drybrushing are great tools to expand into; but nothing will replace good controlled brushwork. Start with simple brushwork to practise getting the consistency of the paint right for even coverage. Take your time, and don't be tempted to rush. The model may take a little longer to paint, but it'll be nicely finished forever.

7) Remember 'Faces and bases'. This is shorthand for the focal point (face) and the setting (base). Even a simple coloured base will improve the look of your model tenfold. The Citadel textured paints are very quick, easy and effective. Again, remember contrast. If you're going for a dark metal, contrast it with a light-coloured base (snow, for example). If you're going for a light metal, contrast it with a dark base (grey urban rubble, perhaps).

Good luck!

A quick and cheap method for Necron Warriors is:

1) Assemble the Warriors, but do not place the green rods in the gauss.
2) Spray paint them in a sweeping motion with black spray prime. Be careful not to blast one area as the primer may glop up. Don't get closer than 6". You can line a bunch of models up to do them all at once.
3) Spray paint them with aluminum spray paint in single bursts about 6-8" from the model. Let the paint "fall on" the warriors to achieve a dark effect. Give them 2 coats for full on aluminum effect.
4) Wash with Nuln Oil or equivalent
5) Finish to taste, and install the green rods after all painting is done.

This might be of use to you. Reasonable results for the amount of time and skill required i think.

Necrons = Prime black, drybrush with necron compound, nuln oil wash, paint eyes, glue in rods, base and done. Easiest models ever to paint

from one selfproclaimed terrible painter to another, I started painting necrons because i like the units but also because the are "easy" to paint. I have put my way of painting in my blog but here is the short version. Basecoat: 1/1 mix of abbadon black and leadbealcher, wash with nuln oil, drybrush with ironbreaker, highlight/drybrush with runefang steel. Gun is black and all the green parts are just warboss green and then moot green. I painted the shoulderpads red because i wanted to do something different but that is personal choice. Hope this gives you an idea that even without "great" skill you can still make the model look the way you are content with it.

PS: look up warbosstae on youtube, he has allot of necron tutorials.

If youd be willing to buy an airbrush then necrons would suddenly be extremely easy to paint. Blast them with silver, brown or black wash, or really whatever you want, then do some basic osl on the eyes.

A lot of it is just effort. If it doesn't look good enough for you now, it will after some 5 hours, damn it.

Color + white drybrush/edge highlights over some areas + ink of the same color is very quick and easy way to do something that looks okay on the battlefield, of course, there's always some fixing here and there which you can do later. I use this method on basic footsoldiers like this one :


Drybrush, of course, is easier with thick paints, I'm having trouble with these very thin vallejo paints because I was used to the old citadel ones that were basically solid before I added some water. I used the same method some six years ago but with much much drier paints, like this

Disclaimer : I'm not some pro, just a lazy guy with an army to paint so very likely there are better methods if you actually want to get good.

Way I did some necrons was pretty easy and looked ok.

Do a spray black primer. Then get some GW leadbelcher and thin it down a little bit and apply it to the whole model. Then get the GW Necron dry paint, dab it in the pot then wipe most of it away from the brush, then lightly brush it on in quick shallow strokes. Then finally wash the whole thing with the GW nuln oil. This makes a pretty good metal effect. I would avoid the eyes for now unless you are comfortable with it as those things can easily be frustrating.

I would spray them black and the dry brush them working up from tin bitz to boltgun and then then just on the extreme edges with chainmail. I've seen people use similar techniques on there crons and it looks great and its so easy to do. Sorry I cant remember the names for the new paints but i ts basically just GW metalic colours.

Hang in there, as most of the other people have said, practice is the best teacher. Take care of your tools, experiment, and don't be afraid to strip a model and do it again. I didn't start wargaming for years because I always hated painting. Now I'm generally excited to get home from work and tool around with an airbrush for an hour or so.

Prime + wash.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/341924-Test%20PM.html?m=2
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/335995-Test%20Ivory%20paladin.html?m=2
^ these took like 15 minutes to paint.


Some colours just look good as prime + wash :
Prime white + wash sepia is very easy and gives a great bone look.
Metal + black is perfect for metalic things.
Prime metal + brown wah gives a rusty look.
Red + brown ink gives you great dark red armours.

Then, pick a few details, ink them too, and you're good to go.

When I started, I picked up the cheapest unpainted models I could find, they were not even for my army, but I painted them for practice, and I even converted the best one for my army. Now my painting is considered some of the best at my flgs.

There you go

Practice is the only way to get good.
Making some figs just for trying out new skills is a good trick too, before you commit yourself to a whole squad.
Before I painted my Imperial Guard squad, I built a couple of Cadians just to try out the paint and camo scheme I had in mind, a new Quickshade dip, and any highlighting.
If it didn't work out I just stripped the paint off with Dettol - better to make one mistake than ten...